Jon Evans
@rezendi.com
engineer / novelist, occasional journalist / CTO / archivist / peripatetist; see https://rezendi.com/
Reposted by Jon Evans
It’s no comfort, but the official DHS line being “he can be killed by masked agents of the state because he had a legal gun” is such an interesting new frontier in how Trump has made the conservative movement very publicly and embarrassingly abandon every principal it once claimed.
January 24, 2026 at 6:40 PM
It’s no comfort, but the official DHS line being “he can be killed by masked agents of the state because he had a legal gun” is such an interesting new frontier in how Trump has made the conservative movement very publicly and embarrassingly abandon every principal it once claimed.
Reposted by Jon Evans
“Everyone should be allowed to carry a gun for their safety but the government can murder you in the street if you have a gun” is an incredible endpoint for the conservative moment
January 24, 2026 at 5:48 PM
“Everyone should be allowed to carry a gun for their safety but the government can murder you in the street if you have a gun” is an incredible endpoint for the conservative moment
Reposted by Jon Evans
Republicans: everyone must be able to carry any gun at all times,
up to and including high powered rifles, to protect themselves against tyranny
also Republicans, without batting an eye: carrying a gun is unquestionable justification for federal agents to shoot you dead in the street
up to and including high powered rifles, to protect themselves against tyranny
also Republicans, without batting an eye: carrying a gun is unquestionable justification for federal agents to shoot you dead in the street
January 24, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Republicans: everyone must be able to carry any gun at all times,
up to and including high powered rifles, to protect themselves against tyranny
also Republicans, without batting an eye: carrying a gun is unquestionable justification for federal agents to shoot you dead in the street
up to and including high powered rifles, to protect themselves against tyranny
also Republicans, without batting an eye: carrying a gun is unquestionable justification for federal agents to shoot you dead in the street
Reposted by Jon Evans
They’re really going for the hardest of the criminals
ICE detained a 2-year-old girl in Minneapolis and put the child on a flight to a detention center in Texas, despite a court ordering her release: www.startribune.com/agents-detai...
January 24, 2026 at 3:02 AM
They’re really going for the hardest of the criminals
Reposted by Jon Evans
Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step.
1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish.
2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.
1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish.
2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.
January 23, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step.
1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish.
2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.
1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish.
2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.
"I didn't want to give in yet to the idea that humans only have an advantage on tasks longer than a few hours." www.anthropic.com/engineering/...
Designing AI resistant technical evaluations
What we learned from three iterations of a performance engineering take-home that Claude keeps beating.
www.anthropic.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:00 PM
"I didn't want to give in yet to the idea that humans only have an advantage on tasks longer than a few hours." www.anthropic.com/engineering/...
Reposted by Jon Evans
#SomethingBeautiful - the world beneath our surfaces
Going beyond the surface in the Karst plateau: exploring the new cross-border geopark in Italy and Slovenia
Going beyond the surface in the Karst plateau: exploring the new cross-border geopark in Italy and Slovenia
GeoKarst is a new EU-funded project highlighting a unique landscape of caves, gorges and medieval villages near Trieste
www.theguardian.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:13 AM
#SomethingBeautiful - the world beneath our surfaces
Reposted by Jon Evans
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
January 22, 2026 at 3:58 AM
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
"a battered but resilient institution, adapting its machinery and its mission to survive in a world that is increasingly hostile to the concept of free, universal access" hackernoon.com/the-long-now...
January 22, 2026 at 12:31 AM
"a battered but resilient institution, adapting its machinery and its mission to survive in a world that is increasingly hostile to the concept of free, universal access" hackernoon.com/the-long-now...
NGL I feel grimly Cassandra-ish for having written about this *counts on fingers* seventeen years ago, while no less than Sebastian Junger is just realizing it today sebastianjunger.substack.com/p/the-future...
January 19, 2026 at 4:50 PM
NGL I feel grimly Cassandra-ish for having written about this *counts on fingers* seventeen years ago, while no less than Sebastian Junger is just realizing it today sebastianjunger.substack.com/p/the-future...
Sometimes a cover truly reinvents the original song, you know? Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," Johnny Cash's "Hurt," and now ... this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5XR...
GWAR cover “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan
YouTube video by The A.V. Club
www.youtube.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:43 AM
Sometimes a cover truly reinvents the original song, you know? Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," Johnny Cash's "Hurt," and now ... this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5XR...
It's nice to occasionally agree with Cory Doctorow about some stuff www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i... (here, the copyright stuff)
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 4:50 PM
It's nice to occasionally agree with Cory Doctorow about some stuff www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i... (here, the copyright stuff)
"Still, I couldn’t avoid the truth. Seven excellent readers had mistaken an A.I. model for me. Seven excellent readers had mistaken me for an A.I. model." www.newyorker.com/culture/the-... (this was on crappy ol' GPT-4o, too)
What If Readers Like A.I.-Generated Fiction?
If economic and technological transformations have changed our relationship with literature before, they could do so again.
www.newyorker.com
January 18, 2026 at 6:06 AM
"Still, I couldn’t avoid the truth. Seven excellent readers had mistaken an A.I. model for me. Seven excellent readers had mistaken me for an A.I. model." www.newyorker.com/culture/the-... (this was on crappy ol' GPT-4o, too)
Reposted by Jon Evans
Now the actual military has to dress like it’s not the military cuz federal law enforcement agencies dress too much like the military
January 17, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Now the actual military has to dress like it’s not the military cuz federal law enforcement agencies dress too much like the military
The hygiene hypothesis, but for ideas
I feel like the sublime baby-brain of “you took the time to understand this deeply therefore you must be into it” is directly related to the sublime baby-brain of “you depicted this in a piece of fiction without noting THIS IS BAD every five words therefore you must be into it”
probably my single least favorite thing about posting here; you can say, explicitly, “I am not endorsing this, I think it’s bad, I’m just explaining how it works” and you will get attacked for endorsing it anyway
January 17, 2026 at 6:37 PM
The hygiene hypothesis, but for ideas
Reposted by Jon Evans
"Vast majority of men are only willing to engage in public violence if they feel like the people around them will approve of — and reward them for — that violence. ICE Watch works because it surrounds men seeking approval with people loudly expressing their disapproval."
www.ms.now/opinion/minn...
www.ms.now/opinion/minn...
January 17, 2026 at 4:51 AM
"Vast majority of men are only willing to engage in public violence if they feel like the people around them will approve of — and reward them for — that violence. ICE Watch works because it surrounds men seeking approval with people loudly expressing their disapproval."
www.ms.now/opinion/minn...
www.ms.now/opinion/minn...
Reposted by Jon Evans
This is why there is no free speech without anonymous speech.
This is why online ID checks / age verification is incompatible with the 1st amendment and human rights.
This is why "make everyone use their real names" is not a real solution to online hate & harm
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
This is why online ID checks / age verification is incompatible with the 1st amendment and human rights.
This is why "make everyone use their real names" is not a real solution to online hate & harm
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Homeland Security wants to know who's anonymously posting about ICE
www.politico.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:45 PM
This is why there is no free speech without anonymous speech.
This is why online ID checks / age verification is incompatible with the 1st amendment and human rights.
This is why "make everyone use their real names" is not a real solution to online hate & harm
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
This is why online ID checks / age verification is incompatible with the 1st amendment and human rights.
This is why "make everyone use their real names" is not a real solution to online hate & harm
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Jon Evans
The basic problem is that high-quality journalism is not a viable market product. If it is not protected from market forces, it will inevitably degenerate into the ragetainment that dominates these days.
Ragetainment is what, measured on a pure impulsive will-they-click-it basis, the public wants.
Ragetainment is what, measured on a pure impulsive will-they-click-it basis, the public wants.
January 16, 2026 at 12:44 AM
The basic problem is that high-quality journalism is not a viable market product. If it is not protected from market forces, it will inevitably degenerate into the ragetainment that dominates these days.
Ragetainment is what, measured on a pure impulsive will-they-click-it basis, the public wants.
Ragetainment is what, measured on a pure impulsive will-they-click-it basis, the public wants.
Reposted by Jon Evans
Finally, New Zealand is far enough away from Australia
January 15, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Finally, New Zealand is far enough away from Australia
Reposted by Jon Evans
This is straight out of Succession:
Larry Ellison named a giant yacht "Izanami" after a Shinto deity, but quickly renamed it after it was pointed out that the name spelled "I'm a Nazi" backwards!!!
Larry Ellison named a giant yacht "Izanami" after a Shinto deity, but quickly renamed it after it was pointed out that the name spelled "I'm a Nazi" backwards!!!
January 14, 2026 at 1:59 PM
This is straight out of Succession:
Larry Ellison named a giant yacht "Izanami" after a Shinto deity, but quickly renamed it after it was pointed out that the name spelled "I'm a Nazi" backwards!!!
Larry Ellison named a giant yacht "Izanami" after a Shinto deity, but quickly renamed it after it was pointed out that the name spelled "I'm a Nazi" backwards!!!
It's remarkable that the AVATAR series includes two of the three most successful movies ever released, and soon three of the top 20 (maybe top 10) and still has ~zero cultural resonance. Quotes, references, responses, cosplay - ~none. Will it too be a slow burn? www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/ww_top...
Top Lifetime Grosses
www.boxofficemojo.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:06 PM
It's remarkable that the AVATAR series includes two of the three most successful movies ever released, and soon three of the top 20 (maybe top 10) and still has ~zero cultural resonance. Quotes, references, responses, cosplay - ~none. Will it too be a slow burn? www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/ww_top...
Reposted by Jon Evans
ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! Join me at @stanfordhai.bsky.social for a book talk with @adambecker.bsky.social and @rezendi.com about their respective books, More Everything Forever and Exadelic - both about AI, and both terrific reads, but for very different reasons.
hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-...
hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-...
Adam Becker & Jon Evans | Book Talk: “More Everything Forever” and “Exadelic” | Stanford HAI
Join HAI Policy Fellow Riana Pfefferkorn for a conversation about the potential future(s) of AI and humanity with Adam Becker, author of More Everything Forever, and Jon Evans, author of Exadelic and ...
hai.stanford.edu
January 14, 2026 at 8:41 PM
ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! Join me at @stanfordhai.bsky.social for a book talk with @adambecker.bsky.social and @rezendi.com about their respective books, More Everything Forever and Exadelic - both about AI, and both terrific reads, but for very different reasons.
hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-...
hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-...