Andrew West
@awest.uk
IT guy. Photographer. Works for that charity, you know the one.
Reposted by Andrew West
I find it hard to square the preciousness about "why would someone ever stay on Twitter?" when everyone on this site knows that the community here intentionally chased off lots of people.
January 5, 2026 at 5:41 PM
I find it hard to square the preciousness about "why would someone ever stay on Twitter?" when everyone on this site knows that the community here intentionally chased off lots of people.
The tech is just something we can do now. It just is. If you want to have an impact on how it’s used, you need to be a human and talk to people who you disagree with and not just performatively ‘sigh’ and say ‘I’m tired’ every time anything new happens.
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
The tech is just something we can do now. It just is. If you want to have an impact on how it’s used, you need to be a human and talk to people who you disagree with and not just performatively ‘sigh’ and say ‘I’m tired’ every time anything new happens.
Bluesky is completely oblivious to a genuine coding revolution happening right now. Personal AI assistants are coming on board. They are very useful I surprising ways and, yes, not working in others. ‘AI is evil and doesn’t work’ is just not a grown up response to this.
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Bluesky is completely oblivious to a genuine coding revolution happening right now. Personal AI assistants are coming on board. They are very useful I surprising ways and, yes, not working in others. ‘AI is evil and doesn’t work’ is just not a grown up response to this.
If you are sceptical of tech and AI then make common cause. Be willing to engage. Be less annoyed by salespeople, and stop assuming the most tedious of the your opponents is representative of everyone.
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
If you are sceptical of tech and AI then make common cause. Be willing to engage. Be less annoyed by salespeople, and stop assuming the most tedious of the your opponents is representative of everyone.
Even if you’re a Bluesky tech reactionary who’s decided on the 5 opinions you’re going to have for the rest of your life, learn from your mistakes ffs. Has telling ‘fuck you techbro’ done anything useful for yourself or the world in the last 5y? Has it perhaps made things substantially worse?
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Even if you’re a Bluesky tech reactionary who’s decided on the 5 opinions you’re going to have for the rest of your life, learn from your mistakes ffs. Has telling ‘fuck you techbro’ done anything useful for yourself or the world in the last 5y? Has it perhaps made things substantially worse?
The choice between ‘use software associated with Elon and block the occasional deranged politics person’ and ‘go to Bluesky where everyone hates me and insults me for no good reason’ is not a difficult one.
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
The choice between ‘use software associated with Elon and block the occasional deranged politics person’ and ‘go to Bluesky where everyone hates me and insults me for no good reason’ is not a difficult one.
A very annoying thing atm is that there are super exciting and interesting things happening on tech twitter, and Bluesky is oblivious. Probably lots of those people would like to not be on twitter, but they can’t be on Bluesky because they would get bullied off immediately.
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
A very annoying thing atm is that there are super exciting and interesting things happening on tech twitter, and Bluesky is oblivious. Probably lots of those people would like to not be on twitter, but they can’t be on Bluesky because they would get bullied off immediately.
Gosh, Strictly was emotional. Gonna need a minute.
December 20, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Gosh, Strictly was emotional. Gonna need a minute.
It isn’t usually this bad, and the NHS has to make difficult probability-based tradeoffs every day. Come on, don’t be like this.
December 15, 2025 at 9:07 AM
It isn’t usually this bad, and the NHS has to make difficult probability-based tradeoffs every day. Come on, don’t be like this.
It’s so weird that this incredibly obvious fact gives nobody pause
November 29, 2025 at 9:10 AM
It’s so weird that this incredibly obvious fact gives nobody pause
The platonic voter as conceived by the political zeitgeist isn’t even a decent person atm, let alone capable of intellectual thought
November 29, 2025 at 9:08 AM
The platonic voter as conceived by the political zeitgeist isn’t even a decent person atm, let alone capable of intellectual thought
Kindles: omg what if books go away, I hate it
Ozempic: omg what if food goes away, I hate it
AI: omg what if thinking goes away, I hate it
It is, in fact, going to be ok
Ozempic: omg what if food goes away, I hate it
AI: omg what if thinking goes away, I hate it
It is, in fact, going to be ok
November 29, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Kindles: omg what if books go away, I hate it
Ozempic: omg what if food goes away, I hate it
AI: omg what if thinking goes away, I hate it
It is, in fact, going to be ok
Ozempic: omg what if food goes away, I hate it
AI: omg what if thinking goes away, I hate it
It is, in fact, going to be ok
Yes, it is just a complicated technology
Personally find the macho posturing of ‘it’s shit’ much more dispiriting than salespeople being salespeople tho
Personally find the macho posturing of ‘it’s shit’ much more dispiriting than salespeople being salespeople tho
November 26, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Yes, it is just a complicated technology
Personally find the macho posturing of ‘it’s shit’ much more dispiriting than salespeople being salespeople tho
Personally find the macho posturing of ‘it’s shit’ much more dispiriting than salespeople being salespeople tho
Opus 4.5 dropped while I was in the middle of something I’ve been working on for a couple of days with Sonnet. Placebos are hard, but it definitely felt like I was suddenly spending much less explaining and guiding. It just understood and got on with it.
November 24, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Opus 4.5 dropped while I was in the middle of something I’ve been working on for a couple of days with Sonnet. Placebos are hard, but it definitely felt like I was suddenly spending much less explaining and guiding. It just understood and got on with it.
Yes, this is just outright incorrect
November 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Yes, this is just outright incorrect
It’s perfectly reasonable to apply appropriate skepticism to any claim, based on assessment of past history etc. But that only gets you as far as a hypothesis, not a conclusion.
November 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
It’s perfectly reasonable to apply appropriate skepticism to any claim, based on assessment of past history etc. But that only gets you as far as a hypothesis, not a conclusion.
No problem! I really dislike seeing people get anxious and stressed over these kind of tech chain letters. As you say, there are plenty of genuine things to discuss and work through, and this kind of unhelpful claim makes that harder by taking up all the oxygen in the room
November 22, 2025 at 4:28 PM
No problem! I really dislike seeing people get anxious and stressed over these kind of tech chain letters. As you say, there are plenty of genuine things to discuss and work through, and this kind of unhelpful claim makes that harder by taking up all the oxygen in the room
They do claim not to use emails for ads: support.google.com/mail/answer/.... I believe they *used to* though - this changed 2017ish?
How Gmail ads work - Gmail Help
When you open Gmail, you'll see ads that are the most useful and relevant to you. The process of selecting and showing personalised ads in Gmail is fully automated. These ads are shown to you based on
support.google.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
They do claim not to use emails for ads: support.google.com/mail/answer/.... I believe they *used to* though - this changed 2017ish?
I mean, anything’s possible. If Google say no then it’s it’s always possible they’re lying. But assuming that without direct evidence does mean one risks falling for any old nonsense claim
November 22, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I mean, anything’s possible. If Google say no then it’s it’s always possible they’re lying. But assuming that without direct evidence does mean one risks falling for any old nonsense claim
If they actually do, when they say they don’t, then they can and should get lawsuit-ed out of existence. But there are subtle biases that can make it seem like this is happening when it isn’t. See the ‘my phone is listening to everything’ conspiracy theory that causes people needless anxiety.
November 22, 2025 at 3:32 PM
If they actually do, when they say they don’t, then they can and should get lawsuit-ed out of existence. But there are subtle biases that can make it seem like this is happening when it isn’t. See the ‘my phone is listening to everything’ conspiracy theory that causes people needless anxiety.
The claim of the malwarebytes post is incorrect. If you have other supposition then that can be argued and substantiated too - but it’s not a reason to say that false statements are ok.
November 22, 2025 at 3:28 PM
The claim of the malwarebytes post is incorrect. If you have other supposition then that can be argued and substantiated too - but it’s not a reason to say that false statements are ok.
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google are very firmly denying this: www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Google are very firmly denying this: www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Reposted by Andrew West
I wrote a long feature for @prospectmagazine.co.uk earlier this autumn about how the stats we rely on for our national debate are falling apart, and that basically no-one is doing anything much to address it.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
November 18, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I wrote a long feature for @prospectmagazine.co.uk earlier this autumn about how the stats we rely on for our national debate are falling apart, and that basically no-one is doing anything much to address it.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
Reposted by Andrew West
ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
November 18, 2025 at 11:26 AM
ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...