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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 15m

Yes! It's why I'm keen to make it very clear where this strand of "thinking" comes from.
www.the-tls.com/science-tech...

Techno dystopia, libertarian hell

Imagine a future in which humans succeed in colonizing other planetary systems. It is then easy to imagine an intergalactic human population numbering something huge beyond imagining – 1040, say – all...

www.the-tls.com

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 17m

I totally agree Huw.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 23m

Indeed. That's my worry. I told the organizers this. It makes it hard for those of us who want to support what can otherwise be a stimulating event.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 25m

But even then, I was told that Yarvin was mobbed by his fans, mostly (if not entirely, I suspect) adoring young men.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 27m

I have to say, it made me uneasy about appearing at the festival (as a host of two other events). I'm all for debates with folks I disagree with, but not if they're just noisy contrarians with nothing of value to say. At least he got some robust grilling from Alastair, it seems.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 31m

"He strikes me as someone who can’t quite believe his luck that there are people in real positions of power who take him seriously." Seems Alastair Campbell nailed Curtis Yarvin at the recent How The Light Gets In festival. But why was Yarvin even there?
www.thenewworld.co.uk/alastair-cam...

Alastair Campbell's diary: Don't take Curtis Yarvin seriously

Yarvin believes liberal democracy has failed and that monarchy should replace it. He just has absolutely no idea how to achieve this

www.thenewworld.co.uk

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10h

I must, but possibly not for that reason Henry. We will Have Words.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10h

"it energises water and polar molecules through vibration". Don't we all.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10h

😂

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10h

Ah listen to herself.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 12h

I almost wonder whether we need some system for denoting human-appearing behaviour (like lying and cheating) while identifying it as not really that. A special font? An "AI" subscript? As it is, people can get very confused by such talk.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 12h

It's very hard to find a language that accurately describes what is happening in these instances. Some experts, like @melaniemitchell.bsky.social, try hard to do that. Others, as you can see in the article, not so much.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 12h

This is a good piece that tries to caveat the language. But no AIs "lie, cheat, plot murder, blackmail, or scheme". They produce outputs, which may or may not be correlated with reality and which can mislead us.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

AI models that lie, cheat and plot murder: how dangerous are LLMs really?

Tests of large language models reveal that they can behave in deceptive and potentially harmful ways. What does this mean for the future?

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Philip Ball

Mark Miodownik @markmiodownik.bsky.social · 13h

We are running another repair cafe on 7th Nov. FREE to all. Learn how to mend your favourite objects for free, get involved in the repair and reuse process, and gain advice on the steps needed to bring your beloved belongings back to full working order. share.google/76mO7KzxbyiE...

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 14h

As you doubtless know, Geoff!

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 14h

Yes, I agree - it may be hard to calculate in general, but they tell us in principle what it is.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 14h

I think people feel it sounds more "proper", e.g. "My partner and myself would like to thank you". As a rule, if "I" or "me" can be substituted for it, it shouldn't be "myself".

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 15h

Yes, Stu is keen on it (see below). I think it raises some interesting issues too.
www.quantamagazine.org/why-everythi...

Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex | Quanta Magazine

A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 15h

Mike Lynch has published a trenchant critique of this idea. Some of his objections seem reasonable to me, as far as I can judge; some seem to rather miss the point. But Lynch is always worth reading.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 16h

I'm increasingly seeing even experienced writers using "myself" as a fancier way of saying "me". That's not how it works.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 18h

Yes, I seemed to spend half of the 1990s writing about that paper.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 19h

My clearout also unearthed this. That was such a fun project to work on.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 19h

Just cleared out my filing cabinet and discovered this, which must be something of a historical document now. It was an excellent talk, as I recall.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 19h

Anyway, the future of rock is also in the hands of these other two young women, who I'd also definitely go to see if I wasn't at a Royal Society meeting in Brighton on Tuesday 🫤
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGI...

Larkin Poe "Bad Spell" - Live at the TELEFUNKEN Soundstage

YouTube video by Live From The Lab :: TELEFUNKEN Soundstage

www.youtube.com

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 1d

Last time I went to something like this was about 20 years ago at the Brixton Academy to see Skunk Anansie, and I felt ancient then.
But I'll stay out of the mosh pit this time.

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