Kevin Riggle
@kevinriggle.bsky.social
Principal @ http://complexsystems.group. I keep people safe on the internet (trying). Looking at the world with an “anarchist squint” 🏳️🌈 @ [email protected]
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
People in glass houses shouldn't throw eggs from their only basket
November 25, 2025 at 5:05 PM
People in glass houses shouldn't throw eggs from their only basket
Fun fact, “envidia” (from the Latin “invidia”) is Spanish for envy or jealousy
Time for my usual morning routine, pouring myself a cup of coffee and checking the stock price of the company "Nvidia" to find out if the entire economy has crashed
November 26, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Fun fact, “envidia” (from the Latin “invidia”) is Spanish for envy or jealousy
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
cant go to space
made a layer of junk too thick
cant go to internet
made layer of junk too thick
cant get to heaven
you guessed it
made a layer of junk too thick
cant go to internet
made layer of junk too thick
cant get to heaven
you guessed it
July 11, 2024 at 1:13 PM
cant go to space
made a layer of junk too thick
cant go to internet
made layer of junk too thick
cant get to heaven
you guessed it
made a layer of junk too thick
cant go to internet
made layer of junk too thick
cant get to heaven
you guessed it
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
If you're ever wondered why journalists seem so out of touch most of the time it's because in order to establish yourself you need to either come from money, marry into money, or be OK with abject poverty and daily financial panic
That third thing is unsustainable long-term
That third thing is unsustainable long-term
November 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM
If you're ever wondered why journalists seem so out of touch most of the time it's because in order to establish yourself you need to either come from money, marry into money, or be OK with abject poverty and daily financial panic
That third thing is unsustainable long-term
That third thing is unsustainable long-term
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Every time someone sees consciousness in an LLM, I hear Jeff Winger’s speech from the Community pilot: “I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve and go like this —” [snaps pencil] “—and part of you dies just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with anything.”
November 25, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Every time someone sees consciousness in an LLM, I hear Jeff Winger’s speech from the Community pilot: “I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve and go like this —” [snaps pencil] “—and part of you dies just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with anything.”
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Solidarity with @teamsters.bsky.social , who sanctioned our strike nationwide and won't be delivering food, picking up trash, or bringing packages across picket lines! ✊🔥
#NoContractNoCoffee
#NoContractNoCoffee
November 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Solidarity with @teamsters.bsky.social , who sanctioned our strike nationwide and won't be delivering food, picking up trash, or bringing packages across picket lines! ✊🔥
#NoContractNoCoffee
#NoContractNoCoffee
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
As a buyer, it takes two for me. (Small bookstore)
November 25, 2025 at 11:23 PM
As a buyer, it takes two for me. (Small bookstore)
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
I once caused a run on Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life & Others and panicked the manager at the local B&N by telling three people that it was an incredibly good collection.
November 25, 2025 at 11:34 PM
I once caused a run on Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life & Others and panicked the manager at the local B&N by telling three people that it was an incredibly good collection.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Related: I feel like a lot of the piracy vs buying discourse (🤢 that this is even a thing) gets framed as stealing money from individual authors vs. stealing from faceless corporate publishers when for most authors it’s about whether or not they’ll get to publish another book.
November 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Related: I feel like a lot of the piracy vs buying discourse (🤢 that this is even a thing) gets framed as stealing money from individual authors vs. stealing from faceless corporate publishers when for most authors it’s about whether or not they’ll get to publish another book.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
saving to read later
Completely separately, there is a very interesting Wojtowicz and DeDeo paper - arxiv.org/pdf/2407.14452 - arguing that LLMs make it harder to signal sincere willingness to cooperate across a variety of social situations, by making it cheaper to send previously costly signals.
arxiv.org
November 25, 2025 at 11:24 PM
saving to read later
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
LLMs make it much more difficult than in the past to distinguish sincere hard effort from automated boilerplate, so that it is harder to tell a sincere boss committed to helping you work better from one who is lazy and couldn't care less about you. There are similar dynamics for other situations.
November 25, 2025 at 11:18 PM
LLMs make it much more difficult than in the past to distinguish sincere hard effort from automated boilerplate, so that it is harder to tell a sincere boss committed to helping you work better from one who is lazy and couldn't care less about you. There are similar dynamics for other situations.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Yes. Also voters like it when you stand for something. "I don't care if Republicans think we're wrong or if it's not popular, I'm standing up for my neighbors and friends" has benefits beyond the issue itself.
I think Democrats should double down on trans rights now. It's obvious that most voters don't care about it so you might as well stick with your principles and goad Republicans into focusing on it at the expense of everything else so they're the ones who look like freaks.
November 25, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Yes. Also voters like it when you stand for something. "I don't care if Republicans think we're wrong or if it's not popular, I'm standing up for my neighbors and friends" has benefits beyond the issue itself.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
it transcends the morality of the thing itself. people understand trans people to be a democratic constituency and not defending them signals to the wider electorate that democrats won’t “defend” them either.
November 25, 2025 at 10:57 PM
it transcends the morality of the thing itself. people understand trans people to be a democratic constituency and not defending them signals to the wider electorate that democrats won’t “defend” them either.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
This reminds me of the man who was asked, "Have you read every book in your library?" and replied, "No, and I have not opened every bottle in my wine cellar, either."
November 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
This reminds me of the man who was asked, "Have you read every book in your library?" and replied, "No, and I have not opened every bottle in my wine cellar, either."
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Good week to repost this from a couple years ago
November 25, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Good week to repost this from a couple years ago
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
The postcard and leaflet versions with more details are fantastic, but also harder to hide, easier to get rid of/remove from an area, and harder to take in at a glance. Having the phone number plastered everywhere (that you have permission to label, of course!) is another tactic that can help!
November 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The postcard and leaflet versions with more details are fantastic, but also harder to hide, easier to get rid of/remove from an area, and harder to take in at a glance. Having the phone number plastered everywhere (that you have permission to label, of course!) is another tactic that can help!
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Just dropped this elsewhere, so boosting, since the illegal-orders discussion is back in the news: there's some great GI Rights Hotline postcards and leaflets for printing and distributing, but here's one with the absolute basic message and phone number as a label template.
I've seen a bunch of people sharing leaflet and postcard-sized versions of the GI Rights Hotline info, but I haven't seen any templates designed for label printing, so 30 seconds with the Avery template maker made the simplest possible version with the absolute basics (to be seen from a distance).
November 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Just dropped this elsewhere, so boosting, since the illegal-orders discussion is back in the news: there's some great GI Rights Hotline postcards and leaflets for printing and distributing, but here's one with the absolute basic message and phone number as a label template.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
Bay Area friends: SF Bay Area Mutual Aid is looking for donations for their holiday gift market!
November 25, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Bay Area friends: SF Bay Area Mutual Aid is looking for donations for their holiday gift market!
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
People are already doing what you say they *should be* doing. You could join them.
November 25, 2025 at 9:49 PM
People are already doing what you say they *should be* doing. You could join them.
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
waste to cover up fraud and abuse
The docs also reveal the number of hours the FBI devoted to the project, which required some agents to work nights and weekends. The FBI paid personnel $851,344 in overtime for working on the Epstein files between March 17 and March 22.
November 25, 2025 at 9:55 PM
waste to cover up fraud and abuse
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
The first legislators arrested for inspecting these spaces were Black legislators from New Jersey
Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
November 25, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The first legislators arrested for inspecting these spaces were Black legislators from New Jersey
From the people who brought you cars that catch on fire when they crash, which also have door handles that don't operate in the event of a crash
the AEB mandate was voluntarily adopted by the entire US auto industry because it has an unambiguous and independently validated impact on safety... eliminating it is the stupidest automotive safety proposal I have heard in my entire life
Exclusive: Republicans plan to challenge vehicle-safety mandates, such as automatic emergency braking and alarms that remind drivers a child is in the back seat.
November 25, 2025 at 10:14 PM
From the people who brought you cars that catch on fire when they crash, which also have door handles that don't operate in the event of a crash
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
malicious denial of service attack on an adhd person by scheduling something to happen at some point in the afternoon
November 25, 2025 at 8:45 PM
malicious denial of service attack on an adhd person by scheduling something to happen at some point in the afternoon
Reposted by Kevin Riggle
"Want to feel old?" "Yes."
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
"Want to feel old?" "Yes."