A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
@averysmallobject.bsky.social
Artist, parent, retired dancer, 3D printing fanatic and obsessed gardener. AI hater.
"A very small object. Center it." ~Brian Eno, the Oblique Strategies
"A very small object. Center it." ~Brian Eno, the Oblique Strategies
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
America has 925 billionaires as of this year. Collectively they have a record $6.9 trillion in wealth.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
December 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
America has 925 billionaires as of this year. Collectively they have a record $6.9 trillion in wealth.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
Do not post unsourced casualty counts. An officer who is not on the scene heard on a police scanner saying “If there’s possibly…” is not a source.
December 13, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Do not post unsourced casualty counts. An officer who is not on the scene heard on a police scanner saying “If there’s possibly…” is not a source.
How long are we going to tolerate this?
I really appreciate that @pbsnews.org ended the interview with this graphic.
It captures, in the simplest and starkest terms, the brutal arithmetic driving this country's homelessness catastrophe.
It captures, in the simplest and starkest terms, the brutal arithmetic driving this country's homelessness catastrophe.
November 30, 2025 at 3:50 AM
How long are we going to tolerate this?
I keep scanning this picture and everything else Bosch ever painted for the lumpy, horrible face of G. Bovino. He's gotta be somewhere in there.
November 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I keep scanning this picture and everything else Bosch ever painted for the lumpy, horrible face of G. Bovino. He's gotta be somewhere in there.
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
Solid graphic.
October 29, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Solid graphic.
Went out with this sign this morning, to a peaceful and VERY LOUD protest in a suburb of Chicago. It was huge. We are a community, and we have had enough!
October 19, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Went out with this sign this morning, to a peaceful and VERY LOUD protest in a suburb of Chicago. It was huge. We are a community, and we have had enough!
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
I'm giving away this signed 1st edition h/b of my new novel (it has a tiny jacket rip which means I wouldn't sell it) to one person who reposts this.
You might like it if you like:
Folkloric creatures
Old records
Intricate psychedelic stories
The idea of circular time
All shares much-appreciated.
You might like it if you like:
Folkloric creatures
Old records
Intricate psychedelic stories
The idea of circular time
All shares much-appreciated.
October 8, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
Your Prime Day reminder that Amazon...
-Provides cloud services that help fuel ICE's deportation machine
-Donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund
-Scrapped plans to display tariff costs after pressure from Trump
-Shelled out $40M for a documentary about Melania Trump
-Provides cloud services that help fuel ICE's deportation machine
-Donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund
-Scrapped plans to display tariff costs after pressure from Trump
-Shelled out $40M for a documentary about Melania Trump
October 7, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Your Prime Day reminder that Amazon...
-Provides cloud services that help fuel ICE's deportation machine
-Donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund
-Scrapped plans to display tariff costs after pressure from Trump
-Shelled out $40M for a documentary about Melania Trump
-Provides cloud services that help fuel ICE's deportation machine
-Donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund
-Scrapped plans to display tariff costs after pressure from Trump
-Shelled out $40M for a documentary about Melania Trump
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
I honestly don’t know how you can even have a society when people’s baseline understanding of the *basic facts of events* are so disparate and contradictory.
People living in different universes based off their media diet, and all of it designed for maximum “engagement”, not understanding.
People living in different universes based off their media diet, and all of it designed for maximum “engagement”, not understanding.
September 13, 2025 at 9:37 PM
I honestly don’t know how you can even have a society when people’s baseline understanding of the *basic facts of events* are so disparate and contradictory.
People living in different universes based off their media diet, and all of it designed for maximum “engagement”, not understanding.
People living in different universes based off their media diet, and all of it designed for maximum “engagement”, not understanding.
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
and another thing: *interacting* with Wikipedia creates *shared* context.
you can edit articles! people will see you did that! they can learn to trust your expertise in specific domains; you can get to know other editors
interacting with an LLM, the only context created is a chat log
you can edit articles! people will see you did that! they can learn to trust your expertise in specific domains; you can get to know other editors
interacting with an LLM, the only context created is a chat log
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Some of the anti-AI stuff feels a bit like when people would say "don't use Wikipedia as a source." It's just like anything else, a piece of information that you weigh against multiple sources and your own understanding of its likely failure modes
September 7, 2025 at 9:29 PM
and another thing: *interacting* with Wikipedia creates *shared* context.
you can edit articles! people will see you did that! they can learn to trust your expertise in specific domains; you can get to know other editors
interacting with an LLM, the only context created is a chat log
you can edit articles! people will see you did that! they can learn to trust your expertise in specific domains; you can get to know other editors
interacting with an LLM, the only context created is a chat log
I have kind of fragile skin. I'm old and it's common enough.
That said, I had an IV placed in my hand yesterday, and it's a challenge to find the puncture today. There's not even a small bruise, let alone a huge one. Shook hands with a medical team, too. No marks.
Somebody is not being truthful.
That said, I had an IV placed in my hand yesterday, and it's a challenge to find the puncture today. There's not even a small bruise, let alone a huge one. Shook hands with a medical team, too. No marks.
Somebody is not being truthful.
September 4, 2025 at 3:28 AM
I have kind of fragile skin. I'm old and it's common enough.
That said, I had an IV placed in my hand yesterday, and it's a challenge to find the puncture today. There's not even a small bruise, let alone a huge one. Shook hands with a medical team, too. No marks.
Somebody is not being truthful.
That said, I had an IV placed in my hand yesterday, and it's a challenge to find the puncture today. There's not even a small bruise, let alone a huge one. Shook hands with a medical team, too. No marks.
Somebody is not being truthful.
I haven't been able to state this so clearly, with appropriate righteous anger. I concur. AI enshittifies absolutely everything that is essentially human.
I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
August 28, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I haven't been able to state this so clearly, with appropriate righteous anger. I concur. AI enshittifies absolutely everything that is essentially human.
If you don't like people, don't take a public facing job. Please.
August 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM
If you don't like people, don't take a public facing job. Please.
We don't have a dog days of trifling news in August anymore, do we. That said, internet will you please stop trying to make me care about Sydney Sweeney?
August 4, 2025 at 1:04 PM
We don't have a dog days of trifling news in August anymore, do we. That said, internet will you please stop trying to make me care about Sydney Sweeney?
I don't want a great big ballroom slapped onto the White House. Do not want more concentration camps for immigrants, or any state or federal concentration camps at all. I'm a gardener and I feel pretty bad about the final, real ruination of the Rose Garden, now the Trump Patio. (continued)
August 1, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I don't want a great big ballroom slapped onto the White House. Do not want more concentration camps for immigrants, or any state or federal concentration camps at all. I'm a gardener and I feel pretty bad about the final, real ruination of the Rose Garden, now the Trump Patio. (continued)
Also her hair is like a wig that is just floating on its own, with a too-small head/face positioned under it.
Those legs though.
Those legs though.
As someone who not only works in tech/cybersecurity, but also has a degree in Fine Arts (I’ve taken figure drawing) these images bother me for several reasons. Here are some of my notes on why this “AI model” looks so uncanny.
July 29, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Also her hair is like a wig that is just floating on its own, with a too-small head/face positioned under it.
Those legs though.
Those legs though.
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
Many thanks to anyone who chooses to share this. These are the last of the 53000+ books I bought from my ex-publisher Unbound earlier this year, after they stopped paying me and I took my rights back. We have 200-300 left and Jim would love to clear a bit of space in his room (he is very large).
If anyone would like one of these solely for the price of postage (& a bit extra of your choice but no problem if not), please email me and Jim at hello@tom-cox.com and let us know your address.
Stephen Fry called this book "hilarious" but what does he know? Don't trust him. Give it a go yourself.
Stephen Fry called this book "hilarious" but what does he know? Don't trust him. Give it a go yourself.
July 24, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Many thanks to anyone who chooses to share this. These are the last of the 53000+ books I bought from my ex-publisher Unbound earlier this year, after they stopped paying me and I took my rights back. We have 200-300 left and Jim would love to clear a bit of space in his room (he is very large).
Whatever committee that is that writes the official WH tweets needs this, all of them, top to bottom, POTUS to nonnymouse.
www.losethevery.com
www.losethevery.com
Lose the Very
www.losethevery.com
July 9, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Whatever committee that is that writes the official WH tweets needs this, all of them, top to bottom, POTUS to nonnymouse.
www.losethevery.com
www.losethevery.com
Could we put a doctor, an actual licensed doctor who finished med school and is a specialist in infectious diseases and/or epidemiology, in the office Kennedy is presently disgracing? There ought to be prerequisites.
And then there's this nonsense. WE CANNOT SUBSTITUTE ANIMAL TRIALS WITH AI. We don't even know some of the basics of the immune system bc it's so fricking complicated. AI is based on what we know. Man, I was happier on the plane without wifi. Utter nonsense.
"At FDA we're accelerating drug approvals so that you don't need to use primates or even animal models. You can do the drug approvals very, very quickly with AI."
July 1, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Could we put a doctor, an actual licensed doctor who finished med school and is a specialist in infectious diseases and/or epidemiology, in the office Kennedy is presently disgracing? There ought to be prerequisites.
This account is invaluable.
Death and Fire, one of the last paintings by Paul Klee, who died #onthisday in 1940. The German for death, "tod" is hidden throughout the painting, most explicitly in the features of the face.
This image featured in our essay on Klee's puppets: publicdomainreview.org/essay/o... #otd
This image featured in our essay on Klee's puppets: publicdomainreview.org/essay/o... #otd
June 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM
This account is invaluable.
If you are any kind of visual person, this account is essential.
As far as artist signatures go, Jan van Kessel’s 17th-century painting of his name in caterpillars and snakes must be up there with the best. More on the unique work here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/jan-van-kessel-s-signature-of-caterpillars-and-snakes-1657
June 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
If you are any kind of visual person, this account is essential.
Dammit Bill. I really wanted to be able to like you again at some point. Which is now, never.
June 23, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Dammit Bill. I really wanted to be able to like you again at some point. Which is now, never.
A clear assessment.
The United States is now at war with Iran.
Anyone who has doubted Trump’s intention to replace American democracy with a dictatorship should now be fully disabused.
Some thoughts on what's going on... https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-dogs-of-war
Anyone who has doubted Trump’s intention to replace American democracy with a dictatorship should now be fully disabused.
Some thoughts on what's going on... https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-dogs-of-war
June 22, 2025 at 4:01 PM
A clear assessment.
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
THREAD. After a tough few months (involving my ex-publisher Unbound ceasing to pay their authors, then disintegrating) I am enormously relieved to reveal Joe McLaren's fantastic cover for my 3rd novel.
The book will be published on September 11th.
I believe it's the best thing I've ever written.
The book will be published on September 11th.
I believe it's the best thing I've ever written.
June 22, 2025 at 6:44 AM
THREAD. After a tough few months (involving my ex-publisher Unbound ceasing to pay their authors, then disintegrating) I am enormously relieved to reveal Joe McLaren's fantastic cover for my 3rd novel.
The book will be published on September 11th.
I believe it's the best thing I've ever written.
The book will be published on September 11th.
I believe it's the best thing I've ever written.
Reposted by A Very Small Object (Sam B.)
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time
June 22, 2025 at 1:44 AM
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time