Modern Day Bartleby
@moderndaybartleby.bsky.social
Former Clevelander, STL, SF now Tokyoite
He/Him/They/Them
#NowWithALT Creator
https://moderndaybartleby.wordpress.com/2024/08/16/nowwithalt/
Buy Me a Coffee - coff.ee/ModernDayBartleby
He/Him/They/Them
#NowWithALT Creator
https://moderndaybartleby.wordpress.com/2024/08/16/nowwithalt/
Buy Me a Coffee - coff.ee/ModernDayBartleby
Pinned
The Coffee Shop That Shall Remain Nameless
A new coffee shop recently opened in my neighborhood. And being that one of my hobbies is coffee and the shops that provide said beverage, I had to go. This coffee shop shall remain nameless becaus…
moderndaybartleby.wordpress.com
I wrote a little essay about how essays are better than star-ratings -
#Coffee #CoffeeSky #Tokyo #Japan #UrbanStudies
moderndaybartleby.wordpress.com/2026/02/15/t...
#Coffee #CoffeeSky #Tokyo #Japan #UrbanStudies
moderndaybartleby.wordpress.com/2026/02/15/t...
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Back to the notion of public education: rather than trivializing LLMs (which are inescapable now), this brief thumbnail history of a classic computer science problem furnishes us with the critical tools and vocabulary to explain the difference between how machines make meaning and how we do. +
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Back to the notion of public education: rather than trivializing LLMs (which are inescapable now), this brief thumbnail history of a classic computer science problem furnishes us with the critical tools and vocabulary to explain the difference between how machines make meaning and how we do. +
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
What we *never* get is a lived, embodied experience. Rather than "autocomplete on steroids" better to think of the old deconstructivist fantasy of the world as text, symbols unmoored, an endless scroll in every sense. +
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
What we *never* get is a lived, embodied experience. Rather than "autocomplete on steroids" better to think of the old deconstructivist fantasy of the world as text, symbols unmoored, an endless scroll in every sense. +
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
From this follows all of the phenomena we associate with LLMs: the hallucinations, the weird verbal ticks (let's maybe *delve* into those), the bland and flat prose (if that's how the model has been tuned), the howlers, the propaganda, the misogyny and racism and ableism, and everything else. +
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
From this follows all of the phenomena we associate with LLMs: the hallucinations, the weird verbal ticks (let's maybe *delve* into those), the bland and flat prose (if that's how the model has been tuned), the howlers, the propaganda, the misogyny and racism and ableism, and everything else. +
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Computers can't do this. They can't touch grass as I said, which is to say they can't reach outside of their own box of symbolic symbols and make an experiential connection to something--some actual THING--in the real world. Instead they rely on models of consensus, which is to say statistics.+
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Computers can't do this. They can't touch grass as I said, which is to say they can't reach outside of their own box of symbolic symbols and make an experiential connection to something--some actual THING--in the real world. Instead they rely on models of consensus, which is to say statistics.+
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
But, you'll notice that we never escape what the good and great postmodernist Fredric Jameson called the "prison house of language": for in this model, our notion of what something means is defined only ever relationally, words having meanings relative to other *words*. +
August 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
But, you'll notice that we never escape what the good and great postmodernist Fredric Jameson called the "prison house of language": for in this model, our notion of what something means is defined only ever relationally, words having meanings relative to other *words*. +
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
This is a fantastic thread that you should read. Join your neighbors and defend your neighbors. The people united will never be defeated.
Let me tell you a tale of how completely the normies have been mobilized. My 14 year-old niece has done School of Rock for the past 5 years; last summer she was part of their touring band, and the kids loved playing together so much that they decided to keep doing it. (1/?)
February 16, 2026 at 4:22 AM
This is a fantastic thread that you should read. Join your neighbors and defend your neighbors. The people united will never be defeated.
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Preliminary results show that the current framework of "AI" makes ppl less likely to help or seek help from other humans, or to seek to soothe conflict, and that people actively prefer that framework to any others, literally serving to make them more dependent on it.
Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence
Both the general public and academic communities have raised concerns about sycophancy, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) excessively agreeing with or flattering users. Yet, beyond isolat...
arxiv.org
October 5, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Preliminary results show that the current framework of "AI" makes ppl less likely to help or seek help from other humans, or to seek to soothe conflict, and that people actively prefer that framework to any others, literally serving to make them more dependent on it.
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
The United States' national debt is set to balloon to $64 trillion over the next 10 years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday, citing a jump in annual deficits that owes in part to tax cuts enacted by President Trump. | ABC
abcnews.com/Business/us-...
abcnews.com/Business/us-...
US debt projected to reach $64 trillion in a decade, nonpartisan group says
The United States' national debt is set to balloon to $64 trillion over the next 10 years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday.
abcnews.com
February 15, 2026 at 1:31 PM
The United States' national debt is set to balloon to $64 trillion over the next 10 years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday, citing a jump in annual deficits that owes in part to tax cuts enacted by President Trump. | ABC
abcnews.com/Business/us-...
abcnews.com/Business/us-...
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
"AI detectors" are themselves AI, and yet are endlessly trusted by people on here if they say that a newspaper article is AI.
AI detectors are snake oil. None of them reliably works. And UK broadsheet are not yet using AI to write articles. No, that link to the deal you found doesn't prove it.
AI detectors are snake oil. None of them reliably works. And UK broadsheet are not yet using AI to write articles. No, that link to the deal you found doesn't prove it.
Just because I keep seeing those "I checked this piece and it's written by AI" - this is an old article of mine, before AI was available. So could we not?
February 16, 2026 at 10:44 AM
"AI detectors" are themselves AI, and yet are endlessly trusted by people on here if they say that a newspaper article is AI.
AI detectors are snake oil. None of them reliably works. And UK broadsheet are not yet using AI to write articles. No, that link to the deal you found doesn't prove it.
AI detectors are snake oil. None of them reliably works. And UK broadsheet are not yet using AI to write articles. No, that link to the deal you found doesn't prove it.
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
"Addressing this injustice requires a living politics of care. This means a political system that recognises vulnerability as socially produced and demands solidarity, equity and accountability"
Preventable deaths in a warming world: how politics shapes who lives and who dies
Preventable suffering is both widespread and socially produced.
theconversation.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:39 AM
"Addressing this injustice requires a living politics of care. This means a political system that recognises vulnerability as socially produced and demands solidarity, equity and accountability"
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
The wellness to eugenics to fascism pipeline is well documented.
It’s why disabled people beg you to stop treating us as expendable.
Health supremacy devalues other human beings.
It leads to deciding some lives are “worth” more than others.
It paves the way for atrocities.
It’s why disabled people beg you to stop treating us as expendable.
Health supremacy devalues other human beings.
It leads to deciding some lives are “worth” more than others.
It paves the way for atrocities.
February 16, 2026 at 9:26 AM
The wellness to eugenics to fascism pipeline is well documented.
It’s why disabled people beg you to stop treating us as expendable.
Health supremacy devalues other human beings.
It leads to deciding some lives are “worth” more than others.
It paves the way for atrocities.
It’s why disabled people beg you to stop treating us as expendable.
Health supremacy devalues other human beings.
It leads to deciding some lives are “worth” more than others.
It paves the way for atrocities.
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Cafe report - Located on a quiet backstreet in the middle of Shimo-Kitazawa's bohemian shopping zone, Look Up is a relaxing spot for a mid-day coffee break. They serve both drip coffee and espresso drinks, with an emphasis on Latin American single-origin beans. #tokyo #coffee
rev.bentojp.com/lookup
rev.bentojp.com/lookup
February 16, 2026 at 6:17 AM
Cafe report - Located on a quiet backstreet in the middle of Shimo-Kitazawa's bohemian shopping zone, Look Up is a relaxing spot for a mid-day coffee break. They serve both drip coffee and espresso drinks, with an emphasis on Latin American single-origin beans. #tokyo #coffee
rev.bentojp.com/lookup
rev.bentojp.com/lookup
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
My book You've Been Played goes in-depth on gamified learning and school apps like Classdojo!
February 16, 2026 at 9:44 AM
My book You've Been Played goes in-depth on gamified learning and school apps like Classdojo!
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Suspect we're going to see a lot of this today, so a reminder please not to use the phrase "child porn". learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/why-lan...
“No platform gets a free pass” says Keir Starmer in a post on a child pornography factory social media site that has a free pass.
Starmer to pledge social media crackdown to protect children — Sky News
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has insisted nobody will get a
apple.news
February 16, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Suspect we're going to see a lot of this today, so a reminder please not to use the phrase "child porn". learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/why-lan...
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Skeleton-Triple 'firsts' and helmet controversy are 2026 legacy - https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/skeleton-triple-firsts-and-helmet-controversy-are-2026-legacy-5934061
Skeleton-Triple 'firsts' and helmet controversy are 2026 legacy
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 16 : The Olympic skeleton programme produced three historic racing moments as Matt Weston became the first British man to win gold, women’s champion Laura Flock claimed a first female medal for Austria and Britain - with Weston - won the first team relay.It also provided one of
www.channelnewsasia.com
February 16, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Skeleton-Triple 'firsts' and helmet controversy are 2026 legacy - https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/skeleton-triple-firsts-and-helmet-controversy-are-2026-legacy-5934061
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
"OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:33 PM
"OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
My fundamental issue with AI is it doesn’t do most things better than people do. And never will.
"OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
This isn't a dead canary in the coal mine, it's a miner. AI doesn't work.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
February 16, 2026 at 10:11 AM
My fundamental issue with AI is it doesn’t do most things better than people do. And never will.
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Seems someone from Niger is Nigerien (nee-zhe-ree-an) and someone from Nigeria is Nigerian (ny-jee-ree-an), but good luck getting people to see, understand, say the difference.
February 16, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Seems someone from Niger is Nigerien (nee-zhe-ree-an) and someone from Nigeria is Nigerian (ny-jee-ree-an), but good luck getting people to see, understand, say the difference.
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Do Niger and Nigeria really get the same demonym?
February 16, 2026 at 8:15 AM
Do Niger and Nigeria really get the same demonym?
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
it should probably be a bigger story that the richest man in the history of humanity is, objectively speaking, just a straight up Nazi
also the next democratic administration needs to throw him in prison
also the next democratic administration needs to throw him in prison
February 15, 2026 at 11:24 PM
it should probably be a bigger story that the richest man in the history of humanity is, objectively speaking, just a straight up Nazi
also the next democratic administration needs to throw him in prison
also the next democratic administration needs to throw him in prison
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
I mentioned DIY privacy options and this site has a good collection of recommendations. I hesitate to say use Google’s free service because it also requires you to give more information to Google. www.privacyguides.org/en/tools/
Ad-Free Privacy Tool/Service Recommendations - Privacy Guides
A complete list of the privacy tools, services, software, and hardware recommended by the Privacy Guides community.
www.privacyguides.org
February 16, 2026 at 5:13 AM
I mentioned DIY privacy options and this site has a good collection of recommendations. I hesitate to say use Google’s free service because it also requires you to give more information to Google. www.privacyguides.org/en/tools/
Reposted by Modern Day Bartleby
Attorney General Pam Bondi delved into name calling and shouting when questioned about the Epstein files.
Thomas Massie: 'Pam Bondi Doesn't Have Confidence In Pam Bondi'
Attorney General Pam Bondi delved into name calling and shouting when questioned about the Epstein files.
www.huffpost.com
February 15, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Attorney General Pam Bondi delved into name calling and shouting when questioned about the Epstein files.