@fartsinspace.bsky.social
Reformed economist 📈
AI/ML 📊
Social Democrat
AI/ML 📊
Social Democrat
Reposted
Asking “Can AI think?” is the wrong question. It’s like asking if a submarine can swim. It misses the point entirely and embeds you into a semantic argument on the least salient points.
June 16, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Asking “Can AI think?” is the wrong question. It’s like asking if a submarine can swim. It misses the point entirely and embeds you into a semantic argument on the least salient points.
I don’t know why Peter Millar is supposed to be quality clothing when the fabrics are all polyester and rayon.
June 13, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I don’t know why Peter Millar is supposed to be quality clothing when the fabrics are all polyester and rayon.
You’d think that there could be another non-evil company that could delivery stuff as quickly as Amazon. It’s like either you go evil and get it tomorrow or non-evil and get it in 10-12 business days.
May 16, 2025 at 6:32 PM
You’d think that there could be another non-evil company that could delivery stuff as quickly as Amazon. It’s like either you go evil and get it tomorrow or non-evil and get it in 10-12 business days.
Hot take: platforms shouldn’t be able to have exclusive content. Compete on the quality of your platform not on artificial restrictions on access to content. This kind of vertical integration is a deadweight loss to society.
May 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Hot take: platforms shouldn’t be able to have exclusive content. Compete on the quality of your platform not on artificial restrictions on access to content. This kind of vertical integration is a deadweight loss to society.
While I anticipated the cost of house upgrades I really underestimated the cost of housing maintenance. Something is always just breaking/failing.
May 3, 2025 at 3:32 PM
While I anticipated the cost of house upgrades I really underestimated the cost of housing maintenance. Something is always just breaking/failing.
The fundamentals here are so different. But the facts that bond prices are rising (yields falling) is a flashing red light about the belief in the credibility of the US Government.
The key chart right now:
Usually US economic pain is cushioned by falling bond yields and a strengthening dollar, which mean lower interest rates and more spending power for consumers.
This time we’re seeing the opposite, meaning the pain will be amplified.
Usually US economic pain is cushioned by falling bond yields and a strengthening dollar, which mean lower interest rates and more spending power for consumers.
This time we’re seeing the opposite, meaning the pain will be amplified.
April 22, 2025 at 8:18 PM
The fundamentals here are so different. But the facts that bond prices are rising (yields falling) is a flashing red light about the belief in the credibility of the US Government.
2025Q1 GDP growth numbers are gonna be flat if not negative. Even with the “gold adjustments” (which are fascinating in themselves), we are seeing likely negative GDP growth.
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
GDPNow
Provides a
www.atlantafed.org
April 22, 2025 at 8:08 PM
2025Q1 GDP growth numbers are gonna be flat if not negative. Even with the “gold adjustments” (which are fascinating in themselves), we are seeing likely negative GDP growth.
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
It’s utterly wild to see the divergent visions for state capacity play out with the Trump administration. His vision is for a strong state that can murder you without checks but cannot protect you from, well, anything. What a perverse vision for a society.
April 22, 2025 at 7:25 PM
It’s utterly wild to see the divergent visions for state capacity play out with the Trump administration. His vision is for a strong state that can murder you without checks but cannot protect you from, well, anything. What a perverse vision for a society.
Reposted
I understand that Kilmar Abrego Garcia may have abused his wife but I still don’t believe, given the values enshrined in the constitution and the principles of the rule of law, that he should become Secretary of Defense
April 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I understand that Kilmar Abrego Garcia may have abused his wife but I still don’t believe, given the values enshrined in the constitution and the principles of the rule of law, that he should become Secretary of Defense
NPR exclusive: whistleblower says DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data : The NPR Politics Podcast
www.npr.org/2025/04/16/1...
www.npr.org/2025/04/16/1...
NPR exclusive: whistleblower says DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data : The NPR Politics Podcast
The entity known as DOGE has been used as part of the Trump administration's efforts to radically reshape the federal government. But a whistleblower alleges DOGE may have improperly accessed data at ...
www.npr.org
April 19, 2025 at 1:07 AM
NPR exclusive: whistleblower says DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data : The NPR Politics Podcast
www.npr.org/2025/04/16/1...
www.npr.org/2025/04/16/1...
Hey chat, what’s deadweight loss?
Terrific public finance exam question: Is it more efficient to put tariffs on an industry -- effectively forcing U.S. consumers to subsidize it, while also distorting the price signal -- than to subsidize it directly using taxpayer funds?
April 14, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Hey chat, what’s deadweight loss?
If genAI had been available 10 years ago I probably would have finished my dissertation. Wild to think about how useful it could have been at getting me past my sticking points.
April 13, 2025 at 10:49 PM
If genAI had been available 10 years ago I probably would have finished my dissertation. Wild to think about how useful it could have been at getting me past my sticking points.
Reposted
I was thinking about this Joe and Tracy anecdote from the supply chain crisis on gummy bears. Things are probably going to get really weird in a few weeks in unexpected ways:
April 12, 2025 at 11:17 AM
I was thinking about this Joe and Tracy anecdote from the supply chain crisis on gummy bears. Things are probably going to get really weird in a few weeks in unexpected ways:
I’ll never forget the time I went to a talk on imposter syndrome and a kid raised his hand and said “Sometimes I feel like an imposter because I cheated all the way through my masters.” Bro, that’s not imposter syndrome, you’re an actual imposter. Get out.
April 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I’ll never forget the time I went to a talk on imposter syndrome and a kid raised his hand and said “Sometimes I feel like an imposter because I cheated all the way through my masters.” Bro, that’s not imposter syndrome, you’re an actual imposter. Get out.
This is wild. And the fact that the news are calling these “reciprocal tariffs” is just sanewashing.
These tariffs are economic innumeracy.
These tariffs are economic innumeracy.
james surowiecki has discovered where the completely fabricated trump tariff rate has come from for each country
"...for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country's exports to us."
"...for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country's exports to us."
April 3, 2025 at 2:44 AM
This is wild. And the fact that the news are calling these “reciprocal tariffs” is just sanewashing.
These tariffs are economic innumeracy.
These tariffs are economic innumeracy.
I don’t know how I feel about this. It would probably help men a lot, since I expect that men would be more likely to go to a therapybot than an actual therapist. But I also feel that there’s something essential to the human experience with therapy.
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03...
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03...
First Therapy Chatbot Trial Yields Mental Health Benefits | Dartmouth
Study participants likened Dartmouth’s AI-powered “Therabot” to working with a therapist.
home.dartmouth.edu
April 2, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I don’t know how I feel about this. It would probably help men a lot, since I expect that men would be more likely to go to a therapybot than an actual therapist. But I also feel that there’s something essential to the human experience with therapy.
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03...
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03...
I just realized that I don’t think I’ve read any books written by millennials.
April 2, 2025 at 2:11 PM
I just realized that I don’t think I’ve read any books written by millennials.
Unannounced RIF happening today in HHS/FDA.
April 1, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Unannounced RIF happening today in HHS/FDA.
I didn’t know Norway had a wealth tax! That’s dope.
March 28, 2025 at 12:40 AM
I didn’t know Norway had a wealth tax! That’s dope.
MLB.tv cannot handle the load today.
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
Coverage includes audio and video clips, interviews, statistics, schedules and exclusive stories.
MLB.tv
March 27, 2025 at 8:48 PM
MLB.tv cannot handle the load today.
One main takeaway from The Narrow Corridor is importance of not just institutions but of “society”. I fear that we, as a society, are falling outside the narrow corridor of liberty and too many democrats expect our institutions to correct it.
March 20, 2025 at 12:36 AM
One main takeaway from The Narrow Corridor is importance of not just institutions but of “society”. I fear that we, as a society, are falling outside the narrow corridor of liberty and too many democrats expect our institutions to correct it.
“ Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
As always, not a lawyer, but one thing that leaps out at me about how things are going down in the courts right now is that the US court system is not designed to be responsive to a crisis like this one. A crisis like this one is not what it's FOR.
March 20, 2025 at 12:35 AM
“ Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
This is very very bad.
This is, quite literally, how democracies die www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/u...
March 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM
This is very very bad.
Yet another exhibit showing what the Trump administration means by “DEI”.
This is blood-boiling. Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position.
Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you'll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include "DEI medal."
Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you'll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include "DEI medal."
March 16, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Yet another exhibit showing what the Trump administration means by “DEI”.