Hobo Elite
@hobo-elite.bsky.social
minor character laden with misgivings
The market can turn anything into a product, even the utopian imaginary.
*I blame capitalism's assault on the utopian imaginary
Musk is a parasite on the future; he preys upon the imagination of others, taking any vision of a better world and depreciating it by hawking options on a transparently fake facsimile.
He is capitalism's full-throated assault on the utopian imaginary.
He is capitalism's full-throated assault on the utopian imaginary.
November 17, 2025 at 3:41 PM
The market can turn anything into a product, even the utopian imaginary.
Damn, that one's a thinker.
Meta reinforcement learning is when reinforcement learning doesn't work so you learn not to do it.
Makes me think we need an reinforcement learning book where this is the cover.
November 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Damn, that one's a thinker.
lol. same thing happens with objects. we're pretty good at making them, but we can't keep track of them, and we refuse to throw away ones we can't tell are broken.
we're actually reasonably good at going and getting information; the breakdown occurs once we have it. to a large extent we still use disconnected archipelagoes of word documents, spreadsheets, and powerpoint decks to communicate and organize institutional memory
i see this as frankly barbaric
i see this as frankly barbaric
October 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
lol. same thing happens with objects. we're pretty good at making them, but we can't keep track of them, and we refuse to throw away ones we can't tell are broken.
intelligence vs "performing smartness"
but then if intelligence isn't performing smartness then what is it?
inclined to say something like intelligence involves taking information in from the environment, interpreting it non-erroneously, synthesizing it with past memories, then doing something beneficial (to the being) with the result…
inclined to say something like intelligence involves taking information in from the environment, interpreting it non-erroneously, synthesizing it with past memories, then doing something beneficial (to the being) with the result…
September 27, 2025 at 9:16 PM
intelligence vs "performing smartness"
Wait, Larry Ellison's buying TiikTok? Like, all of it? Or just some sham American subsidiary?
September 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Wait, Larry Ellison's buying TiikTok? Like, all of it? Or just some sham American subsidiary?
Artificial Intelligence is a doomed field because it was founded upon a propaganda concept.
September 19, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Artificial Intelligence is a doomed field because it was founded upon a propaganda concept.
I've been looking at & thinking about root wood for a while. Theory that it grows differently. It seems lighter than limb/trunk wood of the same tree, because it's not under stress. More like styrofoam. Only sressed at the flare.
The lapping waters of Kenmare bay/estuary have, over time, revealed the root systems of wild oaks lining the banks, allowing a view of what is normally hidden below ground: trees' Earth anchors.
September 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I've been looking at & thinking about root wood for a while. Theory that it grows differently. It seems lighter than limb/trunk wood of the same tree, because it's not under stress. More like styrofoam. Only sressed at the flare.
so true
an interesting thing about artists is they often have to cultivate technical expertise because whatever they're trying to do can't be delegated because if you could satisfactorily explain it to somebody it wouldn't be art
August 29, 2025 at 8:02 PM
so true
sounds like fertile ground for a Snowpiercer remake
August 15, 2025 at 2:58 PM
sounds like fertile ground for a Snowpiercer remake
Now here's a design phenomena that needs a name.
You can really tell that everyone working at Lego grew up building with Legos because the quality of their designs is way better than anything we grew up with.
At the same time I think this makes it harder for kids to play open endedly with legos. They can't compete at all. Totally outclassed.
At the same time I think this makes it harder for kids to play open endedly with legos. They can't compete at all. Totally outclassed.
July 31, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Now here's a design phenomena that needs a name.
"it's inefficient for everybody to have their own instinctive sense of what's efficient, and constantly fight about it"
interesting point to revisit:
interesting point to revisit:
this is important because people are really sensitive to structure and sequence; i believe a lot of let's just call it "inefficiency" in stuff like bureaucracy, education, general knowledge transfer &c stems from people balking at things being put in a structure or sequence that looks wrong to them.
July 14, 2025 at 10:12 PM
"it's inefficient for everybody to have their own instinctive sense of what's efficient, and constantly fight about it"
interesting point to revisit:
interesting point to revisit:
the luxury tactical etiquette manual didn't catch on because not enough people carried the tools, so they embarrassed the people they were trying to impress.
*If you're into Every Day Carry items, this fabulous Post-Mortem Carry multitool was found in an ancient Roman tomb. "I'll see you in Hades, and I'm bringing my spork."
www.flickr.com/photos/bruce...
www.flickr.com/photos/bruce...
July 14, 2025 at 1:20 AM
the luxury tactical etiquette manual didn't catch on because not enough people carried the tools, so they embarrassed the people they were trying to impress.
that's a good line
🚿💭: power is the ability to make your decisions stick; influence (which has a relatively much wider radius) is the ability to make your aspirations sometimes maybe stick.
July 14, 2025 at 1:13 AM
that's a good line
Is it easier to lie on an spreadsheet than with a pen on paper ledger?
Backspace key would say yes. You can take it back. You tell yourself you'll take it back.
Backspace key would say yes. You can take it back. You tell yourself you'll take it back.
(and not clear if it's an improvement lol)
June 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Is it easier to lie on an spreadsheet than with a pen on paper ledger?
Backspace key would say yes. You can take it back. You tell yourself you'll take it back.
Backspace key would say yes. You can take it back. You tell yourself you'll take it back.
Why yes, I'm something of a systems theorist myself. That's why I see moral problems with absolutely everything I ever do.
• everybody needs a place to live
• you get paid every time one exchanges hands
• everything's fine, what
• you get paid every time one exchanges hands
• everything's fine, what
June 5, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Why yes, I'm something of a systems theorist myself. That's why I see moral problems with absolutely everything I ever do.
to err is human, to glitch machine
*Patsy truck drivers. They're like human drones.
*Apparently one of them didn't manage to reach the proper drone-launch destination; to err is human
*Apparently one of them didn't manage to reach the proper drone-launch destination; to err is human
June 2, 2025 at 3:10 PM
to err is human, to glitch machine
illiteracy may be adaptive ... in the deluge
May 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
illiteracy may be adaptive ... in the deluge
"National Security Threat" is a permission structure
“National Security Threat” is quickly becoming an over-used and thus diluted term.
May 7, 2025 at 12:39 AM
"National Security Threat" is a permission structure
elite insecurity rules everything around me
everyone's an underdog
everyone's an underdog
April 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
elite insecurity rules everything around me
everyone's an underdog
everyone's an underdog
I like simple stuff that just works. Software never just works.
March 30, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I like simple stuff that just works. Software never just works.
"concierge culture" as a software philosophy.
"if your robot butler's gonna be glitchy, it should at least be obsequious about it."
"if your robot butler's gonna be glitchy, it should at least be obsequious about it."
"concierge culture" is what i call the computer industry's posture for the last 40+ years
apple arguably pioneered the concierge culture of the modern computer industry
all "let me get that for you", and "don't worry your pretty little head about that"
ironic considering the apple II was made for hackers
all "let me get that for you", and "don't worry your pretty little head about that"
ironic considering the apple II was made for hackers
March 21, 2025 at 2:30 PM
"concierge culture" as a software philosophy.
"if your robot butler's gonna be glitchy, it should at least be obsequious about it."
"if your robot butler's gonna be glitchy, it should at least be obsequious about it."
"The decadence of the banana is not in question."
March 14, 2025 at 8:35 PM
"The decadence of the banana is not in question."
This is the general story of factories & advertising. The factory process arrives first, like a spigot that can't be turned off.
Rush to move the inventory by whatever means necessary. Otherwise you'll drown in it.
Rush to move the inventory by whatever means necessary. Otherwise you'll drown in it.
lolsob but also i think my favourite factoid about cigarettes is that duke (as in university) hired an engineer to design a cigarette rolling machine that was so stupidly efficient that he was awash in inventory and so the story of the cigarette is really a story of hyperaggressive marketing
March 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This is the general story of factories & advertising. The factory process arrives first, like a spigot that can't be turned off.
Rush to move the inventory by whatever means necessary. Otherwise you'll drown in it.
Rush to move the inventory by whatever means necessary. Otherwise you'll drown in it.
Shoring up my Old Internet HTML Homepage castle to establish trade with the Climate Refugee Mongolian Horde. Sure hope that newfangled Deepseek doesn't derail my plan.
If you understand this map you understand my current headspace
February 3, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Shoring up my Old Internet HTML Homepage castle to establish trade with the Climate Refugee Mongolian Horde. Sure hope that newfangled Deepseek doesn't derail my plan.