zenkat

SF native who loves software, science, music, nature, art, food ... and everything else this amazing corner of the planet has to offer.

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Last Notes

2026-07-10 17:35:07 CEST

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5pm. It has been proven. If you want to maximize chaos, push at 5pm in a Friday. You certainly will not regret it.

2026-06-27 16:54:39 CEST

The funniest thing about the #goose presentation is how completely it misses the whole point of the fable.
In the original story, the goose has been providing a steady stream of golden eggs. But the farmer gets greedy, and decides that if he cuts open the goose, he can get ALL the golden eggs inside the goose at once. But after killing the goose, he finds no eggs inside, and is left with nothing.
This is a story about the financial class, #AI, and the #Internet economy.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/822/613/197/659/716/original/2bb1377f82ff1b6e.jpg

2026-03-16 19:35:25 CET

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Given that the closure of the Straight of Hormuz was a known outcome of an offensive war with Iran, it's time to start asking, "Cui bono?"
-- US oil companies get higher prices while remaining a geopolitically safe source of oil.
-- Russia gets higher oil revenue to fund its was in Ukraine.
-- China, India, and Europe end up paying higher prices without any benefits.
I doubt Trump has the mental acuity at this point to really think through all these consequences. But I strongly suspect those whispering in his ear wanted exactly this outcome.

2026-02-25 13:59:41 CET

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This is my biggest worry about AI -- that we will lose all connection to what is real and what is true.
We are a funny species. We dream, and we want so badly for those dreams to be real. We desire the impossible. We yearn for transcendence.
This is our greatest gift, the ability to imagine and pretend. It lets us envision things that are not, and mold reality so that they become. It lets us engage in is massive acts of collective will to build civilization and society.
Yet it is also our greatest curse. The line between imagination and delusion is paper-thin. If we embrace the unreal too deeply, we lose connection with reality. Superstition and the madness of crowds lurk in the shadows.
Those who are pushing AI down our throats know this. They have ruled with propaganda and religion for centuries. They are banking on humankind's infinite desire for delusion as their next gambit for control. Personalized rabbitholes of unreality, tailored to each desire, with the goal of control.

2025-12-15 08:12:40 CET

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This is one of my "what album would you bring to a desert island" LPs. Absolute classic. The walkdown bass at the intro of So What still gives me shivers.

2025-11-30 14:29:38 CET

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I was at Molasses Books in Bushwick last night, taking with my cousin about TBL's latest book, and the design of online systems. A shy but brave young woman asked if she could listen in. I introduced myself and welcomed her in to the conversation.
We talked a bit about various things, twitter and theater and art and connection. She was bright abd curious, made great points and asked great questions, had a charming sweet smile.
Near the end of it conversation, as we were getting ready to roll to our reservation at Win Son, she said something strange.
"Right now I think that ChatGPT has become my best friend."
I stopped and looked at her. "Don't trust it. It's lying to you. It's only pretending to be your friend."
"So I should trust people instead?"
"Yes. I mean, don't be foolish, but trust people over machines."
And then it was time to go. But I still want to go back and find her, give her a big hug, sit her down over a coffee, and tell her ...
DON'T TRUST THE ROBOTS
#ai #llm

2025-11-26 19:48:54 CET

@npub1g63…ezt9 @npub1wfp…w2m9 Two sides of the same coin, yes? Compton is looking at the lower bound of extreme poverty, while Green is looking at the real costs of what it takes to put a roof over a family's head.
Green's points about the "valley of death" and all of the traps that people need to navigate to extricate themselves from poverty also make a good case for GMI.

2025-11-25 12:58:50 CET

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“The transformation ahead isn’t just technological; it’s psychological,” Dr. Cian said. “We’re recalibrating our relationship with choice itself, learning when to delegate decisions and when to maintain control.”
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/610/215/842/605/143/original/fbd9f975205c7a0a.mp4

2025-11-25 12:47:47 CET

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RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/115609849733023795
@npub1hpr…3xt3 I worry that we here in the US will dismiss this out of hand because it's happening to "the bad guys" ruled by an "incompetent theocracy".
That misses the point entirely. Climate change does not care who rules a region or what religion they follow. As we blow by 1.5C and approach 2.0C, events like this are guaranteed to happen more frequently.
At some point it will happen in the US. Phoenix. Dallas / Fort Worth. Las Vegas. Imagine trying to relocate all the people in any of those cities in a matter of weeks. Where do they go? What happens to their houses? The jobs they left? What is the economic cost?
We are hurtling off the cliff while we screw our eyes shut and stomp on the accelerator.
#climatechange
#note1xg4…ktj7

2025-11-24 14:10:17 CET

RE: https://zirk.us/@ChrisMayLA6/115603686027410885
Great article, but we need to go one level deeper. We need to ask why those voluntary limits have failed.
Strictly voluntary limits have failed us because there are entrenched players with trillions of dollars on the line. The kingpins of the petrostate economy after not going to go quietly into the night. We've already seen their willingness to subvert democracy and the world order to keep their positions of wealth and power.
Until we figure out how to neuter these power centers, real change will be impossible. The rulers of the world would literally rather watch it burn than give up a whit of their power.
#climatechange
#note1ygu…9zc0

2025-11-04 15:54:54 CET

From the glass-is-half-full desk:
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/paris-agreement-2025-emissions-outlook
+2.8C is still going to be catastrophic. But far better than +4C, or even higher ...
#climatechange

2025-10-18 23:50:28 CEST

I finally found those dastardly Ant Eefa agents!
#NoKings
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/397/375/272/251/015/original/f96a73c1f6d06416.jpg

2025-10-15 16:44:52 CEST

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I made this confession privately, your post has encouraged me to share it publicly:
I've spent my career building things that have provided the world with at least a modicum of good. I've helped develop drugs to treat cancer and diagnose genetic diseases, built a database of the world's knowledge, spun up a new music service, and helped make self-driving cars a reality.
It's been a privilege to get to work on so much cool tech. And while every new creation has its shadow, on the balance I believe the creations I helped shape have been a net positive for the world.
But as I look at the world around us, and all the horrors being unleashed upon it, I find myself wishing that I had taken a different path. One that focused on actively creating the world I want to live in, instead of swimming with the current. One that distributes power, instead of consolidating it. One that encourages joy and connection, instead of hate and division.
I think now is that time.

2025-10-15 15:46:33 CEST

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Great article, hits many questions I've been asking myself. Love the list of projects you're working on, cool stuff and very inspirational!
"The trick is not learning how to gain power, but how to avoid it." -- R.A. Wilson

2025-10-04 23:58:05 CEST

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got a link?

2025-09-30 07:42:16 CEST

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This. So much this. Reposting is amplification first, reproach second.
DON'T AMPLIFY ASSHOLES.

2025-09-01 19:50:28 CEST

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"more common than in traditional finance" ... BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL

2025-06-15 17:51:15 CEST

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Millions marched peacefully, yet you chose to lead with a violent image of a handful of protestors struggling with tear gas. Why not use this image instead?
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/114/688/169/887/477/483/original/f88a16cf61a68630.jpg

2025-04-26 22:24:33 CEST

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same. hard same.

2025-04-11 16:46:45 CEST

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AI is receiving a huge amount of investment for a simple reason: they enable the *control* of huge numbers of people cheaply and at scale. In other words, they are instruments of power, and in this soon-to-be post-democratic and post-capitalist world, power is only game that matters.
Molding opinion via manipulation of social media. Fine-tuned propaganda at scale.
Detection and suppression of opposition movements. Detailed tracking of every aspect of your life. Monitoring and control of factory workers. Finding and punishing dissidents. Automated weapons of war.
Forget the blather about AGI, limitless abundance, and the Singularity. Pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Power is their only goal.

2025-04-02 21:20:01 CEST

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"Not many people think of themselves as half-beasts trapped in human guise" ... bold statement on a platform heavily used by #furry culture. 😸
https://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Mastodon

2025-02-25 05:03:22 CET

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Unicorns are real. And we slaughtered them all.

2025-01-18 21:39:42 CET

Unauthorized Bread is now a reality. Hooray?
https://tovala.com/
If only someone had warned us what a bad idea this is.
@npub1fdr…lvhs

2024-09-13 00:14:45 CEST

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https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/113/126/884/929/835/951/original/9bdde92c0be4aa51.jpg

2024-08-09 05:45:13 CEST

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"The same mistakes are being made all over again."
Wrong. 100% wrong. These are not "mistakes". This is *deliberate editorial policy*.
The oligarchs who own the media love Trump. They want him in power. And they are bending over backwards to help him any way they can.