Inclusionary Zoning Paradox: Keeps Poor Out of Wealthy Areas
It's hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that the purpose of Inclusionary Zoning is to keep poor people out of rich neighborhoods, but it's true
Longer Abbreviations Could Cost AI Billions in Compute
The real AI pause will be increasing the length of these abbreviations until AI has to spend $1 billion in compute costs just to say them each time
Japan's Downtown Swallows Massive Highway—Unexpected Urban Design
Japan would never run a bunch of giant highways right through the middle of downtown...right? https://t.co/q4rXX4DQL4
Japan’s Car Ownership Rivals America at 80%
The replies include a lot of urbanists who stubbornly refuse to admit that Japanese people drive a lot. Sorry, but you have to look at the facts. Over 80% of Japanese households own cars -- a very high rate (it's...
Human Vulnerabilities Can't Be Pre‑patched; Bio Defense Lags Cyber
With bio the problem is harder than with cyber. You can patch up vulnerabilities before anyone tries to attack them. Human vulnerabilities can't be patched up in advance; the "defense" always moves second.
AI May Aid Defenders, Yet Empower Attackers During Transition
Yes, I think in equilibrium, AI favors cyber defense, because an AI can go over all the code and find all the weak spots and patch them up. But in the transition period, it could favor the attacker, if AI-generated...
Your Bank Account Lives in the Cloud—Offline Impossible
How about your bank account? That's in the cloud too. How do you move that offline?
AI Won’t Halt Human Cognitive Advancement, Here's Why
This is why I'm not worried that AI will mean the end of human cognitive improvement
Higher Intelligence Increases Likelihood of Moral Behavior
Yes. This is one reason why the Orthogonality Thesis (the idea that intelligence and morality are unrelated) is wrong. If there is any benefit to moral behavior, it takes a more intelligent system to fully realize that benefit. So smarter...
60% Of
Americans as a whole realize that Israel is not a good ally. 60% is a solid majority, and it's only going to grow. A breakup of some kind is coming.
AI Threatens Furry Community by Replacing Erotic Fanfiction Writers
Between this and AI reportedly taking the jobs of erotic furry fanfic writers, I'm starting to think that AI is a weapon designed to destroy furry culture
Superintelligent AI Will Crave Video Games More
The more superintelligent AI gets, the more it's going to want to play video games
Superintelligent AI Could Hack Militaries, Prompting AI Nationalization
At some point, superintelligent AI will be able to defeat the U.S. Military -- or any military -- just by hacking all its weapons. At that point, either we de facto nationalize AI, or a corporation is our new government...
AI Labs Will Prioritize Cybersecurity and Quant Trading
Cybersecurity is a smart capability for AI labs to target, because it's adversarial -- the attacker and the defender both need to scale up their token use just to cancel each other out. Quant trading is also like this, so...
OpenAI's Aggressive Model Release Could Disrupt the Internet
When OpenAI comes out with a similar model, it might decide to go ahead and release it, in an attempt to grab market share back from Anthropic. Doing this might break the internet.
AI Autocomplete Threatens All Cybersecurity Experts
"AI is just fancy autocomplete", bro that "autocomplete" is about to outfox every human cybersecurity specialist who ever lived
Canceling US‑Israel Alliance Won’t Solve Core Issues
For what it's worth, I think America should cancel its alliance with Israel, which is obviously a bad and unhelpful ally. But unlike leftists and rightists, I don't actually think canceling it will fix any of our fundamental problems, or...
Bio‑ and Neuro‑sci‑fi Feels Essential, yet Often Dull
Bio- and neuro-themed sci-fi are the only kinds that really make sense to read anymore (as opposed to just reading the news), but most bio- and neuro-themed sci-fi is boring.
OpenAI Equates AGI with Mass Unemployment—Problematic Framing
OpenAI has basically defined "AGI" as mass human unemployment. This was probably a bad choice.
Gender‑affirming Care Is a Medical, Not Civil‑rights Issue
My view on the issue of gender-affirming care has always been that it should be treated as a MEDICAL issue, rather than as a civil rights issue. Activists can conflate the two for a long time, but not forever.
AI's Political Impact Is Far Greater Than Expected
We may still be underrating how big of a political issue AI is going to be
AI Lab Leaders Warn of Job Losses
The heads of the big AI labs continue to insist that their products are going to take all your jobs, and also pose various catastrophic risks
Tank Skeptics Mocked, Now Proven Wrong
Just two years ago, people who said "tanks are over" still got ridiculed by military "experts".
Altman and Amodei Overstate AI’s Threat to Humanity
If this is true, Sam Altman and Dario Amodei should probably stop going around shouting that their product will literally make humanity obsolete.
Emi Kusano's Stunning Ghost in the Shell Exhibit
Awesome art by Emi Kusano for the Ghost in the Shell exhibit in Tokyo https://t.co/CxfvCTXZXh
Short AI Takes Amid Political Turmoil
I know I should be writing about the giant flaming disaster that is the Trump administration, but in the meantime, here's a list of short takes about AI: https://t.co/IhlrQBjJhJ
AI Hype Finally Draws Congressional Scrutiny
I guess AI people screaming "Our product will make everyone obsolete and may kill all of humanity" finally got Congress's attention.
U.S. Jobs Shift Toward Generalists, Entrepreneurs, Rare Specialists
The U.S. labor market may start to look more like 1980s Japan -- generalists looking for ways to fill in the weaknesses of AI, small businesspeople striking out on their own, and a few specialists with valuable skills. https://t.co/wRA2yG2bYg
Cheap Drone Swarms Make Traditional Militaries Obsolete
All militaries that are not based around masses of cheap drones are obsolete as of right now.
Japan's Mid‑Priced Italian Beats San Francisco's Finest
The average mid-priced Italian lunch place in Japan is better than the best Italian restaurant in San Francisco
Japan's Twitter Merger Mirrors Its Global Convergence
Just as Japan Twitter is going to merge with the rest of Twitter, Japan itself is converging toward the rest of the world. https://t.co/E2FnSeaVyV
Japan's Transit Excellence Fuels Suburban Living
Japan's public transit is so good that relatively few people live in the city center; people just live slightly outside and commute in.
Fare Gates Everywhere: Make BART Viable for Working Class
Instead of a dying service that needs constant bailouts because it lets junkies and creeps ride for free, BART should install fare gates everywhere and be a thriving public transit system that working class people can use to get around...
AI Advances Everywhere Except Trip Planning
AI is getting rapidly better at most things, but somehow over the past year or two it seems to have gotten worse at trip planning.
U.S. Clings to Anti‑EV Myths as World Advances
The United States is almost unique in choosing to believe in a bunch of anti-EV nonsense. Anti-EV B.S. is a luxury belief. And it's a luxury the rest of the world is deciding it can no longer afford. https://t.co/7S9UrBqiId
AI Defense Must Outpace AI Attack to Preserve Internet
Let's hope AI cyber defense beats AI cyber offense, or the internet age is over
MAID Supporters Described as Notably Weaselly on Platform
MAID supporters are some of the most weaselly people I've encountered on this website https://t.co/YsZoSvPGZU
Putin's Policies Cause Monthly Loss
Every month, a small city's worth of Russian men disappear forever, thanks to Vladimir Putin
Ignoring EVs Costs America Higher Gas Bills
The Iran War is showing that there are costs to disbelieving in technology. Americans ignored EVs while the rest of the world embraced them. Now we're paying the price in higher gas bills. https://t.co/7S9UrBqiId
AI Threatens Japan's Pseudonymous X Culture
Japan loves X because of the pseudonymity. But AI is going to make it easy to dox anyone from their writing style very soon, so its appeal may diminish.
US Woes Pale Compared to Canada and UK Crises
However bad you think things are in the United States, they're worse in Canada and the UK.
Euthanasia for Depression Equals State‑Sponsored Murder
Offering euthanasia to depressed people is state-sponsored murder. There is no ambiguity. It is murder.
Creativity Emerges From Networks, Not Solo Minds
Yes. Creativity almost entirely happens at the level of the network/group, not at the level of the individual brain. The question is not "Can AI be creative?". It's "Does having lots of AI in the discovery network make it more...
MAID Driven by Government Cost Savings, Not Dignity
The purpose of MAID is not to let people die with dignity. The purpose of MAID is to save the government money. They will keep pushing death on everyone they can push it on, in order to save the government...
AI Can Now Design Cancer Vaccines—Game‑changing Breakthrough
We can vibe-code cancer vaccines, and you think no one is going to be able to vibe-code a doomsday virus?
AI Threatens Internet, Reverting Humanity to Dunbar Limits
Only AI is powerful enough to destroy the internet and force humans back into a world ruled by Dunbar's Number. Until this happens, human society will continue to deteriorate.
Democracies Must Send Volunteers to Ukraine to Learn Modern War
Every democratic country needs to have a substantial number of "volunteers" fighting in Ukrainian units, so that they know how to fight a modern war.
Powerful AI Models Will Tip Cybersecurity Balance
We'll soon see if very powerful AI models favor the attack or the defense when it comes to cybersecurity...
Future Cities Sacrificed for AI Trading Data Centers
2030s: Your hometown is bulldozed to make room for data centers to power quant trading AGI
AI and Humanity Stagnate: No Truly New Creations in Years
"Why hasn't AI created anything truly new in four years?" IDK bro, why hasn't humanity created anything truly new in fifteen years