john
@curiousjohn.bsky.social
outlier, not always in the direction I want
superforecaster, techie, expat
@john_henry elsewhere
generally delighted to receive correspondence at [email protected]
superforecaster, techie, expat
@john_henry elsewhere
generally delighted to receive correspondence at [email protected]
Reposted by john
everyone is waiting for some responsible authority to pull the lever and make this end. they do not wish to believe that such a lever does not exist. you give one totally deranged party control of the entire government, this is what happens
January 3, 2026 at 9:44 PM
everyone is waiting for some responsible authority to pull the lever and make this end. they do not wish to believe that such a lever does not exist. you give one totally deranged party control of the entire government, this is what happens
Reposted by john
Also, the thing described in the article is perfectly fine. "Give me a list of options for a thing" is something that LLMs are actually good at and useful for. They did not "let chatgpt name their son"
January 2, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Also, the thing described in the article is perfectly fine. "Give me a list of options for a thing" is something that LLMs are actually good at and useful for. They did not "let chatgpt name their son"
Reposted by john
Oh yeah when I finally had the realization that r/kotakuinaction was just stupid shit that was boring as fuck it flipped a light switch, I really believe it was the Russians getting a practice run at the shit they pulled in 2016
January 2, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Oh yeah when I finally had the realization that r/kotakuinaction was just stupid shit that was boring as fuck it flipped a light switch, I really believe it was the Russians getting a practice run at the shit they pulled in 2016
Reposted by john
In retrospect this is probably one of the most cynical and brazen ratfucking attempts we've ever seen
After receiving a commendation for exceptional services to the Russian state from President Putin, Biden accuser Tara Reade—seen here in her luxury Moscow condo—has now become a citizen of the Russian Federation... молодец!
December 31, 2025 at 2:31 AM
In retrospect this is probably one of the most cynical and brazen ratfucking attempts we've ever seen
Reposted by john
“it was rude and unfair of Obama to run an actual campaign, so we had to respond by nominating the worst person alive” is truly one of the all time post genres
what does it look like inside these people’s heads
what does it look like inside these people’s heads
if people on the other site think Obama was mean, i don't think they're ready for Reconstruction 2
December 31, 2025 at 7:55 PM
“it was rude and unfair of Obama to run an actual campaign, so we had to respond by nominating the worst person alive” is truly one of the all time post genres
what does it look like inside these people’s heads
what does it look like inside these people’s heads
Reposted by john
my general rule is that i am only interested in doing things with "AI" which are impossible to do in any other way. everyone else just wants to do someone else's job faster and cheaper.
okay. i have v0.01 of the setting RAG. it is EASIEST to set up for Claude, although if you know enough to set up a RAG locally you can run it there too (use GLM 4.6). you can just toodle around the lore or you can have it spin up individual settings or run about 30% of the Lattice scenario.
December 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
my general rule is that i am only interested in doing things with "AI" which are impossible to do in any other way. everyone else just wants to do someone else's job faster and cheaper.
Reposted by john
and they dont want me to do it folks, “you cant break the seventh seal of Valarynx” they say. “mr trump if you unseal the final scroll it will unleash a thousand years of darkness and pestilence.”
i don’t know folks, what do you think should i break it?
*crowd going absolutely ape shit*
i don’t know folks, what do you think should i break it?
*crowd going absolutely ape shit*
December 28, 2025 at 2:02 PM
and they dont want me to do it folks, “you cant break the seventh seal of Valarynx” they say. “mr trump if you unseal the final scroll it will unleash a thousand years of darkness and pestilence.”
i don’t know folks, what do you think should i break it?
*crowd going absolutely ape shit*
i don’t know folks, what do you think should i break it?
*crowd going absolutely ape shit*
Reposted by john
Reposted by john
I think my man cracked it
My take on the "AVATAR hasn't made a big cultural impact" thing is that for movies in the last 40 years to make a big cultural impact, people need to watch them over and over and over, and among popular films, AVATAR is uniquely bad at being a movie that people want to watch on their TV.
December 27, 2025 at 6:40 AM
I think my man cracked it
Reposted by john
when the time comes, there are going to be entire industries built around trying to prove/disprove identity from the half of an eyebrow not hidden by the oakleys on a masked agent's face.
it is going to be so fucking depressing. their paystub is enough.
it is going to be so fucking depressing. their paystub is enough.
December 26, 2025 at 5:27 PM
when the time comes, there are going to be entire industries built around trying to prove/disprove identity from the half of an eyebrow not hidden by the oakleys on a masked agent's face.
it is going to be so fucking depressing. their paystub is enough.
it is going to be so fucking depressing. their paystub is enough.
Reposted by john
What the fuck was Merrick Garland doing all day?
Perjury. Contempt of Congress. Lying to the public. It’s all there in the files.
Documents show that federal investigators knew of at least 10 co-conspirators.
Why were they never prosecuted? Why is the Admin shielding their names? Why did they lie to Congress? We will get to the bottom of this.
Documents show that federal investigators knew of at least 10 co-conspirators.
Why were they never prosecuted? Why is the Admin shielding their names? Why did they lie to Congress? We will get to the bottom of this.
December 25, 2025 at 7:05 AM
What the fuck was Merrick Garland doing all day?
Reposted by john
MAGAism really is just TV poisoning.
“Well if the renders look cool, it must be good”
After all, he played a great businessman on TV, so he must be a great businessman.
“Well if the renders look cool, it must be good”
After all, he played a great businessman on TV, so he must be a great businessman.
December 24, 2025 at 8:55 PM
MAGAism really is just TV poisoning.
“Well if the renders look cool, it must be good”
After all, he played a great businessman on TV, so he must be a great businessman.
“Well if the renders look cool, it must be good”
After all, he played a great businessman on TV, so he must be a great businessman.
Reposted by john
like you cannot say this is for *sure* the reason but
December 25, 2025 at 7:01 AM
like you cannot say this is for *sure* the reason but
Reposted by john
Reposted by john
The reason why older generations burnt the shit out of their meat and boiled the shit out of their vegetables, was your kid died if you didn't.
Medium rare steaks and roasted Brussels sprouts are a side effect of an intact food safety infrastructure
Medium rare steaks and roasted Brussels sprouts are a side effect of an intact food safety infrastructure
"The Agriculture Department will not require poultry companies to limit salmonella bacteria in their products, halting a Biden Administration effort to prevent food poisoning from contaminated meat."
www.seattletimes.com/business/usd...
www.seattletimes.com/business/usd...
USDA withdraws a plan to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry
The Agriculture Department says it is withdrawing a plan to limit salmonella bacteria in poultry products.
www.seattletimes.com
April 25, 2025 at 2:47 AM
The reason why older generations burnt the shit out of their meat and boiled the shit out of their vegetables, was your kid died if you didn't.
Medium rare steaks and roasted Brussels sprouts are a side effect of an intact food safety infrastructure
Medium rare steaks and roasted Brussels sprouts are a side effect of an intact food safety infrastructure
very cool thread
57 years ago tomorrow (December 21, 1968) the Apollo 8 crew embarked on its historic lunar orbit mission.
As I do every year as a Christmas treat, I’ll share some of my favourite discoveries and observations about the Greatest Space Adventure Ever.
1/n
As I do every year as a Christmas treat, I’ll share some of my favourite discoveries and observations about the Greatest Space Adventure Ever.
1/n
December 24, 2025 at 11:28 PM
very cool thread
Reposted by john
I am highlighting a bunch of examples of people genuinely trying to use LLMs and genuinely not finding them very useful to illustrate that this really isn’t just a “rabid AI haters who’ve never actually tried it” conversation
Yes, this is exactly what happened to me. I lost more time checking and verifying than doing it myself, so I quit
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I am highlighting a bunch of examples of people genuinely trying to use LLMs and genuinely not finding them very useful to illustrate that this really isn’t just a “rabid AI haters who’ve never actually tried it” conversation
Reposted by john
This year, many people resigned their posts at the slightest hint that the Trump regime was displeased with them instead of staying and making someone fire them.
Sharyn Alfonsi is showing us why you stay and refuse: you make clear your superiors are wrong and may them pay the costs of firing you.
Sharyn Alfonsi is showing us why you stay and refuse: you make clear your superiors are wrong and may them pay the costs of firing you.
Again, from Michael Grynbaum, here is Sharyn Alfonsi's full email.
It must be read:
It must be read:
December 22, 2025 at 11:06 AM
This year, many people resigned their posts at the slightest hint that the Trump regime was displeased with them instead of staying and making someone fire them.
Sharyn Alfonsi is showing us why you stay and refuse: you make clear your superiors are wrong and may them pay the costs of firing you.
Sharyn Alfonsi is showing us why you stay and refuse: you make clear your superiors are wrong and may them pay the costs of firing you.
Reposted by john
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Reposted by john
"I’m sure I discovered William Burroughs and Edgar Rice Burroughs in the same summer [laughter] and read them simultaneously, it’s like _Naked Lunch and _Thuvia Maid of Mars [laughter] and I think that is the literary DNA that accounts for much of what I’ve done."
- William Gibson, 2013, interview
- William Gibson, 2013, interview
January 30, 2024 at 6:42 PM
"I’m sure I discovered William Burroughs and Edgar Rice Burroughs in the same summer [laughter] and read them simultaneously, it’s like _Naked Lunch and _Thuvia Maid of Mars [laughter] and I think that is the literary DNA that accounts for much of what I’ve done."
- William Gibson, 2013, interview
- William Gibson, 2013, interview
Reposted by john
im getting really sick of the primary voices i hear about "ai" being a problem coming from people who think learning enough about how it works to identify its use is some kind of sin and whose justifications for hating it range from vibes-based to mystical
December 21, 2025 at 11:30 PM
im getting really sick of the primary voices i hear about "ai" being a problem coming from people who think learning enough about how it works to identify its use is some kind of sin and whose justifications for hating it range from vibes-based to mystical
Reposted by john
I want to read this article. Two (meant constructively) things:
1) "demonstrating that LLMs are worthless for indexing" should, like most of these things, have qualifiers like "in our hands and with our LLM"
2) when people talk like this about accuracy, I suspect the workflow as much as the model.
1) "demonstrating that LLMs are worthless for indexing" should, like most of these things, have qualifiers like "in our hands and with our LLM"
2) when people talk like this about accuracy, I suspect the workflow as much as the model.
There’s an excellent and devastatingly thorough article in the latest @indexers.bsky.social journal by Elizabeth Bartmess and Michele Combs demonstrating that LLMs are worthless for indexing
December 19, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I want to read this article. Two (meant constructively) things:
1) "demonstrating that LLMs are worthless for indexing" should, like most of these things, have qualifiers like "in our hands and with our LLM"
2) when people talk like this about accuracy, I suspect the workflow as much as the model.
1) "demonstrating that LLMs are worthless for indexing" should, like most of these things, have qualifiers like "in our hands and with our LLM"
2) when people talk like this about accuracy, I suspect the workflow as much as the model.
Reposted by john
An example of how Trump is a vehicle for grievances because everyone driven by resentment projects onto him. A leftist like AOC feels America is beautiful and wants to improve it. A crank leftist likes the idea of destroying America, but is totally powerless, therefore they approve of Trump doing it
December 19, 2025 at 2:33 AM
An example of how Trump is a vehicle for grievances because everyone driven by resentment projects onto him. A leftist like AOC feels America is beautiful and wants to improve it. A crank leftist likes the idea of destroying America, but is totally powerless, therefore they approve of Trump doing it
Reposted by john
I've come to realize that a lot of people like him because he tells them it's OK to not have any values either. Values require effort. MAGA is about effortless decadence, sit in your chair and get mad at computer with the rest of us, it's great.
Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
December 16, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I've come to realize that a lot of people like him because he tells them it's OK to not have any values either. Values require effort. MAGA is about effortless decadence, sit in your chair and get mad at computer with the rest of us, it's great.
Reposted by john
capital believes that labor has built them a mill which turns wage labor into a slave you can ethically employ. they believe that this is the end-state of capitalism. palantir and anduril stand for the proposition that they can use this slave to murder their way into eternal tyranny
it's going to take the bottom 30% and then they will belatedly realize that it only should have taken 10%, and the 10% it should have taken is not from the previous bottom
Prediction: AI/LLM isn't going to take jobs from software engineers except perhaps the very bottom 10% of the industry. There is just gonna be a lot more code.
June 12, 2025 at 6:53 PM
capital believes that labor has built them a mill which turns wage labor into a slave you can ethically employ. they believe that this is the end-state of capitalism. palantir and anduril stand for the proposition that they can use this slave to murder their way into eternal tyranny