Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1h

At long last we have created the Racism Dial from the classic dril tweet “look at these racists”

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 1h

They're literally installing Racism Dial bsky.app/profile/numb...

Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · Jan 15

vox populi

Altman: thanks a lot for these! some common requests:

AGI (a little patience please)
GPT-5
better voice mode
higher rate limits
better GPTs
better reasoning
control over degree of wokeness/behavior
video
personalization
better browsing
'sign in with openai
open source

Quoting:
what would you like openai to build/fix in 2024?

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 56m

Night of Dull Knives 💀💀💀https://bsky.app/profile/bretdevereaux.bsky.social/post/3m2v7vnijnk2g

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

But this crew - the theocratic authoritarians, technocratic ones, racist ones - they're all shockingly historically illiterate.

For one, they seem to all assume they won't be the ones up against a wall, like this guy and Peter Thiel are just going to be chill during the Night of Dull Knives.

Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

When at this point actually stopping same-sex marriage, drag queen story hours (in private places), pride parades (that abide by the first amendment) would require a *lot* of government force, a lot of violence, a lot of killing and a massive state security apparatus of the sort they have in China.

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

So the absolute insane stupidity of this is the idea that he could set up a theocratic state and also get a 'significantly smaller government.'

The folks on the authoritarian right do really seem to be believe there is a secret government liberalizer ray they can just switch off to change society.

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 12h

Ross Douthat treats this guy like they're having some deep conversation about the relationship of Christianity and the government, but the dude is a garden-variety dull, shallow, hateful, worthless bigot with nothing interesting to say, just endless riffs on "God hates everything/everyone I do."

Douthat: So that’s the first purpose of your political project, for America to stop making God angry.

Wilson: Yes. And most people think that when they are confronted with that project, they think that we want to get our tentacles into everything and start controlling everything. I actually think we need limited government. The government should be significantly smaller than it is, and we need to curtail a lot of the busybodyness that we have. That’s why I would call myself a theocratic libertarian. There is a true libertarian element in this, and yet, the transcendent grounding for what we’re talking about means that we acknowledge the authority of God.

We have racked up quite a body count of awful crimes, and I believe the only way out is for us to repent and turn to Christ. This would be things like no more Pride parades, no more drag queen story hours, no more abortion on demand, no more legalized same-sex unions — all of that, done. That’s the repentance part.

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Doctor Charlton Cussans PhD @charltoncussans.bsky.social · 1h

They never consider that said fascists want them shot.

Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 15h

I continue to think this is one of the most important and underappreciated media dynamics.

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 2h

So you're suggesting that (a) the 40% figure is technically true but misleading and (b) the AI bubble bursting might not be so bad?

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 2h

Sure, but how does that get to the conclusion that saying AI being 40% of GDP growth is an overcount?

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 2h

Is this minecraft being jank, or the fans being insane in terms of figuring out how to combine pieces in ways the devs did not necessarily foresee?

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 2h

If other sectors are falling doesn't that imply AI is 100% of GDP growth if not more?

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Ripperoni @ripperoni.com · 6h

I’m tempted to make a labeler for anyone who has a substack in their bio after seeing how susceptible they are for falling for AI news clips

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 6h

She hasn't posted anything since AFAICT, possible she logged off for the night (but if it's not corrected by tomorrow morning, that's a choice).

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 6h

As I said a couple hours ago about a different fake video, you don't need to feel stupid if you fell for it.

The entire internet is drowning in this AI shit. And there's no easy solution. We're just fucking cooked as a society.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 9h

Don’t feel stupid if you fell for fake video. It can be really hard to tell these days. But we do have to try and be careful with what we share because there’s so much AI video out there.

It’s just the world we live in now.

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 7h

But the real confirmation this video is AI comes from Saad Abedine, a news editor at Al Jazeera English.

Abedine says Al Jazeera has "never had these chairs, this set or this anchor." He says he's been at Al Jazeera for 11 years and never seen a rat.

Saad Abedine: Reality (below) versus Cheesy AI 🤣

#AlJazeera never had these chairs, this set or this anchor

But we've only ever had kittens born under the desk in addition to the dozens born outside the newsroom that can walk across the set

I have been here for 11 years and can confirm that we have never seen a rat 🐀

We have enough cats. Trust me. I know. I am
Hyper allergic to them
feline. I almost died in Baghdad because of a a kitty

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 8h

in 2011, the president of antifa hired me to give fashion consultancy to the organization. i recommended everyone wear navy suits with tan shoes, dress sneakers, and golf polos with slim chinos. if you arrested everyone today wearing these things, you'd destroy antifa

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

felis lux 🥀 @luxgalador.bsky.social · 12h

get off TikTok a year ago but also right now

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 14h

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 7h

OBAA was amazing.

Learning Sean Penn was in it was weird because I knew he was shilling for Assad for awhile but now he's pro-Ukraine so maybe that's penance???

Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 9h

I did not know he had done that and god I wish he would retire.

Like the best thing he's done in at least a year is do rallies with AOC as a way of passing the torch to her. bsky.app/profile/segf...

J. C. Cantwell 🌻 @segfaultvicta.aludel.xyz · 16h

i will chill out about Gerontocracy Discourse the second I see one (1) single progressive throw Bernie under the bus for having already filed to run for another term instead of Stepping Aside To Let Fresh New Blood Into The Party, a thing for which even I am not personally willing to criticise him

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Topher Brennan (he/they) @topherbrennan.bsky.social · 9h

Did the youth stop having blue hair and piercings?

Like I understand 60 year old gen Xers also have them now (along with maybe even some boomers?), but did the youth stop?

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 1d

fun fact: I was trying to find an old tweet I made about journalists accidentally quoting me as Leah Ghostberg during halloween season. instead, I got a fully hallucinated anecdote about me dressing up in a ghost costume with my husband that absolutely, 100% never happened

humanity is so cooked

A false google AI summary: "Based on social media activity, the "leahgreenb ghostberg halloween" query appears to reference a humorous, improvised Halloween costume made by political activist Leah Greenberg in 2024.
On October 26, 2024, Greenberg posted on X (formerly Twitter) asking for help with a last-minute Halloween costume she could make with items she had at home.
The final result, which she and her husband shared, was an improvised "Ghostberg" costume. It consisted of two people with sheets draped over their heads, with her husband standing slightly behind her and visible through the sheet. The name "Ghostberg" is a play on her surname.
The post went viral and the joke was widely shared on social media. "

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 12h

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 9h

Fascists like Trump are capitalizing on all of this. In both directions, unfortunately.

Plausibly calling real videos fake is as much a danger as people believing fake videos are real.

Trump in Sept: “If something happens really bad, just blame AI.”

Trump Blames AI for Weird Video of Stuff Being Tossed Out White House Window

gizmodo.com

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 9h

OpenAI’s Sora puts a watermark on its videos but not enough people know what it means.

To complicate matters, people have built tools to easily remove and (oddly) add a Sora watermark. Sharing real videos with an AI watermark can make for a funny joke, but it also really fucks with the landscape.

AV🕯️ CTRL+ALT+DEL @yappydagger.bsky.social · 9h

There should be an AI labeler if there isn't already.

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 9h

Don’t feel stupid if you fell for fake video. It can be really hard to tell these days. But we do have to try and be careful with what we share because there’s so much AI video out there.

It’s just the world we live in now.

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Reposted by Topher Brennan (he/they)

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 9h

That TikTok account has a few fake videos of reporters getting detained. They make these videos because it’s a big story in the news. Real reporters are getting arrested. And so people are making AI videos to get engagement on TikTok.

dontbeonline • 1d ago
Journalist gets detained while doing her job #ForYou, #viral, #foryoupage, #tikto... more
• Contains: Bad Boys (The...

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