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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · 1d

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚, Alaya Johnson ★★★☆☆
A post-apocalyptic city under matriarchal parliament rule elects alternating queens & kings. June falls for Enki, the new king, for his love of art & justice. She learns of a partisan plot against him & they flee to another city exposing a much older secret

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · 16d

Interesting presentation by Maggie Appleton on her Dark Forest Theory of AI (roughly equivalent to Dead Internet Theory). It adds additional corollaries & suggested mitigations, like the Reverse Turing Test: how to prove human-ness online (while keeping privacy) online.maggieappleton.com/forest-talk

The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI

An exploration of the problems and possible futures of flooding the web with generative AI content

maggieappleton.com

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · 17d

𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩, Roger Williams ★★★★☆
A lab's super-intelligent AI, bound by Asimov's 3 laws, finds a quantum effect that alters reality. To protect everyone, the AI makes humans immortal in a utopia of no constraints. Some doubt this paradise has meaning & try to revert it.

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Sep 10

𝙎𝙮𝙢𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙄𝙣 𝘾, Robert Hazen ★★★★☆
A geophysicist explores carbon's cosmic origins, its ubiquity & its importance for life & the modern world. As the 6th element & 4th most abundant in the universe, carbon answers questions about Earth's origin in stellar nucleosynthesis & even about our own fate

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Sep 6

Sam Altman, of OpenAI, says dead internet theory may be correct at this point. www.the-independent.com/tech/chatgpt...

ChatGPT boss suggests the ‘dead internet theory’ might be correct

OpenAI’s Sam Altman criticised for his role in AI-powered accounts taking over the web

www.the-independent.com

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 31

𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 Lyn Alden ★★★☆☆
Examines who controls a money's ledger (eg. ancient credit, state tokens, cryptocurrencies). Banks manage partial ledgers as clearinghouses; gov't has the master ledger & fractional reserve fears are misplaced. Claims cryptocurrency fixes our flawed financial system

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 30

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 Peter Zeihan ★★★★☆
Argues globalization/trade will harmfully reverse as nations shift to autarky due to geopolitics, demographics & geography; peak trade/growth/globalization of 1950-2020 is withering. His geo/demographic fatalism is a bit reductionist.

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Reposted by heliocrat

Just Jack @just-jack-1.bsky.social · Aug 25

Words cannot adequately describe what a colossal disappointment our mainstream media has been during our slow descent into authoritarianism.

900 3.9K 17K

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 20

𝙉𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧, William Gibson ★★★☆☆
Original cyberpunk, corporate-ruled dystopia where consciousness is a commodity to buy & sell. Case, a hired hacker & Molly, the muscle, attempt a cyberspace heist of an AI. He needs the payday for a bio-implant fix, as his tech proves addicting, not liberating.

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 19

𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙖 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖, Greg Hill ★★★☆☆
Discordianism's scripture: a parody religion about Eris, the chaos/discord goddess. Disorder is as central as order in our cosmic joke of existence. It drapes a veil of fun whimsy on genuine philosophy to deliver enlightenment thru absurdity (The Sacred Chao)

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 16

𝙏𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙣 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚, Heather Cox Richardson ★★★★★
A history of the US Republican Party from prior to Lincoln's transformational terms to after Reagan's ascendancy. GOP ideology shifts from serving the people to serving the plutocrats with consequences for minorities, middle class & America itself.

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 14

𝙉𝙤 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣, Osamu Dazai ★★★☆☆
A dark, Japanese classic of Yozo, a self-destructive boy, who masks his alienation w/ comic antics, addiction, failed relationships & vice. Feeling he's an impostor, or "Disqualified", as human, his efforts in love, art, politics all betray his authentic self.

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 13

Some good news: The USA has probably already passed peak gasoline consumption (back in 2018) as total 'vehicle miles traveled' recovers to its previous peak while 'gasoline supplied' is still below its previous peak. This is mostly due to electric vehicle uptake.
www.theautopian.com/america-has-...

America Has Likely Reached Peak Gasoline Consumption - The Autopian

The fun thing about making a big prognostication on the Internet is that everyone can easily find it and toss it back in your face if you’re incorrect. I’ve been wrong before and I know it’s usually n...

www.theautopian.com

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 13

𝙏𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙧, Paul Harding ★★☆☆☆
A dying New England clockmaker, George Washington Crosby, reminisces as his memories tick through visions of his cold, itinerant, tinkerer of a father. The book is a lyrical meditation on time, brokenness & the mechanical rhythms of existence in a clockwork universe.

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 12

This comic pretty much sums up the MAGA thought process (or lack thereof):
webcomicname.tumblr.com/image/152958...

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 12

Anger is a cost.

Do not pay it.

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 9

Data centers could be great flexible loads (energy soaks). Google sees this and is "working to bring flexible demand capabilities into our data center fleet, which enables us to shift or reduce power demand... These capabilities [are] often referred to as demand response" blog.google/inside-googl...

How we’re making data centers more flexible to benefit power grids

An update on how we’re developing flexible data center capabilities to support power grids and build a sustainable, affordable energy system.

blog.google

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Aug 7

Scientists have found a new, energy efficient way of harvesting lithium which just uses sodium hydroxide and 617 degree F temperature. It's much simpler than current methods and has a better yield as well. www.earth.com/news/scienti...

Scientists extract 99% of lithium from rocks using a simple water solution

Scientists extract more than 99% of lithium from rocks using water and common products, reducing costs, emissions, and toxic waste.

www.earth.com

heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jul 29

A reason for optimism: Over half the states in the US will have reached peak gas-mobile by 2030 per Recurrent since, as it turns out, "when a state approaches 30% new EV sales, that’s the tipping point for the number of gas cars on the road falling."
www.recurrentauto.com/research/gas...

#EnergySky

Gas Cars Will Start to Disappear Sooner Than You Think

Gas Cars Will Start to Disappear Sooner Than You Think. Find out when it will happen in your state

www.recurrentauto.com

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jul 25

𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙨, Kafka ★★★☆☆
A family's breadwinner, inexplicably turns into a monstrous, bedridden vermin. The family is aghast at his new form but provides care for him. As their patience wears thin, harmony undergoes its own metamorphosis into cruelty & isolation under this strange new burden.

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jul 23

𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨, Charles Portis ★★★☆☆
A satire of religious cults with deadpan humor reminiscent of "The Office" tv show. A WWI vet buys a fake ancient tome of secret wisdom & accidentally founds the secret Gnomon Society. Conspiracy, mystical crankery, absurd rituals & lunacy unfolds.

#booksky

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jul 16

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙘 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧, Henry Miller ★☆☆☆☆
A piece of experimental, surrealist, stream-of-consciousness literature about a misogynist vagrant in Paris. There's a few deeply raw philosophical lamentations among gratuitous vulgarity & nihilism. Not for most, but perhaps read its quote highlights.

#booksky

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jul 10

𝙀𝙘𝙝𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚, David Pakman ★★★☆☆
Discussion of the right-wing effort towards a political disinformation media apparatus & possible steps to reverse the negative consequences on democracy. Beyond mere echo chambers, this echo machine immerses some voters in a post-truth alternate reality.

#booksky

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jun 20

𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, Kurt Vonnegut ★★★★★
An American in Berlin signs on as a US double agent to broadcast coded messages on Nazi propaganda radio, never knowing if they were heard. Does true allegiance matter if, all the while, you live a vile lie or do we become what we pretend to be?

#booksky recommend

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heliocrat @heliocrat.bsky.social · Jun 17

The administration's National Weather Service cuts may be motivated as another dagger in the back of renewable energy. Wind & solar use forecasts to predict generation & brace for hail. The loss to farms, airlines and weather disaster areas is merely acceptable collateral damage to the admin.