@timothyzillion.bsky.social
Things that were taken as a given for the last 80 years but apparently some people thought they knew best
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 21h ago“.. With Saudi oil now blockaded, Americans are about to discover why maintaining stability in the Middle East and not handing it to a consortium of Russia and Iran was always important.” @jayinkyiv.bsky.social
If Talarico will throw trans people under the bus he'll do it on abortion too and I'm not saying that makes him a bad vote vs Paxton BC SURELY NOT but voters deserve better than wondering
I'm sure lots of other people have said this, but if I worked for a company on a product that I thought had a >10% chance of killing all humans within the next decade and we had no plan for how to stop it, I would quit and devote myself full time to destroying this product.
Christiaan Triebert@trbrtc.bsky.social · 5d agoMeanwhile on X, from Evan Hubinger, who leads the Alignment Science team at Anthropic.
FWIW I don’t think that AI is an existential threat, nor on track to become one. I do however think that the leaders of the biggest AI companies, AI’s strongest boosters, and some of the folks who are most adept at using it to exploit others are actively hastening along OTHER existential threats.
Wrote a new talk about how we should all give up on writing prompts by hand
Prompts aren’t Real
Dispatches from Agentic Product
evaluation.club
I think people with no exposure to effective altruism/online rationalist communities are having a very hard time making sense of the doom-talk coming out of the frontier labs. A bit of orientation with those worlds is helpful context.
Horrific though unsurprising report from @propublica.org: Ectopic pregnancy deaths have basically doubled since the end of Roe
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
propublica.org
"I don't know the answer myself, but I asked a blowhard I know and he took a wild guess, here's what he said: " How I interpret pasted replies from an LLM in online conversations
it’s because people like you oppose transit oriented development peak Berkeley is a “climate scientist” who prefers parking to bike lanes and fights against building more housing near transit, all while crying crocodile tears that not enough people take transit
The car in front has been parked in front of Monterey Market for days on end (see accumulated leaves in the previous photo). The white van behind it has been parked there for 15 years (seriously; see Google Maps Street View). But no, it's the bike lane that's wrong.
2 days later, it's still parked there
The City of Berkeley is entering the fifth year of debate, and the first year of lawsuits, over whether this parking space represents a critical resources to the disabled and disadvantaged. What it's mostly used for is for locals to park their for-sale cars for weeks at a time.
This is so fucking lovely. Please read it to the very end.
The 92-Year-Old Mathematician and the Teenage Apprentice (Gift Article)
Joan Birman thought her major discoveries were behind her. Then came an email from a young neighbor — a girl who knew little but wanted to learn.
nytimes.com
Anyway I've now seen it on a huge IMAX screen and projected on a bedsheet in a tiny Tokyo dive bar, which are really the two best ways to see Akira, highly recommend doing both
Bike lanes decrease the risk of serious injury for all users on a road. How is that not a benefit to the entire community? theprogressplaybook.com/2023/11/20/1...
13-year study finds protected bike lanes make roads safer — for everyone
Cities with dedicated bike lanes had 44% fewer deaths and 50% fewer serious injuries.
theprogressplaybook.com
I just started reading "The Princess Bride," for the first time, and I had no idea that the book's framing narrative was so weird.
"A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now."
The Angry Astronaut@angryastro.bsky.social · last wk.ATTENTION SPACEFLIGHT ENTHUSIASTS! Germany is heading to orbit TONIGHT! Join me for this historic event! www.youtube.com/live/jGSHreH...
I would buy a pair that look like the mind control worms from Wrath of Khan.
So. The researcher who is responsible for this shit is someone I loathe. Joel is an epidemiologist that specializes in metadata studies. Joel is not a doctor of any kind. Joel prides himself on finding "hidden patterns", which is to say he is very good at seeing faces in static.
As somebody who grew up during the era in which there was a massive public push to reduce teen pregnancy, it’s absolutely wild to me to see people on Fox News now complaining that not enough teens are getting pregnant.
Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social · 2w agoFox News complains that underage teenage girls aren’t getting pregnant enough: “The problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15-19, the fertility rate is down 70% in the last 2 decades, which means we are telling people who are young not to have babies.”
the goals listed are fine and necessary, but man they gotta think bigger than this.
Nice morning at theSt Francis YC for the first day of the Swiftsure regatta.
Got to sign the petition about a ridiculous federal bill to restrict cycling lanes on roads like Grand, 14th, Broadway, Telegraph, and Macarthur
League of American Bicyclists@bikeleague.org · 3w agoACTION ALERT 🚨 Right now, the Senate is considering adding language to the transportation reauthorization bill to restrict bike lanes. Tell Congress: funding for bike safety projects MUST continue! Take action: action.bikeleague.org/page/101946/...
In the 2024 election, Berkeley had a set of great progressive victories, electing a fantastic mayor, @mayoradenaishii.bsky.social, and passing a funding measure for safe streets. Now, a conservative backlash is brewing. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open... (archive version: archive.is/VAxKX)
California’s progressive epicenter just went YIMBY
Adena Ishii’s rise to become Berkeley’s new mayor marks a decisive shift for the city and its progressive politics.
sfchronicle.com
ordinary people have no idea the system is such a kafkaesque nightmare
I recently bought a lamp for my desk. Now every single day, I get an email from the lamp company inviting me to join their community. I am not interested in this desk lamp community, although I do like the lamp.
The fact that to all appearance she thoroughly enjoyed her life for beginning to end is, for me, a resounding example of karmic justice. I know of few people as deserving
Absolutely floored by the news of Dolly Parton’s passing. There are few whose place in pop culture was as monolithic, but more importantly, warm. A radiant fount of positivity, she transcended genre and mediums, but also defined them. Literally one of the best to ever do it. Her loss is monumental.
