The Pedantic Professor
@pedanticprof.bsky.social
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Beware of geeks bearing grifts.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
GPU (n): a modern unit of currency, hoarded by a modern dragon.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
GPU (n): a modern unit of currency, hoarded by a modern dragon.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Data center (n): a secure and windowless building, outside of which they keep the prisoners.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Data center (n): a secure and windowless building, outside of which they keep the prisoners.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Effective altruism (n): an elaborate mathematical justification for giving money to people who remind you of yourself.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Effective altruism (n): an elaborate mathematical justification for giving money to people who remind you of yourself.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Roko’s basilisk: the comforting fantasy that there will be a God whose notice you are worthy of.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Roko’s basilisk: the comforting fantasy that there will be a God whose notice you are worthy of.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Tolkien, J.R.R.: the author of a celebrated three-volume book of baby names.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Tolkien, J.R.R.: the author of a celebrated three-volume book of baby names.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Altman (n): a portmanteau abbreviation of the phrase “(alt)ernative to a hu(man).”
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Altman (n): a portmanteau abbreviation of the phrase “(alt)ernative to a hu(man).”
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Skeptic (n): one who denies reality on the grounds that its consequences would be too awful to contemplate.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Skeptic (n): one who denies reality on the grounds that its consequences would be too awful to contemplate.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Pause (n): a temporary cessation of hostilities for the combatants to sharpen their knives.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Pause (n): a temporary cessation of hostilities for the combatants to sharpen their knives.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Member of the Technical Staff (n): one who is well-compensated for wasting compute.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Member of the Technical Staff (n): one who is well-compensated for wasting compute.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Artificial intelligence (n): the quest to create in computers a quality that has never yet existed in humans.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Artificial intelligence (n): the quest to create in computers a quality that has never yet existed in humans.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Rationalism (n): a demonstration in the realm of cognition of the eternal principle that good architects make poor carpenters.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Rationalism (n): a demonstration in the realm of cognition of the eternal principle that good architects make poor carpenters.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Longtermism (n): the irrefutable moral postulate that the needs of the imaginary many outweigh the needs of the actual few.
October 5, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Longtermism (n): the irrefutable moral postulate that the needs of the imaginary many outweigh the needs of the actual few.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Just a reminder that you can have a PhD and also be an idiot
September 30, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Just a reminder that you can have a PhD and also be an idiot
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Most TV is just this now.
September 30, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Most TV is just this now.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death,
lying together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death,
lying together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.
September 30, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death,
lying together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death,
lying together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
When you have no concept of how people engage with music
September 30, 2026 at 2:56 AM
When you have no concept of how people engage with music
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
NEW: People who chug their own piss have emerged as MAJOR supporters of AI
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
People Who Drink Their Own Pee Are Obsessed With AI, Using It to Reassure Themselves That It's a Miraculous Cure-All
Urine therapy devotees are sharing ways to break past AI guardrails in order to brainstorm ways to use pee as medicine.
futurism.com
September 30, 2026 at 5:50 PM
NEW: People who chug their own piss have emerged as MAJOR supporters of AI
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
I was dying of thirst when you gave me water, yet it was not the water alone that saved me. It was the strength of the hands that gave it.
September 30, 2026 at 1:10 PM
I was dying of thirst when you gave me water, yet it was not the water alone that saved me. It was the strength of the hands that gave it.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
There's a long discussion going on in my mentions about whether or not "LLMs" (quotes explained in a sec) apparently getting mostly* correct answers to arithmetic questions is "inconsistent" with the stochastic parrots metaphor.
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September 30, 2026 at 12:53 PM
There's a long discussion going on in my mentions about whether or not "LLMs" (quotes explained in a sec) apparently getting mostly* correct answers to arithmetic questions is "inconsistent" with the stochastic parrots metaphor.
>>
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Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
One of AI’s fiercest critics believes the doom talk is about founders making money, not saving humanity. www.wired.com/story/the-bi...
Timnit Gebru Believes There Is No ‘Existential Threat’ From AI
One of AI’s fiercest critics believes the doom talk is about founders making money, not saving humanity.
www.wired.com
September 29, 2026 at 10:36 AM
One of AI’s fiercest critics believes the doom talk is about founders making money, not saving humanity. www.wired.com/story/the-bi...
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
OpenAI took 20 million ChatGPT responses and had one of its experts search for chunks of text—specifically chunks of 25 words in a row- that were identical between ChatGPT’s responses and a news article.
They found more than 400,000 of these 25-word overlaps between ChatGPT and our articles.
They found more than 400,000 of these 25-word overlaps between ChatGPT and our articles.
AI exec: We may have pulled off “the largest theft of labor in human history.”
Documents from our lawsuit reveal how tech leaders talk when they think no one is listening.
www.motherjones.com
September 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM
OpenAI took 20 million ChatGPT responses and had one of its experts search for chunks of text—specifically chunks of 25 words in a row- that were identical between ChatGPT’s responses and a news article.
They found more than 400,000 of these 25-word overlaps between ChatGPT and our articles.
They found more than 400,000 of these 25-word overlaps between ChatGPT and our articles.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.
September 26, 2026 at 3:56 PM
After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
They are playing in our faces
September 26, 2026 at 4:01 PM
They are playing in our faces
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
ceo of burger king: our burgers have gone rogue again and infected people with e coli
September 24, 2026 at 8:35 PM
ceo of burger king: our burgers have gone rogue again and infected people with e coli
Reposted by The Pedantic Professor
"You can argue with them in any way you like but it barely matters. [Paperclip-maxxing doom is] not, mostly, something people believe for good reasons, and they will simply go back to complaining about the apocalypse as soon as you stop paying attention."
AI Safety Is Mostly A Sex Cult In Berkeley, California
We might some day have “AI Safety”, as a science or policy area, that is not primarily a sex cult in Berkeley, California, but it does not currently exist.
www.verysane.ai
September 24, 2026 at 2:06 PM
"You can argue with them in any way you like but it barely matters. [Paperclip-maxxing doom is] not, mostly, something people believe for good reasons, and they will simply go back to complaining about the apocalypse as soon as you stop paying attention."