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Ken Appleby

@kenappleby.bsky.social

150 followers 300 following 300 posts

Science educated, generalist. Software engineer. Ex Symbolics Inc. Harlequin Ltd. Emacs user. Musician: applebystone.com bandmix.co.uk/ken-appleby Producer: pindropevents.co.uk Lapsed wild camper, hill climber. Published sci-fi author. Born 314 ppm CO2.

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 17d

Have you ever seen a kestrel hunting, hovering on a blustery
hilltop wind, adjusting, accommodating to the boisterous,
buffeting air so that its eyes remain fixed in space
to better follow the motions of its prey?

I have, and many people have. No "AI" has.

#AI #AGI #LLM #ChatGPT #OpenAI

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 11h

... and their drummer. He brings it together, makes it all work.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 13h

They seem to be driven by Biblical beliefs. The world was created by (Christian Biblical, white, male) God for Man to exploit and have dominion over. Climate breakdown, enviromental collapse can't be happening because He wouldn't have designed it that way.
The USA is turning back to the Dark Ages.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 13h

Interesting thought.
And thank you for introducing me to the word "chiliastic." :-)

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 15h

*big bang, obvs

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 15h

My understanding* is that beryllium is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, nor was there much created during the first minutes of the big band, though there was some. It's mostly produced by cosmic rays hitting larger nuclei.

* I studied nucleosynthesis a bit in a previous era.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 3d

No mention of why extreme heat conditions now exist for them at all:
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/o...
#climate #climatebreakdown #globalwarming

‘You want a player to die?’ Heat is on tennis after players wilt in extreme conditions

Every year players are pushed to their limits in a sport that chases the sun. But the number of retirements, withdrawals and injuries this season has been shocking

www.theguardian.com

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 3d

A highly experienced, long-time professional orchestral, session and live musician just said of my band:

"Not many bands can groove hard at low volumes like this band. It's classy."

Blimey. That feels good!

applebystone.com
#livemusic #jazz #folk #acoustic #music

Appleby Stone

Original Folk Jazz

applebystone.com

Reposted by Ken Appleby

Cathrin Machin Space Art @cathrinmachin.bsky.social · 3d

Can you help?… I’m trying to find my people

I know there’s more space fans here… just not sure how to reach you

Feels weird to ask, but would you give me a signal boost by hitting share?

If you’re new… Hi I’m Cat, I make pretty picture of space 🥹 let’s connect if you like weird space art

Woman standing next to large artwork on an easel. The painting is of a wormhole with gravitational lensing that shows stars and galaxies are warped around a central point.

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 3d

My wife just vetoed a jacket in M&S I was about to buy because it had "too many ridiculous pockets"

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 6d

It was.
It was a new friendship of great value to me (and still is) but to try to explain to my friend that maybe lawns are not as important or interesting as magnificent, ancient, native and rare mature trees was an argument that I felt I could not push at the time.
People have tiny perspectives.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 6d

If A is correlated with B and B is correlated with C, isn't A correlated with C?

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 6d

I'm on my 4th reading of this mind-stretching and superb article. I get about 3/4 of the way through, mostly comfortably, but then it all starts to make me dizzy.

How can the memory be entangled with both the quantum system and the sink, but not the quantum system with the sink through the memory?

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 6d

Anne-Marie at her wonderful best. The new song is intriguing.

Anne-Marie Sanderson @annemariesanderson.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you to the wonderful folk at The Barn in deepest West Cumbria for having me for this live session. I played two songs from my album Old Light, and a newer song which will be on my next album (recording in progress!). youtu.be/YLOGKL4xzS4?...

Anne-Marie Sanderson: Recorded Live at The Barn

YouTube video by The Barn

youtu.be

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 7d

So would I. Such magnificent trees.
I have a friend who had a colossal one at the bottom of her garden felled because its roots were making her lawn uneven.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 8d

Yet another tech bubble we have to live through.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 8d

"low-level physics *under-determines* the future ... macroscopic organisation can play a causal role"

That's a beautifully concise expression of why we have free will. Its expansion will be the cause of many great discussions. I am going to borrow it, if I may.

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 8d

Nice. There's a realism there. If you've ever watch clouds rolling by.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 11d

She's wrong about Free Will as well. :-)

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 12d

I think it works. It draws you in, entices you to get closer. The added realism would work for me. The vibrant colours are there to be discovered. They don't have to be exhibited at all levels.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 13d

So beautiful ...

Anne-Marie Sanderson @annemariesanderson.bsky.social · 13d

youtu.be/XmP5O2S1ihQ?...

A song inspired by Marina Abramovic's 'Shoes for Departure' (which I learned about via Rebecca Solnit's brilliant book Wanderlust)... a great big pair of amethyst clogs, which, when viewed in a gallery, you are invited step into and see where they take you...

Anne-Marie Sanderson - Amethyst Shoes live

YouTube video by Anne-Marie Sanderson

youtu.be

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 15d

Me too. But they have stopped appearing in any numbers where I live now. I don't know the reasons, but I suspect the fact that nearly all the wilder spaces in this town have been built on. Tarmac and concrete replacing unkempt gardens.

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Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 17d

"AI" is Artificial, but it is not Intelligent.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 17d

If there are no sufficiently adjacent words available to it, the software confabulates some best guess from the patterns that are by its arbitrary algorithms closest to the request.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 17d

When asked questions about a kestrel balancing the wind while hunting, all the "AI" can respond with are words written by someone attempting to describe such a thing that it finds on the web. If there are any.

Ken Appleby @kenappleby.bsky.social · 17d

"AI" has not had _any_ experiences. All that is available
to "AI" are the words written by human authors. To the "AI" those words are just dry patterns.