High quality, GMO-free takes, available whenever I update things
Kalshi and Polymarket are the big names in the new sector of "prediction markets", and other established names like Robinhood and Crypto.com are getting in on it too. They claim to be the most accurate way to predict future outcomes, but what are they really? They very specifically avoid the language of "bet" due to legal implications, but that gets closer to the heart of what is happening here.…
In the latest example of corporations existing outside of the law, SpaceX (who is for some reason the controlling entity of xAI now) announced they'll be removing the illegal, unpermitted gas turbines they've been running at their Memphis Colossus data center... by July 2027. xAI gets to flout economic planning and restrictions that any normal group would have to follow, all for the sake of being…
In this article I'll share some of the things I found regarding the organization WorkMoney, who keeps serving me ads on Instagram about "protecting the PFD". It's not a particularly intensive search, mostly given the relative secrecy surrounding the internals of non-profit organizations. This group acts as a means of funneling dark money into a surface level "politically neutral" service which…
This should be a pretty quick one all in all. I just wanted to explain how I have structured the site, and how I write these updates. For informational purposes and hopefully inspiring others to take the dive into just posting things.
>I am tortured in new and exciting ways by the latest developments in technology. Today, as a part of Google I/O, Google announced the "Universal Cart" and another push towards "agentic shopping", this time with backing from a large variety of retail partners. In this piece, I'll explore how shopping is another front of the culture war, AI continues to gild shit, and these developments push us…
CEO of Suno Mikey Shulmanwent on Training Data hosted by Sonya Huang, the podcasting arm of Sequoia Capital (which manages $56B in assets), to talk about how everyone can make music now thanks to their incredible product. I'll discuss in this article how Silicon Valley doesn't understand music or artistic creation, and how framing music in this way destroys any actual novelty or joy. Sorry for the…
This is part writing experiment, part therapy homework. These words reflect the world as I see it and what I value as an individual. Please enjoy, but more importantly, reflect on your place in the world and how you contribute. This is not complete by any means but a draft of a jumbled mess of vaguely connected thoughts.
Having recently watched Crimes New Roman's recent video on the subversion of life itself via technology and the campy, cynical, outrageous film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, I find myself conflicted. I personally love tech, I think it's neat. At this rate however, it will kill us all and some will cheer it on.
Welcome to your primer on a post-Spotify/Apple Music/Amazon Music/Youtube Music future. Shit sucks, so we fix it. A range of options from "I just need something new to sign up for" to "I'll just make my own" to "I'm cutting ties to the internet, fuck this", we've got it all. Note: I am not sponsored by any products mentioned, no affiliate links, etc. I just like this shit.
This piece serves as a reflection on my own growth, and the discussions that take place in Innuendo Studios' latest video a guide to flaming out. Trigger warning for the video and this article for discussions of mental health, depression, suidicidality, and dealing with yourself.
Rest of World published an article titled My mom and Dr. Deepseek back in September, which I encourage you to read (archive here). I want to use it as a jumping off point for a larger discussion it does well to touch on; LLMs are being plastered everywhere to exploit people's lack of systemic support, and abuse their social responses to endear themselves to these people.
The political discourse has shifted signficantly following the high-profile murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents. Democrats have finally started broadly calling for action of some kind, ranging from abolition (and subsequent prosecution) of ICE, to calling for the resignation/firing of Kristi Noem, to just asking Trump to stop operations in Minnesota.
Amidst reports of Greg Bovino (maybe? still getting some mixed reporting at this time) being removed from his duties as head of ICE, there's something important to remember: they don't just get to walk away. Donald, Greg, Kristi, Kash, and every other one of these weasely little power-hungry cunts needs to see prosecution and jail for the tragedy and horror they've spread via their participation…
On January 22, 2026, the White House social media account posted an image altered by an LLM service (original link here). As shown in the comparison, this is not how the image was originally posted by current Department of Homeland Security Secretary and noted loser Kristi Noem, this was a specific attempt to spin a story and besmirch a black activist by the White House.
First of all, on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as an agency. ICE was founded with the passing of the Homeland Security act, one of America's massive overreaches following the September 11th attacks. That makes ICE just 23 years old as of time of writing. With the xenophobia baked into it, the agency essentially amounts to several racist manifestos in a trenchcoat.
I, as a hobby, seem to reinstall my OS. Trying out a new one only to usually return to my comfortable starting place. This means I've developed a pretty standardized process for keeping my digital life fairly well contained and easy to move when the urge strikes me. I think a lot of my practices would be beneficial in one way or another to folks, or interesting for those maybe looking for a change…
The New York Times' Hard Fork podcast had a conversation with Roblox CEO/Co-founder David Baszucki (video here: YouTube) and it went great, but only if your definition of great evokes phrases like "car crash". This includes highlights such as downplaying user safety concerns, saying "I'm actually not frustrated" like a really frustrated guy would, and calling pedophiles an opportunity.
In a recent blog post, Anthropic outlined what they believe to be use of Claude Code to fuel state-sponsored hacking and cyberattacks. They describe what happened, the (limited) mitigation efforts were taken, and how they understand the attack to have worked - much like any typical incident debrief.
If you are somehow unfamiliar, Politico recently ran a story covering "Thousands of private messages [that] reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape." While I take issue with framing them all as "jokes", their messages do include all that.
To be clear, this isn't some left-wing conspiracy. It's a documented issue, perenially popping up in exposés of terrible working conditions and elaborate lies.
Those hocking the latest and greatest in digital snake oil (AI) claim it will fuel a neo-industrial revolution, enabling people to work several times more efficiently. Vishal Shah, Meta's VP of Metaverse, said that engineers should be "using AI to go 5x faster" in an internal message. This should raise several red flags to their engineers, not least of which being: If I'm working 5x more…
In this thrilling episode of the continuing misadventures of Sam Altman, he must to grapple with the consequences of his own actions. We begin in medias res, where he balks after complaints regarding his latest announcement: "erotica for verified adults" via ChatGPT. "We are not the elected moral police of the world", he says in a tweet, "In the same way that society differentiates other…
There has been a sudden onslaught of use and interest in words to derogatorily refer to AI and its users. One of the major ones has a Wikipedia page, a KnowYourMeme page, dozens of UrbanDictionary entries, etc. I ,as a white man, acknowledge I am toeing a fine line here. I understand that slurs are a topic that requires deftness and nuance to approach. However, as the class that typically has…
In a press release from Gov. Newsom's Office, they lay out a slate of bills recently signed that address "protecting children online". While most of the solutions range from good to middling, there is one that will have unintended consequences, especially when combined with the current administration's signficant and sustained pressure to criminalize behavior and speech they deem disafavorable.…
One of the most common refrains you'll hear from AI Boosters is that they're "democratizing". Exactly what is being democratized depends on the conversation, but falls into one of two camps generally. There is the "democratization of AI", and then there is the "democratizing effect of AI". The former is typically talked about those making AI and AI-related products, while the latter is typically…
The American Dream was, at one time, an aspiration for a better future: a home and a yard, a nest egg for your children, a community that you feel connected to. It was an expression of the quiet transformative power of capital, or an absorption of the gains labor made into the marketing material of The Western Way(tm), however you'd like to look at it.
Trigger Warning: This piece is only direct quotations from a lawsuit regarding the death of 16 year old Adam Raine, see original article here outlining the situation. Emphasis is my own. It directly addresses his suicide and the discussions with ChatGPT that took place leading up to his suicide.
To answer the headline: No. Categorically, emphatically, universally: No. This is not how the technology works. At its base level, it understands input as numbers (video explanation here), and outputs as its best estimatation of what number follows what number - maybe in relation to the ones before that and after, maybe not - depending on the complexity of the model.
After stoking the fervor that drove a portion of QAnon and other related conspiracy theories, promising to "release the client list" and finally drop everything the government had on prolific rapist and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump Empire has suddenly turned tail.
Thanks to MediaMatters excellent reporting, we can give credit to Google where credit is due. They are enabling the most despicable and mentally poisoned among us to play out their most racist fantasies in HD, all at the cost of a small grove of trees per generation.
In one of the messiest public break-ups ever, Elon and Trump continue to fire back at each other. However, one being a very rich racist and the other being a very rich racist and the president, Trump has a bit of a leg up on what he can lob back. Axios among others reported on the latest volley between the two.
Another day, another outcry of antisemitism when people speak out against the genocide of the people of Gaza carried out by Israel's heartless band of murderers. The "sensible center" media acts surprised, asking "as reasonable people want to know" if these individuals support Hamas, a capital crime in and of itself.
Riot Games is a successful company, with 5 active games ranging from fairly popular to some of the biggest in the industry. They also have their sub-labels with their own developments. League of Legends and Valorant are both massive franchises both in the casual and professional markets. They're owned wholly by Tencent, which generated over $40B in income in 2023.
Peter Thiel was recently interviewed (that's the transcript, video here) by the New York Times. He is the prototypical tech billionaire, loudly espousing far right and bizarre views. He is also specifically an intellectual, someone that should be listened to (according those that tell you who you should listen to). It's easy to see why, in some ways.
So, Microsoft is changing the BSOD. I take issue with most/all things Microsoft does as of late, but this is a step too far.
Recently, 404Media (Fantastic, journalist-owned outlet, please support them) reported on the case Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson v. Anthropic. This is a unique decision, at least from the outside looking in. It tries to thread a needle in not closing off publishers from damages, but what it waves over (or at least accepts the framing of) allows these AI first companies an…
The Democratic Party, one of two primary political parties in the US, largely operates under the idea that Leftist ideals and policies are not popular in the US and are a losing agenda overall. Party leaders repeatedly underline this, pushing out and denouncing attempts to reform the group to a more progressive direction/leadership. In their worldview, the correct politics is whatever is just a…
Empathy as a sin is a symptom a diseased mindset. It is a worldview beset by paranoia and fear of the Other. A conceptualization of the world that knows as truth (note the lowercase T) there are people that want to take away their comforts.
I keep coming back to this thought, time and time again: what am I supposed to do with AI, really? Depending on who you ask, anything and everything.
I tend to be pretty longwinded. I think it'd be a good exercise of writing but also effort to try and post more, shorter form pieces, focusing specifically on a single thing.
Spotify is an active detriment to the artists using it. It's a worse experience for the listeners every day. So who is Spotify even for anymore? Shareholders, specifically the ones that don't use Spotify.
I, like many people online, was sure that Adrian Dittmann was Elon Musk on an alt the first time I heard him. Elon has previously admitted to using alt accounts under threat of law, and is generally a sad enough little man that it didn't seem out of character for him, to be defending himself on an alt.
I came up in a world where the internet was still relatively new, widely available but not all-encompassing as it is today. It's a bit strange to look back on now.
Every day, the tech giants (which used to collectively be called "FAANG", Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, but now seem to be whatever startup lucked into a few billion dollars this week) claim to have the thing that will revolutionize my life.
I don't much like going to the theater, which is unfortunate because I really enjoy the theater watching experience.
Katy Perry is a fish out of water. She had her moment- several, one might argue. But she's not, as Charli XCX says, "so Julia". She's not it anymore, and hasn't been for quite some time. This is the tale of an artist's death gurgle, her dramatic flopping about, and working to curdle her own art.
American culture is largely built around the Torment Nexus. Many people fondly exchange stories of sitting around their childhood Nexus, heads filled with suffering and the screams of the damned. Times have changed though, and we see the way forward.
I've fallen off my bike again. It's pretty rusted, not particularly well maintained. I'm doing some of what I can now, but years eat away at things.
I'm not an alarmist by nature, I promise. Things develop at such a warpspeed that we both need to assume they'll fuck everything up and that they'll be irrelevant next month.
The Internet is 95% people arguing. As a part of that arguing, we try to sus out whether or not they are a good faith actor. Most people, in my opinion, are not.