Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 50m

Don't know exactly what the upcoming dystopia will look like but 'speak to your AI girlfriend every day for a week to unlock a new outfit' is going to be part of it

A screengrab of Grok's new streak system for its AI girlfriend feature

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Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 1d

It cannot be made clearer.

If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.

JK Rowling pledges to keep up fight against SNP trans policies

Author vows to bankroll campaigners after Scottish government fails to pay group's legal fees in Supreme Court equality case

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 18h

This is what I'm trying to do with gameroom.substack.com - give a fair shake and a little boost to indie titles with the Friday recommendations. It seems so unfair that all the work these tiny dev teams put in can just go entirely unnoticed

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Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

Jane Lytvynenko @janelytv.bsky.social · 1d

“There will be no more mercy.”

“No one deserves pity. Spare me your whining.”

Those are captions to videos of Russian drone operators attacking civilians in Kherson city and region.

Living in Kherson means risking execution from the sky.

www.wsj.com/world/russia... (read free)

Russian Drones Turn the Streets of Kherson Into a Civilian Kill Zone

The attacks on Kherson are part of Russia’s growing strategy to terrorize civilians in an effort to sap Ukrainians’ strength to resist in the fourth year of war.

www.wsj.com

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 1d

"Our theft-based industry - which devalues the fundamentals of all creative endeavours - cannot survive on its own terms. Moreover, it cannot prove to be any more effective or lucrative than human creative. Pls buy in to this shite promise or our investors will be sad 😢"

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 1d

There's a point at which honesty stops being a shield though, and I think this is it. Saying your bank balance is the most important factor is honest, but it doesn't excuse how you got paid

Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

Jelloeater @jelloeater.bsky.social · 1d

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Era of DEI anildash.com/2025/10/07/d...

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Era of DEI - Anil Dash

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

anildash.com

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 1d

Much nicer than it sounds I promise

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 2d

Are you fucking joking? How fucking incapable of even the barest minimum of reading comprehension do you have to be to say Pratchett is your favourite author then to act as she does? This is sick

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 3d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 2d

It's here in video form too

youtu.be/vXEo2Mf7zTU?...

How a simple corridor showcases BioShock's anti-capitalist philosophy

YouTube video by CSuts

youtu.be

Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 2d

The latest newsletter is all about how BioShock's criticism of capitalism is ubiquitous in its world design - even down to simple corridor segments

gameroom.substack.com/p/how-a-simp...

How a simple corridor showcases BioShock's anti-capitalist philosophy

Everything about BioShock's world design - even a simple corridor - reinforces its take on capitalism and Objectivism

gameroom.substack.com

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 3d

Incredible choice of picture to accompany the piece anyway. A sea of pasty, pale, drooping white pricks

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 3d

Twice in the past two weeks I've opened reddit to see someone die on the front page, posted in regular subreddits. Both removed swiftly but already had tens or hundreds of thousands of views each

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 3d

This is the new 'recorded a song about how I committed a murder' that was all the rage in the '00s. Stupid, stupid modern killers. You'd never get Jack the Ripper asking AI how to stab someone

Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · 3d

Teen Arrested After Asking ChatGPT How to Kill His Friend, Police Say

AI meets surveillance state in America's new educational dystopia.

gizmodo.com

Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 3d

Ah yeeessss finally some good news

variety.com/2025/film/ne...

‘Steven Universe’ Creator Rebecca Sugar Set for Animated Feature From Annapurna, Moomin Characters (EXCLUSIVE)

'Steven Universe’ creator Rebecca Sugar to write and direct Moomins animated feature for Annapurna.

variety.com

Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 4d

NEW inside CBS—

Staff are insulted executives will spend $150 million to buy The Free Press & make self-proclaimed “Zionist fanatic” Bari Weiss Editor-in-Chief, while many of them are set to be laid off.

“If I wrote 90 percent of what’s on The Free Press, I would get flagged and fired,” one says.

‘What the F**k?’ CBS News Insiders Prepare for Takeover by Self-Described ‘Zionist Fanatic’

Bari Weiss is expected to be announced as editor-in-chief of CBS News, as employees worry her new role will bring a pro-Israel bias, more censorship, and lower editorial standards.

zeteo.com

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 4d

Just watched The Changeling from 1980. If you're looking for an example of where practical effects are waaay creepier than CGI, this is the film to use

youtu.be/UwUI7d5TgGA?...

The Changeling (1980) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

YouTube video by HD Retro Trailers

youtu.be

Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 5d

I had the same thing but recovered my account without doxxing myself. It's been mostly fine since then - but still a massive imposition

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 5d

I JUST pitched a piece about the dearth of online spaces owned by the left and how the current digital funding model erodes them. There are so, so, few. And the ones that are there feel like accidental oversights

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Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 8d

The Hampstead ponds have REPEATEDLY voted to include trans women. But the officious pricks at Sex Matters don’t care what other women think and are forcing a public consultation anyway. Throw the ponds some support.

Helen 🏳️‍⚧️✊🏻💕 @mimmymum.bsky.social · 9d

🚨 Consultation survey launched on whether trans people should be able to access Hampstead Heath ladies' pond following Supreme Court ruling

The consultation is open until 12:00 on Tuesday 25th November 2025.

(Survey link in next post)
www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Survey launched on trans access to Hampstead Heath ladies' pond

The ladies’ pond at Hampstead Heath currently admits biological women and transgender women

www.standard.co.uk

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 5d

@mackeza.bsky.social howdy! Been a while, hope all's well. I have some questions about Apple Tree Literary and articles if that's alright, is there a best way to reach you please?

Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

rowan kaiser @rowan.monster · 6d

is this good

LLMs, he argues, already are at the scaling limits. “We don’t know exactly when LLMs might hit diminishing returns hard, because we don’t have a measure of the statistical complexity of language. To find out whether we have hit a wall we have to watch the LLM developers. If they release a model that cost 10x more, likely using 20x more compute than the previous one, and it’s not much better than what’s out there, then we’ve hit a wall,” he says.

And that’s what has happened: ChatGPT-3 cost $50 million, ChatGPT-4 cost $500 million and ChatGPT-5, costing $5 billion, was delayed and when released wasn’t noticeably better than the last version. It’s also easy for competitors to catch up.

“So, in summary; you can’t create an app with commercial value as it is either generic (games etc), which won’t sell, or it is regurgitated public domain (homework), or it is subject to copyright. It’s hard to advertise effectively, LLMs cost an exponentially larger amount to train each generation, with a rapidly diminishing gain in accuracy. There’s no moat on a model, so there’s little pricing power. And the people who use LLMs the most are using them to access compute that costs the developer more to provide than their monthly subscriptions,” he says.

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Chris Sutcliffe @chrissutcliffe.bsky.social · 6d

This weekend's (barely) throwback game recommendation is @annapurna.com's 2022 puzzle-platformer Neon White

gameroom.substack.com/p/neon-white...

Neon White: puzzle-platforming perfected

Heaven can wait – at least when playing a game feels this good

gameroom.substack.com

Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

Sarcophagus Gibbs @sararoseg.bsky.social · 7d

You don’t actually have to both sides this. The Jewish community in the UK is not the Israeli government. You can just condemn the murder of two British Jews killed in their place of worship and you don’t have to say a single other thing.

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Reposted by Chris Sutcliffe

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 8d

Fucking hell - awful.

On top of a serious racial assault in Bristol last night as well. Feels like things are very much spinning out: we need to take this shit on in every way.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 8d

Manchester synagogue attack latest: police say suspect shot after four people injured by vehicle and stabbings

Police say they are responding to an incident in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester Greater Manchester Police said a suspect has been shot and four people have suffered injuries caused by a vehicle and stabbings at a synagogue in Crumpsall north of the city. The force said: Police were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, on Middleton Road, Crumpsall, at 9.31am by a member of the public, stating he had witnessed a car being driven towards members of the public, and one man had been stabbed. GMP declared PLATO and a major incident at 9.37am. Shots were fired by Greater Manchester Police firearms officers at 9.38am. One man has been shot, believed to be the offender. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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