zota
@zota.bsky.social
Technology therapist, gonzo designer, grey-hat historian.
Los Angeles.
Los Angeles.
Reposted by zota
woko's basiwisk 🥺
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
Anthropic's philosopher says we don't know for sure if AI can feel
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
www.businessinsider.com
January 26, 2026 at 6:15 PM
woko's basiwisk 🥺
Reposted by zota
Had the great pleasure of working on a Carmina Escobar produced video this week at Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley, with the fabulous singer Astrid Hadad! Love this older video that booms through who costume art! Our other component was the movement performer Oguri. Incredible experience 💗
Astrid Hadad vesturarios
YouTube video by Astrid Hadad
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Had the great pleasure of working on a Carmina Escobar produced video this week at Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley, with the fabulous singer Astrid Hadad! Love this older video that booms through who costume art! Our other component was the movement performer Oguri. Incredible experience 💗
Reposted by zota
/15 Ritual abuse and deliberate humiliation are baked into the American criminal justice system and approval of it when the defendant is an enemy is a cancer on the American soul.
Have a nice day.
Have a nice day.
January 23, 2026 at 5:47 PM
/15 Ritual abuse and deliberate humiliation are baked into the American criminal justice system and approval of it when the defendant is an enemy is a cancer on the American soul.
Have a nice day.
Have a nice day.
Reposted by zota
For a brief moment, we really did live in the future
January 23, 2026 at 1:28 AM
For a brief moment, we really did live in the future
Reposted by zota
When da booty got teef
January 23, 2026 at 12:24 AM
When da booty got teef
this guy gets it
A love letter to a weird space whose time is coming to an end, and to @zota.bsky.social’s enduringly wonderful aesthetic.
Glacial Errata, No. 54
Five Things for the Week of January 19, 2026.
glacialerrata.beehiiv.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:49 PM
this guy gets it
Reposted by zota
the bus is divided on calling the police
January 20, 2026 at 2:31 AM
the bus is divided on calling the police
Reposted by zota
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1961: “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967: “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967: “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”
January 19, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1961: “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967: “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967: “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”
Reposted by zota
Data story: Bigfoot Migratory Patterns!
This one is just for fun. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Org (!! BRFO) has 3,700 ish recorded sightings; based on clusters of them near each other, I took a stab at where Mister Foot et al spend their seasons.
Click the nodes for each individual story!
This one is just for fun. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Org (!! BRFO) has 3,700 ish recorded sightings; based on clusters of them near each other, I took a stab at where Mister Foot et al spend their seasons.
Click the nodes for each individual story!
Big Feet
3,797 bigfoot sightings connected by paths
dr.eamer.dev
January 17, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Data story: Bigfoot Migratory Patterns!
This one is just for fun. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Org (!! BRFO) has 3,700 ish recorded sightings; based on clusters of them near each other, I took a stab at where Mister Foot et al spend their seasons.
Click the nodes for each individual story!
This one is just for fun. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Org (!! BRFO) has 3,700 ish recorded sightings; based on clusters of them near each other, I took a stab at where Mister Foot et al spend their seasons.
Click the nodes for each individual story!
Reposted by zota
"We call this phenomenon synthetic psychopathology"
“As LLMs continue to move into intimate human domains, we suggest that the right question is no longer ‘Are they conscious?’ but ‘What kinds of selves are we training them to perform, internalise & stabilise **and what does that mean for the humans engaging with them?**’"🧪
arxiv.org/pdf/2512.04124
arxiv.org/pdf/2512.04124
January 11, 2026 at 5:17 PM
"We call this phenomenon synthetic psychopathology"
Reposted by zota
If you let them, the horrors will devour you whole. Making space to live and smile is an act of resistance. So is helping others to do the same. If you’re an artist in this time, remember that what you’re doing is part of the emotional support infrastructure. They want you silent. 1/2
January 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM
If you let them, the horrors will devour you whole. Making space to live and smile is an act of resistance. So is helping others to do the same. If you’re an artist in this time, remember that what you’re doing is part of the emotional support infrastructure. They want you silent. 1/2
cyberpunk status:
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
January 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
cyberpunk status:
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
Yesterday, agents of the police state murdered a woman while trying to use his phone to add her identity to the unperson database. Today, the guy from the phone company recommended Costco as a good source for mesh networking.
Reposted by zota
I saw this on Reddit and had to check for myself because it's so weird. If you rapidly scroll through the different foods on the realfood.gov website, it turns into a picture of RFK Jr??
January 9, 2026 at 3:41 PM
I saw this on Reddit and had to check for myself because it's so weird. If you rapidly scroll through the different foods on the realfood.gov website, it turns into a picture of RFK Jr??
Reposted by zota
If you can’t make it, email the Charter Commission at [email protected] & tell them to REJECT the attempt to strip our powers. INSTEAD, APPROVE our 6 recommendations. bit.ly/lacontroller-charter
bit.ly
January 8, 2026 at 6:12 PM
If you can’t make it, email the Charter Commission at [email protected] & tell them to REJECT the attempt to strip our powers. INSTEAD, APPROVE our 6 recommendations. bit.ly/lacontroller-charter
Reposted by zota
claude code is fucking insane
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
January 5, 2026 at 6:49 PM
claude code is fucking insane
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
i know literally NOTHING about Hegel. ZERO. and it just built me a complete system of German idealism
Reposted by zota
I also enjoy that they renamed Remote Desktop to Windows App and the Windows App is available in the App Store for Mac where the tab title becomes "Windows App App - App Store"
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
Windows App App - App Store
Download Windows App by Microsoft Corporation on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Windows App.
apps.apple.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:48 PM
I also enjoy that they renamed Remote Desktop to Windows App and the Windows App is available in the App Store for Mac where the tab title becomes "Windows App App - App Store"
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
apps.apple.com/us/app/windo...
Reposted by zota
Worth a read if you use food delivery apps
source: r/confession
source: r/confession
January 4, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Worth a read if you use food delivery apps
source: r/confession
source: r/confession
“we used tools validated for assessing and reducing human anxiety (see Methods). The term is used metaphorically to describe GPT-4’s self-reported outputs on human-designed psychological scales and is not intended to anthropomorphize the model.”
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
Friend, when I tell you that I was full on *yelling* in bed just before going to sleep (much love to my husband who put up with the outrage) when I encountered this paper earlier this week, and the credulous mainstream reporting on it: archive.ph/WYvgo
archive.ph
January 3, 2026 at 12:27 AM
“we used tools validated for assessing and reducing human anxiety (see Methods). The term is used metaphorically to describe GPT-4’s self-reported outputs on human-designed psychological scales and is not intended to anthropomorphize the model.”
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
NOT INTENDED.
TO ANTHROPOMORPHIZE.
THE MODEL.
Reposted by zota
An *actual* very hard problem in AI, is that you literally do not need any AI involved for people to be utterly convinced they're dealing with AI.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
June 27, 2024 at 12:50 AM
An *actual* very hard problem in AI, is that you literally do not need any AI involved for people to be utterly convinced they're dealing with AI.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
Meet Claude Shannon's machine for playing Hex, it's just a resistor mesh, no logic gates or programming involved.
Reposted by zota
Much later Einstein postulated that the universe was a 3-sphere. But Dante got the idea first:
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
John Carlos Baez (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image
Apparently Dante conceived of the universe as a 3-sphere! That's a 3-dimensional space formed by taking two solid 3-dimensional balls and completely gluing their surfaces together...
mathstodon.xyz
January 2, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Much later Einstein postulated that the universe was a 3-sphere. But Dante got the idea first:
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
• Mark A. Peterson, Dante and the 3-sphere, American Journal of Physics 47 (1979), 1031-1035. physicsgg.me/wp-content/u...
(2/2)
mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosb...
Reposted by zota
Monet once confessed he could never finish a painting—“I stop when I’m tired.” Each canvas was a moment, not a conclusion.
December 31, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Monet once confessed he could never finish a painting—“I stop when I’m tired.” Each canvas was a moment, not a conclusion.
Reposted by zota
and if you want to know... why Donald Trump is the president
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
December 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
and if you want to know... why Donald Trump is the president
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
It's because the Ecru measure Goodness as being able to handle snakes rather than avoid them.
Reposted by zota
Good enough means you can tolerate or are distant enough from any harm.
December 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Good enough means you can tolerate or are distant enough from any harm.