Arthur Clune
@clune.org
110 followers 270 following 340 posts
Geek. Likes bikes, climbing and tech Work: IT at University of Sheffield
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
clune.org
why any need for questions? This is obviously correct
clune.org
Begun the document wars have

No, seriously.

www.scmp.com/economy/chin...
China's expansion of its rare earth export controls appeared to mark another escalation in the US-China trade war last week. But the
announcements were also significant in another way: unusually, the documents could not be opened using American word processing software.
For the first time, China's Ministry of Commerce issued a slew of documents that could be directly accessed only through WPS Office - China's answer to Microsoft Office - as Beijing continues its tech self-reliance drive.
Developed by the Beijing-based software company Kingsoft, WPS Office uses a different coding structure to Microsoft Office, meaning WPS text files cannot be opened directly in Word without conversion.
clune.org
Interesting. Claude requires prompting to use code to get things like this right
clune.org
Does it not check even when prompted to?
clune.org
Specifically, plugins really need to be per-project
clune.org
Ditto! Right of passage back in the day.

Now you can put it in a puppet core module
and wipe whole fleets
Reposted by Arthur Clune
tedunderwood.com
Reposting this, because I found this short article an encouraging model of how one academic discipline is proactively engaging AI and reshaping it for disciplinary needs.
sungkim.bsky.social
Mathematical discovery in the age of artificial intelligence

They consider how artificial intelligence tools are reshaping the way mathematical research is conducted and discuss how future developments of this technology will transform mathematical practice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mathematical discovery in the age of artificial intelligence - Nature Physics
In this comment, we consider how artificial intelligence tools are reshaping the way mathematical research is conducted and discuss how future developments of this technology will transform mathematical practice.
www.nature.com
clune.org
Oh and his example of when AI would help is about going to a customer site to repair their modem 🤷‍♂️
clune.org
Interview with the CEO of Google Cloud on AI and agents. He gives yet another definition of agents but also takes about “Office”, “O365” and “Outlook” while not mentioning Google Workspace once. Workspace is part of his empire.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian on Gemini Enterprise, AI's Labor Implications, Investment Frenzy
What's going wrong in the AI enterprise rollout, and what fundamentals are needed to make it work, according to the Google Cloud chief.
www.bigtechnology.com
clune.org
Most of the research I’ve seen says that bigger general models beat smaller specialised models. I don’t see why code would be different
clune.org
Also Claude, 🔥
Output from Claude: "The verbosity you'll encounter isn't accidental; it's COBOL heritage, designed for business analysts to supposedly read. Whether that goal was achieved is debatable."
clune.org
I have two free hours on a train, so I'm using it to learn about SAP ABAP via Claude. I must have been bad in a previous life but I'm quite enjoying the crazy mix of COBOL, SQL and Pascal syntax and random German v English words
clune.org
The tl;dr of this article is that Peter Theil is fucking weird. But also we should take it seriously - he has an driving philosophy and is in a position to make it happen

The antichrist is the rationale for creating the ultimate surveillance state, rooted in elite superiority
The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession
Thirty years ago, a peace-loving Austrian theologian spoke to Peter Thiel about the apocalyptic theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. They’ve been a road map for the billionaire ever since.
www.wired.com
clune.org
I’m with mopbucket. There’ll be a lot of forced mergers and consolidation of production, but China will still end up dominating EV production
clune.org
"Make Argentina Gold Again" - this post only sets out co-incidence (by it's own admission) and I'm not totally sold, but it is quite the set of links between Trumpworld, Tether and Milei

Even if this is 2+2=5, it's a good reminder that Tether is both sketchy af and deeply linked to Trumpworld
Make Argentina Gold Again
Is the American taxpayer bailout of Argentina just a secret bailout of the crypto industry?
cryptadamus.substack.com
clune.org
It’s because of the links coming out between the Tony Blair Institute (which is very embedded in our government due to New Labour ministers and advisors coming back) and Oracle

Article is free to read with a free account

www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
Inside the Tony Blair Institute
Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?
www.newstatesman.com
Reposted by Arthur Clune
bencollins.bsky.social
Okay so let's talk through this:

1. He's 80 years old. He doesn't know how to embed a video. So this was likely a staffer.

2. Why would a staffer post this? It's likely just chum for his base, since traditional media has given up on even covering him.

3. That's arguably worse than him posting it.
clune.org
The logic is irresistible - med beds must exist because otherwise q breaks down. Lit crit as the new essential life skill and AI generated slop for ever
alkapdc.bsky.social
Trump tonight appears to have pushed the false "medbed" conspiracy theory, which has spread in the far-right internet over the years. www.yahoo.com/news/qanon-c...
Reposted by Arthur Clune
sardonicus.eu
How not to illustrate the similarity of bone structures between humans & horses.
illustration of a man an horse skeleton. it looks wrong, so very very wrong
clune.org
Also bonus marks for the uncanny valley AI presenter part, with zero lipsync or movement in the face above the lip.