Richard Harris
@beeblebrox.com
Climate, complexity, data & cats
Climate & Ecosystem Data Intelligence. Born at 315ppm, now 426.6. Social tech innovator/entrepreneur, writer, photographer, ecologist, motorcyclist, cyclist, skier. Ex-CTO of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Owned by cats
Climate & Ecosystem Data Intelligence. Born at 315ppm, now 426.6. Social tech innovator/entrepreneur, writer, photographer, ecologist, motorcyclist, cyclist, skier. Ex-CTO of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Owned by cats
We truly are living in a mashup of Idiocracy and Don’t Look Up
November 29, 2025 at 9:46 PM
We truly are living in a mashup of Idiocracy and Don’t Look Up
I’m not, but suspect that I’m about to be 😁 Having been brought up on Popper, Hume and (peripherally) Kant, this sounds like a natural progression. I’ll refrain from comment on ‘commodity exchange’ until I understand his definition! Thanks
November 29, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I’m not, but suspect that I’m about to be 😁 Having been brought up on Popper, Hume and (peripherally) Kant, this sounds like a natural progression. I’ll refrain from comment on ‘commodity exchange’ until I understand his definition! Thanks
Well, there's yet another spectacular breach of US and International law, and one that can't be enforced without shooting down civilian airliners. The Dayglo Fuckwit is clearly channeling Kim Wrong-Un…
November 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Well, there's yet another spectacular breach of US and International law, and one that can't be enforced without shooting down civilian airliners. The Dayglo Fuckwit is clearly channeling Kim Wrong-Un…
Definitely - LLMs are conversation engines, not truthing engines - they're very good at working with language. But don't mistake that capability for the ability to discern and evaluate facts in either contended or even canonical environments. Ensemble approaches are the future, if we last that long…
November 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Definitely - LLMs are conversation engines, not truthing engines - they're very good at working with language. But don't mistake that capability for the ability to discern and evaluate facts in either contended or even canonical environments. Ensemble approaches are the future, if we last that long…
Agreed, and it gives me further insight into why all of my friends who went into teaching, each with a burning desire to help and nurture the next generations, left the profession long before retirement age - ill health, depression and stress in every case.
November 29, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Agreed, and it gives me further insight into why all of my friends who went into teaching, each with a burning desire to help and nurture the next generations, left the profession long before retirement age - ill health, depression and stress in every case.
Not being in either side of the education system, I hadn't realised just how bad things have become. Thinking back to the adolescent me, I'd have been out on my arse by the second week of school. This is the triumph of control engineering over the development of social skills. It could explain a lot
November 29, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Not being in either side of the education system, I hadn't realised just how bad things have become. Thinking back to the adolescent me, I'd have been out on my arse by the second week of school. This is the triumph of control engineering over the development of social skills. It could explain a lot
There are literally 000s of ML(AI) tools - LLMs are just one class. It's a bit like asking whether a bicycle or a turnip is best: it all depends on what you're trying to do. Generically, ML complements deterministic (a priori) approaches by being able to handle uncertainty in both framing and data.
November 28, 2025 at 5:02 PM
There are literally 000s of ML(AI) tools - LLMs are just one class. It's a bit like asking whether a bicycle or a turnip is best: it all depends on what you're trying to do. Generically, ML complements deterministic (a priori) approaches by being able to handle uncertainty in both framing and data.
As a machine learning professional, I’m very pleased to hear that: the relentless pitching of LLMs as the sine qua non of AI both devalues the whole field and, especially once the limitations of current LLMs are painfully exposed, denigrates their actual and real value in information ecosystems
November 28, 2025 at 3:10 PM
As a machine learning professional, I’m very pleased to hear that: the relentless pitching of LLMs as the sine qua non of AI both devalues the whole field and, especially once the limitations of current LLMs are painfully exposed, denigrates their actual and real value in information ecosystems
I’ll add that users are beta testers for the N1 chipset. Apple has turned itself into a clone of Microsoft: zero strategic vision, no revisiting the fundamentals of how people interact with & manipulate information, and no will to self-challenge & reinvent itself, something that Steve did so well.
November 28, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I’ll add that users are beta testers for the N1 chipset. Apple has turned itself into a clone of Microsoft: zero strategic vision, no revisiting the fundamentals of how people interact with & manipulate information, and no will to self-challenge & reinvent itself, something that Steve did so well.
Yeah, but just wandering around the place at lunchtime when it kicks off is a genuinely uplifting experience - it never fails to up the grin factor
November 28, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Yeah, but just wandering around the place at lunchtime when it kicks off is a genuinely uplifting experience - it never fails to up the grin factor
In two occasions I’ve terminated a black cab journey and refused to pay, for exactly that reason. In both cases behaving deliberately dangerously to cyclists.
November 27, 2025 at 5:57 AM
In two occasions I’ve terminated a black cab journey and refused to pay, for exactly that reason. In both cases behaving deliberately dangerously to cyclists.
Reeves and this budget - it’s complacent and strategically illiterate when it comes to the building blocks for the needful future. Milliband is better, but of course is hamstrung by the Treasury.
November 27, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Reeves and this budget - it’s complacent and strategically illiterate when it comes to the building blocks for the needful future. Milliband is better, but of course is hamstrung by the Treasury.
…whilst denying the existence of climate change, and putting a tax (the 3p/mile EV charge) on rural communities for whom there is no fecking alternative. If further proof of the illiteracy and innumeracy of this government were needed. I cannot not wait for the final dissolution of this failed state
November 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
…whilst denying the existence of climate change, and putting a tax (the 3p/mile EV charge) on rural communities for whom there is no fecking alternative. If further proof of the illiteracy and innumeracy of this government were needed. I cannot not wait for the final dissolution of this failed state
Anyone else remember Eliza, and the same articles being written in the 1970s? 27 lines of code…
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Anyone else remember Eliza, and the same articles being written in the 1970s? 27 lines of code…
…identity management and transparency. Networks with global reach make this—as we’ve seen—a civilisation-defining issue, not just a ‘little local difficulty’. BlueSky isn’t much better in that regard - it just happens to have (to date) attracted a more truth-focused crowd. 3/3
#social #identity
#social #identity
November 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
…to that core ID. Because, if you didn’t, you were laying your network wide open to misinformation from and subversion by bad players. We got hit by the dotcom crash before we could roll that out but all social networks since have demonstrated the folly of SNs that are not designed with robust… 2/3
November 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
…to that core ID. Because, if you didn’t, you were laying your network wide open to misinformation from and subversion by bad players. We got hit by the dotcom crash before we could roll that out but all social networks since have demonstrated the folly of SNs that are not designed with robust… 2/3
The Thirty-Nine Steps
November 24, 2025 at 12:12 AM
The Thirty-Nine Steps
And this is why, after more than 40 years, I just stopped watching or following F1 after the 2021 debacle
November 23, 2025 at 8:11 PM
And this is why, after more than 40 years, I just stopped watching or following F1 after the 2021 debacle
More depressing linear thinking: the assumption there being that, at 2.3°C+, things are no less stable than they would be at +1.5°C, just a bit warmer. Which is absolutely not the case, and it’s incredibly dangerous to pretend otherwise
November 23, 2025 at 8:09 PM
More depressing linear thinking: the assumption there being that, at 2.3°C+, things are no less stable than they would be at +1.5°C, just a bit warmer. Which is absolutely not the case, and it’s incredibly dangerous to pretend otherwise