Brian Gongol
@briangongol.bsky.social
Make money. Have fun. Clean up after yourself. Mind your business.
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Brian Gongol
@briangongol.bsky.social
· Dec 7
Digital Ouija
On "Three's Company", the Mandela effect, and the two very different paths that we could take towards digitally preserving and accessing the essence of a person after they die
issues.eveningpostandmail.com
Column #1,196: Memory is already fragile at best and easily corrupted at worst, and introducing convincing synthetic remakes of deceased people creates a wildly fraught ethical trap -- especially when AI hallucinations are already a known hazard.
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/digital-ou...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/digital-ou...
Footnotes and marginalia for the win!
It’s this literal slop that has encouraged my new obsession of collecting old used cookbooks. 100 times more educational and in touch with humanity especially when I find notes from someone’s grandmother scribbled in the margins. May the ai bubble soon burst. 💥
February 8, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Footnotes and marginalia for the win!
Serious food for thought here:
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
Focus on Speaking Is Ancient Answer to AI Writing (opinion)
Returning to a focus on speaking offers distinct benefits.
www.insidehighered.com
February 1, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Serious food for thought here:
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
Shared with endorsement.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I read intelligent people talking about AI agents as if they're sentient beings -- especially when they speculate about AI models having "feelings".
Feelings are *physiological* conditions. Can't have 'em without senses or chemistry.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I read intelligent people talking about AI agents as if they're sentient beings -- especially when they speculate about AI models having "feelings".
Feelings are *physiological* conditions. Can't have 'em without senses or chemistry.
January 30, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Shared with endorsement.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I read intelligent people talking about AI agents as if they're sentient beings -- especially when they speculate about AI models having "feelings".
Feelings are *physiological* conditions. Can't have 'em without senses or chemistry.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I read intelligent people talking about AI agents as if they're sentient beings -- especially when they speculate about AI models having "feelings".
Feelings are *physiological* conditions. Can't have 'em without senses or chemistry.
"Every human being has the right to live with dignity and to develop integrally; this fundamental right cannot be denied by any country."
- Pope Francis
- Pope Francis
January 30, 2026 at 7:57 PM
"Every human being has the right to live with dignity and to develop integrally; this fundamental right cannot be denied by any country."
- Pope Francis
- Pope Francis
Progress can be measured in many ways, but here's one: For less than the cost of eating at the cheapest fast-food joint, we had fresh salmon, whole wheat orzo, cherry tomatoes, and a side of applesaucefor dinner tonight. You can thank trade, consumer demand, and rising standards of living for that.
January 30, 2026 at 3:10 AM
Progress can be measured in many ways, but here's one: For less than the cost of eating at the cheapest fast-food joint, we had fresh salmon, whole wheat orzo, cherry tomatoes, and a side of applesaucefor dinner tonight. You can thank trade, consumer demand, and rising standards of living for that.
This, friends, is what we know as Baumol's Cost Disease.
You can't play a quartet with only three musicians. And if you want someone with other career options to become a musician, you have to pay them wages comparable to those other options.
You can't play a quartet with only three musicians. And if you want someone with other career options to become a musician, you have to pay them wages comparable to those other options.
Reddit wants live theater to be high quality, with professionally built sets, a live orchestra, and everyone paid a living wage with benefits, and also tickets should be $20 or less so art is accessible to everyone and then gets mad when you point out those goals are not mutually compatible.
January 29, 2026 at 10:25 PM
This, friends, is what we know as Baumol's Cost Disease.
You can't play a quartet with only three musicians. And if you want someone with other career options to become a musician, you have to pay them wages comparable to those other options.
You can't play a quartet with only three musicians. And if you want someone with other career options to become a musician, you have to pay them wages comparable to those other options.
On MI6, Mitt Romney, and the steady stream of new opportunities to do better than those who have set up an unstable world (490 words) ⤵️
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/the-space-...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/the-space-...
The space between peace and war
On MI6, Mitt Romney, and the steady stream of new opportunities to do better than those who have set up an unstable world
issues.eveningpostandmail.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:00 AM
On MI6, Mitt Romney, and the steady stream of new opportunities to do better than those who have set up an unstable world (490 words) ⤵️
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/the-space-...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/the-space-...
If everyone else is up for it, I'm OK with raising a generation of kids who are sarcastic but largely wholesome.
My children are currently watching what appears to be a Peppa Pig twitch stream where a guy is watching Peppa Pig and doing the most G rated MST3K of it you can imagine, and this was not what I was up to when I was eleven and had access to, well, anything I wanted to watch
January 26, 2026 at 3:00 PM
If everyone else is up for it, I'm OK with raising a generation of kids who are sarcastic but largely wholesome.
If we lived in a world where NATO had never existed, would we try to invent it?
If we take the charter seriously, I think the answer would be an unequivocal yes.
www.nato.int/en/about-us/...
If we take the charter seriously, I think the answer would be an unequivocal yes.
www.nato.int/en/about-us/...
The North Atlantic Treaty
The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments. They are det...
www.nato.int
January 23, 2026 at 7:47 AM
If we lived in a world where NATO had never existed, would we try to invent it?
If we take the charter seriously, I think the answer would be an unequivocal yes.
www.nato.int/en/about-us/...
If we take the charter seriously, I think the answer would be an unequivocal yes.
www.nato.int/en/about-us/...
I would invite people to consider whether they want to be judged by the values or behavior of their own first cousins. Second cousins? Third cousins?
This kind of determinism falls apart almost instantly under the very lightest of scrutiny.
This kind of determinism falls apart almost instantly under the very lightest of scrutiny.
Do people here *really* want to argue that people’s values are defined by the past behavior of members of their co-national, co-ethnic, or co-racial groups?
January 22, 2026 at 3:16 PM
I would invite people to consider whether they want to be judged by the values or behavior of their own first cousins. Second cousins? Third cousins?
This kind of determinism falls apart almost instantly under the very lightest of scrutiny.
This kind of determinism falls apart almost instantly under the very lightest of scrutiny.
I endorse this as a general heuristic, but adding another reason:
▪︎ Human learning depends on motivation
▪︎ No computer can "understand" motivation, but any competent human teacher can sense it in the room
▪︎ Any attempt to teach by circumventing human motivational feedback is ultimately hollow
▪︎ Human learning depends on motivation
▪︎ No computer can "understand" motivation, but any competent human teacher can sense it in the room
▪︎ Any attempt to teach by circumventing human motivational feedback is ultimately hollow
And one more thing. Students. If you have a professor who is, for some reason, outsourcing their own job to ChatGPT....drop the class.
If they tell you to "ask ChatGPT" for sources, drop the class.
Because they apparently don't know their own discipline well enough to teach it.
If they tell you to "ask ChatGPT" for sources, drop the class.
Because they apparently don't know their own discipline well enough to teach it.
January 18, 2026 at 5:53 AM
I endorse this as a general heuristic, but adding another reason:
▪︎ Human learning depends on motivation
▪︎ No computer can "understand" motivation, but any competent human teacher can sense it in the room
▪︎ Any attempt to teach by circumventing human motivational feedback is ultimately hollow
▪︎ Human learning depends on motivation
▪︎ No computer can "understand" motivation, but any competent human teacher can sense it in the room
▪︎ Any attempt to teach by circumventing human motivational feedback is ultimately hollow
This is also a very strong case for traveling with another couple from time to time. Vacations create openings for all kinds of these arcane recurring bits, and then you can share them among four people rather than two -- which also gives you the grand satisfaction of replaying vacation memories.
One fun thing about marriage is the potential for increasingly arcane recurring bits honed for an audience of one. Like one time there was a guy at a wedding who looked kind of like Tom Skerritt, and he was near us on the dance floor and I said “Tom Skerritt is right behind you.” Instant bit.
January 16, 2026 at 4:48 AM
This is also a very strong case for traveling with another couple from time to time. Vacations create openings for all kinds of these arcane recurring bits, and then you can share them among four people rather than two -- which also gives you the grand satisfaction of replaying vacation memories.
Guitar Center Institutes 72-Hour Waiting Period https://theonion.com/guitar-center-institutes-72-hour-waiting-period/
January 15, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Revisiting in light of current events:
#FederalReserve
#FederalReserve
Column #1,154: Finding the Goldilocks number for inflation (not too much, not too little) and sticking to it is an incredibly difficult task. It's difficult not just in mathematical terms, but also in social science terms.
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/why-you-ca...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/why-you-ca...
Why you care about an independent central bank, even if you don't
On counter-intuitive ideas, the Goldiocks number for inflation, and why central bank independence is critical to a strong modern economy
issues.eveningpostandmail.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:20 AM
Revisiting in light of current events:
#FederalReserve
#FederalReserve
Revisiting in light of current events:
Column #1,109: Because the Fed mainly depends upon managing interest rates as its tool, caution and predictability are the keys. If a church is fundraising to build a new sanctuary, it needs a fairly good forecast of the available interest rates.
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/whats-a-cu...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/whats-a-cu...
What's a cut between friends?
On church building campaigns, extreme pandemic responses, and why it's tough to be the Federal Reserve chair right about now
issues.eveningpostandmail.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:19 AM
Revisiting in light of current events:
The Constitution lodged the duties of diplomacy in the hands of both the legislative and executive branches. For expediency, the President is empowered to carry out relations, but for prudence, the Senate is required to give overwhelming formal consent.
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/are-you-in...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/are-you-in...
Are you in or out?
On the Federalist Papers, disrupting terrorism, and the only legitimate way to conduct diplomacy
issues.eveningpostandmail.com
January 11, 2026 at 9:49 PM
The Constitution lodged the duties of diplomacy in the hands of both the legislative and executive branches. For expediency, the President is empowered to carry out relations, but for prudence, the Senate is required to give overwhelming formal consent.
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/are-you-in...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/are-you-in...
January 11, 2026 at 4:52 AM
I could name five religious movements inspired by less worthy events.
Explaining the American Catholic Great Awakening of 2026 to my grandkids like "okay so it started when this guy named Bob from Chicago got made pope and then the Bears suddenly won a playoff game"
January 11, 2026 at 4:51 AM
I could name five religious movements inspired by less worthy events.
Correct.
The thing about all these AI commercials is that you could easily Google the same thing and get the same result.
There’s not much difference between asking ChatGPT “How do I not quit running this year?”
And Googling “How to stay consistent in a running program.”
AI is just Googling it for you.
There’s not much difference between asking ChatGPT “How do I not quit running this year?”
And Googling “How to stay consistent in a running program.”
AI is just Googling it for you.
January 11, 2026 at 4:08 AM
Correct.
If a person charged with enforcing the law cannot say with a straight face that “human rights are the foundation” of their work, then why ever would a self-respecting public entrust that individual with the legal authority to use force? (245 words) ⤵️
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/building-s...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/building-s...
Building security on a foundation of human rights
On decision-making, unarmed police officers, and what should come at the center of any effort to enforce the law
issues.eveningpostandmail.com
January 11, 2026 at 3:52 AM
If a person charged with enforcing the law cannot say with a straight face that “human rights are the foundation” of their work, then why ever would a self-respecting public entrust that individual with the legal authority to use force? (245 words) ⤵️
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/building-s...
issues.eveningpostandmail.com/p/building-s...
"Death By Lightning" might be the best content Netflix has produced in 5 years or more. It's not for kids, but it's shockingly faithful to history while being wonderfully entertaining. I'm only mad that it's so short. 10/10
www.netflix.com/us/title/814...
www.netflix.com/us/title/814...
Watch Death by Lightning | Netflix Official Site
The story of James Garfield, who rose from obscurity to become America's 20th president — and Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated him.
www.netflix.com
January 10, 2026 at 4:20 AM
"Death By Lightning" might be the best content Netflix has produced in 5 years or more. It's not for kids, but it's shockingly faithful to history while being wonderfully entertaining. I'm only mad that it's so short. 10/10
www.netflix.com/us/title/814...
www.netflix.com/us/title/814...
I recorded 0.78" at my station in West Des Moines and 1.02" in Cumming, so I feel comfortable that the 0.80" documented at the airport is valid. It doesn't often rain like this in January.
#DMX issues Record Event Report (RER) at Jan 9, 12:38 AM CST ...RECORD HIGH RAINFALL SET AT DES MOINES FOR THURSDAY JANUARY 08... Link
January 9, 2026 at 6:49 AM
I recorded 0.78" at my station in West Des Moines and 1.02" in Cumming, so I feel comfortable that the 0.80" documented at the airport is valid. It doesn't often rain like this in January.
Food for thought from Ireland's national police service:
"Human rights are the foundation of policing."
www.garda.ie/en/about-us/...
"Human rights are the foundation of policing."
www.garda.ie/en/about-us/...
A Policing Service for the Future
www.garda.ie
January 9, 2026 at 6:39 AM
Food for thought from Ireland's national police service:
"Human rights are the foundation of policing."
www.garda.ie/en/about-us/...
"Human rights are the foundation of policing."
www.garda.ie/en/about-us/...
When one side in a war relentlessly attacks apartment buildings and hospitals, it should be evident to everyone that they're the side obligated to back down first.
Four people were killed and 19 others injured in Kyiv after Russia launched a mass missile and drone attack across Ukraine overnight. kyivindependent.com/4-injured...
4 dead, 19 injured as fires engulf Kyiv following Russian mass attack on Ukraine
Four people were killed and 19 others injured in Kyiv after Russia launched a mass attack across Ukraine overnight on Jan. 8-9.
kyivindependent.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:22 AM
When one side in a war relentlessly attacks apartment buildings and hospitals, it should be evident to everyone that they're the side obligated to back down first.
Shared with table-pounding endorsement.
(Really, it should be required viewing for anyone who votes. Civil-military relations impose duties on voters, too.)
(Really, it should be required viewing for anyone who votes. Civil-military relations impose duties on voters, too.)
Dr. Strangelove should be essential viewing for anyone in National Security
January 7, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Shared with table-pounding endorsement.
(Really, it should be required viewing for anyone who votes. Civil-military relations impose duties on voters, too.)
(Really, it should be required viewing for anyone who votes. Civil-military relations impose duties on voters, too.)