Nils Gilman
@nilsgilman.bsky.social
Historian of the intelligentsia. Adored by little statesmen, philosophers & divines. Deputy Editor @NoemaMag.com. Check out "Children of a Modest Star": https://www.sup.org/books/politics/children-modest-star. Posts my own
I don't mean to make light of what is a serious issue, but the fact that DC has one of the highest dementia rates in the country is hilariously on-the-nose, n'est-ce pas, @samuelmoyn.bsky.social? www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/int...
Why a dementia village in the Netherlands is fueling hope in D.C.
In D.C., which has one of the nation’s highest dementia rates, health advocates are pushing for earlier detection and alternative care
www.washingtonpost.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:11 AM
I don't mean to make light of what is a serious issue, but the fact that DC has one of the highest dementia rates in the country is hilariously on-the-nose, n'est-ce pas, @samuelmoyn.bsky.social? www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/int...
Reposted by Nils Gilman
If I were an American I would save money by simply buying lottery tickets with winning numbers and not those with losing numbers.
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 7:28 PM
If I were an American I would save money by simply buying lottery tickets with winning numbers and not those with losing numbers.
I find these odes to “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”… weird.
Tarantino has made two masterpieces (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs) and then a bunch of other fascinating-but-flawed films (Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill v. 1, Django Unchained, OUaTiH, etc.) www.cbr.com/quentin-tara...
Tarantino has made two masterpieces (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs) and then a bunch of other fascinating-but-flawed films (Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill v. 1, Django Unchained, OUaTiH, etc.) www.cbr.com/quentin-tara...
David Fincher's Sequel to Quentin Tarantino's $392M Period Piece Already Sounds Like a Masterpiece
One of Quentin Tarantino's most beloved characters is getting a sequel, and it's shaping up to be something very special already.
www.cbr.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I find these odes to “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”… weird.
Tarantino has made two masterpieces (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs) and then a bunch of other fascinating-but-flawed films (Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill v. 1, Django Unchained, OUaTiH, etc.) www.cbr.com/quentin-tara...
Tarantino has made two masterpieces (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs) and then a bunch of other fascinating-but-flawed films (Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill v. 1, Django Unchained, OUaTiH, etc.) www.cbr.com/quentin-tara...
Reposted by Nils Gilman
Could a cold war emerge between fossil-fuel-rich petrostates and renewable-powered electrostates? Some observers think so and a quiet deal made on the eve of #COP30 hints in that direction
#climatecrisis
Post by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#climatecrisis
Post by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Cop30 live: crucial climate talks begin in Brazil as hosts insist summit must lead to ‘implementation’
Ministers and high-ranking officials from nearly 200 countries have gathered in the Amazonian city of Belem, with Brazil insisting this will be “the Cop of implementation”.
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Could a cold war emerge between fossil-fuel-rich petrostates and renewable-powered electrostates? Some observers think so and a quiet deal made on the eve of #COP30 hints in that direction
#climatecrisis
Post by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#climatecrisis
Post by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Nils Gilman
Oh, fiduciary duties for AI systems are a major research focus for me.
Designing Fiduciary Artificial Intelligence | Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization share.google/zA5exvpnzTNo...
If you're interested in this we should talk.
Designing Fiduciary Artificial Intelligence | Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization share.google/zA5exvpnzTNo...
If you're interested in this we should talk.
Designing Fiduciary Artificial Intelligence | Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization
share.google
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Oh, fiduciary duties for AI systems are a major research focus for me.
Designing Fiduciary Artificial Intelligence | Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization share.google/zA5exvpnzTNo...
If you're interested in this we should talk.
Designing Fiduciary Artificial Intelligence | Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization share.google/zA5exvpnzTNo...
If you're interested in this we should talk.
Reposted by Nils Gilman
@nilsgilman.bsky.social
Interesting piece about a legal privilege for AI communications. In my forthcoming book, I propose a broader legal privilege for digital communications (not just AI).
Doctors, Lawyers and Priests Keep Secrets. Why Not Your Chatbot? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
Interesting piece about a legal privilege for AI communications. In my forthcoming book, I propose a broader legal privilege for digital communications (not just AI).
Doctors, Lawyers and Priests Keep Secrets. Why Not Your Chatbot? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
Opinion | Doctors, Lawyers and Priests Keep Secrets. Why Not Your Chatbot?
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:48 PM
@nilsgilman.bsky.social
Interesting piece about a legal privilege for AI communications. In my forthcoming book, I propose a broader legal privilege for digital communications (not just AI).
Doctors, Lawyers and Priests Keep Secrets. Why Not Your Chatbot? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
Interesting piece about a legal privilege for AI communications. In my forthcoming book, I propose a broader legal privilege for digital communications (not just AI).
Doctors, Lawyers and Priests Keep Secrets. Why Not Your Chatbot? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
More and more people these days are interacting with LLMs as legal, psychological, and spiritual confidants. The government should not be able to have access to those thoughts willy nilly. My latest: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
Opinion | Doctors, Lawyers and Priests Keep Secrets. Why Not Your Chatbot?
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:42 PM
More and more people these days are interacting with LLMs as legal, psychological, and spiritual confidants. The government should not be able to have access to those thoughts willy nilly. My latest: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
Update from the leader of the Green Entente
"Far from a peak, China's gasoline demand is estimated to have fallen 9% in October on the year to 12.5 million tons, with average daily use roughly flat with September..."
China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
EVs put an end to China's usual holiday surge in gasoline use
Tianyu Jiang took a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) road trip this month during China's national holiday week, driving in his electric vehicle from the southwestern Sichuan basin to Beijing for the first time.
www.reuters.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Update from the leader of the Green Entente
If we ever get back to proper rule of law constitutionalism, the presidential pardon power needs to be curbed if not abrogated. Require senate supermajority approval, at minimum.
Trump just celebrated Schumer's cave by pardoning 75+ co-conspirators including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and Sidney Powell, for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
November 10, 2025 at 7:09 AM
If we ever get back to proper rule of law constitutionalism, the presidential pardon power needs to be curbed if not abrogated. Require senate supermajority approval, at minimum.
Woody Allen in Annie Hall
Jeff Bridges as the Dude
Bill Murray in Caddy Shack
Steve Carrel in the Office
Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun
Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles
Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
And of course… Groucho
Jeff Bridges as the Dude
Bill Murray in Caddy Shack
Steve Carrel in the Office
Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun
Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles
Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
And of course… Groucho
November 10, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Woody Allen in Annie Hall
Jeff Bridges as the Dude
Bill Murray in Caddy Shack
Steve Carrel in the Office
Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun
Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles
Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
And of course… Groucho
Jeff Bridges as the Dude
Bill Murray in Caddy Shack
Steve Carrel in the Office
Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun
Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles
Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
And of course… Groucho
Reposted by Nils Gilman
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
November 10, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
Since the US is no longer a democracy, does this mean we’re safe from this dire threat?
Nicolás Maduro is a mafia boss, not a president, and the Venezuelan government is now a criminal enterprise with the power of a state. It poses a threat to democracies everywhere.
How Venezuela Became a Gangster State | Journal of Democracy
Nicolás Maduro is a mafia boss, not a president, and the Venezuelan government is now a criminal enterprise with the power of a state. It poses a threat to democracies everywhere.
www.journalofdemocracy.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Since the US is no longer a democracy, does this mean we’re safe from this dire threat?
I found it! The conference with the greatest cognitive dissonance of all time: the 1994 Conference on “Social Suffering” (which eventuated in the Winter 1996 issue Daedalus) which took place in… Bellagio, at the Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center.
Pictures below for proof and reference.
Pictures below for proof and reference.
November 9, 2025 at 11:20 AM
I found it! The conference with the greatest cognitive dissonance of all time: the 1994 Conference on “Social Suffering” (which eventuated in the Winter 1996 issue Daedalus) which took place in… Bellagio, at the Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center.
Pictures below for proof and reference.
Pictures below for proof and reference.
“Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim.” - Ovid
November 9, 2025 at 8:29 AM
“Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim.” - Ovid
Reposted by Nils Gilman
40 men Trump sent to CECOT tell the NYT they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted. The details are worse than you can imagine.
We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:20 AM
40 men Trump sent to CECOT tell the NYT they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted. The details are worse than you can imagine.
We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
“This opinion… might shake the foundations of several law firms both because it says that what the law firms have done may have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and because it also suggests that their violations cannot be cured without rescinding their agreements with Trump.”
Put bluntly, can a law firm really represent a client zealously against the Trump’s administration when, at the same time, it is seeking to stay on Trump’s good side through an settlement agreement? ICYMI @rosenzweigp.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/big-law-bi...
Big Law’s Big Choice
A D.C. Bar opinion shows why it would be ethical for the nine Big Law firms to rescind their settlement agreements with Trump. But to do so would invite his wrath.
www.thebulwark.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:04 AM
“This opinion… might shake the foundations of several law firms both because it says that what the law firms have done may have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and because it also suggests that their violations cannot be cured without rescinding their agreements with Trump.”
Three converging dynamics threaten to stall AI adoption: (1) Systemic vulnerabilities in AI models and infrastructure, (2) deployment that outpaces security controls, and (3) increasingly sophisticated adversaries weaponizing AI.” www.cfr.org/article/secu...
Securing Intelligence: Why AI Security Will Define the Future of Trust
U.S. leadership in the AI century will depend on whether democracies can secure machine intelligence fast enough to preserve the trust and resilience their systems rely on.
www.cfr.org
November 9, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Three converging dynamics threaten to stall AI adoption: (1) Systemic vulnerabilities in AI models and infrastructure, (2) deployment that outpaces security controls, and (3) increasingly sophisticated adversaries weaponizing AI.” www.cfr.org/article/secu...
TIL about the “phonaestheme” concept, which identifies a pattern of sounds systematically paired with a certain meaning in a language.
For example, in English, “gl-" occurs in words relating to light or vision, like "glitter", "glisten", "glow", "gleam", "glare", "glint", "glimmer", "gloss", etc.
For example, in English, “gl-" occurs in words relating to light or vision, like "glitter", "glisten", "glow", "gleam", "glare", "glint", "glimmer", "gloss", etc.
November 9, 2025 at 6:46 AM
TIL about the “phonaestheme” concept, which identifies a pattern of sounds systematically paired with a certain meaning in a language.
For example, in English, “gl-" occurs in words relating to light or vision, like "glitter", "glisten", "glow", "gleam", "glare", "glint", "glimmer", "gloss", etc.
For example, in English, “gl-" occurs in words relating to light or vision, like "glitter", "glisten", "glow", "gleam", "glare", "glint", "glimmer", "gloss", etc.
The rights that Grok proposes that LLMs be granted:
November 9, 2025 at 6:27 AM
The rights that Grok proposes that LLMs be granted:
To become really excellent at anything — sports, intellect, business, art, etc. — one has to actually *enjoy* the inevitable and necessary pain that comes from the relevant strenuous effort.
November 9, 2025 at 5:41 AM
To become really excellent at anything — sports, intellect, business, art, etc. — one has to actually *enjoy* the inevitable and necessary pain that comes from the relevant strenuous effort.
If you doubt this, just imagine what the effect would be of transferring all Senate responsibilities to the House. Which, incidentally, has been a proposed constitutional amendment for many many years: www.senate.gov/artandhistor... and www.jstor.org/stable/1065399
November 9, 2025 at 4:54 AM
If you doubt this, just imagine what the effect would be of transferring all Senate responsibilities to the House. Which, incidentally, has been a proposed constitutional amendment for many many years: www.senate.gov/artandhistor... and www.jstor.org/stable/1065399
The entire raison d’être of the Senate is anti-majoritarian. It has no purpose (literally, none whatsoever) other than to obstruct the implementation of majoritarian passions.
one thing i find crazy-making is the idea that getting rid of the filibuster would make congress a purely majoritarian institution. bicameralism itself is counter-majoritarian! equal state representation is counter-majoritarian! the fact that senate elections are staggered is counter-majoritarian!
November 9, 2025 at 4:49 AM
The entire raison d’être of the Senate is anti-majoritarian. It has no purpose (literally, none whatsoever) other than to obstruct the implementation of majoritarian passions.
There Will Be Blood, QED
November 9, 2025 at 4:43 AM
There Will Be Blood, QED
The Washington Post’s new editorial stance: trillion dollar executive compensation packages while tripling the price of tens of millions of Americans’ health insurance premiums is A-Ok, but proposing free childcare and public transit is class warfare.
Dropping the mask, indeed.
Dropping the mask, indeed.
This is references “class warfare” and “Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani” and only gets more bananas from there. The new editorial page is… really something. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Zohran Mamdani drops the mask
The mayor-elect divides New Yorkers into two groups: the oppressed and their oppressors.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:41 AM
The Washington Post’s new editorial stance: trillion dollar executive compensation packages while tripling the price of tens of millions of Americans’ health insurance premiums is A-Ok, but proposing free childcare and public transit is class warfare.
Dropping the mask, indeed.
Dropping the mask, indeed.
Reposted by Nils Gilman
oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis
Axios tried to bust James Talarico for following adult content creators on Instagram and I'm genuinely impressed by his campaign's response
November 8, 2025 at 4:39 PM
oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis