Alex Hern
@hern.bsky.social
AI correspondent at the Economist. I write about it, that is. I’m still human. One of literally dozens of people online who is not American.
'oh you just go through yonkers to pleasantville', real directions in new york, and americans mock _british_ place names
February 12, 2026 at 3:05 PM
'oh you just go through yonkers to pleasantville', real directions in new york, and americans mock _british_ place names
the guy saying that AI destroying software engineering means it will shortly destroy all knowledge work is overextrapolating from his own career and not acknowledging the specific features of coding that made it amenable to this
he's also not really wrong about his own career though
he's also not really wrong about his own career though
February 12, 2026 at 2:55 PM
the guy saying that AI destroying software engineering means it will shortly destroy all knowledge work is overextrapolating from his own career and not acknowledging the specific features of coding that made it amenable to this
he's also not really wrong about his own career though
he's also not really wrong about his own career though
Reposted by Alex Hern
What 1.4m emails reveal about Jeffrey Epstein's network.
@economist.com data-team (et Jmail) effort on America's most notorious sex offender
www.economist.com/interactive/...
@economist.com data-team (et Jmail) effort on America's most notorious sex offender
www.economist.com/interactive/...
February 12, 2026 at 1:48 PM
What 1.4m emails reveal about Jeffrey Epstein's network.
@economist.com data-team (et Jmail) effort on America's most notorious sex offender
www.economist.com/interactive/...
@economist.com data-team (et Jmail) effort on America's most notorious sex offender
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Guardian style guide isn't (wasn't) to bowdlerise or cut off swears
February 12, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Guardian style guide isn't (wasn't) to bowdlerise or cut off swears
Reposted by Alex Hern
February 12, 2026 at 9:47 AM
He lives in an information environment where if you go to tower hamlets you will not meet a single person who is British, and where even small rural villages are being overwhelmed by asylum seekers in local hotels, with councils giving them free houses
February 12, 2026 at 9:20 AM
He lives in an information environment where if you go to tower hamlets you will not meet a single person who is British, and where even small rural villages are being overwhelmed by asylum seekers in local hotels, with councils giving them free houses
I think if you spell out the implications of his belief - that one in five people in the UK have arrived in the last five years - he would have said “yes, that sounds right.”
February 12, 2026 at 9:20 AM
I think if you spell out the implications of his belief - that one in five people in the UK have arrived in the last five years - he would have said “yes, that sounds right.”
Something that feels important about the Ratcliffe comments is they aren’t simply innumeracy. Everyone has problems with this sort of thing at times, because we have no intuitive feel for the difference between very large numbers. But this seems distinct
February 12, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Something that feels important about the Ratcliffe comments is they aren’t simply innumeracy. Everyone has problems with this sort of thing at times, because we have no intuitive feel for the difference between very large numbers. But this seems distinct
I mean, no-one has to sell books to me and if the profit doesn’t equal the faff then I can see why you wouldn’t
February 12, 2026 at 8:14 AM
I mean, no-one has to sell books to me and if the profit doesn’t equal the faff then I can see why you wouldn’t
Yeah I’m slightly hmmmmm about an excuse that lines up with pre-existing practices and doesn’t really make that much sense. Would be curious if the books are printed in the US for one
February 12, 2026 at 8:12 AM
Yeah I’m slightly hmmmmm about an excuse that lines up with pre-existing practices and doesn’t really make that much sense. Would be curious if the books are printed in the US for one
Trying
Overseas tycoons such as Elon Musk would be barred from giving substantial donations to UK political parties under new legislation to block companies making gifts if they do not have British owners or make sufficient revenue in the country
www.ft.com/content/f4ed...
www.ft.com/content/f4ed...
UK to ban political party donations from foreign-owned companies
Government says new legislation will curb overseas interference in elections
www.ft.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:39 AM
Trying
Is it tariff bullshit? The US doesn’t charge on exports and we’ve not done retaliatory stuff
February 12, 2026 at 7:07 AM
Is it tariff bullshit? The US doesn’t charge on exports and we’ve not done retaliatory stuff
I'm not a lawyer but it really seems to me like the Supreme Court just decided that the obvious meaning and intention of statute law doesn't count. Wouldn't be the first time!
February 11, 2026 at 4:13 PM
I'm not a lawyer but it really seems to me like the Supreme Court just decided that the obvious meaning and intention of statute law doesn't count. Wouldn't be the first time!
Somewhat baffling Supreme Court ruling today, which seems to hold that statute banning computer programs from being patented doesn't apply if the computer programs require hardware to run. Which is… all computer programs? supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
supremecourt.uk
February 11, 2026 at 4:12 PM
Somewhat baffling Supreme Court ruling today, which seems to hold that statute banning computer programs from being patented doesn't apply if the computer programs require hardware to run. Which is… all computer programs? supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
Anthropic: “behold! I have created the philosophical zombie from the seminal question of consciousness ‘how can you tell a philosophical zombie isn’t conscious’”
February 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Anthropic: “behold! I have created the philosophical zombie from the seminal question of consciousness ‘how can you tell a philosophical zombie isn’t conscious’”
"what if AI never fixes the hallucination issue and gets put into production use anyway despite the fact that it occasionally misfires" oh yeah that would be bad
"What if AI fixes the hallucination issue and is seen as more reliable than humans in areas where precision and accuracy are valued" 😬😬😬
"What if AI fixes the hallucination issue and is seen as more reliable than humans in areas where precision and accuracy are valued" 😬😬😬
February 11, 2026 at 1:40 PM
"what if AI never fixes the hallucination issue and gets put into production use anyway despite the fact that it occasionally misfires" oh yeah that would be bad
"What if AI fixes the hallucination issue and is seen as more reliable than humans in areas where precision and accuracy are valued" 😬😬😬
"What if AI fixes the hallucination issue and is seen as more reliable than humans in areas where precision and accuracy are valued" 😬😬😬
think i've hit a turning point recently and the worlds where AI gets better and fixes its problems are now more concerning to me than the worlds where it doesn't
February 11, 2026 at 1:38 PM
think i've hit a turning point recently and the worlds where AI gets better and fixes its problems are now more concerning to me than the worlds where it doesn't
i quite like the way you're all reinventing the icon of early 00s messageboards, the two-axis political compass
February 11, 2026 at 1:07 PM
i quite like the way you're all reinventing the icon of early 00s messageboards, the two-axis political compass
TÖDLEIN, THE SILENT ARCHER
Move 6” | Wounds 4 | Save 5+ | Bravery 10
MELEE: Bony Grasp (3”, 2 Atks, 4+/4+, -1 Rend, 1 Dmg)
RANGED: Deathly Arrow (18”, 1 Atk, 3+/3+, -2 Rend, D3 Dmg)
ABILITY: Inevitable Shot - Unmodified 6s to hit auto-wound
Move 6” | Wounds 4 | Save 5+ | Bravery 10
MELEE: Bony Grasp (3”, 2 Atks, 4+/4+, -1 Rend, 1 Dmg)
RANGED: Deathly Arrow (18”, 1 Atk, 3+/3+, -2 Rend, D3 Dmg)
ABILITY: Inevitable Shot - Unmodified 6s to hit auto-wound
‘Tödlein’, Death as an archer.
Made from pear wood.
Dated to before 1519; artist: Hans Leinberger
www.khm.at/kunstwerke/t...
Made from pear wood.
Dated to before 1519; artist: Hans Leinberger
www.khm.at/kunstwerke/t...
February 11, 2026 at 9:15 AM
TÖDLEIN, THE SILENT ARCHER
Move 6” | Wounds 4 | Save 5+ | Bravery 10
MELEE: Bony Grasp (3”, 2 Atks, 4+/4+, -1 Rend, 1 Dmg)
RANGED: Deathly Arrow (18”, 1 Atk, 3+/3+, -2 Rend, D3 Dmg)
ABILITY: Inevitable Shot - Unmodified 6s to hit auto-wound
Move 6” | Wounds 4 | Save 5+ | Bravery 10
MELEE: Bony Grasp (3”, 2 Atks, 4+/4+, -1 Rend, 1 Dmg)
RANGED: Deathly Arrow (18”, 1 Atk, 3+/3+, -2 Rend, D3 Dmg)
ABILITY: Inevitable Shot - Unmodified 6s to hit auto-wound
It is absolutely part of the American constitution that the party system is decentralised, open, and not built around mass membership, and the fact that none of that is mentioned in The Constitution is irrelevant
February 10, 2026 at 8:47 PM
It is absolutely part of the American constitution that the party system is decentralised, open, and not built around mass membership, and the fact that none of that is mentioned in The Constitution is irrelevant
This is a great example of what I mean when I say America having The Constitution makes them blind to their own constitution
Do people not realize it is illegal for parties to do this in the United States because we decided around the turn of the last century that we didn't want unaccountable party bosses to decide who we could vote for
People pay because they want their ideology to win
February 10, 2026 at 8:46 PM
This is a great example of what I mean when I say America having The Constitution makes them blind to their own constitution
This is the most freelance journalist experience you’ve ever uttered
February 10, 2026 at 5:07 PM
This is the most freelance journalist experience you’ve ever uttered
would you say, duncan, that he is toast
February 10, 2026 at 10:27 AM
would you say, duncan, that he is toast