Author | Lightnews

Jason Smith

@newqueuelure.bsky.social

1.4K followers 280 following 5.6K posts

physicist messing around with economic theory and science fiction; he/him; ALX; was @infotranecon on twitter; email is this profile's username @ gmail bsky DMs open econ: https://information-equilibrium.ghost.io/ sci fi: https://innerhorizon.substack.com

information-equilibrium.ghost.io

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · Feb 23

thread of charts i put up on twitter in 2020 about how i think about "intelligence", why IQ is silly, and why we need a social safety net

let's start: we're born with a neural network that seeks input and has a few innate specialized subnets for things we evolved to do like speak or recognize faces

picture of a gray blob labeled as "the state space of a generic neural network" with a black outline with three random disconnected black arrows inside it labeled as "shared human genetic hooks for language acquisition, facial recognition, etc"

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2h

ICYMI

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 19h

Overselling approaches as solutions is far less interesting than engaging with the problems those approaches highlight

Reposted by Jason Smith

Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social · 3h

The “Person who wants a political party to lose describes what that political party must do to win” genre of article is just incredibly insulting to everyone’s intelligence yet it will persist until the end of time

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 14h

acidhole

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 19h

Basically the Neville Chamberlain of our time

Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 21h

My latest is about the latest revelations on the failed prosecution of Donald Trump, and why you should blame Merrick Garland more than the Supreme Court.

You Should Blame Merrick Garland

Garland's incompetence gave the Supreme Court the chance to set Trump free

stringinamaze.net

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 19h

i was unable to find a general solution

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 19h

Overselling approaches as solutions is far less interesting than engaging with the problems those approaches highlight

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 20h

i mean it was at one time illegal so our dementia-addled president might be recalling times before 1987, but republicans wanted rush limbaugh and fox news so, well, you know ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairnes...

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

Welp. Got to 2500 words and now am like: so what is my point?

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

Wikipedia out there dropping truth

Screenshot of Wikipedia article on the median; the relevant text reads:

If the marginal medians for all coordinate systems coincide, then their common location may be termed the "median in all directions".[41] This concept is relevant to voting theory on account of the median voter theorem. When it exists, the median in all directions coincides with the geometric median (at least for discrete distributions).

“When it exists” is highlighted

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

you might say: jason, didn't kamala also get less than 50% of the vote so by the same logic the median voter voted against kamala?

ah, so maybe a median voter doesn't exist?

i mean that or you have to know the number of dimensions the political opportunity set has

do you know? i don't.

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

trump got less than 50% of the popular vote so, assuming we can construct a simplified 1-dimensional politics where a median voter exists, that median voter voted against trump

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 1d

It is time to admit that Republicans won the 2024 election by running to the center.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/o...

The most obvious thing in politics is often the hardest to admit: If you lose an election, the best thing that you can do to make sure you win the next one is to find a message that puts you closer to the median voter than you were the last time around.

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

things were just like that back then

old British painting of a cow that is far, far too rectangular

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

putting 2 and 2 together (this and colonizing mars) realizing musk doesn't understand ionizing radiation

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

i'm very sure they figured out an orbit that's simultaneously LEO, avoids the southern atlantic anomaly, and gets global coverage

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

brb building a data center underground at hanford to take advantage of all those sweet sweet SEUs

Rude Law Dog @esghound.com · 1d

The same day Elon Musk claimed that Tesla would have a flying car next year (?), SpaceX hypeguy and editor of Ars Technica(wtf???) Eric Berger uncritically promoted a Musk 'Data Center in Space' scam that defies everything that is known about thermodynamics and newtonian physics

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

lol "sufferage"

think we're all suffering the age of these senators amirite?

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

I wonder if you could do the scotus jurisdiction thing with it? Like every state gets equal sufferage but the senate can only vote on treaties.

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 1d

But!

0 = 0

ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 1d

Article 5 of the Constitution (which outlines the Amendment process) says “no state [without its consent] can be deprived of equal suffrage in the Senate.”
That means that you can’t even amend the thing to get rid of the anti democratic structure of the Senate. :(

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

Eminent domain it to build the first city run grocery store.

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

When he wins, Mamdani should do petty shit to Schumer’s house in NYC. Like permit a permanent protest. Park city vehicles in front of it. Tear up the entire street.

Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 2d

CNN: Mamdani, are you going to vote for him?

CHUCK SCHUMER: We're continuing to talk.

CNN: The vote is on Tuesday; what are you gonna do?

CHUCK SCHUMER: [walks away]

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

but cops have gotten so used to doing that

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

so looks like:
1. war with venezuela over drug cartels
2. drug possession = material support for enemy in wartime
3. plant drugs on people you arrest
4. treason conviction
5. execution

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

And it’s the bad kind of crazy

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

what with the Kat Abughazaleh indictment and the impending strikes on Venezuela that's looking like two more

Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · Jan 6

was in a pretty pessimistic mood this jan 6th

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Jason Smith @newqueuelure.bsky.social · 2d

the rule of law has essentially already broken down; the 3rd term thing is just rubbing it in

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

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