Mark Masterson
@mastermark.me
Trying to do better. A hell of a lot less clever than I used to think I was. Recovering male human.
CEO of Ito (itoworld.com)
CEO of Ito (itoworld.com)
Pinned
Mark Masterson
@mastermark.me
· Mar 11
BBC Radio 4 - Lent Talks, Power and Relationships
A series of personal reflections on power.
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Published on IWD, my wife did a #BBC Radio 4 Lent Talk, focusing on power & relationships, from the perspective of survivors of sexual abuse. I'm obviously biased, but I think it's well worth 15 min to give it a listen
BBC Radio 4 - Lent Talks, Power and Relationships share.google/D4GOxwU6ftnJ...
BBC Radio 4 - Lent Talks, Power and Relationships share.google/D4GOxwU6ftnJ...
Reposted by Mark Masterson
It’s a failure of imagination and wider reading on the part of tech guys to invent Roko’s Basilisk, a thought experiment about a vengeful god that will punish you for not cooperating, while their tech enrages Mother Nature, a vengeful god we’ve had available in our pantheon for millennia.
September 17, 2026 at 8:18 AM
It’s a failure of imagination and wider reading on the part of tech guys to invent Roko’s Basilisk, a thought experiment about a vengeful god that will punish you for not cooperating, while their tech enrages Mother Nature, a vengeful god we’ve had available in our pantheon for millennia.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
I do think anyone who wants us to take Elizer Yudkowsky seriously as an authority on AI armageddon should be forced to testify on video that they have read the entirety of his 660,000 word rationalist Harry Potter fan fiction – written aged 30–34 – and still thinks the world needs his take.
September 15, 2026 at 11:51 PM
I do think anyone who wants us to take Elizer Yudkowsky seriously as an authority on AI armageddon should be forced to testify on video that they have read the entirety of his 660,000 word rationalist Harry Potter fan fiction – written aged 30–34 – and still thinks the world needs his take.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
Re rise of AI, reading this historic event through the lens of Theuth & F451 gives us a concrete warning: identify *now* what cognitive skills AI risks atrophying, and ask if and how it is even possible to educate to maintain those skills in the AI-flooded environment we're creating. Caveat promptor
September 16, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Re rise of AI, reading this historic event through the lens of Theuth & F451 gives us a concrete warning: identify *now* what cognitive skills AI risks atrophying, and ask if and how it is even possible to educate to maintain those skills in the AI-flooded environment we're creating. Caveat promptor
Reposted by Mark Masterson
Fair play to the wife of a Caribbean man and mother of mixed race children being informed by the BBC reporter that she’s in the minority in her community regarding immigration and responding with, “Yes, I’m surrounded by bigots.”
September 16, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Fair play to the wife of a Caribbean man and mother of mixed race children being informed by the BBC reporter that she’s in the minority in her community regarding immigration and responding with, “Yes, I’m surrounded by bigots.”
Amen (and obviously, for all things, not just 'AI')
Also going on a tangent, this applies just as much to so-called anti-AI pundits who talk AS IF they are experts in things they are not too (from the economy to cognition). There's value in NOT saying much, and of course boosting relevant other experts' work, over pretending to speak from authority.
Respecting Expertise is the epistemic compact between professionals and society.
See section 5 here: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
6/
See section 5 here: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
6/
September 16, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Amen (and obviously, for all things, not just 'AI')
When they write the history books of our time, SpaceX will be regarded as shorthand for collective madness in exactly the same way we laugh in assumed superiority about the primitives falling for the Tulip Mania...
(That's a rocket launch every 50-or-so minutes, 24/7, 365 days a year, with each launch pulling in a billion dollars in revenue from some unknown number of unknown sources able to pay a billion dollars over and over again to launch another rocket into space for some unknown reason 10,000 times/yr)
September 16, 2026 at 9:26 AM
When they write the history books of our time, SpaceX will be regarded as shorthand for collective madness in exactly the same way we laugh in assumed superiority about the primitives falling for the Tulip Mania...
Reposted by Mark Masterson
Pretty funny that Ed Sheeran seemingly only hired Irish people and yet didn't see this coming.
September 15, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Pretty funny that Ed Sheeran seemingly only hired Irish people and yet didn't see this coming.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
The U.S. AI industry is being run by a batshit rationalist sex cult, and no, I am not being hyperbolic - they’re genuinely Like That:
September 15, 2026 at 8:06 PM
The U.S. AI industry is being run by a batshit rationalist sex cult, and no, I am not being hyperbolic - they’re genuinely Like That:
Ah, that's not how I recall it (playing AD&D 45 years ago)... We inhaled those books and knew them by heart - it is true that the things at the edges drove some mad. See also 'falling damage' as the canonical example
game mechanic, all of the game design was largely aggultinations of ad hoc mechanics or inspired by ad hoc systems. We all joke about how many books it took to play a paladin, but that's not far from the truth; nobody could keep track of all the rules.
September 15, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Ah, that's not how I recall it (playing AD&D 45 years ago)... We inhaled those books and knew them by heart - it is true that the things at the edges drove some mad. See also 'falling damage' as the canonical example
Reposted by Mark Masterson
When, in ten or twenty or fifty years time, we look back on the Trump era of politics, I do not think many of us will be proud of the stances we did and did not take, the actions we did and did not take. The sins committed by inaction, by centrism, by choosing a middle road between bigotry & sanity.
September 15, 2026 at 5:28 PM
When, in ten or twenty or fifty years time, we look back on the Trump era of politics, I do not think many of us will be proud of the stances we did and did not take, the actions we did and did not take. The sins committed by inaction, by centrism, by choosing a middle road between bigotry & sanity.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
*slaps Cybertruck* this bad boy can hold so many Ls
Rhode Island Cybertruck owner: "I get more middle fingers and thumbs-downs and just looks of disdain and hate, having this vehicle drive me around Rhode Island, than I have ever experienced in my entire life.”
Cybertruck owners take a heavy toll on the Pell Bridge. And pay one too. • Rhode Island Current
A Cybertruck’s weight comes with a price on the Pell Bridge. One North Kingstown owner says he’s paying $4 per trip and wants Rhode Island to rethink how it tolls heavy electric vehicles.
rhodeislandcurrent.com
September 15, 2026 at 5:38 PM
*slaps Cybertruck* this bad boy can hold so many Ls
Reposted by Mark Masterson
hey Whitaker what does the "NA" in "NATO" stand for
NATO Ambassador Whitaker: "We're working right now to have our European allies & Canada take over the convention defense of the European continent. That's going to free up the United States to project power globally and deal with things like the Pacific situations that we may confront in the future"
September 15, 2026 at 12:46 PM
hey Whitaker what does the "NA" in "NATO" stand for
Reposted by Mark Masterson
A campaign for *MSF* to be banned as a terrorist group (on the paper thin basis of claims about 2 past employees) is the product of the UK Govt being willing to divorce any meaningful conception of societal threat from its use of proscription powers. Govt needs to wake up to the madness of this:
September 12, 2026 at 1:15 PM
A campaign for *MSF* to be banned as a terrorist group (on the paper thin basis of claims about 2 past employees) is the product of the UK Govt being willing to divorce any meaningful conception of societal threat from its use of proscription powers. Govt needs to wake up to the madness of this:
One WEEK after 9/11, my middle class, university educated white, Northeastern US friends, people I'd known for years, were saying they'd get off a plane if any brown people were on it, and demand they be arrested. The US went insane, and ppl who say otherwise, generally, still are.
Maybe this really was Elissa Slotkin's experience in the weeks after 9/11, but it sure as hell wasn't mine. People lost their fucking minds, and pretending they didn't, that everybody wanted to sit around and sing kumbaya, is revisionist insanity.
But that feeling of a shared bond among all Americans in the early weeks after the attack is something I’m so glad I got to experience. Because it’s the thing that I think we’re missing the most today.
September 11, 2026 at 5:15 PM
One WEEK after 9/11, my middle class, university educated white, Northeastern US friends, people I'd known for years, were saying they'd get off a plane if any brown people were on it, and demand they be arrested. The US went insane, and ppl who say otherwise, generally, still are.
Ah, DFW... So many layers of heartbreak in this piece...
September 11, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Ah, DFW... So many layers of heartbreak in this piece...
Reposted by Mark Masterson
The balaclava blackshirted thugs are a result of a decade of politicians, tabloids and the broadcast media telling racists they have "legitimate concerns."
The normalisation of actual fascism rhetoric and action has led to this and is a far greater "legitimate concern" than any migrant on a boat.
The normalisation of actual fascism rhetoric and action has led to this and is a far greater "legitimate concern" than any migrant on a boat.
September 9, 2026 at 8:34 AM
The balaclava blackshirted thugs are a result of a decade of politicians, tabloids and the broadcast media telling racists they have "legitimate concerns."
The normalisation of actual fascism rhetoric and action has led to this and is a far greater "legitimate concern" than any migrant on a boat.
The normalisation of actual fascism rhetoric and action has led to this and is a far greater "legitimate concern" than any migrant on a boat.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
This. This was the peak of a folding phone.
Nothing you do now will compete.
Nothing you do now will compete.
September 10, 2026 at 10:14 AM
This. This was the peak of a folding phone.
Nothing you do now will compete.
Nothing you do now will compete.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
share.google/AWA0QowotTF2... The RNLI is one of those institutions that make me proud to be British - join me in donating to show your support
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
share.google
September 10, 2026 at 6:57 AM
share.google/AWA0QowotTF2... The RNLI is one of those institutions that make me proud to be British - join me in donating to show your support
Reposted by Mark Masterson
*Oh come on, I'm 72 and find that stuff quite entertaining
*Also the von Neumann "singularity" notion dates way back to 1958, when your dad was seven years old
*Also the von Neumann "singularity" notion dates way back to 1958, when your dad was seven years old
fuck all these labs. why do i have to explain to my 75yo dad what “the singularity” is. why does he need to know who yuds is
September 9, 2026 at 10:54 AM
*Oh come on, I'm 72 and find that stuff quite entertaining
*Also the von Neumann "singularity" notion dates way back to 1958, when your dad was seven years old
*Also the von Neumann "singularity" notion dates way back to 1958, when your dad was seven years old
Reposted by Mark Masterson
Invoking 9/11 in connection with an unnecessary, illegal war in the Middle East over bogus WMD claims.
September 8, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Invoking 9/11 in connection with an unnecessary, illegal war in the Middle East over bogus WMD claims.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
NEVER FORGET: On 9/11, Donald Trump bragged his building was now the tallest in NYC. Listen for yourself...
September 7, 2026 at 7:30 PM
NEVER FORGET: On 9/11, Donald Trump bragged his building was now the tallest in NYC. Listen for yourself...
Reposted by Mark Masterson
people really need to disambiguate between "the code for X was coauthored with a language model" and "peoples' inputs into this app are fed into the language model as a subprocessor" because these are completely different concepts!
a bluesky user replied to @bsky38.com and said "I don't really want to log into anything powered by Claude AI"
dear reader, the Bluesky app is also "powered by Claude AI" 😭
dear reader, the Bluesky app is also "powered by Claude AI" 😭
September 6, 2026 at 6:14 AM
people really need to disambiguate between "the code for X was coauthored with a language model" and "peoples' inputs into this app are fed into the language model as a subprocessor" because these are completely different concepts!
Reposted by Mark Masterson
The people who get caught for this, whether politics or criminality, is because they can't resist playing the Big Man to someone they perceived as important/helpful.
As ever, real Gs move in silence, like lasagne.
As ever, real Gs move in silence, like lasagne.
Whenever there is an undercover sting in politics I'm always astonished what people will say to someone they have never met - usually because they think there is money on (or under) the table.
September 4, 2026 at 10:21 AM
The people who get caught for this, whether politics or criminality, is because they can't resist playing the Big Man to someone they perceived as important/helpful.
As ever, real Gs move in silence, like lasagne.
As ever, real Gs move in silence, like lasagne.
Reposted by Mark Masterson
Good morning from Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham where earlier today this delegate had his sword confiscated
September 4, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Good morning from Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham where earlier today this delegate had his sword confiscated
Reposted by Mark Masterson
I think it’s under-appreciated how much there might be a first mover advantage for the UK in going for a broad based tax rise at this budget.
In a world of shaky public finances, going first makes your debt more attractive.
In a world of shaky public finances, going first makes your debt more attractive.
September 4, 2026 at 10:45 AM
I think it’s under-appreciated how much there might be a first mover advantage for the UK in going for a broad based tax rise at this budget.
In a world of shaky public finances, going first makes your debt more attractive.
In a world of shaky public finances, going first makes your debt more attractive.