PG Holmlov
@pgho.bsky.social
I told Olivia clearly and firmly that her editor would learn of her affair with Bobby and that she needed to disclose it to him immediately… Olivia repeated what she said on August 17: “If anyone ever finds out, I’m afraid Bobby will kill me.” I never saw her again www.telos.news/p/part-5-loy...
Part 5: Loyalty Test
If you are new to this series, please read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.
www.telos.news
December 12, 2025 at 9:05 AM
I told Olivia clearly and firmly that her editor would learn of her affair with Bobby and that she needed to disclose it to him immediately… Olivia repeated what she said on August 17: “If anyone ever finds out, I’m afraid Bobby will kill me.” I never saw her again www.telos.news/p/part-5-loy...
Reposted by PG Holmlov
Finns det någon studie på vilka yrken folk hamnar i förhållande till vilken roll de spelat i Luciatåg? Misstänker att tomtar och pepparkakor är överrepresenterade i kreativa yrken/media.
December 12, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Finns det någon studie på vilka yrken folk hamnar i förhållande till vilken roll de spelat i Luciatåg? Misstänker att tomtar och pepparkakor är överrepresenterade i kreativa yrken/media.
Scientists will conclude ”…the result is statistically significant”… But for large studies this can happen for really small effects. In those cases, it can be MORE accurate to say ”X has no effect on Y” even though, technically, there is an effect clearerthinking.beehiiv.com/p/one-helpfu...
One Helpful Idea: Small effects, large sample
clearerthinking.beehiiv.com
December 12, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Scientists will conclude ”…the result is statistically significant”… But for large studies this can happen for really small effects. In those cases, it can be MORE accurate to say ”X has no effect on Y” even though, technically, there is an effect clearerthinking.beehiiv.com/p/one-helpfu...
Damages that are essentially baked in over the next 25 years will cost six times the money it would take to lower emissions enough to limit the world to 2 degrees Celsius of warming, the goal set by the Paris Climate Accord www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/b...
Top Journal Retracts Study Predicting Catastrophic Climate Toll
www.nytimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Damages that are essentially baked in over the next 25 years will cost six times the money it would take to lower emissions enough to limit the world to 2 degrees Celsius of warming, the goal set by the Paris Climate Accord www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/b...
To which I would respond: No one, whether you are right or left or middle-of-the-road or nothing at all, whether you are faculty or a student, should ever feel overly comfortable in college… “The point of education is to change what people think” washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/11/t...
The Kalven Trap
University leaders are clinging to “viewpoint diversity” and institutional neutrality in the face of MAGA assaults. This is a mistake.
washingtonmonthly.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:34 AM
To which I would respond: No one, whether you are right or left or middle-of-the-road or nothing at all, whether you are faculty or a student, should ever feel overly comfortable in college… “The point of education is to change what people think” washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/11/t...
Take away our ability to speak, and we can still think, reason, form beliefs, fall in love, and move about the world… But take away language from a large language model, and you are left with literally nothing at all buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/large-lang...
Large Language Mistake
Current AI models are not on the path to artificial general intelligence
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Take away our ability to speak, and we can still think, reason, form beliefs, fall in love, and move about the world… But take away language from a large language model, and you are left with literally nothing at all buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/large-lang...
Evidence suggests that all tested forms of thought are possible in the absence of language, and that engaging in diverse forms of thinking and reasoning does not recruit the language network… language serves a primarily communicative function www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Language is primarily a tool for communication rather than thought - Nature
Evidence from neuroscience and related fields suggests that language and thought processes operate in distinct networks in the human brain and that language is optimized for communication and not for ...
www.nature.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Evidence suggests that all tested forms of thought are possible in the absence of language, and that engaging in diverse forms of thinking and reasoning does not recruit the language network… language serves a primarily communicative function www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Taibbi, in sworn testimony, was calling for dismantling of newsrooms and fact-checkers across the world in the name of free speech… disinformation research had made itself an easy target by provoking grievances in those who found themselves on the wrong side of it www.theverge.com/features/839...
The disinformation wars are here
How Joe Biden’s administration caved to the right in the battle for truth.
www.theverge.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Taibbi, in sworn testimony, was calling for dismantling of newsrooms and fact-checkers across the world in the name of free speech… disinformation research had made itself an easy target by provoking grievances in those who found themselves on the wrong side of it www.theverge.com/features/839...
”The daily demolitions show that the occupation [Israel] is continuing with its aggressive plans of destruction, aimed at making vast areas of Gaza uninhabitable… This condemns hundreds of thousands of residents to lose all hope of return” www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
How the Israeli army is razing the part of Gaza it is supposed to withdraw from
Despite the ceasefire that was declared on October 10, Israel has continued to raze many buildings east of the 'yellow line' in the Gaza Strip, according to local residents and satellite images of the...
www.lemonde.fr
December 11, 2025 at 8:46 AM
”The daily demolitions show that the occupation [Israel] is continuing with its aggressive plans of destruction, aimed at making vast areas of Gaza uninhabitable… This condemns hundreds of thousands of residents to lose all hope of return” www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
….he used a “theoretically salient” approach of analyzing genetic data to determine the proportion of full and half-siblings born into a population to determine how monogamous it is… Humans ranked seventh among those analyzed with 66% full siblings www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
How monogamous are humans? A study ranks us between meerkats and beavers.
The extent to which humans are monogamous has long been subject to debate. One scientist says studying sibling genetics gives a clear answer.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:38 AM
….he used a “theoretically salient” approach of analyzing genetic data to determine the proportion of full and half-siblings born into a population to determine how monogamous it is… Humans ranked seventh among those analyzed with 66% full siblings www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
…humans have never been truly sustainable… many generations had lower environmental impact… But by basic metrics of human wellbeing, life was not good… Falling child mortality happened everywhere… Global maternal mortality more than halved since 1980 www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/sustainabl...
Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?
The opportunity to build a human-nature relationship that is not zero-sum.
www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:35 AM
…humans have never been truly sustainable… many generations had lower environmental impact… But by basic metrics of human wellbeing, life was not good… Falling child mortality happened everywhere… Global maternal mortality more than halved since 1980 www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/sustainabl...
While the body count in the West Bank was higher during the second intifada, life was absolutely worse now in every other way… “Even back then there was hope, maybe. Now the people seem completely desperate. They feel completely abandoned” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
I used to report from the West Bank. Twenty years after my last visit, I was shocked by how much worse it is today
The long read: Among the many people I met, there was a pervasive feeling of hopelessness and a sense that resistance is slowly becoming a memory
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
While the body count in the West Bank was higher during the second intifada, life was absolutely worse now in every other way… “Even back then there was hope, maybe. Now the people seem completely desperate. They feel completely abandoned” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Between 1980 and 2018, agricultural land in the glacier’s Lidder watershed fell by almost 40%… “could reshape the future of Kashmir’s water, agriculture and ecosystems”… All 18,000 glaciers in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are melting www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Even the animals seem confused’: a retreating Kashmir glacier is creating an entire new world in its wake
Kolahoi is one of many glaciers whose decline is disrupting whole ecosystems – water, wildlife and human life that it has supported for centuries
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Between 1980 and 2018, agricultural land in the glacier’s Lidder watershed fell by almost 40%… “could reshape the future of Kashmir’s water, agriculture and ecosystems”… All 18,000 glaciers in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are melting www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Six traits stood out as distinctly cool: high levels of extraversion, hedonism, power, adventurousness, openness to experience, and autonomy… These six traits were also reliably rated as characteristic of coolness regardless of cultural or economic context www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...
So you want to be cool… | BPS
New research takes a look at what it means to be cool around the world.
www.bps.org.uk
December 11, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Six traits stood out as distinctly cool: high levels of extraversion, hedonism, power, adventurousness, openness to experience, and autonomy… These six traits were also reliably rated as characteristic of coolness regardless of cultural or economic context www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...
…extremist violence in forensic settings is shaped less by ideological commitment, more by social identity and personal meaning-making. Rather than being driven by particularly strong politics, people may turn to extremism to regain significance or assert control. www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...
Identity and personal meaning-making maintain extremism in high-security inmates | BPS
New work examines the factors associated with radical beliefs and behaviours in forensic mental health populations.
www.bps.org.uk
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 AM
…extremist violence in forensic settings is shaped less by ideological commitment, more by social identity and personal meaning-making. Rather than being driven by particularly strong politics, people may turn to extremism to regain significance or assert control. www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...
…they show that the media and investors increasingly designated KPMG as the primary scapegoat for the failure of Carillion. The problem wasn’t that Carillion did anything wrong; the problem was that KPMG didn’t catch them klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/we-dont-wa...
We don’t want auditors to be good at their job
The process repeats regularly.
klementoninvesting.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:19 AM
…they show that the media and investors increasingly designated KPMG as the primary scapegoat for the failure of Carillion. The problem wasn’t that Carillion did anything wrong; the problem was that KPMG didn’t catch them klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/we-dont-wa...
“There is growing concern...that in 2029 the ICC will turn its attention to the president, to the vice president, to the secretary of war and others, and pursue prosecutions against them”, a Trump administration official told Pamuk heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-1...
December 10, 2025
Today is Human Rights Day, celebrated internationally in honor of the day seventy-seven years ago, December 10, 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Hu...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:15 AM
“There is growing concern...that in 2029 the ICC will turn its attention to the president, to the vice president, to the secretary of war and others, and pursue prosecutions against them”, a Trump administration official told Pamuk heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-1...
Reposted by PG Holmlov
Days after FIFA awarded Trump a fake peace prize, DOJ moves to drop charges in FIFA corruption case www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/n...
U.S. Moves to Drop Charges in International Soccer Corruption Case
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Days after FIFA awarded Trump a fake peace prize, DOJ moves to drop charges in FIFA corruption case www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/n...
Donald Trump’s administration is in talks to revoke the visas of two European green card holders… Both prominent critics of Twitter (“X”)… The draft memo is meant to provide options for Rubio to respond to a $140 million fine that the European Union levied against Twitter zeteo.com/p/trump-revo...
SCOOP: Trump Admin Is Preparing to Revoke Visas of Critics of Elon Musk’s Twitter
Trump officials are considering revoking the visas of former European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton and Imran Ahmed, of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
zeteo.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Donald Trump’s administration is in talks to revoke the visas of two European green card holders… Both prominent critics of Twitter (“X”)… The draft memo is meant to provide options for Rubio to respond to a $140 million fine that the European Union levied against Twitter zeteo.com/p/trump-revo...
Flock captures everything it sees… a Washington state judge ruled that the sweep is so great that its data is a public record… City attorneys said releasing the data would compromise the privacy of innocents. But saw no problem with government keeping the data neuburger.substack.com/p/cities-pan...
Cities Panic Over Having to Release Mass Surveillance Recordings
Flock's 'licence plate readers' read much more than license plates. A judge says what they record must be released.
neuburger.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Flock captures everything it sees… a Washington state judge ruled that the sweep is so great that its data is a public record… City attorneys said releasing the data would compromise the privacy of innocents. But saw no problem with government keeping the data neuburger.substack.com/p/cities-pan...
I mejlet till cheferna skriver Joachim Waern att han försäkrats om att somalierna kommer att hålla sin del av avtalet. Överenskommelsen har inte, och kommer inte, att kommuniceras officiellt… Göran Holmqvist, tidigare Sida-chef, ser betydande risk för korruption www.dn.se/sverige/har-...
Här är den hemliga uppgörelsen om Somaliapengarna
Här är avtalet om pengarna till Somalia. DN kan publicera överenskommelsen där Sverige lovar över 100 miljoner – utan påskrifter eller bindande garantier.
www.dn.se
December 11, 2025 at 6:18 AM
I mejlet till cheferna skriver Joachim Waern att han försäkrats om att somalierna kommer att hålla sin del av avtalet. Överenskommelsen har inte, och kommer inte, att kommuniceras officiellt… Göran Holmqvist, tidigare Sida-chef, ser betydande risk för korruption www.dn.se/sverige/har-...
Reposted by PG Holmlov
David Ellison appears to be mortified that CBS/60 Minutes is “going rogue” by covering the news and by keeping him “in the dark” about a segment critical of Trump.
Because Ellison doesn’t realize that’s how it’s supposed to work.
nypost.com/2025/12/10/m...
Because Ellison doesn’t realize that’s how it’s supposed to work.
nypost.com/2025/12/10/m...
December 11, 2025 at 4:36 AM
David Ellison appears to be mortified that CBS/60 Minutes is “going rogue” by covering the news and by keeping him “in the dark” about a segment critical of Trump.
Because Ellison doesn’t realize that’s how it’s supposed to work.
nypost.com/2025/12/10/m...
Because Ellison doesn’t realize that’s how it’s supposed to work.
nypost.com/2025/12/10/m...
…human thinking is largely independent of human language — we have little reason to believe ever more sophisticated modeling of language will create a form of intelligence that meets or surpasses our own… We use language to think, but language is not the same as thought archive.ph/2025.12.09-1...
archive.ph
December 11, 2025 at 6:06 AM
…human thinking is largely independent of human language — we have little reason to believe ever more sophisticated modeling of language will create a form of intelligence that meets or surpasses our own… We use language to think, but language is not the same as thought archive.ph/2025.12.09-1...
Reposted by PG Holmlov
One morning Toad sat in bed. “I have many things to do,” he said. “I will write them all down on a list so that I can remember them.”
December 11, 2025 at 5:37 AM
One morning Toad sat in bed. “I have many things to do,” he said. “I will write them all down on a list so that I can remember them.”
The AI optimists selling “continuous immersion” are selling a future where we either are bored by the magic (it becomes normal) or eaten by it (we forget it’s not real)… We need to build hard stops… We immerse for 20 minutes… and then close the laptop mikekentz.substack.com/p/the-commit...
The Commitment Paradox: To Learn from AI, You Have to Lie to Yourself
Lessons from Improv, Ray Bradbury, and the dangerous art of suspending disbelief.
mikekentz.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
The AI optimists selling “continuous immersion” are selling a future where we either are bored by the magic (it becomes normal) or eaten by it (we forget it’s not real)… We need to build hard stops… We immerse for 20 minutes… and then close the laptop mikekentz.substack.com/p/the-commit...