Ben Wheeler
@benjiwheeler.bsky.social
creative technology, good faith debate, justice. Imagine a friend said it. techno-social.com
I think the 2020 Harper's open letter on "justice and open debate" really holds up. A huge danger was always that tools of excluding speech would be seized by the powerful and used against the powerless
harpers.org/a-letter-on-...
harpers.org/a-letter-on-...
April 3, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I think the 2020 Harper's open letter on "justice and open debate" really holds up. A huge danger was always that tools of excluding speech would be seized by the powerful and used against the powerless
harpers.org/a-letter-on-...
harpers.org/a-letter-on-...
@fchwpo.bsky.social JB, I want to invite you to a trivia night in Somerville this Tues Mar 11 (no game that night! Perfect timing!) hosted by two HUGE fans, me and my brother... This is me (in my #7 "LIBERATION" jersey!) last week, I promise you'll love the trivia (hard but satisfying!)
March 5, 2025 at 2:18 PM
@fchwpo.bsky.social JB, I want to invite you to a trivia night in Somerville this Tues Mar 11 (no game that night! Perfect timing!) hosted by two HUGE fans, me and my brother... This is me (in my #7 "LIBERATION" jersey!) last week, I promise you'll love the trivia (hard but satisfying!)
I feel shocked and hurt when I see this flyer that protesters at Barnard/Columbia passed out while disrupting a class about modern Israel. I think it's crucial to distinguish between opposition to a Zionism that oppresses Palestinians, and opposition to Jewish people...
March 4, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I feel shocked and hurt when I see this flyer that protesters at Barnard/Columbia passed out while disrupting a class about modern Israel. I think it's crucial to distinguish between opposition to a Zionism that oppresses Palestinians, and opposition to Jewish people...
You can ask stuff like this, which makes life better
February 3, 2025 at 5:05 AM
You can ask stuff like this, which makes life better
Diving into @karpathy.bsky.social's "Neural Networks: Zero to Hero" course. Amazing that this is free... so fun to build alongside him, and start to form directed graphs and to start to visualize backpropagation
karpathy.ai/zero-to-hero...
karpathy.ai/zero-to-hero...
February 1, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Diving into @karpathy.bsky.social's "Neural Networks: Zero to Hero" course. Amazing that this is free... so fun to build alongside him, and start to form directed graphs and to start to visualize backpropagation
karpathy.ai/zero-to-hero...
karpathy.ai/zero-to-hero...
Sometimes I lose sleep over a small error that affected 10 people briefly. And then I see things like this, where Ticketmaster tells people sorry, there are no concerts at all you can buy tickets for in the United States
December 11, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Sometimes I lose sleep over a small error that affected 10 people briefly. And then I see things like this, where Ticketmaster tells people sorry, there are no concerts at all you can buy tickets for in the United States
Hah, I should have guessed -- @buttondown.com has already implemented this!
November 22, 2024 at 7:56 PM
Hah, I should have guessed -- @buttondown.com has already implemented this!
Gotta love Stan Lee
November 22, 2024 at 6:21 PM
Gotta love Stan Lee
Sometimes I'm like "I should be less prickly" and other times I'm like
May 14, 2024 at 5:06 PM
Sometimes I'm like "I should be less prickly" and other times I'm like
I felt skeptical about this, so I submitted two of the questions, and the answers basically true -- at odds with the article's claims
March 29, 2024 at 9:14 PM
I felt skeptical about this, so I submitted two of the questions, and the answers basically true -- at odds with the article's claims
Why are books people recommend like this
March 29, 2024 at 8:35 PM
Why are books people recommend like this
I just don't understand how the self-immolation of an active member of the US military, in protest of US foreign policy that appears likely to swing the election, isn't front page news in the NYTimes. Do they not like being read by interested readers?
February 26, 2024 at 7:21 PM
I just don't understand how the self-immolation of an active member of the US military, in protest of US foreign policy that appears likely to swing the election, isn't front page news in the NYTimes. Do they not like being read by interested readers?
There's brilliant, and then there's hilariously brilliant, and then there's the fine wine of genius, and then there's Ayo Edebiri's review on Letterboxd of Beau is Afraid
letterboxd.com/fumilayo/fil...
letterboxd.com/fumilayo/fil...
February 12, 2024 at 9:03 PM
There's brilliant, and then there's hilariously brilliant, and then there's the fine wine of genius, and then there's Ayo Edebiri's review on Letterboxd of Beau is Afraid
letterboxd.com/fumilayo/fil...
letterboxd.com/fumilayo/fil...
Based on this #MassHealth page, and the table it shows (only headers shown for my privacy), where would you say I would find my MassHealth Member ID? (Warning: trick question!)
January 31, 2024 at 4:14 PM
Based on this #MassHealth page, and the table it shows (only headers shown for my privacy), where would you say I would find my MassHealth Member ID? (Warning: trick question!)
Wow, I had Transit installed, but I didn't realize how good it is. Here it is immediately showing a disruption on a train line that was posted on the agency's website 4 minutes ago
January 25, 2024 at 5:03 PM
Wow, I had Transit installed, but I didn't realize how good it is. Here it is immediately showing a disruption on a train line that was posted on the agency's website 4 minutes ago
The level of nonsense in the Massachusetts Health Connector website is extraordinary
"Monthly premium: $40: Make Payment!*"
"[tiny print] * Don't actually click this button. This was just a lie."
"You are eligible for aid! Here's your aid amount: absolutely nothing. You're welcome!"
"Monthly premium: $40: Make Payment!*"
"[tiny print] * Don't actually click this button. This was just a lie."
"You are eligible for aid! Here's your aid amount: absolutely nothing. You're welcome!"
January 22, 2024 at 8:47 PM
The level of nonsense in the Massachusetts Health Connector website is extraordinary
"Monthly premium: $40: Make Payment!*"
"[tiny print] * Don't actually click this button. This was just a lie."
"You are eligible for aid! Here's your aid amount: absolutely nothing. You're welcome!"
"Monthly premium: $40: Make Payment!*"
"[tiny print] * Don't actually click this button. This was just a lie."
"You are eligible for aid! Here's your aid amount: absolutely nothing. You're welcome!"
It's bizarre to me how much I detest @duolingo, while it is incredibly popular with so many, including my family members. I feel like it's simultaneously way too easy to the point of being boring, and yet ridiculously unforgiving when you try to skip a level
December 26, 2023 at 6:53 PM
It's bizarre to me how much I detest @duolingo, while it is incredibly popular with so many, including my family members. I feel like it's simultaneously way too easy to the point of being boring, and yet ridiculously unforgiving when you try to skip a level
False headline in the NYTimes. I knew immediately that this was incorrect -- wildly incorrect. It's frankly bizarre that this made it in, and I wonder if it reflects a deep misunderstanding of world events and the imbalanced coverage that the mainstream media gives different deaths.
December 25, 2023 at 4:36 PM
False headline in the NYTimes. I knew immediately that this was incorrect -- wildly incorrect. It's frankly bizarre that this made it in, and I wonder if it reflects a deep misunderstanding of world events and the imbalanced coverage that the mainstream media gives different deaths.
LLMs are often garbage in, garbage out. I asked ChatGPT why my smoke alarm was blinking red, and it produced a response citing this website:
December 21, 2023 at 1:10 PM
LLMs are often garbage in, garbage out. I asked ChatGPT why my smoke alarm was blinking red, and it produced a response citing this website:
