Gordon
@gordon.bsky.social
Everything around me was someone’s lifework.
Pinned
Gordon
@gordon.bsky.social
· Apr 22
self-certifying data… over http
AI as Extended Cognition
January 3, 2026 at 5:59 AM
AI as Extended Cognition
Reposted by Gordon
This is a great example of why I say "if it can be explained in words and the output is words, you CAN get an LLM to do it."
It may not always be worth it to do it, but there isn't a moat. And consider further: what happens if you can teach this refinement process to the LLM?
It may not always be worth it to do it, but there isn't a moat. And consider further: what happens if you can teach this refinement process to the LLM?
A hypothesis is "If I change parameter X, I will see result Y." That's a specific claim that can be tested and disproven.
But if I TELL IT how to write a good hypothesis, then it DOES! Now I have a machine that can take any arbitrary paragraph and rephrase it in the form of a testable hypothesis!
But if I TELL IT how to write a good hypothesis, then it DOES! Now I have a machine that can take any arbitrary paragraph and rephrase it in the form of a testable hypothesis!
January 3, 2026 at 3:12 AM
This is a great example of why I say "if it can be explained in words and the output is words, you CAN get an LLM to do it."
It may not always be worth it to do it, but there isn't a moat. And consider further: what happens if you can teach this refinement process to the LLM?
It may not always be worth it to do it, but there isn't a moat. And consider further: what happens if you can teach this refinement process to the LLM?
Reposted by Gordon
Wikipedia is truly one of the greatest things on the Internet. It is absolutely incredible, and must be preserved at all costs.
January 1, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Wikipedia is truly one of the greatest things on the Internet. It is absolutely incredible, and must be preserved at all costs.
Reposted by Gordon
"What is the pattern that connects the crab to the lobster and the primrose to the orchid, and all of them to me, and me to you?" - Gregory Bateson
January 1, 2026 at 2:50 PM
"What is the pattern that connects the crab to the lobster and the primrose to the orchid, and all of them to me, and me to you?" - Gregory Bateson
Reposted by Gordon
What we communicate are models of the world, not the world.
October 31, 2025 at 4:04 PM
What we communicate are models of the world, not the world.
In the quietness, with nothing to accomplish, there is only direct experience.
(Dogen Zenji)
(Dogen Zenji)
If you are too confident in your representational maps of reality you will miss seeing reality
December 30, 2025 at 12:58 PM
In the quietness, with nothing to accomplish, there is only direct experience.
(Dogen Zenji)
(Dogen Zenji)
“How rare to be born a human being!”
I made a birth lottery roller, inspired by Giving What We Can's, but inclusive of nonhuman animals!
birth-lottery.thetetra.space
birth-lottery.thetetra.space
The Birth Lottery
Draw again from the birth lottery to take a different sample from the way the circumstances outside your control go for living beings on Earth today.
birth-lottery.thetetra.space
December 29, 2025 at 7:43 AM
“How rare to be born a human being!”
The the treatment for severe acute malnutrition was invented by accident after a scientist got exasperated at his kids for eating too much Nutella en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpy%...
December 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM
The the treatment for severe acute malnutrition was invented by accident after a scientist got exasperated at his kids for eating too much Nutella en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpy%...
(I need to get this piece published)
December 28, 2025 at 5:04 PM
(I need to get this piece published)
Reposted by Gordon
"I collected seventeen ways in which unsought findings have been made."
...
Child, student or outsider
Playing
Joke
Dream or "forgetting-hypothesis"
...
"
...
Child, student or outsider
Playing
Joke
Dream or "forgetting-hypothesis"
...
"
“Taxonomy of luck”
Windfalls or wind thefts
Unforeseeable lost or gained opportunities
Accidents
Narrow escapes
Coincidences
Consequence-laden mistakes in identification or classification
Fortuitous encounters
…
www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real...
Windfalls or wind thefts
Unforeseeable lost or gained opportunities
Accidents
Narrow escapes
Coincidences
Consequence-laden mistakes in identification or classification
Fortuitous encounters
…
www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real...
Taxonomies of chance, risk and unpredictability.
www.stat.berkeley.edu
December 28, 2025 at 8:41 AM
"I collected seventeen ways in which unsought findings have been made."
...
Child, student or outsider
Playing
Joke
Dream or "forgetting-hypothesis"
...
"
...
Child, student or outsider
Playing
Joke
Dream or "forgetting-hypothesis"
...
"
“Taxonomy of luck”
Windfalls or wind thefts
Unforeseeable lost or gained opportunities
Accidents
Narrow escapes
Coincidences
Consequence-laden mistakes in identification or classification
Fortuitous encounters
…
www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real...
Windfalls or wind thefts
Unforeseeable lost or gained opportunities
Accidents
Narrow escapes
Coincidences
Consequence-laden mistakes in identification or classification
Fortuitous encounters
…
www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real...
Taxonomies of chance, risk and unpredictability.
www.stat.berkeley.edu
December 28, 2025 at 8:29 AM
“Taxonomy of luck”
Windfalls or wind thefts
Unforeseeable lost or gained opportunities
Accidents
Narrow escapes
Coincidences
Consequence-laden mistakes in identification or classification
Fortuitous encounters
…
www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real...
Windfalls or wind thefts
Unforeseeable lost or gained opportunities
Accidents
Narrow escapes
Coincidences
Consequence-laden mistakes in identification or classification
Fortuitous encounters
…
www.stat.berkeley.edu/~aldous/Real...
Reposted by Gordon
People mistakenly think prototypes are for discovering the right answer. They are most effective when used to find the right question.
December 27, 2025 at 6:10 AM
People mistakenly think prototypes are for discovering the right answer. They are most effective when used to find the right question.
“The definition of a problem is subjective; it comes from a point of view.”
December 27, 2025 at 5:28 AM
“The definition of a problem is subjective; it comes from a point of view.”
Reposted by Gordon
It’s definitely the case that the Morris worm was more like artificial life than anything that has emerged from the current machine learning craze…
December 23, 2025 at 9:50 AM
It’s definitely the case that the Morris worm was more like artificial life than anything that has emerged from the current machine learning craze…
Reposted by Gordon
it's crazy to remember that taxes are the reason for inventing writing
December 23, 2025 at 9:15 AM
it's crazy to remember that taxes are the reason for inventing writing
I suspect at some point we will see an intelligence explosion that is very disruptive, but brittle, because the system of intelligence is lacking the high-dimensional robustness afforded by millions of years of evolution. Maybe early intelligence explosions will look more like viral outbreaks.
December 23, 2025 at 9:28 AM
I suspect at some point we will see an intelligence explosion that is very disruptive, but brittle, because the system of intelligence is lacking the high-dimensional robustness afforded by millions of years of evolution. Maybe early intelligence explosions will look more like viral outbreaks.
Reposted by Gordon
At this point it’s all proxy issue: we could have made copyright compliant models since forever if people really cared (just train your larger best designed MoE on all open data, get synth, rince, repeat).
December 22, 2025 at 5:19 PM
At this point it’s all proxy issue: we could have made copyright compliant models since forever if people really cared (just train your larger best designed MoE on all open data, get synth, rince, repeat).
I am more clever than smart tbh and can confirm that cleverness can get you pretty far
I doubt that anything resembling genuine AGI is within reach of current AI tools—Terence Tao
mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1157223...
mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1157223...
December 22, 2025 at 8:19 AM
I am more clever than smart tbh and can confirm that cleverness can get you pretty far
the singularity already happened bactra.org/weblog/699.h...
December 20, 2025 at 11:19 AM
the singularity already happened bactra.org/weblog/699.h...
Reposted by Gordon
Threads is effectively shelving their fediverse integration, after it saw marginally little use
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
December 19, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Threads is effectively shelving their fediverse integration, after it saw marginally little use
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
Zuck has played the game well, harming both open protocol movements while growing his platform, getting good PR and distracting regulators
connectedplaces.online/reports/fedi...
Every surface is a Sybil attack surface now
December 19, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Every surface is a Sybil attack surface now
“Log in with Bluesky” 😈
December 19, 2025 at 6:22 AM
“Log in with Bluesky” 😈
Reposted by Gordon
I knew a protocol would be cool bro I told you bro
December 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
I knew a protocol would be cool bro I told you bro
I love to create things, and will keep doing that.
December 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I love to create things, and will keep doing that.