Lucent®
@lucent.substack.com
"Thinkers aren't limited by what they know…they're limited by what puzzles them, because there's no way to become curious about something that doesn't puzzle you." —Daniel Quinn
The algorithm failed music
The algorithm failed music
True music discovery has suffered.
buff.ly
November 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
the heuristic is a retrocausal "act around people now as if they were going to tell you tomorrow they tested positive for COVID"
November 11, 2025 at 5:26 AM
the heuristic is a retrocausal "act around people now as if they were going to tell you tomorrow they tested positive for COVID"
"prepping" mentality motivates me to keep offline Wikipedia on all my devices. i suspect most DGX Spark purchases are powered more by this scarcity thinking than tinkering. if things go sideways, i'll have an artificial mind, the current most useful crisis companion
preppers must not really believe in capitalism, the system best at raising the price of scarce items until they are properly allocated
November 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
"prepping" mentality motivates me to keep offline Wikipedia on all my devices. i suspect most DGX Spark purchases are powered more by this scarcity thinking than tinkering. if things go sideways, i'll have an artificial mind, the current most useful crisis companion
seems as abrupt as the pivot against thick, hazy IPAs and brewery culture
November 10, 2025 at 2:51 AM
seems as abrupt as the pivot against thick, hazy IPAs and brewery culture
another persona is the discombobulated whimsical simpleton with poor posture—a hands-in-pockets rock-kicker with short attention span. scatterbrained and distractible to mask power level. eternal surprise and confusion in conversation countersignal predictive ability
"be your authentic self" to be more likable only works if you are median or below. unmask your power level at the tail of ability and people will absolutely ice you out to keep another piranha out of the tank
November 9, 2025 at 8:15 AM
another persona is the discombobulated whimsical simpleton with poor posture—a hands-in-pockets rock-kicker with short attention span. scatterbrained and distractible to mask power level. eternal surprise and confusion in conversation countersignal predictive ability
this thread was turned into a post
The Is, the Ought, and the Drift
For policy to work, it must admit what is before arguing what ought to be
lucent.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:19 AM
this thread was turned into a post
since i am used to writing for/to AI, i really want Substack to give me the ability to automatically link every individual sentence to a custom GPT that operates as browser extension-like StretchText replacing in situ the answer to "expand the meaning of this sentence from the following essay"
November 8, 2025 at 3:55 AM
since i am used to writing for/to AI, i really want Substack to give me the ability to automatically link every individual sentence to a custom GPT that operates as browser extension-like StretchText replacing in situ the answer to "expand the meaning of this sentence from the following essay"
this thread was turned into a post
Masks to Malebolge
When salvation status is paramount, the mere sight of your mask can send someone to hell
lucent.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:20 AM
this thread was turned into a post
this thread was turned into a post
November 7, 2025 at 2:55 AM
this thread was turned into a post
bringing this up with everyone and the counter is always "this is possible". sure, it's not even difficult, but detecting asker's intelligence, comparing it to question's intelligence, then answering with indulgence vs. dismissal based on the differential is highly subjective. no objective midpoint
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
bringing this up with everyone and the counter is always "this is possible". sure, it's not even difficult, but detecting asker's intelligence, comparing it to question's intelligence, then answering with indulgence vs. dismissal based on the differential is highly subjective. no objective midpoint
at a low tier, accusations of AI text are an insult, but if you dare launch this barb at high prose, you inadvertently compliment its prompter's skill at operationalizing AI to replicably deliver superior text on demand
November 6, 2025 at 8:48 AM
at a low tier, accusations of AI text are an insult, but if you dare launch this barb at high prose, you inadvertently compliment its prompter's skill at operationalizing AI to replicably deliver superior text on demand
this thread was turned into a post
Honor Beats Dignity
How the South's honor culture beat out America's dignity
lucent.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:17 AM
this thread was turned into a post
we need an assembly theory-like probability quantification for hyperbolic visitors along a planetary system's orbital plane. sweep inbound headings left-to-right from encircling rings near-to-far, propagate with gravity, count a visit as 5% of Hill radius. compute: only 1 in x paths visit y planets
November 5, 2025 at 3:09 PM
we need an assembly theory-like probability quantification for hyperbolic visitors along a planetary system's orbital plane. sweep inbound headings left-to-right from encircling rings near-to-far, propagate with gravity, count a visit as 5% of Hill radius. compute: only 1 in x paths visit y planets
this thread was turned into a post
You're Coming Back With Me
Nostalgia is less about returning to a bygone time than about returning to a smaller world
lucent.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:16 AM
this thread was turned into a post
hours of backchanneling to bias others against me may work for a short time among the relationally impoverished looking for alliance, but a few moments of thoughtful sincerity is all it takes to cancel out all your efforts with anyone reasonable. exhaust yourself practicing malice at your own peril
November 4, 2025 at 9:56 PM
hours of backchanneling to bias others against me may work for a short time among the relationally impoverished looking for alliance, but a few moments of thoughtful sincerity is all it takes to cancel out all your efforts with anyone reasonable. exhaust yourself practicing malice at your own peril
this was turned into a post
Face the Ick
What if "face" exists in the East for reasons other than mediating commerce?
lucent.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:57 AM
this was turned into a post
this thread was turned into a post
The Virtue of Invariance
How can I craft a personality for any version of me?
open.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:05 AM
this thread was turned into a post
this thread was turned into a post
Personas of Local Maxima
The performance needed to connect with others can rewrite who we are
lucent.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:59 AM
this thread was turned into a post
hard to overstate the relief of having frozen, public samples of my writing dating back before LLMs, before the rationalist blogosphere, evidencing my already-formed voice and excess em dash use. preregister everything in a place with timestamps if only to prevent this frustration
November 2, 2025 at 7:27 PM
hard to overstate the relief of having frozen, public samples of my writing dating back before LLMs, before the rationalist blogosphere, evidencing my already-formed voice and excess em dash use. preregister everything in a place with timestamps if only to prevent this frustration
instead of a graph, can you find the longest uninterrupted streak of not tweeting between 10pm and 10am and declare that his sleep duration, and graph that instead as a simple time series?
November 2, 2025 at 4:06 PM
instead of a graph, can you find the longest uninterrupted streak of not tweeting between 10pm and 10am and declare that his sleep duration, and graph that instead as a simple time series?
it'd help veganism if we conceded the utilitarian benefit of going from 6 to 3 meat meals a week is just as helpful as 3 to 0 rather than assigning 0 special moral high ground
November 2, 2025 at 3:34 PM
it'd help veganism if we conceded the utilitarian benefit of going from 6 to 3 meat meals a week is just as helpful as 3 to 0 rather than assigning 0 special moral high ground
I can't believe we let Taylor get away with the Tina Belcher full body twerk because it was only a thrust and a half
November 2, 2025 at 9:20 AM
I can't believe we let Taylor get away with the Tina Belcher full body twerk because it was only a thrust and a half