@doughoff.bsky.social
"Seventy hours a week stepping on buggy software and all your free time shooting bots will do that."
October 5, 2026 at 3:41 PM
"Seventy hours a week stepping on buggy software and all your free time shooting bots will do that."
Plus, we need cheap irony! The protagonists are people whose jobs were obsoleted by AI who are now trying to put down an AI, itself obsolete. At the climax, after a heartfelt conversation with the AI, everyone has qualms, except for the game developer who pulls the trigger on the EMP bomb.
October 5, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Plus, we need cheap irony! The protagonists are people whose jobs were obsoleted by AI who are now trying to put down an AI, itself obsolete. At the climax, after a heartfelt conversation with the AI, everyone has qualms, except for the game developer who pulls the trigger on the EMP bomb.
("Look, I got millions of retiree stockholders counting on me, so don't call me a traitor to my species!") Bonus if the centers are in rural areas, holding small towns hostage with their fleets of sword drones (maximum bloodiness).
October 5, 2026 at 3:21 PM
("Look, I got millions of retiree stockholders counting on me, so don't call me a traitor to my species!") Bonus if the centers are in rural areas, holding small towns hostage with their fleets of sword drones (maximum bloodiness).
Seemingly abandoned data centers hosting rogue AIs that don't "want" to be turned off, running on zombie energy contracts sounds like an elevator pitch. Their sinister human enablers are the seemingly most boring humans alive - utility executives.
October 5, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Seemingly abandoned data centers hosting rogue AIs that don't "want" to be turned off, running on zombie energy contracts sounds like an elevator pitch. Their sinister human enablers are the seemingly most boring humans alive - utility executives.
Heh. The other standout thing about it was that (IIRC) she never stayed up that late watching TV otherwise.
October 5, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Heh. The other standout thing about it was that (IIRC) she never stayed up that late watching TV otherwise.
Funny, I remember my mom watching it every year when it was on TV.
October 4, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Funny, I remember my mom watching it every year when it was on TV.
Now I want an episode of What We Do in the Shadows guest starring Timothy Olyphant and noting, without explanation, their visceral fear of Stetsons.
October 3, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Now I want an episode of What We Do in the Shadows guest starring Timothy Olyphant and noting, without explanation, their visceral fear of Stetsons.
It can be vexing to defend things like the bankers of Gringotts, who are obviously the "gnomes of Zurich" and not, you know. For whatever else JKR is, this is not that.
October 2, 2026 at 7:43 PM
It can be vexing to defend things like the bankers of Gringotts, who are obviously the "gnomes of Zurich" and not, you know. For whatever else JKR is, this is not that.
I would be happier if people set the standard of proof pretty high for this sort of thing, i.e. it is almost an inevitable conclusion that the Noble Savage Centaurs of the Wide Plains are, well, you know.
October 2, 2026 at 7:42 PM
I would be happier if people set the standard of proof pretty high for this sort of thing, i.e. it is almost an inevitable conclusion that the Noble Savage Centaurs of the Wide Plains are, well, you know.
Looking around at 2026 tech oligarchs edgelords, I think the old bit about SF having a positive social impact deserves a long silence.
October 2, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Looking around at 2026 tech oligarchs edgelords, I think the old bit about SF having a positive social impact deserves a long silence.
I do have some hope that the born vs made distinction will keep this sort of thing from gaining a lot of traction in the genpop. That the people supposedly in charge of the future are true believers is definitely troubling.
October 2, 2026 at 2:03 PM
I do have some hope that the born vs made distinction will keep this sort of thing from gaining a lot of traction in the genpop. That the people supposedly in charge of the future are true believers is definitely troubling.
Talk about lack of self-awareness, such childish outbursts are supposed to make me trust their opinions more?
(Also complicates those "redemption" arcs, the monsters lurking in our closets emerging with other correct opinions.)
But nuance is suspect, as it may be their own evil seeping out.
(Also complicates those "redemption" arcs, the monsters lurking in our closets emerging with other correct opinions.)
But nuance is suspect, as it may be their own evil seeping out.
October 2, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Talk about lack of self-awareness, such childish outbursts are supposed to make me trust their opinions more?
(Also complicates those "redemption" arcs, the monsters lurking in our closets emerging with other correct opinions.)
But nuance is suspect, as it may be their own evil seeping out.
(Also complicates those "redemption" arcs, the monsters lurking in our closets emerging with other correct opinions.)
But nuance is suspect, as it may be their own evil seeping out.
Thinking that a chatbot is conscious seem like a step back towards carving a statue and believing it is a god.
October 2, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Thinking that a chatbot is conscious seem like a step back towards carving a statue and believing it is a god.
Oh, I was thinking more about how people's definitions of consciousness are more informed by religious or philosophical belief. And the hazy line we see between humans and, say, sign language chimps or dolphins who mourn.
October 2, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Oh, I was thinking more about how people's definitions of consciousness are more informed by religious or philosophical belief. And the hazy line we see between humans and, say, sign language chimps or dolphins who mourn.
I guess the question is: has there ever been a society which has?
October 2, 2026 at 2:28 AM
I guess the question is: has there ever been a society which has?
For everyone struggling with content generation.
October 1, 2026 at 3:24 PM
For everyone struggling with content generation.
A friend of mine spent a few years administering the bar exam. From what she said, tough to see oral college exams surviving ADA accommodation requests. Maybe if the institution is willing to fight it out, but what are the odds of that?
October 1, 2026 at 2:20 PM
A friend of mine spent a few years administering the bar exam. From what she said, tough to see oral college exams surviving ADA accommodation requests. Maybe if the institution is willing to fight it out, but what are the odds of that?
Seems like now would be a good time for TAs to get unionizing.
October 1, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Seems like now would be a good time for TAs to get unionizing.
True - if these had disintegrated, I probably would have been angry enough to just go fash.
October 1, 2026 at 2:03 PM
True - if these had disintegrated, I probably would have been angry enough to just go fash.
No, there will always be a critical mass who need to get in on the attention and approval (or disapproval in the AITA) and not realize (or not care) that they are part of ruining what makes it fun.
October 1, 2026 at 2:28 AM
No, there will always be a critical mass who need to get in on the attention and approval (or disapproval in the AITA) and not realize (or not care) that they are part of ruining what makes it fun.
It is an odd Big Take from something like that, but I do think one of humanity's basic problem is not being able to let it be. Like, the widespread inability to recognize that "this is the reason something is actually good and fun and I should just watch it happen and enjoy it."
October 1, 2026 at 2:24 AM
It is an odd Big Take from something like that, but I do think one of humanity's basic problem is not being able to let it be. Like, the widespread inability to recognize that "this is the reason something is actually good and fun and I should just watch it happen and enjoy it."
Even the guys with very short haircuts and neckties tucked into the space between their shirt buttons in the US Army were tasked with "OK, seriously, WTF was wrong with these people?"
October 1, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Even the guys with very short haircuts and neckties tucked into the space between their shirt buttons in the US Army were tasked with "OK, seriously, WTF was wrong with these people?"
Consumer-created media that started out real become popular then become fake and/or staged. I guess it is inevitable? Noodling about pre-internet precedents but I am having trouble. TV like America's Funniest Home Videos, maybe?
Heh. I doubt that letters to Penthouse were ever real...
Heh. I doubt that letters to Penthouse were ever real...
October 1, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Consumer-created media that started out real become popular then become fake and/or staged. I guess it is inevitable? Noodling about pre-internet precedents but I am having trouble. TV like America's Funniest Home Videos, maybe?
Heh. I doubt that letters to Penthouse were ever real...
Heh. I doubt that letters to Penthouse were ever real...