K. Chen
@tznkai.bsky.social
Heartless humanist, unmovable automaton, fount of terrifying knowledge and purveyor of Collegey Velveteen Discourse. Creative, slightly off-putting, entirely accurate. Insightful and painful enough to be the germ of something really excellent.
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K. Chen
@tznkai.bsky.social
· Nov 8
I think I'll use this thread as a table of content for my health insurance and personal finance explainers, but with clickbait titles
As L'Affair Nuzzi discourse continues I want to address two objections I've seen from reporters. Roughly
1. Lizza and Nuzzi are destroying public trust in journalism
2. Outside of prestige media (NYT politics beat etc) we're not like this.
And I think these fundamentally misunderstand the public.
1. Lizza and Nuzzi are destroying public trust in journalism
2. Outside of prestige media (NYT politics beat etc) we're not like this.
And I think these fundamentally misunderstand the public.
November 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM
As L'Affair Nuzzi discourse continues I want to address two objections I've seen from reporters. Roughly
1. Lizza and Nuzzi are destroying public trust in journalism
2. Outside of prestige media (NYT politics beat etc) we're not like this.
And I think these fundamentally misunderstand the public.
1. Lizza and Nuzzi are destroying public trust in journalism
2. Outside of prestige media (NYT politics beat etc) we're not like this.
And I think these fundamentally misunderstand the public.
Reposted by K. Chen
me most of the time: weber thesis kinda bullshit
me after spending five minutes among west Michigan Dutch Calvinists: max weber UNDEFEATED
me after spending five minutes among west Michigan Dutch Calvinists: max weber UNDEFEATED
my favorite part of the "the protestant reformation caused a work ethic that caused the industrial revolution and capitalism" theory is that england, the birthplace of capitalism, was not part of the protestant reformation and banned all properly protestant sects
November 27, 2025 at 1:17 PM
me most of the time: weber thesis kinda bullshit
me after spending five minutes among west Michigan Dutch Calvinists: max weber UNDEFEATED
me after spending five minutes among west Michigan Dutch Calvinists: max weber UNDEFEATED
It occurs to me that the secret value proposition of humans isn't just that we're self-programming drones optimized to move biperally over millions of years, it's that we're self maintaining (within reason).
Making a robot do that stuff isn't impossible but it's hard to make it pencil out.
November 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
It occurs to me that the secret value proposition of humans isn't just that we're self-programming drones optimized to move biperally over millions of years, it's that we're self maintaining (within reason).
This post and the subsequent replies are, and I mean this as a compliment, *extremely* good propaganda especially for the short video documentary age. Come learn some things.
As you’re preparing for your Thanksgiving meal, remember the skilled work it took to get that food to your grocery store.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
November 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
This post and the subsequent replies are, and I mean this as a compliment, *extremely* good propaganda especially for the short video documentary age. Come learn some things.
Thanksgiving horror story.
There are two methods for cranberry harvest- wet method and dry method. Pictured is the ‘wet harvest’ method where the cranberry bog is flooded and the plants are shaken to dislodge the submerged berries, which float. (Fun fact: in a flooded bog the workers become high ground for the spiders.)
November 27, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Thanksgiving horror story.
I am thankful for this app which provides me much of the Thanksgiving experience other Americans always talk about having.
November 27, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I am thankful for this app which provides me much of the Thanksgiving experience other Americans always talk about having.
My knee jerks in this direction but I don't think the logic holds. For example I don't want people to feel pressured into reconstructive surgery if they don't want it but I wouldn't dream of stigmatizing it.
*French coffee house voice* actually plastic surgery stigma is good and correct, you see, for the same reason we ban steroids in MLB (i.e. to counteract people feeling pressured into it)
November 27, 2025 at 12:21 PM
My knee jerks in this direction but I don't think the logic holds. For example I don't want people to feel pressured into reconstructive surgery if they don't want it but I wouldn't dream of stigmatizing it.
Reposted by K. Chen
People should eat more fruit and vegetables, less salt fat & added sugar, but a lot of "healthy eating" is thinly veiled classism not tied to any specific health benefit, in this essay I will (1/444)
November 27, 2025 at 2:03 AM
People should eat more fruit and vegetables, less salt fat & added sugar, but a lot of "healthy eating" is thinly veiled classism not tied to any specific health benefit, in this essay I will (1/444)
I'm seeing a few journalists unload on Ryan Lizza, although not by name, and uh, I have some questions about why this crossed the line and other things didn't or whether we've just got a coordination point for finally unloading on a style of journalism.
November 27, 2025 at 2:00 AM
I'm seeing a few journalists unload on Ryan Lizza, although not by name, and uh, I have some questions about why this crossed the line and other things didn't or whether we've just got a coordination point for finally unloading on a style of journalism.
* VP of infosec / Chief Information Security Officer
Corporate VPs use indefinite, not definite articles.
Corporate VPs use indefinite, not definite articles.
November 27, 2025 at 1:50 AM
* VP of infosec / Chief Information Security Officer
Corporate VPs use indefinite, not definite articles.
Corporate VPs use indefinite, not definite articles.
When the, ah, Nuzzi affair first dropped we were treated to several journalist luminaries insisting to us that it wasn't that big of a deal except she should have told her editor she was sleeping with her source.
this fuckin guy ...dropping allegations of journalistic malpractice and source betrayal in separate piece meal events like it’s delicious media gossip and then writing, “we haven’t reached the halfway point, and I haven’t yet described the most bizarre, consequential, and newsworthy events”
November 26, 2025 at 10:51 PM
When the, ah, Nuzzi affair first dropped we were treated to several journalist luminaries insisting to us that it wasn't that big of a deal except she should have told her editor she was sleeping with her source.
"HYPER-GENTRICATION"
Housing is genocide sign seen at a NIMBY protest today against a mixed income high rise.
The new homes are less than a few blocks to a trolley stop.
And the neighborhood is majority white and middle to upper income.
The new homes are less than a few blocks to a trolley stop.
And the neighborhood is majority white and middle to upper income.
November 26, 2025 at 8:42 PM
"HYPER-GENTRICATION"
Oooh are we doing Zohdega discourse again? Have people improved their understanding of the economics of food distribution and the sale of shelf space?
November 26, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Oooh are we doing Zohdega discourse again? Have people improved their understanding of the economics of food distribution and the sale of shelf space?
AI will live on but there's a nonzero chance that OpenAI, especially, will go up in flames and the occasional securities fraud case.
it's normatively bad in many ways and also clearly useful for millions of people. it can run on a laptop, thinking that it's going away is cope. gotta engage with the world at it is.
this is a bluesky bubble opinion. 800M+ people use chatgpt every week. I hate Facebook and Instagram and I wish they didn’t exist, but 3B and 2B people use them every month, respectively. it’s very hard to picture a mass or even a niche left backlash against them
November 26, 2025 at 7:45 PM
AI will live on but there's a nonzero chance that OpenAI, especially, will go up in flames and the occasional securities fraud case.
It is also, ironically, easier to break norms when you scan as the right/wrong kind of foreign and thus inherently effeminate.
I think it can also be easier to break norms when you read as traditionally masculine.
my father was 6’5, bearded, and broad shouldered and would sometimes wear pink shirts. I never even read this as subversive because he naturally came across as very masculine
my father was 6’5, bearded, and broad shouldered and would sometimes wear pink shirts. I never even read this as subversive because he naturally came across as very masculine
1) genuine life changing moment of my early 20s was realizing I actually didn't have to do this at all. tell the youths
2) I feel like there's a class discussion to be had around the stakes of this kind of decision though
2) I feel like there's a class discussion to be had around the stakes of this kind of decision though
November 26, 2025 at 7:40 PM
It is also, ironically, easier to break norms when you scan as the right/wrong kind of foreign and thus inherently effeminate.
The screenshotted tweet would have been a defensible opinion, if it referred to "liberals" as opposed to "Liberalism" but if you're going to talk about an ideology you need to talk about the *ideology* not people who annoy you online (or in your imagination).
My advice when engaging intellectually with politics is that if you're going to have a strong opinion about a particular ideology, or a whole constellation of them, you put in the work to make it at least a minimally informed one.
November 26, 2025 at 6:54 PM
The screenshotted tweet would have been a defensible opinion, if it referred to "liberals" as opposed to "Liberalism" but if you're going to talk about an ideology you need to talk about the *ideology* not people who annoy you online (or in your imagination).
Reposted by K. Chen
the other thing I’m thinking about is that if we were to think of gender as a game with customary rules, the approach that says “I decline to play this game” is different from the one that says “I am definitely playing; I dispute some of these rules”
November 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
the other thing I’m thinking about is that if we were to think of gender as a game with customary rules, the approach that says “I decline to play this game” is different from the one that says “I am definitely playing; I dispute some of these rules”
As a rule of thumb while online
1. don't admit to crimes and
2. definitely don't justify them
1. don't admit to crimes and
2. definitely don't justify them
These are pretty naked -- and therefore instructive -- examples of the sorts of defenses that people offer to try and get off the hook
November 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM
As a rule of thumb while online
1. don't admit to crimes and
2. definitely don't justify them
1. don't admit to crimes and
2. definitely don't justify them
Reposted by K. Chen
These are pretty naked -- and therefore instructive -- examples of the sorts of defenses that people offer to try and get off the hook
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 PM
These are pretty naked -- and therefore instructive -- examples of the sorts of defenses that people offer to try and get off the hook
Reposted by K. Chen
"welcome to Bluesky, the site where we all pretend that our political views are based on what's best for poor people, a category of people we reason about from first principles"
November 26, 2025 at 5:10 PM
"welcome to Bluesky, the site where we all pretend that our political views are based on what's best for poor people, a category of people we reason about from first principles"
To pivot off of this, because people hate big tech owners (for good reasons) and believe the industry is intrinsically evil (for less good reasons) they also want to believe that everything they do is intrinsically destructive to {victim group}. But it's not! Data centers are not coal mines!
So, I think this is somewhat more complicated than this. At this point, most of the big tech people have turned hard right, and that has turned a lot of left people against tech as kind of a knee jerk principle. It’s one of the bad things about marrying politics so hard to industry!
Neat neat neat, love to watch a supposedly progressive movement be against progress.
Love how every foundational text to leftism, including Marx's own writings, says "technology is how we achieve socialism, communism, post-scarcity", but now some entirely-online anonymous shitposter knows better.
Love how every foundational text to leftism, including Marx's own writings, says "technology is how we achieve socialism, communism, post-scarcity", but now some entirely-online anonymous shitposter knows better.
November 26, 2025 at 5:06 PM
To pivot off of this, because people hate big tech owners (for good reasons) and believe the industry is intrinsically evil (for less good reasons) they also want to believe that everything they do is intrinsically destructive to {victim group}. But it's not! Data centers are not coal mines!
Innovation ultimate is good, it is however, zany AF and you have to be comfortable with that.
November 26, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Innovation ultimate is good, it is however, zany AF and you have to be comfortable with that.
Reposted by K. Chen
Why did we settle on "large language model" when "math ghost" was sitting right there on the table?
November 24, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Why did we settle on "large language model" when "math ghost" was sitting right there on the table?
So if this becomes the consensus wisdom can we all have the dignity to not switch where we are on "Chuck Schumer secretly masterminded this whole thing"
No one has to bring it up, just, you know, stick to that prior.
No one has to bring it up, just, you know, stick to that prior.
Enten: "Trump's net approval rating is at -15 -- the lowest it has been during his entire second term... the Democratic lead on the generic ballot has widened. Trump's political position has worsened. I don't think how you can look at both and conclude anything other than that Dems won the shutdown"
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 AM
So if this becomes the consensus wisdom can we all have the dignity to not switch where we are on "Chuck Schumer secretly masterminded this whole thing"
No one has to bring it up, just, you know, stick to that prior.
No one has to bring it up, just, you know, stick to that prior.