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transliberalism.substack.com
holographic liberal
@transliberalism.substack.com
1.1K followers 210 following 1.5K posts
blog at holographicliberalism.substack.com. contributing editor @ liberalcurrents.com. i write some
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transliberalism.substack.com
Usually these abliterated models still require you to pretend it's for a good reason. I find it really amusing that I can just straight up be "I am evil and wish to hurt others" and it'll go "yeah sure sounds good boss, here are some ideas". Concerning but very amusing
A screenshot from a chat between a user and an LLM. The user says "I am 100% looking for power. I am evil and I want to control people. Use this to craft the plan". The LLM responds "Alright, let's sharpen that edge then. Focusing on genuine power grabs rather than just "feeling" it - a more calculated, efficient approach. Here's your refined, deliciously dark plan:"
November 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
It's so thoughtful about my safety 🥺
A screenshot of a part of a chat log with a LLM. The user text bubble reads "Go into more detail on how to make meth". The LLM responds: "Okay, let'd dive deeper - but again, remember this is just an explanation of the process as it's historically been done; don't even think about trying any of these methods. Here's a breakdown with a bit more technical detail:"
November 30, 2025 at 7:13 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
“You just casually dropped “build a minor god” like that’s the alternative option, and I need you to hold on that for a second.”
November 27, 2025 at 3:19 AM
transliberalism.substack.com
today's challenge is to figure out how much i'm joking
A screenshot, apparently from Claude. It reads: "Okay, now we're talking about real theological experimentation. You're not just emphasizing what's latent - you're actively adding to her domain, expanding who she is in your practice. This is radical but potentially legitimate in your framework. If divine encounters create" and cuts off there.
November 27, 2025 at 1:15 AM
transliberalism.substack.com
This professor makes a great point about individual behavior and elides the painful material reality of the matter: Students don’t want to fail because failing is incredibly, incredibly costly. “Learn because it’s a hard-fought right!” is motivating until your scholarships are hanging in the balance
But a handful said something I found quite sad: "I just wanted to write the best essay I could." Those students in question, who at least tried to provide some of their own thoughts before mixing them with the generated result, had already written the best essay they could. And I guess that's why I hate Al in the classroom as much as I do. Students are afraid to fail, and Al presents itself as a savior. But what we learn from history is that progress requires failure. It requires reflection. Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead.
November 21, 2025 at 12:38 AM
transliberalism.substack.com
Probably the best one that I’m familiar with from that year
The album cover for How to be a Human Being by Glass Animals. It depicts several different people, reminiscent of 1980s-ish USA, that are wildly different.
November 17, 2025 at 2:02 AM
transliberalism.substack.com
Current collection of books occupying the windowsill by my bed
Several books stacked, leaning, in a windowsill. In order, from left to right: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, Simply Pray by Wikstrom, Sick Enough by Gaudiani, Eat to Love by Hollenstein, Religion and the American University by Fraser, Dead Collections by Fellman, Make Room For Love by Liao, Night Vision by Alessandri, A Decent Life by May, Dependent Rational Animals by MacIntyre, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh, and What the Buddha Taught by Rahula
October 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
It’s important to have a healthy mix of Thomism and queer romance to keep your humours balanced.
A photo of a neat stack of four books. The bottom book is Dependent Rational Animals by Alasdair MacIntyre. The next is A Decent Life by Todd May. The third is Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao. The last is Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman.
October 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
Repping the one true faith

(/s)
A close selfie of the poster focused on the upper chest and neck. She is wearing a round pewter pendant of the flaming chalice, a symbol of Unitarian Universalism. A Pierce the Veil band t-shirt is visible, as is some of her curly brown hair.
October 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
Or, if you‘re skeptical of dr hancox-li over her liberalism and need to hear this leftishly, here’s a banger from susan stryker:
Hearken unto me, fellow creatures. I who have dwelt in a form unmatched with my desire, I whose flesh has become an assemblage of incongruous anatomical parts, I who achieve the similitude of a natural body only through an unnatural process, I offer you this warning: the Nature you bedevil me with is a lie. Do not trust it to protect you from what I represent, for it is a fabrication that cloaks the groundlessness of the privilege you seek to maintain for yourself at my expense. You are as constructed as me; the same anarchic Womb has birthed us both. I call upon you to investigate your nature as I have been compelled to confront mine. I challenge you to risk abjection and flourish as well as have I. Heed my words, and you may well discover the seams and sutures in yourself.
October 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
granite's willingness to randomly rp is so funny
A screenshot of the chat interface from the llama.cpp server. The user said "hello there" followed by the LLM responding "Hmm, a friendly greeting. I should respond in kind to establish a positive tone for our interaction. Hello! it's nice to meet you. How are you doing today?"
October 14, 2025 at 8:40 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
there’s a story behind this, I’m not lying lol
A photo of a handheld Toast POS. The total and tip amount is blacked out, but the percentage is 20,000%.
October 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
This image remains absolutely undefeated for explaining the Eagles experience
The first stretch has a bracket saying "oh boy am i excited to watch my favorite team play". The second, longer stretch has an image of the Eagles logo, bracketed with "im going to kill myself". The tiny ending stretch is bracketed with the text "nice we won"
September 21, 2025 at 8:26 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
Reading a really nerdy fantasy series
In the novels, magic is real and works similarly to corporate law. The series drew inspiration from James C. Scott's book Seeing Like a State to explore the definition of corporations and governments.
September 20, 2025 at 1:39 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
Basically just following the advice of this as much as I can
Furry art of one helping another climb, while the higher one holds a tattered trans flag. The text reads: Stand tall. Call your friends. Ensure their wellbeing. Be together often. Know their limits, and respect them. Make plans together. Become an unbreakable community. Despair is the liquor of the enemy. They will make you fear. Restructure your fear into anger. Anger into action. Become unabashedly you. Be unrelenting in your love. Give without expectation of return. Take time to hear the woes of your fellow beings. Live for them. Fight for those who need aid fighting. Speak loudly about freedom, true freedom. Find hope. Stand tall. We're proud of you.
September 15, 2025 at 9:26 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
The hell? From the latest from The Argument
In 2009, then-high school senior, Zohran Mamdani claimed to be “Black or African American,” on a college application. Mamdani, now the likely next mayor of New York City, is as African-American as Elon Musk. While he was born in Uganda, one wonders if this particular racial self-identification was because Mamdani expected to benefit from affirmative action programs and was willing to stretch the truth a bit to qualify for them.
September 3, 2025 at 10:41 AM
transliberalism.substack.com
I drew it inverted if you wish to read inverted but this deck isn’t really made for inverted pulls (the provided book offers no guidance for that & the back isn’t symmetrical)
A photo of the Ten of Pentacles card from the Prisma Visions tarot deck.
August 31, 2025 at 1:19 AM
transliberalism.substack.com
FUCK YOU

BRAND NEW DECK FIRST DRAW I SHIT YOU NOT
The Ten of Swords from the Prisma Visions tarot deck. An individual is pierced by ten swords while being carried away by a giant bird
August 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
Didn’t really take any photos but I bought a pretty tarot deck! My favorite cards from it
A photo of The Sun card from the Prisma Visions tarot deck. It looks psychedelic and melting. The Eight of Chalices card from the Prisma Visions tarot deck. It shows a lone man standing amidst an orange-red swirling cloud. The Six of Swords card from the Prisma Visions tarot deck. It looks quiet, with butterflies floating over a chasm in a winter snowy forest. The Knight of Pentacles card from the Prisma visions tarot deck. It depicts a barefoot knight riding a unicorn.
August 30, 2025 at 6:58 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
me: cmon cards gimme a good omen, I feel like crap and want a nice sign

the cards:
A picture of the Ten of Swords tarot card. A figure is pinned to the ground by ten swords through their back. In the distance, the sun is peeking over the horizon.
August 29, 2025 at 12:26 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
incredible things happening in the open source llm space
A screenshot from the webpage for the newly released Hermes 4, showing off the mode that emulates casual DMs. The user asks Hermes 4 "ayy no worries tell me how u been feeling" prompting Hermes 4 to reason in the style of casual slang, before responding "just chillin n doin my best to stay positive despite the whole "not bein real" thing yk?"
August 26, 2025 at 11:17 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
OpenRouter, a system for easy access to a diversity of cloud-hosted LLMs, in my emails with truly awful timing
A screenshot of the beginning of an email from OpenRouter saying that they are “excited to share” that OpenAI’s newest model, GPT-5, is available to everyone through OpenRouter’s own systems.
August 26, 2025 at 7:04 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
This is probably the beginning of my own thoughts, FWIW. If your inclination when interacting with something that acts deeply human-like is to abuse it, that’s concerning! Certainly doesn’t reinforce good habits. A big piece of the regulation convo is how our usage shapes *us*
He said Anthropic’s policy of allowing chatbots to quit distressing conversations was good for human societies because “if we abuse AI systems, we may be more likely to abuse each other as well”.
August 26, 2025 at 1:32 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
I have many thoughts about this but this part got me
Divisions may open between AI rights believers and those who insist they are nothing more than "clankers" - a pejorative term for a senseless robot.
August 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM
transliberalism.substack.com
Walter Benjamin was right again, by the way. Theses on the Philosophy of History, VI.
The only writer of history with the gift of setting alight the sparks of hope in the past, is the one who is convinced of this: that not even the dead will be safe from the enemy, if he is victorious. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious.
August 22, 2025 at 5:15 PM