ben
@eskola.uk
Software engineer, socialist. London, but from up north. Learning Finnish.
Anti-AI, pro-human.
mostly cross posted from mastodon for now
https://eskola.uk
https://hachyderm.io/@benjamineskola
Anti-AI, pro-human.
mostly cross posted from mastodon for now
https://eskola.uk
https://hachyderm.io/@benjamineskola
Reposted by ben
When you are using the "AI" framing, does the way you talk about "AI" carry water for the Sam Altmans of the world? That is, are you helping to paint a picture of their tech as inevitable, all powerful, and/or anything other than commercial products?
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November 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM
When you are using the "AI" framing, does the way you talk about "AI" carry water for the Sam Altmans of the world? That is, are you helping to paint a picture of their tech as inevitable, all powerful, and/or anything other than commercial products?
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I know I’m a cynic but this absolutely does not seem like an appropriate usecase for an “AI chatbot”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/10/ai-chatbots-stop-prisoner-release-errors
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/10/ai-chatbots-stop-prisoner-release-errors
AI chatbots could help stop prisoner release errors, says justice minister
HMP Wandsworth gets ‘green light’ to use AI after team sent in to find ‘quick fixes’ after spate of mistakes
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I know I’m a cynic but this absolutely does not seem like an appropriate usecase for an “AI chatbot”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/10/ai-chatbots-stop-prisoner-release-errors
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/10/ai-chatbots-stop-prisoner-release-errors
New blog post: Reading (September–October 2025) https://eskola.uk/2025/reading-september-october/
Reading (September–October 2025) | Benjamin Eskola
My first book of September was The Darkest Evening by Ann
Cleeves; it’s the ninth of this series I’ve read, and something like the
14th overall by this author (she also wrote the Shetland
series, w...
eskola.uk
November 9, 2025 at 6:53 PM
New blog post: Reading (September–October 2025) https://eskola.uk/2025/reading-september-october/
i’ve recently seen the words ‘alderperson’ and ‘ombudsperson’ used, apparently seriously; and while I’m absolutely in favour of gender-neutral language i feel fairly certain that there were other alternatives available here.
November 9, 2025 at 4:41 PM
i’ve recently seen the words ‘alderperson’ and ‘ombudsperson’ used, apparently seriously; and while I’m absolutely in favour of gender-neutral language i feel fairly certain that there were other alternatives available here.
Reposted by ben
doing my periodic thing of checking chatgpt on a topic I actually know about, in this case the workings and limitations of AES-GCM. its responses are at best right-by-accident, and at worst catastrophically incorrect
December 29, 2024 at 2:37 PM
doing my periodic thing of checking chatgpt on a topic I actually know about, in this case the workings and limitations of AES-GCM. its responses are at best right-by-accident, and at worst catastrophically incorrect
Reposted by ben
They made... an AI tool... to make AI... which is already built on actual writing... seem less like slop...
JUST DO THE WRITING YOURSELF TO BEGIN WITH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
JUST DO THE WRITING YOURSELF TO BEGIN WITH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
November 4, 2025 at 2:24 AM
They made... an AI tool... to make AI... which is already built on actual writing... seem less like slop...
JUST DO THE WRITING YOURSELF TO BEGIN WITH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
JUST DO THE WRITING YOURSELF TO BEGIN WITH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
love to post a link to someone else’s blog post on bluesky and get someone complaining at me about the title
what do you expect me to do about it exactly?
what do you expect me to do about it exactly?
November 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
love to post a link to someone else’s blog post on bluesky and get someone complaining at me about the title
what do you expect me to do about it exactly?
what do you expect me to do about it exactly?
@escalatenow.bsky.social I noticed as I passed the south end of the Greenwich tunnel that although the lift is fenced off the sign was saying that the south lift was in service. I hope the sign at the north end isn’t also claiming the south lift is in service, I worry that people will rely on that.
November 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
@escalatenow.bsky.social I noticed as I passed the south end of the Greenwich tunnel that although the lift is fenced off the sign was saying that the south lift was in service. I hope the sign at the north end isn’t also claiming the south lift is in service, I worry that people will rely on that.
Long weekend this weekend in order to use up some leave before the end of the year. Using the time to finally sit down and read Crafting Interpreters. Nice and relaxing, you know.
November 2, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Long weekend this weekend in order to use up some leave before the end of the year. Using the time to finally sit down and read Crafting Interpreters. Nice and relaxing, you know.
“”AI” is a failed technology. … LLMs haven’t met any markers of success we’d apply to, well, literally any other technology.” Great article by Ethan Marcotte @ethanmarcotte.com
ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/agains...
ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/agains...
Against the protection of stocking frames. — ethanmarcotte.com
“Artificial intelligence” is a failed technology. It’s time we described it that way.
ethanmarcotte.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
“”AI” is a failed technology. … LLMs haven’t met any markers of success we’d apply to, well, literally any other technology.” Great article by Ethan Marcotte @ethanmarcotte.com
ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/agains...
ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/agains...
I’m obviously against the death penalty but I do wonder if it should perhaps have been abolished for everybody *except* the royal family.
Just to focus their attention, you know.
Just to focus their attention, you know.
October 31, 2025 at 12:28 PM
I’m obviously against the death penalty but I do wonder if it should perhaps have been abolished for everybody *except* the royal family.
Just to focus their attention, you know.
Just to focus their attention, you know.
Reposted by ben
1) Understand it completely
2) Review it thoroughly
3) Manually fix any problems
4) Assure it integrates with the surrounding code and architecture.
5) Test it exhaustively (and push/submit those tests with the PR)
Anything else is unprofessional, bordering on malfeasance.
2/5
2) Review it thoroughly
3) Manually fix any problems
4) Assure it integrates with the surrounding code and architecture.
5) Test it exhaustively (and push/submit those tests with the PR)
Anything else is unprofessional, bordering on malfeasance.
2/5
October 29, 2025 at 3:32 PM
1) Understand it completely
2) Review it thoroughly
3) Manually fix any problems
4) Assure it integrates with the surrounding code and architecture.
5) Test it exhaustively (and push/submit those tests with the PR)
Anything else is unprofessional, bordering on malfeasance.
2/5
2) Review it thoroughly
3) Manually fix any problems
4) Assure it integrates with the surrounding code and architecture.
5) Test it exhaustively (and push/submit those tests with the PR)
Anything else is unprofessional, bordering on malfeasance.
2/5
Reposted by ben
I regularly hear about people pushing (and creating PRs) for essentially unreviewed AI-generated work. A "vibe coder" who accepts what the LLM creates without thought is causing more problems than they're worth. It is the responsibility of whoever is using an LLM to write the code to:
1/5
1/5
October 29, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I regularly hear about people pushing (and creating PRs) for essentially unreviewed AI-generated work. A "vibe coder" who accepts what the LLM creates without thought is causing more problems than they're worth. It is the responsibility of whoever is using an LLM to write the code to:
1/5
1/5
Reposted by ben
Why are the government making bodies DO this? What possible purpose does it serve other than to make innocent people miserable?
Email from my dentist, informing me that the NHS require them from now on to only have my "gender at birth" on my health records. They're very sorry and will still use my preferred pronouns, but my dental record will say I'm a man.
Well that's just fucking great.
Well that's just fucking great.
October 29, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Why are the government making bodies DO this? What possible purpose does it serve other than to make innocent people miserable?
Fun discovery: the #debian installer doesn’t work on my laptop.
12.x installed just fine — but didn’t support my WiFi (I ran testing until Jessie was release.)
13.x _runs_ just fine, but I can’t do a fresh install with the 13.1 installer.
12.x installed just fine — but didn’t support my WiFi (I ran testing until Jessie was release.)
13.x _runs_ just fine, but I can’t do a fresh install with the 13.1 installer.
October 28, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Fun discovery: the #debian installer doesn’t work on my laptop.
12.x installed just fine — but didn’t support my WiFi (I ran testing until Jessie was release.)
13.x _runs_ just fine, but I can’t do a fresh install with the 13.1 installer.
12.x installed just fine — but didn’t support my WiFi (I ran testing until Jessie was release.)
13.x _runs_ just fine, but I can’t do a fresh install with the 13.1 installer.
Reposted by ben
AI is *so fucking bad* at this. I can't find any writing job that AI is just not offensively dogshit at.
Yet again, AI boosters literally cannot tell good from bad, they think you're lying when you say you can, and they just will never shut the fuck up about how great drinking piss is.
Yet again, AI boosters literally cannot tell good from bad, they think you're lying when you say you can, and they just will never shut the fuck up about how great drinking piss is.
October 28, 2025 at 12:59 PM
AI is *so fucking bad* at this. I can't find any writing job that AI is just not offensively dogshit at.
Yet again, AI boosters literally cannot tell good from bad, they think you're lying when you say you can, and they just will never shut the fuck up about how great drinking piss is.
Yet again, AI boosters literally cannot tell good from bad, they think you're lying when you say you can, and they just will never shut the fuck up about how great drinking piss is.
Reposted by ben
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
Reposted by ben
It's increasingly obvious that Labour's strategy - call it Starmerism, Blue Labour, whatever - has got it badly wrong. It has alienated the party's core vote while failing to win over those leaning to Reform. There was no shortage of people warning them they were getting it wrong either.
October 28, 2025 at 12:02 PM
It's increasingly obvious that Labour's strategy - call it Starmerism, Blue Labour, whatever - has got it badly wrong. It has alienated the party's core vote while failing to win over those leaning to Reform. There was no shortage of people warning them they were getting it wrong either.
Every changelog autogenerated from a commit history using #ConventionalCommits is its own argument against ‘Conventional Commits’.
October 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Every changelog autogenerated from a commit history using #ConventionalCommits is its own argument against ‘Conventional Commits’.
CW: gb politics, labour, monarchy, abuse
For a party that still has 'socialist' in its constitution (if that still means anything, or ever did), Labour is embarrassingly eager to defer to the monarchy https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/starmer-faces-fight-jeremy-corbyn-prince-andrews-titles-3990774
For a party that still has 'socialist' in its constitution (if that still means anything, or ever did), Labour is embarrassingly eager to defer to the monarchy https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/starmer-faces-fight-jeremy-corbyn-prince-andrews-titles-3990774
Starmer faces fight with Jeremy Corbyn over Prince Andrew's titles
MPs, including Corbyn and the Westminster leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, want Parliament to pass legislation to formally remove Andrew’s titles
inews.co.uk
October 21, 2025 at 1:27 PM
CW: gb politics, labour, monarchy, abuse
For a party that still has 'socialist' in its constitution (if that still means anything, or ever did), Labour is embarrassingly eager to defer to the monarchy https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/starmer-faces-fight-jeremy-corbyn-prince-andrews-titles-3990774
For a party that still has 'socialist' in its constitution (if that still means anything, or ever did), Labour is embarrassingly eager to defer to the monarchy https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/starmer-faces-fight-jeremy-corbyn-prince-andrews-titles-3990774
Reposted by ben
"it isn't just X—it's Y" is by far the most annoying ChatGPTism
October 20, 2025 at 2:25 PM
"it isn't just X—it's Y" is by far the most annoying ChatGPTism
Latest laptop sticker arrived
October 20, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Latest laptop sticker arrived
Fighting with Rails N+1 queries this evening. Add an `includes` to fix the warning in one place, and immediately get a warning popping up elsewhere that I have an unnecessary `includes`. 🙃
October 19, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Fighting with Rails N+1 queries this evening. Add an `includes` to fix the warning in one place, and immediately get a warning popping up elsewhere that I have an unnecessary `includes`. 🙃
Reposted by ben
Okay, for the folks who asked: here's the majority AI view, writing up the reasonable, thoughtful view on AI that the vast majority of people in tech hold, that gets overshadowed by the bluster and hype of the tycoons trying to shill their nonsense. anildash.com/2025/10/17/t... Please share!
The Majority AI View - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
anildash.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Okay, for the folks who asked: here's the majority AI view, writing up the reasonable, thoughtful view on AI that the vast majority of people in tech hold, that gets overshadowed by the bluster and hype of the tycoons trying to shill their nonsense. anildash.com/2025/10/17/t... Please share!
15 years ago this was a BNP policy, now it’s being pushed by the Tories.
She said both that integration matters but was very pessimistic about how possible it is after *many* generations
Language of "a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people" conveys a sense that *some* people may remain too visibly different, somehow, to be "culturally coherent"
Language of "a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people" conveys a sense that *some* people may remain too visibly different, somehow, to be "culturally coherent"
October 19, 2025 at 8:31 AM
15 years ago this was a BNP policy, now it’s being pushed by the Tories.