Richard Chirgwin
@rchirgwin.bsky.social
Former tech writer specialising in telecoms and infosec. Still an aspiring guitarist at over 60.
Nothing I do or say is licenced to anyone scraping social media accounts to train AI.
Nothing I do or say is licenced to anyone scraping social media accounts to train AI.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
A supermassive black hole of slop collapsing under its own slop gravity
February 16, 2026 at 8:01 AM
A supermassive black hole of slop collapsing under its own slop gravity
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Bluesky was literally meant to be a cryptobro social network for grifters, LinkedIn sludge, and libertarians who know way too much about age of consent laws.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Can you think of examples where people use technologies differently from what the developers intended, whether unintentionally or as an act of resistance?
February 15, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Bluesky was literally meant to be a cryptobro social network for grifters, LinkedIn sludge, and libertarians who know way too much about age of consent laws.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Tim Dunlop is on point here, on the rapid reconfiguration of the Australian right tdunlop.substack.com/p/the-next-e...
The next era of conservative politics will make John Howard look woke
(Angus) Taylorism is just another word for nothing left to lose
tdunlop.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:12 AM
Tim Dunlop is on point here, on the rapid reconfiguration of the Australian right tdunlop.substack.com/p/the-next-e...
The Liberals' shit is also dragging the windows towards authoritarianism. The ALP need only stop short of "combing phones at the border".
And the Liberal membership has already been compromised.
And the Liberal membership has already been compromised.
February 16, 2026 at 6:52 AM
The Liberals' shit is also dragging the windows towards authoritarianism. The ALP need only stop short of "combing phones at the border".
And the Liberal membership has already been compromised.
And the Liberal membership has already been compromised.
Way to reunite the party, brain donor...
Angus Taylor moves to promote conservatives and sideline Sussan Ley allies as Liberal party veers right
Angus Taylor moves to promote conservatives and sideline Sussan Ley allies as Liberal party veers right
Andrew Hastie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price among those expected to return to frontbench as new Liberal leader pursues rightwing agenda
Sussan Ley’s closest supporters are poised to be demoted as new Liberal leader Angus Taylor prepares to install conservatives to deliver his rightwing agenda.
Liberal MPs expect Alex Hawke, Anne Ruston, Andrew Wallace and Paul Scarr are expected to be dropped to make room for the return of Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price among others on the frontbench. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:48 AM
Way to reunite the party, brain donor...
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
"Would you be interested in becoming an Amway independent business owner"?
February 16, 2026 at 4:31 AM
"Would you be interested in becoming an Amway independent business owner"?
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
I’m still not sure that the Libs might not have been wiser to just sit out the polls for a few months. Hanson + Joyce are sure to do something stupid soon and always were
February 16, 2026 at 2:31 AM
I’m still not sure that the Libs might not have been wiser to just sit out the polls for a few months. Hanson + Joyce are sure to do something stupid soon and always were
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Longer term, what’s the plan to cover the cost of a rapidly aging population? Skilled migration brings more taxpayers. The “self-reliance” platform is a fallacy.
February 16, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Longer term, what’s the plan to cover the cost of a rapidly aging population? Skilled migration brings more taxpayers. The “self-reliance” platform is a fallacy.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Borrowing policies from a protest party that has never held government is really the way to convince the general public you are a party of government.
And yes, a shortage of health professionals in regional areas is one outcome of the policy.
And yes, a shortage of health professionals in regional areas is one outcome of the policy.
February 16, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Borrowing policies from a protest party that has never held government is really the way to convince the general public you are a party of government.
And yes, a shortage of health professionals in regional areas is one outcome of the policy.
And yes, a shortage of health professionals in regional areas is one outcome of the policy.
This cannot feasibly succeed, ON won't ever be even a credible opposition...
February 16, 2026 at 2:12 AM
This cannot feasibly succeed, ON won't ever be even a credible opposition...
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
The ACCC’s action against Coles confirms what people already know - when corporations have too much power, they use it to squeeze people.
Fake discounts are one symptom of a system where dominant firms can do as they like while people struggle with cost-of-living pressures.
Fake discounts are one symptom of a system where dominant firms can do as they like while people struggle with cost-of-living pressures.
February 16, 2026 at 1:08 AM
The ACCC’s action against Coles confirms what people already know - when corporations have too much power, they use it to squeeze people.
Fake discounts are one symptom of a system where dominant firms can do as they like while people struggle with cost-of-living pressures.
Fake discounts are one symptom of a system where dominant firms can do as they like while people struggle with cost-of-living pressures.
Ask a regional community nursing home its opinion about a "crackdown" on migration. The Liberals are fools.
February 16, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Ask a regional community nursing home its opinion about a "crackdown" on migration. The Liberals are fools.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
It's also the poor, who have to spend more to buy the same amount of stuff, who are blamed for inflation by the RBA
February 16, 2026 at 1:53 AM
It's also the poor, who have to spend more to buy the same amount of stuff, who are blamed for inflation by the RBA
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
The Liberal Party is chasing right-wing voters off a right-wing cliff, failing to even try to win back the urban, educated women who have locked them out of the cities until further notice.
Opinion | The Liberals need to win back all sorts of voters. But they especially needs to win back professional, urban women — and Angus Taylor is unlikely to help there, @rachelwithers.bsky.social writes.
What will Angus Taylor mean for the Liberals’ seemingly never-ending women problem?
The Liberal Party needs to win back all sorts of voters, but especially urban women. Instead it seems intent on chasing right-wing voters off a right-wing cliff.
buff.ly
February 16, 2026 at 1:11 AM
The Liberal Party is chasing right-wing voters off a right-wing cliff, failing to even try to win back the urban, educated women who have locked them out of the cities until further notice.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Yes, why tax excess wealth when you can slug the poor for buying things simply to exist
February 16, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Yes, why tax excess wealth when you can slug the poor for buying things simply to exist
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Of course they love GST: easy to collect; and protects excess wealth
February 15, 2026 at 10:37 PM
Of course they love GST: easy to collect; and protects excess wealth
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
This is pretty much the foundational reason for a LOT of things.
Why don't we have as many cool music scenes anymore?
Why does art and creativity in general suffer?
Why is everyone so depressed an anxious?
An economy based on asset appreciation is inimical to the things that make us human.
Why don't we have as many cool music scenes anymore?
Why does art and creativity in general suffer?
Why is everyone so depressed an anxious?
An economy based on asset appreciation is inimical to the things that make us human.
if you asked me to diagnose the western game industry's current problem it would start with "landlords have absorbed basically all disposable income"
February 15, 2026 at 11:47 PM
This is pretty much the foundational reason for a LOT of things.
Why don't we have as many cool music scenes anymore?
Why does art and creativity in general suffer?
Why is everyone so depressed an anxious?
An economy based on asset appreciation is inimical to the things that make us human.
Why don't we have as many cool music scenes anymore?
Why does art and creativity in general suffer?
Why is everyone so depressed an anxious?
An economy based on asset appreciation is inimical to the things that make us human.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
A climate denier is someone whose job is to constantly lie but mimic the aesthetics of the people who try hard to be as truthful as possible.
You can tell why the advent of this software has given them a boost like never before. Ditto for delayers, fossil fuel advocates, corporate greenwashers etc
You can tell why the advent of this software has given them a boost like never before. Ditto for delayers, fossil fuel advocates, corporate greenwashers etc
OpenAI ”acknowledged in its own research that LLMs will always produce hallucinations due to fundamental mathematical constraints that cannot be solved through better engineering, marking a significant admission from one of the AI industry’s leading companies.”
You can’t trust chatbots.
You can’t trust chatbots.
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:34 PM
A climate denier is someone whose job is to constantly lie but mimic the aesthetics of the people who try hard to be as truthful as possible.
You can tell why the advent of this software has given them a boost like never before. Ditto for delayers, fossil fuel advocates, corporate greenwashers etc
You can tell why the advent of this software has given them a boost like never before. Ditto for delayers, fossil fuel advocates, corporate greenwashers etc
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
Does your university use ChatGPT Edu? Please send me a DM if you do. I have identified a potential data breach affecting students' data that has not yet been fixed and I'm trying to compile further examples from other universities.
Reposts appreciated!
Reposts appreciated!
February 12, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Does your university use ChatGPT Edu? Please send me a DM if you do. I have identified a potential data breach affecting students' data that has not yet been fixed and I'm trying to compile further examples from other universities.
Reposts appreciated!
Reposts appreciated!
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
If you don't think Restore, Reform, Advance or whomever are capable of - for example - restricting certain child benefits to only the "right sort" of British parents, you haven't been paying attention.
February 15, 2026 at 2:04 PM
If you don't think Restore, Reform, Advance or whomever are capable of - for example - restricting certain child benefits to only the "right sort" of British parents, you haven't been paying attention.
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
This!
(This is why we need to praise slowness, non-linearity, process over outcome, and learning for the sake of learning, rather than the fiction that school is for grades, getting into college, job training, etc.)
(This is why we need to praise slowness, non-linearity, process over outcome, and learning for the sake of learning, rather than the fiction that school is for grades, getting into college, job training, etc.)
I wonder when we'll be ready to talk about how schools are now full of gameified dopamine slot machine apps for learning times tables, science, even reading itself, that are priming an entire generation for gambling and gaming addiction.
A book I highly recommend on electronic slot machines—which fully convinced me they should be illegal for how they systematically mislead our brains—is Natasha Dow Schüll‘s ADDICTION BY DESIGN
Gamified online gambling seems much worse, & is becoming much more ubiquitous
It will immiserate so many
Gamified online gambling seems much worse, & is becoming much more ubiquitous
It will immiserate so many
February 15, 2026 at 3:25 PM
This!
(This is why we need to praise slowness, non-linearity, process over outcome, and learning for the sake of learning, rather than the fiction that school is for grades, getting into college, job training, etc.)
(This is why we need to praise slowness, non-linearity, process over outcome, and learning for the sake of learning, rather than the fiction that school is for grades, getting into college, job training, etc.)
thread ...
The AI bros (who clearly don't understand AI) in the comments are hilarious. "ask stupid questions, get stupid answers". LLMs have no concept of how intelligent a question is, and they certainly were not designed to deliberately give stupid responses if they deem your question too stupid. 1/?
It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this
February 15, 2026 at 1:51 PM
thread ...
Reposted by Richard Chirgwin
It's not a major controversy because we are just hearing this. What databases is it accessing to ID people? THIS IS BULLSHIT, YELL EVERYONE.
February 15, 2026 at 8:23 AM
It's not a major controversy because we are just hearing this. What databases is it accessing to ID people? THIS IS BULLSHIT, YELL EVERYONE.