@nickmoon.bsky.social
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One huge problem with AI is that it was designed to have the ethics of a billionaire
October 1, 2026 at 5:48 AM
One huge problem with AI is that it was designed to have the ethics of a billionaire
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Or, "This person never engaged with this stuff at all, so we should be aware of the ways in which they benefited from the society in which they lived and the careless way they may have spoken as a result, but they weren't actively perpetrating it."
August 25, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Or, "This person never engaged with this stuff at all, so we should be aware of the ways in which they benefited from the society in which they lived and the careless way they may have spoken as a result, but they weren't actively perpetrating it."
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It's for like, "This person was a staunch opponent of the mainstream racism of their day, but they used terminology to explain their beliefs that we would now consider inappropriate. However, against the background level of contemporary racism, they were pretty decent."
August 25, 2026 at 10:11 AM
It's for like, "This person was a staunch opponent of the mainstream racism of their day, but they used terminology to explain their beliefs that we would now consider inappropriate. However, against the background level of contemporary racism, they were pretty decent."
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Yeah, "of their time" is for well-meaning attempts to combat prejudice that perhaps fall short of modern sensibilities in terms of language and underlying assumptions. It's not for excusing actual bigotry because it was the past.
saying something was "acceptable at the time" should only ever warrant the question, "acceptable to who?" - acceptability isn't a neutral quantity.
Every man was "of their time". If Churchill was of his time, then so were Hitler and Stalin. It's a completely empty statement.
Every man was "of their time". If Churchill was of his time, then so were Hitler and Stalin. It's a completely empty statement.
We are told to ignore the racism of Hegel, Kant, Locke etc because they were just "men of their time". So what do we do with the racism of current academics? Are they too just "men of their time"? What is this "time" that seems to make racists of men?
August 25, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Yeah, "of their time" is for well-meaning attempts to combat prejudice that perhaps fall short of modern sensibilities in terms of language and underlying assumptions. It's not for excusing actual bigotry because it was the past.
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Longtermism is just gnosticism send fleep.
Or better yet, it's just dispensationalism.
Or better yet, it's just dispensationalism.
August 9, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Longtermism is just gnosticism send fleep.
Or better yet, it's just dispensationalism.
Or better yet, it's just dispensationalism.
And some of the original proponents of neoliberalism were also formerly fascists, too.
Neo liberalism contains the seeds of its own destruction by breaking the bonds between people, thereby facilitating the rise of authoritarians who promote and exploit divisions to justify their existence. Happening very clearly in Britain, helped by the resources of the American Right.
August 1, 2026 at 10:20 AM
And some of the original proponents of neoliberalism were also formerly fascists, too.
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I’m not sure whether this is just a psychological difference or AI bros fundamentally don’t understand the nature of an artistic experience, but: I don’t want a personalised film/book/podcast. I want to see/read/hear the same one as everyone else, so I can read reviews or discuss it with my friends
August 1, 2026 at 8:48 AM
I’m not sure whether this is just a psychological difference or AI bros fundamentally don’t understand the nature of an artistic experience, but: I don’t want a personalised film/book/podcast. I want to see/read/hear the same one as everyone else, so I can read reviews or discuss it with my friends
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Omg. Omg omg omg.
Emily Wilson (as in, the famed translator of Homer) just published her take on Nolan's Odyssey in @lrb.co.uk... and it is SWEET, JUICY HATERADE:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson (as in, the famed translator of Homer) just published her take on Nolan's Odyssey in @lrb.co.uk... and it is SWEET, JUICY HATERADE:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
July 27, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Omg. Omg omg omg.
Emily Wilson (as in, the famed translator of Homer) just published her take on Nolan's Odyssey in @lrb.co.uk... and it is SWEET, JUICY HATERADE:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson (as in, the famed translator of Homer) just published her take on Nolan's Odyssey in @lrb.co.uk... and it is SWEET, JUICY HATERADE:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
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Yeah but Helen was the granddaughter of the goddess of the Night.
I submit the Greeks were not being subtle, since they were obviously familiar with Black women - Ptolemaic Egypt was Hellene, after all. And just up the Nile were Kush and Nubia.
The question is why white people think Helen’s white.
I submit the Greeks were not being subtle, since they were obviously familiar with Black women - Ptolemaic Egypt was Hellene, after all. And just up the Nile were Kush and Nubia.
The question is why white people think Helen’s white.
July 18, 2026 at 4:52 AM
Yeah but Helen was the granddaughter of the goddess of the Night.
I submit the Greeks were not being subtle, since they were obviously familiar with Black women - Ptolemaic Egypt was Hellene, after all. And just up the Nile were Kush and Nubia.
The question is why white people think Helen’s white.
I submit the Greeks were not being subtle, since they were obviously familiar with Black women - Ptolemaic Egypt was Hellene, after all. And just up the Nile were Kush and Nubia.
The question is why white people think Helen’s white.
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Today is the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Jo Cox. This strip was done for Scottish magazine The Drouth.
Just the facts. You can draw your own conclusions. Has anything changed?
Just the facts. You can draw your own conclusions. Has anything changed?
June 16, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Today is the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Jo Cox. This strip was done for Scottish magazine The Drouth.
Just the facts. You can draw your own conclusions. Has anything changed?
Just the facts. You can draw your own conclusions. Has anything changed?
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Today is the tenth anniversary of Jo Cox's murder by a white supremacist on her way to a surgery in Birstall in her constituency whose ethnic diversity she praised in her maiden speech to the Commons. Her murderer shouted "Britain first" as he shot and stabbed her to death.
June 16, 2026 at 6:38 AM
Today is the tenth anniversary of Jo Cox's murder by a white supremacist on her way to a surgery in Birstall in her constituency whose ethnic diversity she praised in her maiden speech to the Commons. Her murderer shouted "Britain first" as he shot and stabbed her to death.
The one which sticks in my mind is L Ron Hubbard’s Mission Earth which might be written at a level a ten year old can understand, but in retrospect s pretty fucking awful.
So what was everyone's book they read way too young?
March 22, 2026 at 11:10 AM
The one which sticks in my mind is L Ron Hubbard’s Mission Earth which might be written at a level a ten year old can understand, but in retrospect s pretty fucking awful.
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You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.
December 26, 2025 at 12:40 AM
You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.
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Performing desirable behaviour and "virtue signalling" is also absolutely core to human society.
It's why we tell kids that stealing is wrong, rather than just that it's illegal and punishable by law.
Living in a place where people only treat each other well when forced to by rules would be AWFUL.
It's why we tell kids that stealing is wrong, rather than just that it's illegal and punishable by law.
Living in a place where people only treat each other well when forced to by rules would be AWFUL.
Performative decency is actually *so* important for this reason.
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
November 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Performing desirable behaviour and "virtue signalling" is also absolutely core to human society.
It's why we tell kids that stealing is wrong, rather than just that it's illegal and punishable by law.
Living in a place where people only treat each other well when forced to by rules would be AWFUL.
It's why we tell kids that stealing is wrong, rather than just that it's illegal and punishable by law.
Living in a place where people only treat each other well when forced to by rules would be AWFUL.
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The UK is world class at three things, higher education, cultural media and money laundering, and Labour are deliberately fucking up the good two and accelerating the criminal one. No-one, not even the briefcase dickheads still sticking up for them because of the sunk cost, voted for this shit.
October 20, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The UK is world class at three things, higher education, cultural media and money laundering, and Labour are deliberately fucking up the good two and accelerating the criminal one. No-one, not even the briefcase dickheads still sticking up for them because of the sunk cost, voted for this shit.
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The problem with our current leaders is they are all chasing votes and confusing the loudest voices with the majority. That is populism.
They are not setting out what they believe in and selling that to the electorate. We need leaders who attract voters and not chase after them.
They are not setting out what they believe in and selling that to the electorate. We need leaders who attract voters and not chase after them.
September 25, 2025 at 11:14 AM
The problem with our current leaders is they are all chasing votes and confusing the loudest voices with the majority. That is populism.
They are not setting out what they believe in and selling that to the electorate. We need leaders who attract voters and not chase after them.
They are not setting out what they believe in and selling that to the electorate. We need leaders who attract voters and not chase after them.
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I miss the days when it was socially unacceptable to talk like a Nazi
The Times editorial line: "sieve" the entire population so we can put 100s of thousands of people into camps.
"Removing a city’s worth of people would be an extended exercise. Identity cards would be a must if the population was to be sieved into legitimate and illegitimate camps"
archive.ph/78dcP
"Removing a city’s worth of people would be an extended exercise. Identity cards would be a must if the population was to be sieved into legitimate and illegitimate camps"
archive.ph/78dcP
August 28, 2025 at 7:15 AM
I miss the days when it was socially unacceptable to talk like a Nazi
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Books are there to be read.
To be loved.
To be enjoyed.
To learn from.
To reflect your interests.
To act as an external repository of offloaded information to not have to keep inside your brain 24 / 7.
What books aren't :
decoration.
if I'm in your house, you bet I evaluate the bookshelf.
To be loved.
To be enjoyed.
To learn from.
To reflect your interests.
To act as an external repository of offloaded information to not have to keep inside your brain 24 / 7.
What books aren't :
decoration.
if I'm in your house, you bet I evaluate the bookshelf.
Having grown up in a house where there were always far too many books for shelf space, (and having continued that trend myself) having to buy books by the metre to fill your shelf space amazes me
‘Look how well-read I am!’ How ‘books by the metre’ add the final touch to your home – or your image
It’s never been easier to build an impressive-looking library, especially if you’re mostly interested in the colour and size of your books. Is this necessarily a bad thing?
www.theguardian.com
July 22, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Books are there to be read.
To be loved.
To be enjoyed.
To learn from.
To reflect your interests.
To act as an external repository of offloaded information to not have to keep inside your brain 24 / 7.
What books aren't :
decoration.
if I'm in your house, you bet I evaluate the bookshelf.
To be loved.
To be enjoyed.
To learn from.
To reflect your interests.
To act as an external repository of offloaded information to not have to keep inside your brain 24 / 7.
What books aren't :
decoration.
if I'm in your house, you bet I evaluate the bookshelf.
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This is 'Brontë Country' - the middle of Keighley, barely a couple of miles from Haworth in living memory.
Coal-fired factories, quarries, worked out clay pits, gas works, engineering companies...
Coal-fired factories, quarries, worked out clay pits, gas works, engineering companies...
July 14, 2025 at 9:56 AM
This is 'Brontë Country' - the middle of Keighley, barely a couple of miles from Haworth in living memory.
Coal-fired factories, quarries, worked out clay pits, gas works, engineering companies...
Coal-fired factories, quarries, worked out clay pits, gas works, engineering companies...
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I bow to nobody in my appreciation of the Brontës but fuck this. The area is already disfigured by the omnipresent commercialism of the Brontë tourist industry. Meanwhile climate change is literally *making the planet uninhabitable*. This is conservative culture-baiting to oppose energy transition.
Ed Miliband would let a turbine farm destroy Brontë country. We need net zero, but at what cost? | Simon Jenkins
Ed Miliband would let a turbine farm destroy Brontë country. We need net zero, but at what cost? | Simon Jenkins
Of course the climate crisis must be confronted, but history, tranquility and beauty must also count for something, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
www.theguardian.com
July 14, 2025 at 10:35 AM
I bow to nobody in my appreciation of the Brontës but fuck this. The area is already disfigured by the omnipresent commercialism of the Brontë tourist industry. Meanwhile climate change is literally *making the planet uninhabitable*. This is conservative culture-baiting to oppose energy transition.
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A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
May 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
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When Labour took power last year Starmer stood on the steps of 10 Downing Street and said “your government should treat every single person in the country with respect”.
Naively I didn’t notice his use of ‘should’ instead of ‘will’. Should, but won’t.
Starmer’s Labour is rotten with transphobia.
Naively I didn’t notice his use of ‘should’ instead of ‘will’. Should, but won’t.
Starmer’s Labour is rotten with transphobia.
March 31, 2025 at 8:56 AM
When Labour took power last year Starmer stood on the steps of 10 Downing Street and said “your government should treat every single person in the country with respect”.
Naively I didn’t notice his use of ‘should’ instead of ‘will’. Should, but won’t.
Starmer’s Labour is rotten with transphobia.
Naively I didn’t notice his use of ‘should’ instead of ‘will’. Should, but won’t.
Starmer’s Labour is rotten with transphobia.
Most of the gigs I go to see folk musicians, so an intimate setting is the default. You usually get to chat with them at the merch stalls after the gig too.
What musical act did you get to see in an intimate setting? Because it was before they got big or after they had their huge moment?
March 23, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Most of the gigs I go to see folk musicians, so an intimate setting is the default. You usually get to chat with them at the merch stalls after the gig too.
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One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/
February 26, 2025 at 6:58 PM
One of the most common arguments you hear from fans of generative ‘AI’ is that it’s not plagiarizing people’s work, it’s just learning like a human learns. So I’m going to break down why that’s just not true, and why it can never be true, with the existing systems. 1/