Barry Kelly
@barrkel.bsky.social
Software engineer and architect. Zurich, London, Galway. Google, Duco, Delphi.
The only people that switcheroo of the historical norm benefited, aside from the ego of pedants, was hard drive manufacturers' shortchanging their customers.
December 13, 2025 at 5:54 PM
The only people that switcheroo of the historical norm benefited, aside from the ego of pedants, was hard drive manufacturers' shortchanging their customers.
FOMO is a big driver. If the market believes something (as revealed by what they're buying) the upper echelons of executives want to lean into it, otherwise they'll miss out on the stock bump.
December 12, 2025 at 10:02 AM
FOMO is a big driver. If the market believes something (as revealed by what they're buying) the upper echelons of executives want to lean into it, otherwise they'll miss out on the stock bump.
I know the point the tiktoker wants to belabour, but I also know the point of the comic. I recall my personal frustration around 2005 trying to get a decent black coffee and not a sugary milk drink. And I don't think the frustration the comic strip points to leads to right wing radicalism.
December 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I know the point the tiktoker wants to belabour, but I also know the point of the comic. I recall my personal frustration around 2005 trying to get a decent black coffee and not a sugary milk drink. And I don't think the frustration the comic strip points to leads to right wing radicalism.
I don't think our brains are non-biological.
December 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I don't think our brains are non-biological.
Nihilism isn't a breakthrough. It's a stance that ignores how meaning actually arises in embodied, relational beings. We don't choose our value function. It's grounded in care, dependence, biology.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
December 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Nihilism isn't a breakthrough. It's a stance that ignores how meaning actually arises in embodied, relational beings. We don't choose our value function. It's grounded in care, dependence, biology.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
For clarity, I asked a friendly local AI. It suggests a bridge to help explain:
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
December 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
For clarity, I asked a friendly local AI. It suggests a bridge to help explain:
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
It comes from the main thread you're referencing. It's the entire topic of the conversation. Life's universal meaning - successful reproduction - isn't made up. The psychology we've evolved with isn't prepared for self-constructed meaning.
bsky.app/profile/peli...
bsky.app/profile/peli...
Suppose AI could cook everyone's favorite comfort foods in a way that makes the food 10% less unhealthy. Should humans resolve to never cook for each other again and only make game-food you throw in the trash when you're done cooking?
December 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
It comes from the main thread you're referencing. It's the entire topic of the conversation. Life's universal meaning - successful reproduction - isn't made up. The psychology we've evolved with isn't prepared for self-constructed meaning.
bsky.app/profile/peli...
bsky.app/profile/peli...
Meaning is grounded in support and reproduction though.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
December 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Meaning is grounded in support and reproduction though.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
Third wave coffee has saved us though, with single origin lighter roasts in pourovers.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
December 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Third wave coffee has saved us though, with single origin lighter roasts in pourovers.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
It is harder these days to get a black coffee that isn't a watered down espresso though. Just saying, the comic is not wrong. It's more a late 1990s / early 2000s complaint about Starbucks and second wave coffee than culture war.
December 11, 2025 at 3:01 PM
It is harder these days to get a black coffee that isn't a watered down espresso though. Just saying, the comic is not wrong. It's more a late 1990s / early 2000s complaint about Starbucks and second wave coffee than culture war.
This applies particularly to goods bought for their use value. Brand advertising is still important for goods bought for social amd symbolic value, where ads sell an image that the buyer is adopting and wants to rub off on them; those ads, in fashion etc., can work for the consumer.
December 10, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This applies particularly to goods bought for their use value. Brand advertising is still important for goods bought for social amd symbolic value, where ads sell an image that the buyer is adopting and wants to rub off on them; those ads, in fashion etc., can work for the consumer.
Advertising distorts the flow of information. If what customers learn is determined by competitive bidding, the result is less efficient: biased information at a higher cost. What people actually need is analysis and peer reviews calibrated to their own preferences.
Aand now we have AI.
Aand now we have AI.
December 10, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Advertising distorts the flow of information. If what customers learn is determined by competitive bidding, the result is less efficient: biased information at a higher cost. What people actually need is analysis and peer reviews calibrated to their own preferences.
Aand now we have AI.
Aand now we have AI.
Do they subjectively feel like they've overcome LLM limitations to you?
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
December 9, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Do they subjectively feel like they've overcome LLM limitations to you?
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
Reposted by Barry Kelly
2/6
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
December 8, 2025 at 4:30 AM
2/6
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
(At this point I still prefer to use AI for any expensive-ish (say, over three digits) purchase, which tips the scales towards feeding the data monster, i.e. reviews, influencers etc., getting people talking.)
December 8, 2025 at 10:05 AM
(At this point I still prefer to use AI for any expensive-ish (say, over three digits) purchase, which tips the scales towards feeding the data monster, i.e. reviews, influencers etc., getting people talking.)
Sure they're mostly aligned, but the misalignment has an important inefficiency: auction bidding directly siphons off buyside margin to sellside + broker - that's money that doesn't stay in the consumer's pocket. So even if I see an ad, I rather re-search with that vendor than click through.
December 8, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Sure they're mostly aligned, but the misalignment has an important inefficiency: auction bidding directly siphons off buyside margin to sellside + broker - that's money that doesn't stay in the consumer's pocket. So even if I see an ad, I rather re-search with that vendor than click through.
Search ads are basically a parallel search engine using ad targeting criteria and auctions to determine ranking, instead of an analysis of the user's value function, which is far too expensive. Until AI, that is.
December 7, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Search ads are basically a parallel search engine using ad targeting criteria and auctions to determine ranking, instead of an analysis of the user's value function, which is far too expensive. Until AI, that is.
The numbers are somewhat skewed, because the incentives to improve avenues for sellers to buy placement are at odds with finding the best response for the user. If you spend more effort on the former, it looks like people prefer the former.
December 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The numbers are somewhat skewed, because the incentives to improve avenues for sellers to buy placement are at odds with finding the best response for the user. If you spend more effort on the former, it looks like people prefer the former.
Persuasion goes both ways and facts can be cherrypicked, and are, heavily, by biased publications everywhere on the spectrum. Facts and evidence are, alas, no protection from malpersuasion.
December 7, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Persuasion goes both ways and facts can be cherrypicked, and are, heavily, by biased publications everywhere on the spectrum. Facts and evidence are, alas, no protection from malpersuasion.
(If it's not clear, corrupt authoritarian politics are a bad thing, and should not be supported wherever you are on the political spectrum. But the public en masse often doesn't realise what it's buying when those guys sell fantasies.)
December 7, 2025 at 10:57 AM
(If it's not clear, corrupt authoritarian politics are a bad thing, and should not be supported wherever you are on the political spectrum. But the public en masse often doesn't realise what it's buying when those guys sell fantasies.)
The Trump administration's enemy isn't countries, it's non-authoritarian politics. This is why Europe is a bigger threat than China or Russia.
It's also why Russia attacked Ukraine after Euromaidan. Liberal (as in, not based on authoritarian crony power networks) politics is the threat.
It's also why Russia attacked Ukraine after Euromaidan. Liberal (as in, not based on authoritarian crony power networks) politics is the threat.
December 7, 2025 at 10:54 AM
The Trump administration's enemy isn't countries, it's non-authoritarian politics. This is why Europe is a bigger threat than China or Russia.
It's also why Russia attacked Ukraine after Euromaidan. Liberal (as in, not based on authoritarian crony power networks) politics is the threat.
It's also why Russia attacked Ukraine after Euromaidan. Liberal (as in, not based on authoritarian crony power networks) politics is the threat.
That doesn't capture the vibe of slop to me. Slop is all texture and nothing more.
Slop is all surface but hollow on the inside. Aesthetic polish, but nothing below the surface. Low meaning. Information content entirely in signifiers but nothing signified. A walking, talking zombie with dead eyes.
Slop is all surface but hollow on the inside. Aesthetic polish, but nothing below the surface. Low meaning. Information content entirely in signifiers but nothing signified. A walking, talking zombie with dead eyes.
December 6, 2025 at 8:56 PM
That doesn't capture the vibe of slop to me. Slop is all texture and nothing more.
Slop is all surface but hollow on the inside. Aesthetic polish, but nothing below the surface. Low meaning. Information content entirely in signifiers but nothing signified. A walking, talking zombie with dead eyes.
Slop is all surface but hollow on the inside. Aesthetic polish, but nothing below the surface. Low meaning. Information content entirely in signifiers but nothing signified. A walking, talking zombie with dead eyes.
It's the other way around. LLMs are adept at content-free PR speak, so PR needs to adapt to avoid being mistaken for LLM slop. IMO.
This is not that different from the old Cluetrain Manifesto. Authentic voices don't sound like LLMs.
This is not that different from the old Cluetrain Manifesto. Authentic voices don't sound like LLMs.
December 5, 2025 at 12:30 AM
It's the other way around. LLMs are adept at content-free PR speak, so PR needs to adapt to avoid being mistaken for LLM slop. IMO.
This is not that different from the old Cluetrain Manifesto. Authentic voices don't sound like LLMs.
This is not that different from the old Cluetrain Manifesto. Authentic voices don't sound like LLMs.
A high ratio of linguistic polish to meat always smells like LLM to me now. Like, show me details that are falsifiable. High powered verbs, adjectives and adverbs but lacking specifics: who, where, when, what, how, why. Paint me a picture of process that fixes things and improves proactively.
December 4, 2025 at 9:34 PM
A high ratio of linguistic polish to meat always smells like LLM to me now. Like, show me details that are falsifiable. High powered verbs, adjectives and adverbs but lacking specifics: who, where, when, what, how, why. Paint me a picture of process that fixes things and improves proactively.
All action words without specificity. "Comprehensive" steps. Secured & revoked (how many?), blocked (from where?), engaged (who?), performed review (what was found?), additional controls (what controls?).
It reads literally like a sample "best of breed" response. No evidence of engineering.
It reads literally like a sample "best of breed" response. No evidence of engineering.
December 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
All action words without specificity. "Comprehensive" steps. Secured & revoked (how many?), blocked (from where?), engaged (who?), performed review (what was found?), additional controls (what controls?).
It reads literally like a sample "best of breed" response. No evidence of engineering.
It reads literally like a sample "best of breed" response. No evidence of engineering.