ssullivan.bsky.social
@ssullivan.bsky.social
Software developer. Occasional writer and graphic designer. He/Him
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
Open up this picture fully.
Then look at the surface of Mars.
Then look up to the top right.
Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.
Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.
That's Earth.
Then look at the surface of Mars.
Then look up to the top right.
Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.
Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.
That's Earth.
December 30, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Open up this picture fully.
Then look at the surface of Mars.
Then look up to the top right.
Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.
Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.
That's Earth.
Then look at the surface of Mars.
Then look up to the top right.
Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.
Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.
That's Earth.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
We're running out of good ideas. Providing food security, shelter security, and free at point of use healthcare will absolutely help us find new ones.
What if the true genius in the world is the sum of our lives lived in safety and freedom?
What if the true genius in the world is the sum of our lives lived in safety and freedom?
This column on Vox is the biggest pile of steaming AI crap I've seen this year. Human's aren't running out of ideas. Instead, those with power and money don't want to listen to ideas that threaten their power and money.
Ideas are plentiful. Putting those ideas into action is the hard part.
Ideas are plentiful. Putting those ideas into action is the hard part.
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
www.vox.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:30 AM
We're running out of good ideas. Providing food security, shelter security, and free at point of use healthcare will absolutely help us find new ones.
What if the true genius in the world is the sum of our lives lived in safety and freedom?
What if the true genius in the world is the sum of our lives lived in safety and freedom?
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
News is coming to me via friends on Facebook, and via Fancyclopedia, that John Varley, who wrote Millennium, Steel Beach, and the Gaea trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon) has died. He was an excellent writer in the Campbell/Heinlein tradition, and I dug him a lot in my teens and early 20s. RIP.
December 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM
News is coming to me via friends on Facebook, and via Fancyclopedia, that John Varley, who wrote Millennium, Steel Beach, and the Gaea trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon) has died. He was an excellent writer in the Campbell/Heinlein tradition, and I dug him a lot in my teens and early 20s. RIP.
I had a university professor who gave us a similar assignment with papers purchased from online essay mills. The prof even made us defend those essays in a debate. I can guarantee no one in that class was ever going to consider buying an essay online in the future.
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 AM
I had a university professor who gave us a similar assignment with papers purchased from online essay mills. The prof even made us defend those essays in a debate. I can guarantee no one in that class was ever going to consider buying an essay online in the future.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
A vivid reminder that
1) AI doesn’t understand what you’re trying to get it to do
2) it’s trained to sound plausible, not to check itself against reality. None of its explanations or promises are to be trusted.
1) AI doesn’t understand what you’re trying to get it to do
2) it’s trained to sound plausible, not to check itself against reality. None of its explanations or promises are to be trusted.
July 20, 2025 at 7:15 PM
A vivid reminder that
1) AI doesn’t understand what you’re trying to get it to do
2) it’s trained to sound plausible, not to check itself against reality. None of its explanations or promises are to be trusted.
1) AI doesn’t understand what you’re trying to get it to do
2) it’s trained to sound plausible, not to check itself against reality. None of its explanations or promises are to be trusted.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
The new Murderbot short story is up at Reactor Magazine: reactormag.com/rapport-mart... Edited by Lee Harris, art by Jaime Jones.
Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy - Reactor
Perihelion and its crew embark on a dangerous new mission at a corporate-controlled station in the throes of a hostile takeover… Novelette | 7,540 words They were still three hours out when Perihelion...
reactormag.com
July 11, 2025 at 2:31 AM
The new Murderbot short story is up at Reactor Magazine: reactormag.com/rapport-mart... Edited by Lee Harris, art by Jaime Jones.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
Back from social media hiatus with a new mantra: "I call bullshit" is my evergreen response to generative AI evangelism, now in essay form.
Here's the first of these I Call Bullshit essays: Writing lessons from my toddler, who teaches me why AI can never replace us.
suyidavies.com/essays/i-cal...
Here's the first of these I Call Bullshit essays: Writing lessons from my toddler, who teaches me why AI can never replace us.
suyidavies.com/essays/i-cal...
I Call Bullshit: Writing lessons from my toddler in the age of generative AI — Suyi Davies Okungbowa
"I Call Bullshit: Essays on generative AI" is a series of essays (by Suyi Davies Okungbowa) that consider the inadequacy of generative AI technologies to embody or replicate the facets of human endeav...
suyidavies.com
May 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Back from social media hiatus with a new mantra: "I call bullshit" is my evergreen response to generative AI evangelism, now in essay form.
Here's the first of these I Call Bullshit essays: Writing lessons from my toddler, who teaches me why AI can never replace us.
suyidavies.com/essays/i-cal...
Here's the first of these I Call Bullshit essays: Writing lessons from my toddler, who teaches me why AI can never replace us.
suyidavies.com/essays/i-cal...
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
🧵 THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read.
He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords
Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:
He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords
Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:
April 18, 2025 at 12:10 AM
🧵 THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read.
He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords
Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:
He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords
Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
And lo, the trailer did drop: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2... #murderbot
Apple TV+ debuts trailer for “Murderbot,” premiering May 16
Apple TV+ unveiled the trailer for “Murderbot,” the comedic thriller series starring and executive produced by Emmy Award winner Alexander Skarsgård.
www.apple.com
April 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
And lo, the trailer did drop: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2... #murderbot
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
This guy, @albertburneko.bsky.social, is a genius. Please read his brilliant article on Elon Musk's deranged and morally repugnant Mars colonisation schtick. defector.com/neither-elon...
Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars | Defector
Mars does not have a magnetosphere. Any discussion of humans ever settling the red planet can stop right there, but of course it never does. Do you have a low-cost plan for, uh, creating a gigantic ac...
defector.com
March 7, 2025 at 9:05 AM
This guy, @albertburneko.bsky.social, is a genius. Please read his brilliant article on Elon Musk's deranged and morally repugnant Mars colonisation schtick. defector.com/neither-elon...
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
I have been so excited since I found out this would be announced today! RIP any ability for me to concentrate: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2...
Apple’s new sci-fi series “Murderbot” to make global debut May 16, 2025
Today, Apple TV+ unveiled a first look at “Murderbot,” created by Chris and Paul Weitz and starring Alexander Skarsgård
www.apple.com
February 20, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I have been so excited since I found out this would be announced today! RIP any ability for me to concentrate: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2...
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
Quick reminder that if you see a headline from a source you’ve never heard of that isn’t being reported by anyone else, you really should do some due diligence before spreading it around as fact. There’s enough misinformation floating around already; no need to add more.
February 1, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Quick reminder that if you see a headline from a source you’ve never heard of that isn’t being reported by anyone else, you really should do some due diligence before spreading it around as fact. There’s enough misinformation floating around already; no need to add more.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
I just came back from one of the most amazing D&D sessions I've ever run in my life.
For context, in the last year I've been working as a professional DM, and one of my gigs is running games for kids in a camp setting here in LA.
My table has been known as the most chaotic of the bunch.
For context, in the last year I've been working as a professional DM, and one of my gigs is running games for kids in a camp setting here in LA.
My table has been known as the most chaotic of the bunch.
January 19, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I just came back from one of the most amazing D&D sessions I've ever run in my life.
For context, in the last year I've been working as a professional DM, and one of my gigs is running games for kids in a camp setting here in LA.
My table has been known as the most chaotic of the bunch.
For context, in the last year I've been working as a professional DM, and one of my gigs is running games for kids in a camp setting here in LA.
My table has been known as the most chaotic of the bunch.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
This is legitimately good advice and we should take it seriously
January 1, 2025 at 4:08 AM
This is legitimately good advice and we should take it seriously
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
Fans don’t just have parasocial relationships with people. Some also have it with brands, substituting love for an IP with a sense of ownership, creating a toxic level of demand and complaint if the IP doesn’t deliver precisely what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.
November 18, 2024 at 10:26 PM
Fans don’t just have parasocial relationships with people. Some also have it with brands, substituting love for an IP with a sense of ownership, creating a toxic level of demand and complaint if the IP doesn’t deliver precisely what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
@leader-kate.bsky.social and I were just chatting about this! "AI", as it seems to be used these days, covers too much, and it isn't even really intelligence. It's just computers doing computer stuff.
Writing a talk and wondering if anyone had renamed AI "computers doing things" and stumbled across this -- "computers doing computer stuff" www.inc.com/jason-aten/s...
Stop Calling Everything A.I. It's Just Computers Doing Computer Stuff
All of these new products and features are impressive, but we're a long way from computers thinking for themselves.
www.inc.com
November 18, 2024 at 9:50 AM
@leader-kate.bsky.social and I were just chatting about this! "AI", as it seems to be used these days, covers too much, and it isn't even really intelligence. It's just computers doing computer stuff.
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
The idea that you *must* coexist with and listen to people who are cruel, unjust, and just plain unpleasant to be around is the logic of abusers, by the way
November 17, 2024 at 6:01 PM
The idea that you *must* coexist with and listen to people who are cruel, unjust, and just plain unpleasant to be around is the logic of abusers, by the way
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
From 1941: “…the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.” (h/t @alexanderchee.bsky.social)
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson
harpers.org
November 7, 2024 at 9:26 AM
From 1941: “…the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.” (h/t @alexanderchee.bsky.social)
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
Always 💖
Don't make me tap the sign
Don't make me tap the sign
November 6, 2024 at 5:42 AM
Always 💖
Don't make me tap the sign
Don't make me tap the sign
Reposted by ssullivan.bsky.social
The point about AI training is that it is not a ghost in a machine learning by diligent study; it is massive corporate power expropriating work and asking to be excused from the law in exchange for goods it will not deliver and profit it will keep to itself.
August 2, 2024 at 6:49 AM
The point about AI training is that it is not a ghost in a machine learning by diligent study; it is massive corporate power expropriating work and asking to be excused from the law in exchange for goods it will not deliver and profit it will keep to itself.