ajdecon
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ajdecon.org
ajdecon
@ajdecon.org
1.4K followers 770 following 780 posts
Building supercomputers! Former materials physicist, recovering SRE, now mostly herding cats. Perpetually a bit confused. He/him.

Currently at NVIDIA, formerly FB and LANL. Opinions mine as always.

🏡: Denver, CO
🔗 : https://www.ajdecon.org
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ajdecon.org
I recently reread Iain Banks’ “Look to Windward”, and I noticed this exchange between an artist and an AI character.

And I agree that creativity is much more about achievement and experience than the end result.

But also, it’s a lot easier to take that attitude in a post-scarcity utopia!
Highlighted snippet: “So what,” the Chelgrian asked, “is the point of me or anybody else writing a symphony, or anything else?”. The avatar raised its brows in surprise. “Well, for one thing, if you do it, it’s you who gets the feeling of achievement.” Highlighted snippet: “Ziller, are you concerned that Minds—AIs, if you like—can create, or even just appear to create, original works of art?”. “Frankly, when they’re the sort of original works of art that I create, yes.” “Ziller, it doesn’t matter. You have to think like a mountain climber.” “Oh, do I?”. “Yes. Some people take days, sweat buckets, endure pain and cold and risk injury and—in some cases—permanent death to achieve the summit of a mountain only to discover there a party of their peers freshly arrived by aircraft and enjoying a light picnic.”
November 4, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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A black cat on a windowsill
November 2, 2025 at 3:47 PM
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Sun shining through a window onto a wall, with the silhouette of a cat’s head
November 2, 2025 at 3:30 PM
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Ben Affleck smoking and looking tired
October 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
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Percy really loves our fireplace
A brown tabby cat sitting on a hardwood floor stares into a fireplace
October 27, 2025 at 1:17 AM
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The tiny new computer is setting itself up
A DGX Spark, a tiny gold-colored computer the size of a Mac Mini Software updates are running
October 26, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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AFAICT, the line being drawn here in practice is that the verification in question is only for accessing specific content, not all users.

As well as the practical consideration that they can outsource it to the Epic Games verification service.

Plus that the MS law is more likely to be struck down!
In the UK, we complied with a new law that requires platforms to restrict children from accessing adult content. In Mississippi, the law requires us to restrict access to the site for every unverified user. To implement this change, we would have had to invest substantial resources in a solution that we believe limits free speech and disproportionately harms smaller platforms. We chose not to offer our service there at this time while legal challenges continue.
September 28, 2025 at 7:20 PM
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(phrasing likely not exact, typing while listening on a dog walk)
An impatient golden doodle
September 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
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A fuzzy black cat in loaf position on a tan couch
September 26, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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It’s a good choice! I have a desk-mounted cat nest for the same purpose
A calico cat in a wooden desk-mounted cat bed
September 22, 2025 at 1:41 AM
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It’s always a good day to post Berkey spaceships
John Berkey’s cover art for Chronicles of the Lensmen
September 13, 2025 at 2:10 AM
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(Apologies for the commercial post! Have some cat photos to make up for it 😉)
A calico cat on a desk-mounted cat bed A gray tabby cat on a white blanket A long-haired black cat on a brown couch
August 31, 2025 at 7:37 PM
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Minnow is hanging out on the arm of my chair to help me read
A fuzzy black cat lays on the arm of a plush brown chair, looking into the camera
August 27, 2025 at 3:09 AM
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Goddammit
A Lucira COVID test showing a positive result
August 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM
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Ooh - downloading this to read later.

Also - legal papers don’t usually make me actually laugh, but a quick scroll revealed this meme, and lol
A meme featuring a still image from the "Bring out your dead" scene in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The image shows the cart master, a man with a dirty face wearing a medieval hood, yelling. The white, capitalized text on the image reads: Top: "BRING OUT YOUR DEAD" Bottom: "AND SIGN THIS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSE"
August 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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I always love seeing cats in desk nests
A white calico cat snoozing in a desk-mounted cat bed
August 12, 2025 at 3:05 AM
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With alt text added.
There was a man who had invented a perpetuum mobile which worked by avoiding the second law of thermodynamics, somehow. And then, of course, there came the paper, and Bohr was obliged to write an answer. And then Bohr explained to him why it was wrong. This was simple, but I think either Klein or I, myself, suggested to Bohr that he not explain too much, because he would be sure to write a new paper, and a new letter, and Bohr would have the same trouble again. So the man actually did write a new letter and a new paper on a new machine which he had constructed, which was already more complicated than the first one. So it took considerably more time to find the mistake. Our advice was that one should simply not answer the letter, but Bohr didn't follow the advice. So out went the second letter explaining why it was wrong. And then, of course, there came a third letter from the man saying that he was extremely sorry to waste so much of Bohr's time, and he had completely understood what was wrong with the paper and was so grateful, but now he really had avoided the mistakes of the first two papers, and now he had found a scheme which certainly would work, and could Professor Bohr look into this, and so on. And. I think the story actually goes, but I cannot say that it's true, up to the seventh paper of this man. Only then did Bohr stop answering.
August 11, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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Happy to answer questions in DM!

And apologies for the commercial interlude! Here’s a dog who wants me to throw his ball
A golden doodle, living in hope
July 9, 2025 at 12:07 AM
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I mean from the description I assume it’s a weird “because I could” art project. Potentially fun! Still cursed.
A slight upgrade to the Gremlins in your code, we hereby present GREMLLM. This utility class can be used for a variety of purposes. Uhm. Also please don't use this and if you do please tell me because WOW. Or maybe don't tell me. Or do.
July 6, 2025 at 12:58 AM
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As an example, Gemini does in fact do this decently well. I still want to tweak it in some cases, but it’s often good enough.

I feel like as models get cheaper this would be a good feature for platforms to build in directly. (I know BlueSky has some default description but it’s not great… yet?)
Screenshot of a Gemini session with a meme and the following prompt: “Please provide an alt text description of the image, including any text shown in the image. If you recognize the meme, tell me which meme it is in the alt text.” Screenshot of response: An image of the "Ancient Aliens" meme, featuring Giorgio A. Tsoukalos with wild hair and a conspiratorial smile, gesturing with both hands. The text at the top reads: "I'M NOT SAYING IT'S A DNS PROBLEM..." The text at the bottom reads: "BUT ITS A DNS PROBLEM."
July 5, 2025 at 4:38 PM
ajdecon.org
Hmm. 70-75, but I’ll quibble on this item given that I’ve been reading physics papers on arXiv for a long time.
Checked item reads “Read an entire paper from arXiv, including the appendices.”
July 2, 2025 at 3:12 AM
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I haven’t found a plot I really like for this budget bill yet, but @economist.com this morning at least shows that tax cuts swamp all the spending cuts on their own
Plot showing that the huge cuts in government spending are swamped by tax cuts alone, let alone additional expenses
June 30, 2025 at 2:26 PM
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These two are pretty cute, even if they did steal the dog’s bed
A black cat and a calico cat lay on a big Kong dog bed
June 28, 2025 at 11:34 PM
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Just finished an hour-long walk and I think he’s tired
A golden doodle lays fully splooted on a wooden floor, looking exhausted
June 28, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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I really find the continual rehashing of the 2024 election on here annoying, arguing about what the Democrats could have done differently to win.

AFAICT, the only really impactful thing they could have done was “not be an incumbent party during high inflation and after a pandemic”. 🙃
Financial Times graphic showing that “Every governing party facing election in a developed country [in 2024] lost vote share, the first time this has ever happened”
June 20, 2025 at 6:55 PM