Attenuated Presence 🔭
@attenuated.bsky.social
Nebula guy. Astronomy and physics, teaching, books, games, no politics right now if I can help it.
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if I'm spending $100K on a personal vehicle it better be bipedal and have hardpoints for a brace of PPCs
November 27, 2025 at 8:51 PM
if I'm spending $100K on a personal vehicle it better be bipedal and have hardpoints for a brace of PPCs
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AI Slop Merchants, the purple guy is you
April 12, 2025 at 10:17 PM
AI Slop Merchants, the purple guy is you
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I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
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No bailouts. The US should extort these companies when the crash happens so they get minimal compensation in return for nationalizing the entire panopticon industry and then destroying it once harvested for socially useful parts. It won’t happen but it should
November 25, 2025 at 4:22 PM
No bailouts. The US should extort these companies when the crash happens so they get minimal compensation in return for nationalizing the entire panopticon industry and then destroying it once harvested for socially useful parts. It won’t happen but it should
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one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
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Apollo 17 lifts off from the Moon on December 14, 1972, the last time humans visited the lunar surface and traveled beyond Earth's orbit.
November 25, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Apollo 17 lifts off from the Moon on December 14, 1972, the last time humans visited the lunar surface and traveled beyond Earth's orbit.
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am i supposed to be consuming or am i supposed to be saving for a house i'll never be able to afford. can yall make up your minds
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
November 25, 2025 at 8:34 PM
am i supposed to be consuming or am i supposed to be saving for a house i'll never be able to afford. can yall make up your minds
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So the pinnacle of modern computing is to replicate something we knew in the 1960s only also using all the water and power. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA
November 25, 2025 at 7:45 PM
So the pinnacle of modern computing is to replicate something we knew in the 1960s only also using all the water and power. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA
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So many articles on AI are irresponsible.
November 25, 2025 at 7:33 PM
So many articles on AI are irresponsible.
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I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
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This is just how we sing it now.
Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
Not really my heart
Just somebody's heart
This year
If the cops should appear
Please tell them that you don't know me
I gave you my heart
Not really my heart
Just somebody's heart
This year
If the cops should appear
Please tell them that you don't know me
November 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
This is just how we sing it now.
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Saw an interesting piece of advice recently: ask the AI search engines for an answer in a field in which you are very knowledgeable.
The results will make it clear just how much they get wrong, and how brazen they are about it.
Now, apply that to every subject in which you are NOT an expert.
The results will make it clear just how much they get wrong, and how brazen they are about it.
Now, apply that to every subject in which you are NOT an expert.
Looked up “what mobile parking app do I need for <this town>” - AI summary on Google confidently gave me the wrong answer, which I ignored because **it is wrong a third of the time, about ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING** (according to the last study I read.)
The shit just doesn’t work.
The shit just doesn’t work.
November 25, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Saw an interesting piece of advice recently: ask the AI search engines for an answer in a field in which you are very knowledgeable.
The results will make it clear just how much they get wrong, and how brazen they are about it.
Now, apply that to every subject in which you are NOT an expert.
The results will make it clear just how much they get wrong, and how brazen they are about it.
Now, apply that to every subject in which you are NOT an expert.
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Remember that striking Starbucks workers are asking you not to buy Starbucks right now
November 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Remember that striking Starbucks workers are asking you not to buy Starbucks right now
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Reposted by Attenuated Presence 🔭
Anyway, do not help the Sam Altmans of the world steal Machine Learning valor to prop up a bunch of gross plagiarism machines that have all our worst biases and failings baked in.
November 22, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Anyway, do not help the Sam Altmans of the world steal Machine Learning valor to prop up a bunch of gross plagiarism machines that have all our worst biases and failings baked in.
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Lumping them together as “AI” gives readers the impression that a single class of tool is discerning novel protein structures, teasing subtle patterns out of mountains of LHC data, writing a student’s History 101 paper, and arguing a ketamine-addled billionaire could post up Shaq in his prime. No.
November 22, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Lumping them together as “AI” gives readers the impression that a single class of tool is discerning novel protein structures, teasing subtle patterns out of mountains of LHC data, writing a student’s History 101 paper, and arguing a ketamine-addled billionaire could post up Shaq in his prime. No.
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Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
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2) The PROCESS by which new generations gain the ability to DO that work—learn to write, build, design, draw, help, experiment, do science, invent—has been SEVERED by the replacement of people with fraudulent 'ai' toys. While 'ai' is in the chain, new generations simply have no way to skill up.
December 1, 2024 at 4:58 PM
2) The PROCESS by which new generations gain the ability to DO that work—learn to write, build, design, draw, help, experiment, do science, invent—has been SEVERED by the replacement of people with fraudulent 'ai' toys. While 'ai' is in the chain, new generations simply have no way to skill up.
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“AI workers said they distrust the models they work on because of a consistent emphasis on rapid turnaround time at the expense of quality.”
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM
“AI workers said they distrust the models they work on because of a consistent emphasis on rapid turnaround time at the expense of quality.”
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For an introvert, the real gift is finding someone whose presence feels calming instead of draining. Some people make you feel light and safe, while others drain your energy within minutes. Time with the right person feels effortless, with the wrong person it feels like a marathon
November 21, 2025 at 8:03 PM
For an introvert, the real gift is finding someone whose presence feels calming instead of draining. Some people make you feel light and safe, while others drain your energy within minutes. Time with the right person feels effortless, with the wrong person it feels like a marathon
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Why are planetary scientists, astrobiologists and and SETI scientists so negative (pissed off, even) about Avi Loeb’s repeated claims that 3I/Atlas may be an invading alien spaceship?
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
November 10, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Why are planetary scientists, astrobiologists and and SETI scientists so negative (pissed off, even) about Avi Loeb’s repeated claims that 3I/Atlas may be an invading alien spaceship?
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
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"We’ve arranged a society on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology, and this combustible mixture of ignorance and power sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces."
- Carl Sagan.
- Carl Sagan.
November 21, 2025 at 3:04 PM
"We’ve arranged a society on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology, and this combustible mixture of ignorance and power sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces."
- Carl Sagan.
- Carl Sagan.
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This man is why it's called 'algebra' & 'algorithm' & why it's the "Arabic" number system, in spite of it originating in India.
His name is Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. He lived in Bagdad in the 9th century AD, under the Abbasid Caliphate.
He was an astronomer, mathematician & geographer.
His name is Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. He lived in Bagdad in the 9th century AD, under the Abbasid Caliphate.
He was an astronomer, mathematician & geographer.
November 20, 2025 at 12:41 AM
This man is why it's called 'algebra' & 'algorithm' & why it's the "Arabic" number system, in spite of it originating in India.
His name is Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. He lived in Bagdad in the 9th century AD, under the Abbasid Caliphate.
He was an astronomer, mathematician & geographer.
His name is Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. He lived in Bagdad in the 9th century AD, under the Abbasid Caliphate.
He was an astronomer, mathematician & geographer.
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Apple: Here, use some AI
Scrivener: I would prefer not to.
Scrivener: I would prefer not to.
Not satisfied with just destroying their own brand goodwill, OS companies are now using AI to try to destroy the good names of the apps users install. (Scrivener taking out adds to explain how it has no AI but Apple adds some anyway.)
November 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Apple: Here, use some AI
Scrivener: I would prefer not to.
Scrivener: I would prefer not to.
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idea for people who celebrate christmas:
1. use tinsel to divide your tree into differently shaped sections with roughly similar numbers of ornaments
2. say it's "treedistricting"
1. use tinsel to divide your tree into differently shaped sections with roughly similar numbers of ornaments
2. say it's "treedistricting"
November 19, 2025 at 9:15 PM
idea for people who celebrate christmas:
1. use tinsel to divide your tree into differently shaped sections with roughly similar numbers of ornaments
2. say it's "treedistricting"
1. use tinsel to divide your tree into differently shaped sections with roughly similar numbers of ornaments
2. say it's "treedistricting"