Paul M. Cray
@pmc.bsky.social
"A plain, unvarnished Preston man." Permanent resident alien in Seattle, Wash. Interests: AGI, books, food, futurology, historiographic metafiction, ideas, sf, technoeconomic paradigm shifts, the Technological Singularity, writing
Pinned
Paul M. Cray
@pmc.bsky.social
· Dec 3
These two "New Worlds" cover just about sum up my overall Weltanschauung
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
It also literally had the OG nuclear program and it was capable of actually producing weapons with it, which in the medium to long term means canned sunshine starts raining on Germany until Germans are either extinct or they quit.
January 2, 2026 at 7:13 PM
It also literally had the OG nuclear program and it was capable of actually producing weapons with it, which in the medium to long term means canned sunshine starts raining on Germany until Germans are either extinct or they quit.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
That doesn't really mean the film was first broadcast then
January 3, 2026 at 9:28 PM
That doesn't really mean the film was first broadcast then
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Not the long teatime season, which was mainly 50s and 60s if I remember rightly, but they did show it at Christmas 79/80 (when I first saw it), summer 82 and again in the Sunday night Future Tense season in 84. They tended to show it late due to the flashing lights issue.
January 3, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Not the long teatime season, which was mainly 50s and 60s if I remember rightly, but they did show it at Christmas 79/80 (when I first saw it), summer 82 and again in the Sunday night Future Tense season in 84. They tended to show it late due to the flashing lights issue.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
It was first broadcast Christmas 77, ahead of its UK release in early 78.
January 3, 2026 at 9:33 PM
It was first broadcast Christmas 77, ahead of its UK release in early 78.
Can we have a Block and Report button underneath the Follow Back one, please?
January 3, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Can we have a Block and Report button underneath the Follow Back one, please?
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Humans and animals do seem to be able to learn better from sparse examples than FMs, which suggests there might be One Weird Trick to making learning more efficient. The space of minds is enormous, so perhaps nature stumbled on the trick (or set of tricks) we haven't in 80-odd years yet
January 2, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Humans and animals do seem to be able to learn better from sparse examples than FMs, which suggests there might be One Weird Trick to making learning more efficient. The space of minds is enormous, so perhaps nature stumbled on the trick (or set of tricks) we haven't in 80-odd years yet
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
It would be hard to be more pessimistic right now about Britain, Europe, the World, humanity, the future than I am right now
January 3, 2026 at 6:32 PM
It would be hard to be more pessimistic right now about Britain, Europe, the World, humanity, the future than I am right now
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
bluesky is where elder millennials enjoying internet retirement meet younger millennials with untreated depression
December 28, 2025 at 1:54 AM
bluesky is where elder millennials enjoying internet retirement meet younger millennials with untreated depression
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the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here
January 2, 2026 at 11:47 PM
the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Like the Christmas 77 screening of Dark Star, that’s something I should have seen.
January 2, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Like the Christmas 77 screening of Dark Star, that’s something I should have seen.
I remember that day well. After drawing ellipses inspired by Carl Sagan's second lecture on the planets in the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Young People
Wheel turns, Blake’s 7 fall, Blake’s 7 rise. Wheel turns.
'The Way Back', the first episode of Blakes 7, was originally broadcast on this day in 1978.
January 2, 2026 at 10:44 PM
I remember that day well. After drawing ellipses inspired by Carl Sagan's second lecture on the planets in the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Young People
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Cat.
'Jessica is convinced she captured a large black panther. Mum and dad agree that it was extremely large - but we're not as convinced as Jessica is'
Little girl uses Christmas present to capture 'big cat' in Cornwall
'Jessica is convinced she captured a large black panther. Mum and dad agree that it was extremely large - but we're not as convinced as Jessica is'
www.cornwalllive.com
January 2, 2026 at 10:39 PM
Cat.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Last night I set up my telescope so we could all watch the planets while waiting for the new year to arrive.
After the fireworks had subsided, I attached my camera and captured my first astrophoto of the year featuring Jupiter and its moon Europa. #astrophotography
Happy New Year everyone!
After the fireworks had subsided, I attached my camera and captured my first astrophoto of the year featuring Jupiter and its moon Europa. #astrophotography
Happy New Year everyone!
January 1, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Last night I set up my telescope so we could all watch the planets while waiting for the new year to arrive.
After the fireworks had subsided, I attached my camera and captured my first astrophoto of the year featuring Jupiter and its moon Europa. #astrophotography
Happy New Year everyone!
After the fireworks had subsided, I attached my camera and captured my first astrophoto of the year featuring Jupiter and its moon Europa. #astrophotography
Happy New Year everyone!
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Oh! spite of million villains, this makes me a bigot in the fadeless fidelity of man!
January 2, 2026 at 5:47 AM
Oh! spite of million villains, this makes me a bigot in the fadeless fidelity of man!
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
2026 is the year I do something significant
January 2, 2026 at 5:47 AM
2026 is the year I do something significant
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
We're all just out here eating Cheese and Onion, mate.
January 2, 2026 at 12:29 AM
We're all just out here eating Cheese and Onion, mate.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
The thing that kills me is that London (and whatever other big central city in any country) is not just full of native Londoners. People from all over the country move there (though I suppose fewer from working classes as it gets ever more unaffordable). It is FULL OF ENGLAND. (And the world.)
January 1, 2026 at 5:29 PM
The thing that kills me is that London (and whatever other big central city in any country) is not just full of native Londoners. People from all over the country move there (though I suppose fewer from working classes as it gets ever more unaffordable). It is FULL OF ENGLAND. (And the world.)
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Yeah it's all laughs until they exterminate
January 1, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Yeah it's all laughs until they exterminate
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Why don't you just come out and say you don't like fun.
January 1, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Why don't you just come out and say you don't like fun.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Not all Daleks are terrifying. Our one helps out with childcare.
January 1, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Not all Daleks are terrifying. Our one helps out with childcare.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
But they should! Take my money!
January 1, 2026 at 7:21 PM
But they should! Take my money!
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
Hallmark Christmas movies don’t have small town folks hooking up with their old flames in a visit to the big city and falling in love with the joys of urban living.
January 1, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Hallmark Christmas movies don’t have small town folks hooking up with their old flames in a visit to the big city and falling in love with the joys of urban living.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
About four in five Americans lives in an urban area. American life, American wealth, American power is and in fact always has been fundamentally urban. But the Jeffersonian/Jacksonian canard that the Real American is a son or daughter of the soil remains culturally hegemonic.
I think broadly speaking the idea that there’s something inauthentic and unvolkish about living in cities has been part of the reactionary response to modernity for the last 150 odd years at least.
Do other countries have this weird notion that you’re not a “real” representative of the nation if you live in an urban center? Like do the French say Parisians aren’t really French? Are you considered not a real German if you live in Berlin? Or is this mainly a weird American thing?
January 1, 2026 at 5:55 PM
About four in five Americans lives in an urban area. American life, American wealth, American power is and in fact always has been fundamentally urban. But the Jeffersonian/Jacksonian canard that the Real American is a son or daughter of the soil remains culturally hegemonic.
Reposted by Paul M. Cray
I don't really mind cheapness, I do like the original Star Trek for example and that looks worse in many ways to Doctor Who, etc. I guess its just that Doctor Who is too childish to entertain me. The Daleks for example are too silly to take seriously.
January 1, 2026 at 2:13 AM
I don't really mind cheapness, I do like the original Star Trek for example and that looks worse in many ways to Doctor Who, etc. I guess its just that Doctor Who is too childish to entertain me. The Daleks for example are too silly to take seriously.