Splakey
@splakey.bsky.social
A little fish swimming with big ideas in Te Whanganui a Tara
No matter what happens with the economy in the interim, NZ will likely be voting in the shadow of another election in which cities will be occupied, ballots seized & any opposition criminalized
It starts with the politicians in power picking the electorate
You, citizen, are not a “dropkick” #nzpol
It starts with the politicians in power picking the electorate
You, citizen, are not a “dropkick” #nzpol
February 6, 2026 at 7:00 AM
No matter what happens with the economy in the interim, NZ will likely be voting in the shadow of another election in which cities will be occupied, ballots seized & any opposition criminalized
It starts with the politicians in power picking the electorate
You, citizen, are not a “dropkick” #nzpol
It starts with the politicians in power picking the electorate
You, citizen, are not a “dropkick” #nzpol
Reposted by Splakey
“The United States looks more and more like the sick man of the Americas, a country of spectacular disparities in wealth, crippling political dysfunction and pervasive violence.”
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Shatz · Another Country: Visions of America
Is America a dream or a nightmare, a democratic paradise or a bastion of white supremacy and religious intolerance? Is...
www.lrb.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 6:40 PM
“The United States looks more and more like the sick man of the Americas, a country of spectacular disparities in wealth, crippling political dysfunction and pervasive violence.”
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Gawd our press is exhausting in its endless grant of “silver linings” to this government’s failures.
www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
The Post
www.thepost.co.nz
February 3, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Gawd our press is exhausting in its endless grant of “silver linings” to this government’s failures.
www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
Worth reading Anil Seth’s essay in its entirety, but this point especially:
“As Immanuel Kant argued long ago in his lectures on ethics, treating conscious-seeming things as if they lack consciousness is a psychologically unhealthy place to be.”
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
“As Immanuel Kant argued long ago in his lectures on ethics, treating conscious-seeming things as if they lack consciousness is a psychologically unhealthy place to be.”
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
The Mythology Of Conscious AI | NOEMA
Why consciousness is more likely a property of life than of computation and why creating conscious, or even conscious-seeming AI, is a bad idea.
www.noemamag.com
February 3, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Worth reading Anil Seth’s essay in its entirety, but this point especially:
“As Immanuel Kant argued long ago in his lectures on ethics, treating conscious-seeming things as if they lack consciousness is a psychologically unhealthy place to be.”
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
“As Immanuel Kant argued long ago in his lectures on ethics, treating conscious-seeming things as if they lack consciousness is a psychologically unhealthy place to be.”
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
Reposted by Splakey
A ruling and a sermon:
Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
John 11:35 is famously the shortest Bible verse: “Jesus wept.”
Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
John 11:35 is famously the shortest Bible verse: “Jesus wept.”
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery finds that Trump and his apparachiks are demonstrating “the perfidious lust for unbridled
power and the imposition of cruelty”; that they “know no bounds and are bereft of human decency.”
And adds, “the rule of law be damned.”
He attaches a photograph to his ruling.
power and the imposition of cruelty”; that they “know no bounds and are bereft of human decency.”
And adds, “the rule of law be damned.”
He attaches a photograph to his ruling.
January 31, 2026 at 9:23 PM
A ruling and a sermon:
Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
John 11:35 is famously the shortest Bible verse: “Jesus wept.”
Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
John 11:35 is famously the shortest Bible verse: “Jesus wept.”
Reposted by Splakey
great blog maxread.substack.com/p/suicide-ri...
'Suicide rightism' and the penguin
Is it based or soy to kill yourself?
maxread.substack.com
January 31, 2026 at 12:01 AM
great blog maxread.substack.com/p/suicide-ri...
Bracing and clear eyed assessment from Carney, who understands you can’t beg your way off the menu.
Please pay attention, AoNZ, as we head into this next election.
Luxon’s neoliberal nonsense and Winston’s appeasement will be our ruin.
#nzpol
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Please pay attention, AoNZ, as we head into this next election.
Luxon’s neoliberal nonsense and Winston’s appeasement will be our ruin.
#nzpol
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
'The old order is not coming back,' Carney says in provocative speech at Davos | CBC News
Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a frank assessment of how he views the world in a provocative speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, where he said the longstanding U.S.-led, rules-based intern...
www.cbc.ca
January 20, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Bracing and clear eyed assessment from Carney, who understands you can’t beg your way off the menu.
Please pay attention, AoNZ, as we head into this next election.
Luxon’s neoliberal nonsense and Winston’s appeasement will be our ruin.
#nzpol
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Please pay attention, AoNZ, as we head into this next election.
Luxon’s neoliberal nonsense and Winston’s appeasement will be our ruin.
#nzpol
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Reposted by Splakey
The question of whether LLMs are conscious is now settled. @erikhoel.blogsky.venki.dev’s approach is agnostic about which theory of consciousness is right. Empirically, LLMs are equivalent to a lookup table, which is manifestly not conscious. But a future A.I. system that learns on the fly might be.
Proving (literally) that ChatGPT isn't conscious
There is nothing it is like to be a Large Language Model
open.substack.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:10 PM
The question of whether LLMs are conscious is now settled. @erikhoel.blogsky.venki.dev’s approach is agnostic about which theory of consciousness is right. Empirically, LLMs are equivalent to a lookup table, which is manifestly not conscious. But a future A.I. system that learns on the fly might be.
She’s in her lane: reserve banking
Winston’s in his: tosser
Nothing to see here. Perhaps the media should stop feeding this troll …
#nzpol
Winston’s in his: tosser
Nothing to see here. Perhaps the media should stop feeding this troll …
#nzpol
January 14, 2026 at 4:29 AM
She’s in her lane: reserve banking
Winston’s in his: tosser
Nothing to see here. Perhaps the media should stop feeding this troll …
#nzpol
Winston’s in his: tosser
Nothing to see here. Perhaps the media should stop feeding this troll …
#nzpol
Reposted by Splakey
"For Kirk and for much of society today, words are not expressions with referents, but rather, performative speech acts with specific functions — in his case, owning the libs."
holy moly, what a blog www.theverge.com/policy/84960...
holy moly, what a blog www.theverge.com/policy/84960...
The year politics became brainrot
You don’t bring a persuasive argument to a gunfight.
www.theverge.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
"For Kirk and for much of society today, words are not expressions with referents, but rather, performative speech acts with specific functions — in his case, owning the libs."
holy moly, what a blog www.theverge.com/policy/84960...
holy moly, what a blog www.theverge.com/policy/84960...
Reposted by Splakey
Just published my review of neuroscience in 2025, on The Spike.
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
2025: A Review of the Year in Neuroscience
Enlightening the brain
medium.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Just published my review of neuroscience in 2025, on The Spike.
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
Reposted by Splakey
Reading this exceptional piece from 2023 that goes hard on the distinction between words and meanings. This is *exceptional*.
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
You Are Not a Parrot
And a chatbot is not a human. And a linguist named Emily M. Bender is very worried what will happen when we forget this.
nymag.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Reading this exceptional piece from 2023 that goes hard on the distinction between words and meanings. This is *exceptional*.
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
Reposted by Splakey
Nature research paper: Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders
go.nature.com/3MoazOr
go.nature.com/3MoazOr
Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders - Nature
Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.
go.nature.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Nature research paper: Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders
go.nature.com/3MoazOr
go.nature.com/3MoazOr
Reposted by Splakey
Proud to stand with Louisa Wall, Marama Davidson, Rawiri Waititi and Green MPs as we delivered a 30k strong petition calling on the PM to bring his ministers into line. Whether it’s Seymour calling academics “deranged,” or Peters taking cheap shots at anyone who disagrees with him, it’s not ok.
December 9, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Proud to stand with Louisa Wall, Marama Davidson, Rawiri Waititi and Green MPs as we delivered a 30k strong petition calling on the PM to bring his ministers into line. Whether it’s Seymour calling academics “deranged,” or Peters taking cheap shots at anyone who disagrees with him, it’s not ok.
November 15, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Splakey
A Washington resident has been hospitalized with bird flu, according to the Washington State Health Department, and they’re infected with a strain of the virus that hasn’t been seen in humans before. https://cnn.it/4oIRswI
November 15, 2025 at 3:31 AM
A Washington resident has been hospitalized with bird flu, according to the Washington State Health Department, and they’re infected with a strain of the virus that hasn’t been seen in humans before. https://cnn.it/4oIRswI
… and this is the system that our current government is eyeing as a “solution.”
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/aca-health...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/aca-health...
5 ways our health care system has become utterly insane
A deep dive into the U.S. health care system: rising costs, corporate takeover, and why reform keeps failing.
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:31 PM
… and this is the system that our current government is eyeing as a “solution.”
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/aca-health...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/aca-health...
Reposted by Splakey
Three powerful white men refuse to apologise to a young wahine Māori who was right all along? Colour me shocked.
Luxon, Mitchell, and Hipkins all failed to apologise in the House to Tamatha Paul today for their derogatory comments about her stating that police on the streets doesn't make people feel safe, and Tamatha has too much grace and class to demand it.
#OneTermGovernment
#nzpol
#OneTermGovernment
#nzpol
November 12, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Three powerful white men refuse to apologise to a young wahine Māori who was right all along? Colour me shocked.
Reposted by Splakey
Putting an atom into a hall of mirrors ("cavity") can stop it from emitting light. Now remove a mirror. How long before the atom can emit? Immediately! No matter how long the hallway. Vlatko Vedral of @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social explains this bizarre case of quantum spooky action at a distance.
It’s All (Quantum) Smoke and Mirrors
Issue #57 ~ As my readers will know, I have been advocating a picture of the universe in which the underlying reality consists of quantum waves. Quantum, meaning that the height of the wave and its ph...
vlatkovedral.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Putting an atom into a hall of mirrors ("cavity") can stop it from emitting light. Now remove a mirror. How long before the atom can emit? Immediately! No matter how long the hallway. Vlatko Vedral of @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social explains this bizarre case of quantum spooky action at a distance.
A good primer on the neo-Idealists/ post-physicalists.
Good scientific thinkers know that the formalisms only get you so far.
medium.com/@jnode/ideal...
Good scientific thinkers know that the formalisms only get you so far.
medium.com/@jnode/ideal...
Idealism: A Consciousness-Only View of Reality
Metaphysical idealism asserts that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental in nature. Essentially, at the foundation…
medium.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:22 AM
A good primer on the neo-Idealists/ post-physicalists.
Good scientific thinkers know that the formalisms only get you so far.
medium.com/@jnode/ideal...
Good scientific thinkers know that the formalisms only get you so far.
medium.com/@jnode/ideal...
Reposted by Splakey
Are the laws of classical physics missing something important about how the Universe works? This short documentary by @quantamagazine.bsky.social presents a proposal that could help us better understand why everything seems to grow more complex and orderly over time
A radical reimagining of physics puts information at its centre | Aeon Videos
Does physics miss something important about how the Universe works? A new law of information could account for complexity
buff.ly
October 23, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Are the laws of classical physics missing something important about how the Universe works? This short documentary by @quantamagazine.bsky.social presents a proposal that could help us better understand why everything seems to grow more complex and orderly over time
Reposted by Splakey
as a reminder: bluesky (the app) has a broad set of user interactions controls.
beyond blocking and block lists, we have features to control who can reply, mention, and quote-post accounts
beyond blocking and block lists, we have features to control who can reply, mention, and quote-post accounts
October 17, 2025 at 10:13 PM
as a reminder: bluesky (the app) has a broad set of user interactions controls.
beyond blocking and block lists, we have features to control who can reply, mention, and quote-post accounts
beyond blocking and block lists, we have features to control who can reply, mention, and quote-post accounts