Great questions! May they lead to many interesting podcast conversations.

In politics as in science, Occham's Razor holds true -- even if this excellent article challenges and then refines it:
"To paraphrase Einstein, we should try to make things as simple as possible, but no simpler."

Friedrich Hayek explains MAGA:
"Much of our occasional impetuous desire to smash the whole entangling machinery of civilisation is due to the inability of man to understand what he is doing."

Thank you for teaching about the existence of this profoundly intelligent woman.
(Infuriatingly, her Wikipedia page describes her first as a man's daughter, and then as a philosopher.)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabe...

I think a broader point is being made here about parallels between neoloberal thinking (specifically efficient market theory) and AI, rather than the admittedly adjacent issue of large corporations (which admittedly are a product of neoliberal thinking).

Not the point I know but why does Kier Starmer look perpetually perplexed in every single photo I see of him?

If this intends to make it legally compulsory for every adult in Derry to carry something called a "Brit Card", then I'm willing to offer some high-paid consultancy on why this plan might be flawed.

Buckle up everybody -- we could be heading for another spot of turbulence. And get the sick bags ready.

#booksky 📚

Could really do with an explainer from the Reply All podcast rn. The kind that it used to make before it turned out to be toxic. 😔

I do love getting old books out of the library.
Here a spiffy undergrad, circa 1980, says what they really think of Hayek's (admittedly cranky) idea for democratic representation.

This picture gets the *seal of approval*.

[cymbal crash]

Guys, I know we fret a lot over AI here. But sometimes we get reminders of how dumb it is. And we should laugh and worry less.

A beautiful thought for nihilists:
Bees make the most wonderful honey from the nectar of fire weed -- which proliferates on ground recently cleared by flame.

#CheerfulNihilism

I gotta say I'm getting sick to the back teeth of hearing about POTUS on BlueSky. But my lord there are some funny humdingers going around tonight....

i'm afraid donald trump is in a classic Death Becomes Her situation. he drank isabella rosellini's eternal life potion 20 years ago but he's fallen down so many staircases that the seams holding his torso together keep melting under studio lighting conditions. he's very much alive if in total agony

I can

Jesus, this sh1t again?

Wicklow Wolf x Gubeen Farmhouse, Mór Bier
(6% ABV)
7/10
This “big beer” packs a punch. The marketing says it contains “aromas of dark bread, caramel and subtle dried fruit”. And yeah, you can taste most of these. I love everything Gubeen so I'm biased. This beer lives up to most of my hype.
#BeerSky

The millions of lives being saved are the lives of the soldiers. These are, of course, the only lives that the buyers (governments) care about.

"In the broader history of warfare", though, this does make sense. Albeit in a sinister way. The history of warfare is the history of distancing the killer from the victim. The makers of arrows would have marketed in the same way to governments; as would the Scotsman who invented the cannon.

"Deploy millions of weapons without risking millions of lives"?
Military AI companies sell fantasies. The reality: more violence, more instability.
Don’t fall for the hype.
📖 Our latest Substack: stopkillerrobots.substack.com/p/dont-belie...
✏️ @elkeschwarz.bsky.social

"In the broader history of warfare", though, this does make sense. Albeit in a sinister way. The history of warfare is the history of distancing the killer from the victim. The makers of arrows would have marketed in the same way to governments; as would the Scotsman who invented the cannon.

Let’s be honest here: they were hoping the anti-refugee protests turned ugly because then there would be sexy telegenic violence. The reason that the progressive protests aren’t news is because they don’t. Which shows the warped priorities of our tv news coverage and is not a great signal to send.