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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 2m

Yep.

And if we don't train future statisticians, hell, future "people who do numbers", there will be noone to spot when things have gone wrong.

Just like with software etc when junior roles are threatened by AI.

Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 2h

Nik Storonsky, the founder of Revolut, has left the UK and become tax resident in Dubai - escaping more than £3bn of UK tax.

Could we have stopped him leaving? Either with the carrot of a more competitive tax system, or the stick of an exit tax?

Some thoughts:

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 2h

Every developed country in the world has an "exit tax" - you leave with unrealised capital gains, and you're taxed on them.

Except the UK and Italy:

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 2h

Probably too good...until the bubble pops then it'll be someone else's fault

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A tangled web of deals stokes AI bubble fears in Silicon Valley

Some are worried that the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies may be a bubble waiting to burst.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Prof Penny Endersby @pennyend.bsky.social · 6h

Oh my goodness! We’ve been discussing using gracehopper chips in our next supercomputer but I didn’t know! Respect!

Wyrd Women @wyrdwomen.bsky.social · 9h

Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. She was a pioneer of computer programming who was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages.

#COBOL
#FLOW-MATIC
#WomeninSTEM
#WyrdWomen

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 3h

Really good post and another set of reasons to resist using AI all the time for everything.

(And I always hated Teams and thought it bloated, but 100% CPU usage is just really bad software)

Richard Bown @bownie.bsky.social · 5h

"Normalized incompetence" seems to sum up my day-to-day!

Frans Bouma @fransbouma.com · 15h

This was a great read. No idea how to get on top of this, perhaps pulling random people away from keyboards? Who knows!
techtrenches.substack.com/p/the-great-...

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Rob Manuel @robmanuelyeah.bsky.social · 19h

Some people say, ok AI is 80% right and 20% hallucinations, and if you know that then you can work with it.

Out of curiosity I asked AI to summarise the last b3ta newsletter & every single bit of this, other than the title, isn't true. Not just a distortion, but absolutely untrue. Pure fantasy.

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 19h

ICO orders DWP to

"disclose the list of all AI tools DWP plans to place on the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standards Hub"

I.e. publish details of all the AI they are using unless there is a valid reason to keep it secret

h/t @rightsnet.org.uk

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

ico.org.uk

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Nuffield College Library @nuffieldlibrary.bsky.social · 20h

Also:
Tradecraft: writers on John le Carré edited by @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social Senior Research Fellow Federico Varese
Find out more about this tie-in with the @bodleian.ox.ac.uk exhibition here:
visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lecarre

Book cover showing a close up photograph of a late middle-aged man's face

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Jason Furman @jasonfurman.bsky.social · 1d

The other day a student asked me about the prevalence of insider trading in prediction markets. I now have an answer.

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 21h

Soooooo wrong. But very funny.

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John Horgan @johnhorgan.bsky.social · 22h

"He was looking for a way out. She was looking for a way in."

The most romantic film of the year.

The Silence of the Lambs.

youtu.be/HCoTiU0S85Y?...

The Silence of the Lambs as a Romantic Comedy - Trailer Mix

YouTube video by CineFix - IGN Movies and TV

youtu.be

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 21h

Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

Violations include digging without permits and dumping wastewater into storm drains.

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 1d

The exodus has begun

Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 1d

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

🧵 1/7

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

"Economists" are green/bottom right quad. "Low friction, high capability, low repugnance" (low repugnance to their being placed).

Is this research just measuring "how well do people understand what other people do in a given occupation"?

koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 1d

AI will take our jobs—and that’s (mostly) OK with us, US survey by Friis & Riley finds.

When AI is described as equally effective as humans at lower cost, there is support for automation for 58% of occupations, with
12% of jobs categorically off limits:

buff.ly/82HlaFX

Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

But why is it that those voices, decried by many, are repeatedly on or in the media?

"Attention economy" is the media equivalent of "treasury brain" IMO because it leads to short-term/now-now decisions about attention/clicks that have long-term consequences.

Eg the "discourse" we have now...

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

Gothic sans for the win.

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

😮

The hedgehog @the-hedgehog.bsky.social · 2d

Ukrainian drone followed a Russian drone back to its home, hit the Russian drone operator

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Reposted by Alex Sutherland

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 2d

"You’re a man. You’re into man stuff, like weed wackers, sports that cause brain damage, and getting hired by your dad’s golf friends. But it’s autumn. And something feels different."

Pumpkin Spice: Now For Men

You’re a man. You’re into man stuff, like weed wackers, sports that cause brain damage, and getting hired by your dad’s golf friends. But it’s autu...

buff.ly

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely this. 1000 years of Nobels to women before a single notion that non-human effort gets recognised.

To even write the headline for this piece - which may well not have been the author - is absurd.

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You know some weird billionaire is getting naked mole rat DNA injections right now

Naked mole rats reveal genetic secret to long life

The bald, subterranean rats are the world's longest-lived rodent.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

"Trumpian" as the ultimate one word Reviewer 2 review

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

[maths version of this is the same meme but find-replace maths for stats]

...but yes, it [AI/ML/NLP/etc] is just applied stats...

...the hype side of it is applied marketing

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Alex Sutherland @criminologist.bsky.social · 1d

Policy-based evidence in the wild!

(And it is wild!)

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