Blaise!

Also this is a reminder that stylus writing is life and I will never, never go back to tap-tap-tapping away like the animals do, so the typos are have to stay.

Found in my notes

Okay Claude's memory system is generally pretty good but the way it ties back every random question to something in your memory is very annoying. "what is <thing>" "...so is this related to your work with <topic a> or maybe you ran into this with <topic b>?" stop

“This argument is perfectly sound. But we must remember that arguments are constructed in one way, and governments in another.” Macaulay really does have some banger lines.

Most people in arbitrarily hierarchical societies did not enjoy being abused by those in power and fought against mistreatment; meaningful reform typically came from political entrepreneurs who developed novel institutional solutions rather than from mass movements alone. They created more predictable, rule-based systems that constrained arbitrary power - not necessarily 'liberal' in the American sense, but structured around consistent procedures and legal frameworks that favour openness and coordination. As societies developed more robust institutions and economic prosperity, this cemented psychological dispositions like trust in systems and long-term thinking. Some recent political developments over the last two decades have pushed institutional boundaries in problematic ways: cultural excesses, 'defund the police', censorial speech norms, and identity-based policies all represented largely spontaneous memes that fit the vibe du jour but were poorly thought through. The inevitable counterreaction to these experiments has pulled in the opposite direction, neo-reaction. In some respects, this pushback is institutionally consistent: law enforcement and procedural consistency are necessary features of any functioning rule-based system! But by and large the response has been unprincipled: the same toxic behaviors are mimicked with only the ingroup/outgroup dynamics reversed. Arbitrary, poorly-designed policy experimentation continues. There are two approaches to these institutional challenges. One is to simply 'win through force' and crush 'the other side' - this appeals to zero-sum thinking and tribal instincts that populists and reactionaries exploit. The other is a return to careful institutional design and procedural consistency, which have historically proven more durable and effective than ad hoc or arbitrary approaches. This doesn't mean returning to a carbon copy of the 90s world order (sorry legacy politicos) - institutional evolution is inevitable given changing demographics, power shifts, and technological progress. You can't simply copy-paste old institutions, they need thoughtful redesign by skilled political entrepreneurs to fit new realities. It's obvious that the post-WWII order is institutionally unsustainable but it needs structural adjustment, not elimination. A procedurally consistent international order works better than an anarchic one; nuclear non-proliferation creates more stability than proliferation; well-designed trade systems help more people than protectionist arrangements. But we'll need new systems/mechanisms to protect the commons, and I think the use of AGI/ASI to reduce transaction costs in political bargaining and surfacing cooperative solutions that human cognitive limitations consistently ignore will be critical if we don't want to self-destruct through certified-organic Human mistakes. Excited for more research along these lines - the 'cooperative AI' research agenda is still highly underrated! [insert boilerplate AGI risk/benefit yawnfest truism here]

@TaxpayersUnion did you hit your head on something and just forget like, all of microecon?

@AbsentHog Sad truth is that left and right both have much to bring to the table, if only because of non-overlapping blind spots. Morons need to be shunned, regardless of ideology.

Balance, in political terms, is like the force not like a see saw Balanced political coverage is when everyone is a neoliberal center leftist, not having a mix of left and right wing morons

Adorable! My newborn homunculus has learned to walk upright! Soon I will send it to war!

"Industry funded body doesn't want to limit kids access to gambling-esque elements"

whetstone, lens, matrix not pen

people i had time and maybe respect for are falling and letting llms shape their voices this is putting ai to its weakest use tbh

@PronouncedHare I would take the side of the trade-off we're already on ten times out of ten.

There is so much ignorance about tax because most people are just passive taxpayers. Can guarantee if it was a manual payment that everyone had to make there would be a great fewer misunderstandings.

Ridiculous Not so much a ten but what the number ten is *for* It is a ten with comfortable room to spare It is significantly flawed, and still a ten, and still has significant room to spare

dammit i accidentally started watching fullmetal alchemist brotherhood again have to watch it all, i guess

@cha0s10g1c well you'll never catch a whale with that attitude

Born too late to hunt whales Born too early to eat lab grown whale meat

> I have never in my life hauled a full bucket half a mile and I probably never will. my ancestors looking at my teenage volunteer work at the zoo: well yes you have to...wait this is for a bear?

representation matters

I give you the real stuff historians keep to themselves

i miss living in wellington :(