Derek Harter
@derek.harter.pro
CompSci geek, secular humanist, scientist
BlueSky @derek.harter.pro
Mastadon: @[email protected]
http://www.harter.pro
https://github.com/DerekHarter
BlueSky @derek.harter.pro
Mastadon: @[email protected]
http://www.harter.pro
https://github.com/DerekHarter
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:34 AM
"I think the rest of the world should learn from this. Instead of pouring capital into meme coins and made-up stores of value, we should invest in electricity generation and storage."
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
Electricity is about to become the new base currency and China figured it out
As we accelerate into an all-electric, all-digital age, the ultimate representation of productive capacity becomes the kilowatt-hour (kWh).
electrek.co
November 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
"I think the rest of the world should learn from this. Instead of pouring capital into meme coins and made-up stores of value, we should invest in electricity generation and storage."
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
Reposted by Derek Harter
China adopts a multi-pronged strategy that treats electricity as the foundational strategic asset.
China met the 2030 target (1200 gigawatts renewable capacity) 5 years early in 2025. Average electricity cost $0.084/kWh.
Where is Australia?
#Energytransition
#Auspol
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
China met the 2030 target (1200 gigawatts renewable capacity) 5 years early in 2025. Average electricity cost $0.084/kWh.
Where is Australia?
#Energytransition
#Auspol
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
Electricity is about to become the new base currency and China figured it out
As we accelerate into an all-electric, all-digital age, the ultimate representation of productive capacity becomes the kilowatt-hour (kWh).
electrek.co
November 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
China adopts a multi-pronged strategy that treats electricity as the foundational strategic asset.
China met the 2030 target (1200 gigawatts renewable capacity) 5 years early in 2025. Average electricity cost $0.084/kWh.
Where is Australia?
#Energytransition
#Auspol
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
China met the 2030 target (1200 gigawatts renewable capacity) 5 years early in 2025. Average electricity cost $0.084/kWh.
Where is Australia?
#Energytransition
#Auspol
electrek.co/2025/11/21/e...
On one side were promises of instant transformation; on the other, eye rolls about hype and bubbles. Both were partly right and wrong. The internet turned out to be more transformative than skeptics allowed, yet its effects on jobs arrived slower and in more unexpected places than boosters forecast.
MSN
www.msn.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:41 PM
On one side were promises of instant transformation; on the other, eye rolls about hype and bubbles. Both were partly right and wrong. The internet turned out to be more transformative than skeptics allowed, yet its effects on jobs arrived slower and in more unexpected places than boosters forecast.
While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 16, 2025 at 7:43 PM
While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.
Reposted by Derek Harter
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Reposted by Derek Harter
#19 Spooky Halloween C++
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
int f() {
int indeterminate_value;
return /*of the*/
indeterminate_value;
}
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
#cplusplus
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
int f() {
int indeterminate_value;
return /*of the*/
indeterminate_value;
}
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
#cplusplus
October 31, 2024 at 3:27 PM
#19 Spooky Halloween C++
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
int f() {
int indeterminate_value;
return /*of the*/
indeterminate_value;
}
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
#cplusplus
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
int f() {
int indeterminate_value;
return /*of the*/
indeterminate_value;
}
👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
#cplusplus
October 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
@kurzgesagt.org has an excellent new video on how AI slop is killing us all. I highely recommend supporting kurzgesagt and checkout out their content like I do.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...
AI Slop Is Killing Our Channel
YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:34 PM
@kurzgesagt.org has an excellent new video on how AI slop is killing us all. I highely recommend supporting kurzgesagt and checkout out their content like I do.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...
Reposted by Derek Harter
NO BAILOUTS!!! Let them eat beans.
'Red Flag': Analysts Sound Major Alarms As AI Bubble Now 'Bigger' Than Subprime | Common Dreams
Analysts warn of AI bubble 17x larger than dot-com bubble. Could trigger global recession. Experts express concern over AI industry's financial risks.
www.commondreams.org
October 3, 2025 at 8:57 PM
NO BAILOUTS!!! Let them eat beans.
Reposted by Derek Harter
A lot of things are being said every day about AI and education by everyone from teachers to pundits to people who are marketing AI. Over at The Important Work, we've got teachers--and occasionally students--writing about their own experiences in actual classrooms. Our latest: what AI misses when/1
September 29, 2025 at 9:44 PM
A lot of things are being said every day about AI and education by everyone from teachers to pundits to people who are marketing AI. Over at The Important Work, we've got teachers--and occasionally students--writing about their own experiences in actual classrooms. Our latest: what AI misses when/1
Reposted by Derek Harter
Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!"
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
September 30, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!"
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Reposted by Derek Harter
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Turing test, I'm re-upping my short essay, "The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence".
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence
“Can machines think?” So asked Alan Turing in his 1950 paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Turing quickly noted that, given the difficulty of defining thinking, the question is “too meaning...
www.science.org
October 2, 2025 at 2:50 PM
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Turing test, I'm re-upping my short essay, "The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence".
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Derek Harter
My old fashioned stance is that computer science should be about the science, not chasing the latest shiny trend. For instance analysis and design of algorithms or modeling finite state machines will always remain relevant.
Feel very sympathetic towards this article 🧪
cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/fee...
Feel very sympathetic towards this article 🧪
cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/fee...
September 22, 2025 at 7:29 AM
My old fashioned stance is that computer science should be about the science, not chasing the latest shiny trend. For instance analysis and design of algorithms or modeling finite state machines will always remain relevant.
Feel very sympathetic towards this article 🧪
cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/fee...
Feel very sympathetic towards this article 🧪
cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/fee...
August 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Derek Harter
Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.
August 9, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.
Reposted by Derek Harter
Where did you get live footage of me
August 6, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Where did you get live footage of me
Reposted by Derek Harter
open.substack.com/pub/jojofrom...
When I was in the 5th grade I changed schools, and it sucked.
Not just “miss my friends” sucked — I mean rip‑your‑world‑out‑by‑the‑roots, drop‑you‑in‑hostile‑territory sucked. Overnight, my whole life got thrown in a moving truck
When I was in the 5th grade I changed schools, and it sucked.
Not just “miss my friends” sucked — I mean rip‑your‑world‑out‑by‑the‑roots, drop‑you‑in‑hostile‑territory sucked. Overnight, my whole life got thrown in a moving truck
Fighting Fire With Fire
From Austin to Albany, This Is the Counterpunch We’ve Been Waiting For
open.substack.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:09 AM
open.substack.com/pub/jojofrom...
When I was in the 5th grade I changed schools, and it sucked.
Not just “miss my friends” sucked — I mean rip‑your‑world‑out‑by‑the‑roots, drop‑you‑in‑hostile‑territory sucked. Overnight, my whole life got thrown in a moving truck
When I was in the 5th grade I changed schools, and it sucked.
Not just “miss my friends” sucked — I mean rip‑your‑world‑out‑by‑the‑roots, drop‑you‑in‑hostile‑territory sucked. Overnight, my whole life got thrown in a moving truck
AI winter is coming. And then there will be a depression. (NB: that's Charlie Stross, not Krugman.)
wandering.shop/@cstross/114...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/about-that...
wandering.shop/@cstross/114...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/about-that...
About That Stock Market
Policy has gone mad; why aren’t stocks down?
paulkrugman.substack.com
August 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
AI winter is coming. And then there will be a depression. (NB: that's Charlie Stross, not Krugman.)
wandering.shop/@cstross/114...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/about-that...
wandering.shop/@cstross/114...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/about-that...
Reposted by Derek Harter
With news that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down due to Trump’s meddling, it’s worth watching Mr. Rogers testifying to the Senate about the real value of what we’ve all lost.
May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications
YouTube video by Road Less Marveled
m.youtube.com
August 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
With news that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down due to Trump’s meddling, it’s worth watching Mr. Rogers testifying to the Senate about the real value of what we’ve all lost.
Reposted by Derek Harter
The 7 Most Influential Papers in Computer Science History
The 7 Most Influential Papers in Computer Science History
This post celebrates influential papers that shaped technology and communication. Their foundational concepts inspire continued innovation, highlighting the importance of understanding our roots fo…
terriblesoftware.org
January 23, 2025 at 4:02 AM
The 7 Most Influential Papers in Computer Science History
Reposted by Derek Harter
By the great Mike Luckovich
November 2, 2024 at 1:38 AM
By the great Mike Luckovich
Reposted by Derek Harter
Over on Whatever, I've done what the owners of the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times would not: Endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States. Come read why I think she's not only the right choice, but the only choice, for president this year:
whatever.scalzi.com/2024/10/26/t...
whatever.scalzi.com/2024/10/26/t...
October 26, 2024 at 2:49 PM
Over on Whatever, I've done what the owners of the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times would not: Endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States. Come read why I think she's not only the right choice, but the only choice, for president this year:
whatever.scalzi.com/2024/10/26/t...
whatever.scalzi.com/2024/10/26/t...
Reposted by Derek Harter
