Simon Johnson🇺🇦
@simonrjohnson.bsky.social
Risk manager, quant, physicist, Bayesian. I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
RIP to everyone's party infiltrated by the Trots but I'm different. Maybe even better organised than the Trots.
October 5, 2026 at 10:18 AM
RIP to everyone's party infiltrated by the Trots but I'm different. Maybe even better organised than the Trots.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
adding '5 British doggers' to the list of surprising defeats for the US military, alongside the IRGC, Viet Cong, and geography
US removes all Air Force bombers from RAF Fairford
US removes all Air Force bombers from RAF Fairford
The US Air Force has removed all of its bombers from RAF Fairford, it has revealed.
news.sky.com
October 4, 2026 at 9:57 PM
adding '5 British doggers' to the list of surprising defeats for the US military, alongside the IRGC, Viet Cong, and geography
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Found out yesterday that one of the first pet cats whose name we know belonged to Crown Prince Thutmose of the 18th dynasty pf Egypt. She was named Ta-Miu, which translates, roughly, as "Miaow Girl".
October 4, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Found out yesterday that one of the first pet cats whose name we know belonged to Crown Prince Thutmose of the 18th dynasty pf Egypt. She was named Ta-Miu, which translates, roughly, as "Miaow Girl".
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
So basically five muppets with a couple of vans is enough to see the US withdraw bombers from Europe? If the USSR had known that, the Cold War might have turned out quite differently.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
US removes all bombers from RAF Fairford back to home stations
A statement says all bombers deployed to RAF Fairford have been "re-deployed to their home stations" in the US.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 4, 2026 at 10:43 PM
So basically five muppets with a couple of vans is enough to see the US withdraw bombers from Europe? If the USSR had known that, the Cold War might have turned out quite differently.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
I think it’s actually really important for the Greens to lose that by-election now, cause if they win it will be used to brush away all objections to what they did today
October 4, 2026 at 9:07 PM
I think it’s actually really important for the Greens to lose that by-election now, cause if they win it will be used to brush away all objections to what they did today
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
This was a two act play by the Russians. It’s both a tragedy and a comedy.
October 4, 2026 at 6:21 AM
This was a two act play by the Russians. It’s both a tragedy and a comedy.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
February 8, 2026 at 10:23 PM
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
The London Bach: composer Johann Christian Bach with sheet of music; painted in 1776, by his friend Gainsborough: with sparkle of silver tassels on brown coat, blue & silver silk waistcoat, & diamond ring; ruffled white lace cravat & cuffs loosely brushed in impasto.
National Portrait Gallery London
National Portrait Gallery London
October 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM
The London Bach: composer Johann Christian Bach with sheet of music; painted in 1776, by his friend Gainsborough: with sparkle of silver tassels on brown coat, blue & silver silk waistcoat, & diamond ring; ruffled white lace cravat & cuffs loosely brushed in impasto.
National Portrait Gallery London
National Portrait Gallery London
Thought the Unabomber film was pretty good. Strong performances from all the leads.
If I had a pound for every Russell Crowe movie about a mentally ill Ivy League maths professor, I'd have two pounds which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice
October 3, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Thought the Unabomber film was pretty good. Strong performances from all the leads.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
The fact that there are multiple Tolkien, Star Wars, and Star Trek properties out there that I have no interest in and I’m taking the side of the Pope against the AI geeks is strong circumstantial evidence that we’re living in an ironic hell built specifically for 14-year-old me.
October 3, 2026 at 5:23 PM
The fact that there are multiple Tolkien, Star Wars, and Star Trek properties out there that I have no interest in and I’m taking the side of the Pope against the AI geeks is strong circumstantial evidence that we’re living in an ironic hell built specifically for 14-year-old me.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
JRR Tolkien: You paint that picture of the key scene from the Two Towers where Frodo and Sam fight Gollum?
Donato Giancola: Sure did, Ron, real fuckin' sexy just like you asked.
JRRT: What.
Donato Giancola: Sure did, Ron, real fuckin' sexy just like you asked.
JRRT: What.
October 3, 2026 at 3:13 PM
JRR Tolkien: You paint that picture of the key scene from the Two Towers where Frodo and Sam fight Gollum?
Donato Giancola: Sure did, Ron, real fuckin' sexy just like you asked.
JRRT: What.
Donato Giancola: Sure did, Ron, real fuckin' sexy just like you asked.
JRRT: What.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
<whispers> the uk is 10-year is the best performing in developed mkts over the past year
October 2, 2026 at 9:59 AM
<whispers> the uk is 10-year is the best performing in developed mkts over the past year
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Terry Pratchett (Right)
October 3, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Terry Pratchett (Right)
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
If as a Green Party your number one priority is dictating what synagogue Jews can and can't go to, you've lost the fucking plot.
October 3, 2026 at 9:27 AM
If as a Green Party your number one priority is dictating what synagogue Jews can and can't go to, you've lost the fucking plot.
On this front, I think JEV is very exciting
My spicy AI take is that I got very excited about *Small* Language Models this week, specifically embedding functions. The idea that you can map intelligently and cheaply from a short text passage to a vector in a high dimensional space is *super* powerful.
October 3, 2026 at 8:01 AM
On this front, I think JEV is very exciting
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
I figured out what happened: all the lesswrong space cadets doing their bayesian math on RSI and ASI and so on had the signs flipped. what happens is that as soon as AI exists EVERYTHING ELSE gets STUPIDER at an accelerating rate. Easy mistake to make.
October 1, 2026 at 3:22 AM
I figured out what happened: all the lesswrong space cadets doing their bayesian math on RSI and ASI and so on had the signs flipped. what happens is that as soon as AI exists EVERYTHING ELSE gets STUPIDER at an accelerating rate. Easy mistake to make.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Steve Reich was born otd, 3 October 1936 - he turns 90 today. What a remarkable artist he is. He is one of the most influential American composers of the last 60 years, and I struggled to choose just one work. In the end, I have decided to share Different Trains - one of his most important works.
October 3, 2026 at 5:17 AM
Steve Reich was born otd, 3 October 1936 - he turns 90 today. What a remarkable artist he is. He is one of the most influential American composers of the last 60 years, and I struggled to choose just one work. In the end, I have decided to share Different Trains - one of his most important works.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Jerry, you lay next to a near-cadaver for years. #CelebrityTraitors
October 2, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Jerry, you lay next to a near-cadaver for years. #CelebrityTraitors
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
I keep seeing this Semafor graph that seems to show the Trump administration’s effect on international visits is comparable to the pandemic. My first thought was “that can’t be true” and indeed it is not. This is monthly data. We only have to Jun/Aug 2026. The lines are over-fitted to the months.
October 1, 2026 at 8:39 PM
I keep seeing this Semafor graph that seems to show the Trump administration’s effect on international visits is comparable to the pandemic. My first thought was “that can’t be true” and indeed it is not. This is monthly data. We only have to Jun/Aug 2026. The lines are over-fitted to the months.
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Emma Haworth • Night Swimmers • night Venticelli •
October 1, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Emma Haworth • Night Swimmers • night Venticelli •
Reposted by Simon Johnson🇺🇦
Congratulations to Elon Musk, who successfully made it to Mars by 2026.
October 2, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Congratulations to Elon Musk, who successfully made it to Mars by 2026.