Adam Compton
@comptona.bsky.social
Dad, husband, and principal engineer @ https://wayve.ai. Anyone can break one computer, but if you want to break thousands of computers at the same time you need a professional. Also enjoys reading everything that's not nailed down and pixel art.
Pinned
Adam Compton
@comptona.bsky.social
· Sep 7
There is an arcane ceremony known to only a few dozen people in the world that controls and secures the vast, vast majority of traffic on the internet
Reposted by Adam Compton
This has absolutely no right to work as well as it does.
Smash Mouth and Linkin Park - In The End, You're an All Star mashup
YouTube video by JezAlmighty
www.youtube.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:10 AM
This has absolutely no right to work as well as it does.
Reposted by Adam Compton
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
I've noted this before (bsky.app/profile/comp...) and after further reflection I think the mechanism is simpler than I realized. The more people get away with horrible things, the more "getting away with things" becomes normalized as the correct manner of being in a society, which is unsustainable
can't help but think there is probably a corrosive effect of having sex trafficker-elite emails unveiled for months on end as one of the biggest cultural/news stories of the last year— unearthing an inexcusable moral rot in the upper echelons of power—but without any real accountability/justice
February 5, 2026 at 7:40 PM
I've noted this before (bsky.app/profile/comp...) and after further reflection I think the mechanism is simpler than I realized. The more people get away with horrible things, the more "getting away with things" becomes normalized as the correct manner of being in a society, which is unsustainable
I forgot how great the soundtrack is for the first Resident Evil movie. Well worth revisiting!
February 5, 2026 at 4:35 PM
I forgot how great the soundtrack is for the first Resident Evil movie. Well worth revisiting!
I think it's worse than that. The point of power is action without consequence, but power is illegible (it rests in how people respond to your actions) so you have to constantly do worse and worse things just to reassure yourself you're still powerful, and you can't stop or they'll catch up with you
Years ago, a friend asked me why billionaires want MORE money when they could never spend the tiniest fraction of what they have.
My answer is that they want immunity. The immunity to do literally any horrific they want without consequence.
Nothing I've seen since has changed my mind.
My answer is that they want immunity. The immunity to do literally any horrific they want without consequence.
Nothing I've seen since has changed my mind.
February 1, 2026 at 12:22 AM
I think it's worse than that. The point of power is action without consequence, but power is illegible (it rests in how people respond to your actions) so you have to constantly do worse and worse things just to reassure yourself you're still powerful, and you can't stop or they'll catch up with you
Reposted by Adam Compton
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the craziest possible people that he exists so nobody sane wanted to believe them
January 31, 2026 at 5:30 AM
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the craziest possible people that he exists so nobody sane wanted to believe them
The perfection of capitalism is oblivion. No conflict, no surprises, just sinking into the polished smooth depths of consuming what you're given and losing the capacity to even realize anything else is possible
anywhere you find people who want nothing more than to hole up at home and have an endless frictionless conveyor belt of food and entertainment delivered into their waiting receptacles, you find people like Elon Musk willing to exploit their passivity and greed
January 30, 2026 at 5:39 PM
The perfection of capitalism is oblivion. No conflict, no surprises, just sinking into the polished smooth depths of consuming what you're given and losing the capacity to even realize anything else is possible
Reposted by Adam Compton
The downside of Autism is that I can never see what's in front of me because the HUD is always blocking my view.
January 29, 2026 at 8:04 PM
The downside of Autism is that I can never see what's in front of me because the HUD is always blocking my view.
Reposted by Adam Compton
politicians aren't "owed" anything. they are public servants. "but i'd be sad if i retired" who CARES.
if you're out here doing the business of political agitation--you too have responsibilities. "but i'd be SAD if i was held accountable for the results of my choices--" tough tuna.
if you're out here doing the business of political agitation--you too have responsibilities. "but i'd be SAD if i was held accountable for the results of my choices--" tough tuna.
January 29, 2026 at 5:10 PM
politicians aren't "owed" anything. they are public servants. "but i'd be sad if i retired" who CARES.
if you're out here doing the business of political agitation--you too have responsibilities. "but i'd be SAD if i was held accountable for the results of my choices--" tough tuna.
if you're out here doing the business of political agitation--you too have responsibilities. "but i'd be SAD if i was held accountable for the results of my choices--" tough tuna.
I still can't believe that George W. Bush responded to 9/11 by asking people to go shopping. Imagine the good he could have done by directing that force of national unity towards a good cause!
100%. I honestly believe political leaders ask too little of people. The thinking is you need an extraordinarily low bar - so ask people for money or to sign something. People want to be part of something and they're eager to do real meaningful work in defense of their community and their rights.
I have begun to think that Minnesota pushback to ICE was unique and a model because it gave people something to do. It wasn’t about just going out in streets for rallying purposes. People had a mission: videos, whistles, information and communication flow to communities. They had something to do.
January 28, 2026 at 3:50 AM
I still can't believe that George W. Bush responded to 9/11 by asking people to go shopping. Imagine the good he could have done by directing that force of national unity towards a good cause!
Reposted by Adam Compton
Milton Friedman once wrote this to a kid who was concerned about how Prop 13 1978 would defund the schools:
"Are you entitled to make the taxpayers your slaves?"
bsky.app/profile/next...
"Are you entitled to make the taxpayers your slaves?"
bsky.app/profile/next...
I can't find the source on Xitter, but someone wrote to Milton Friedman in 1978 as a kid saying that he was concerned Prop 13 would wreck schools and public education (which it did).
Here's the response from Friedman: "Are you entitled to make the taxpayers your slaves?"
Here's the response from Friedman: "Are you entitled to make the taxpayers your slaves?"
January 26, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Milton Friedman once wrote this to a kid who was concerned about how Prop 13 1978 would defund the schools:
"Are you entitled to make the taxpayers your slaves?"
bsky.app/profile/next...
"Are you entitled to make the taxpayers your slaves?"
bsky.app/profile/next...
The escalating gyre of purity tests to remain in good standing in an ideological microculture: a zillion, voices of sanity: 0
if you're not willing and able to parrot insultingly bad lies you're a lib now. sorry about that
January 25, 2026 at 1:50 AM
The escalating gyre of purity tests to remain in good standing in an ideological microculture: a zillion, voices of sanity: 0
Reposted by Adam Compton
I just thought everyone should see this
January 22, 2026 at 11:02 PM
I just thought everyone should see this
@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy 's latest piece about defeating time-based security assumptions reminded me of one of Penn Jillette's definitions of magic: "Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
Pluralistic: The petty (but undeniable) delights of cultivating unoptimizability as a habit (22 Jan 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
January 22, 2026 at 7:38 PM
@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy 's latest piece about defeating time-based security assumptions reminded me of one of Penn Jillette's definitions of magic: "Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
Reposted by Adam Compton
"Do it anyway. The rule of law is meaningless if you only take it up when it’s easy."
In Congress, I will fight for impeachment and not just of Donald Trump but complicit members of his cabinet, too.
In Congress, I will fight for impeachment and not just of Donald Trump but complicit members of his cabinet, too.
January 11, 2026 at 7:40 AM
"Do it anyway. The rule of law is meaningless if you only take it up when it’s easy."
In Congress, I will fight for impeachment and not just of Donald Trump but complicit members of his cabinet, too.
In Congress, I will fight for impeachment and not just of Donald Trump but complicit members of his cabinet, too.
I think this is the same reason (and probably mechanism) for why antiques are seen as valuable. It generally isn't because a dresser that's 100 years old is better _at being a dresser_ than one you buy today, it's that it represents the sum total of human effort in preserving that object across time
The important part of this is not that AI can be good at craft—but that, as Hollis says, no amount of craft will make us feel a model has written a “great” poem.
AI keeps revealing that we care about human action, not about the abstractions (intelligence, creativity) we invented to describe it. +
AI keeps revealing that we care about human action, not about the abstractions (intelligence, creativity) we invented to describe it. +
Can AI write great poetry? If a prompt engineer is also a poet, it can come mighty close. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/llm-poetry...
January 8, 2026 at 4:38 PM
I think this is the same reason (and probably mechanism) for why antiques are seen as valuable. It generally isn't because a dresser that's 100 years old is better _at being a dresser_ than one you buy today, it's that it represents the sum total of human effort in preserving that object across time
Reposted by Adam Compton
The rule is, don't engage with bad faith. Life's too short to spend it talking to people on the internet who are pretending to be stupid for a bit or a payday
January 1, 2026 at 9:31 AM
The rule is, don't engage with bad faith. Life's too short to spend it talking to people on the internet who are pretending to be stupid for a bit or a payday
Reposted by Adam Compton
Whenever we're out of this shit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be built into an absolutely nightmare bureaucratic goliath. Increase the original funding by a million times and hire thousands of staffers trying to fuck shit up for business.
December 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Whenever we're out of this shit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be built into an absolutely nightmare bureaucratic goliath. Increase the original funding by a million times and hire thousands of staffers trying to fuck shit up for business.
Alec Baldwin held the door open for me when my hands were full
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 30, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Alec Baldwin held the door open for me when my hands were full
Oh, I am so looking forward to reading this
December 27, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Oh, I am so looking forward to reading this
Reposted by Adam Compton
Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather
December 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather
I think the explanation is simpler than this. Things are worth what they cost you, so spending more time on something automatically makes it feel more worthwhile no matter what the experience is. Taking four hours to do the dishes would yield a deep sense of satisfaction with that too, I expect
Maybe the Default Settings Are Too High
I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings for two months and I’m just at the end of the first part. It’s not because I’m not enjoying it. It’s one of the most ...
www.raptitude.com
December 25, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I think the explanation is simpler than this. Things are worth what they cost you, so spending more time on something automatically makes it feel more worthwhile no matter what the experience is. Taking four hours to do the dishes would yield a deep sense of satisfaction with that too, I expect
Team Clash Hawkeye on Kamar-Taj is flat-out hilarious. 65 power for a 1-cost. Plus the game runs his little lighting-up-the-location animation several dozen times by the end
December 19, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Team Clash Hawkeye on Kamar-Taj is flat-out hilarious. 65 power for a 1-cost. Plus the game runs his little lighting-up-the-location animation several dozen times by the end
Reposted by Adam Compton
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work
In all of the debates about the value of AI-assistance in software development there’s one depressing anecdote that I keep on seeing: the junior engineer, empowered by some class of …
simonwillison.net
December 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
This is exciting!
Nissan and Wayve Sign Definitive Agreements to Deliver Next-Generation Driver Assistance Technology
Nissan and Wayve aim to bring advanced AI-driven driver assistance to mass-produced vehicles worldwide with innovative technology.
wayve.ai
December 10, 2025 at 1:28 AM
This is exciting!