Steve Zekany
@zekany.bsky.social
Computer architecture. Caltrain and BART enthusiast. Previously: GovAI, AMD, ARM, UMich.
Super glad to see More Neighbors advocating for my hometown of Ann Arbor to be a place where normal people can live instead of becoming a boutique college town.
A 21% decrease in under-18 residents over 20 years shows the city was on the wrong path, and it’s time to correct that.
A 21% decrease in under-18 residents over 20 years shows the city was on the wrong path, and it’s time to correct that.
“I would like to have the option to actually live in Ann Arbor one day rather than outside it. No city should be a luxury good that is only available to the wealthy or long-time residents who simply had the good fortune of not looking for housing amidst a housing crisis."
This is who we fight for.
This is who we fight for.
June 29, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Super glad to see More Neighbors advocating for my hometown of Ann Arbor to be a place where normal people can live instead of becoming a boutique college town.
A 21% decrease in under-18 residents over 20 years shows the city was on the wrong path, and it’s time to correct that.
A 21% decrease in under-18 residents over 20 years shows the city was on the wrong path, and it’s time to correct that.
If you want a world class university in your city but you don’t want housing that employees and students can afford, then you are an unserious person who is advocating for traffic creation.
And for a competitive disadvantage where faculty and students will simply choose to go elsewhere. #a2council
And for a competitive disadvantage where faculty and students will simply choose to go elsewhere. #a2council
May 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
If you want a world class university in your city but you don’t want housing that employees and students can afford, then you are an unserious person who is advocating for traffic creation.
And for a competitive disadvantage where faculty and students will simply choose to go elsewhere. #a2council
And for a competitive disadvantage where faculty and students will simply choose to go elsewhere. #a2council
What struck me most about the “pause the plan” folks is the lack of interest in a positive future.
Just so sad to see a group of such fortunate people, each with a zero-sum, dismal view of the world as it is, endlessly catastrophizing about how any change will be even worse. #a2council
Just so sad to see a group of such fortunate people, each with a zero-sum, dismal view of the world as it is, endlessly catastrophizing about how any change will be even worse. #a2council
May 14, 2025 at 5:37 AM
What struck me most about the “pause the plan” folks is the lack of interest in a positive future.
Just so sad to see a group of such fortunate people, each with a zero-sum, dismal view of the world as it is, endlessly catastrophizing about how any change will be even worse. #a2council
Just so sad to see a group of such fortunate people, each with a zero-sum, dismal view of the world as it is, endlessly catastrophizing about how any change will be even worse. #a2council
The skeleton key to understanding most of the Bay Area’s dysfunction is the deeply internalized idea that cars and parking lots, rather than housing, are the correct mechanisms by which to achieve class equality.
"Saying the need for housing outweighs parking needs is like saying the need for water outweighs the need for food. Sure, you can survive on one for a bit, but not forever."
PARKING IS ESSENTIAL FOR HUMAN LIFE!
PARKING IS ESSENTIAL FOR HUMAN LIFE!
December 30, 2024 at 9:33 PM
The skeleton key to understanding most of the Bay Area’s dysfunction is the deeply internalized idea that cars and parking lots, rather than housing, are the correct mechanisms by which to achieve class equality.
I’m like two weeks late to this but my personal theory is Americans’ anger at insurance companies is mostly b/c it turns healthcare into a 3-body-problem: placing substantial administrative burden on you while also limiting your negotiating power, rather than the profit/denial-of-care explanations.
December 18, 2024 at 5:03 AM
I’m like two weeks late to this but my personal theory is Americans’ anger at insurance companies is mostly b/c it turns healthcare into a 3-body-problem: placing substantial administrative burden on you while also limiting your negotiating power, rather than the profit/denial-of-care explanations.
Much of California’s housing and transit dysfunction is explained by the endemic idea that free parking is equivalent to equality.
Decades of thinking “no need to build more homes when people can just drive here” is how you end up with free parking for Cybertrucks next to $3M homes.
Decades of thinking “no need to build more homes when people can just drive here” is how you end up with free parking for Cybertrucks next to $3M homes.
December 13, 2024 at 12:14 AM
Much of California’s housing and transit dysfunction is explained by the endemic idea that free parking is equivalent to equality.
Decades of thinking “no need to build more homes when people can just drive here” is how you end up with free parking for Cybertrucks next to $3M homes.
Decades of thinking “no need to build more homes when people can just drive here” is how you end up with free parking for Cybertrucks next to $3M homes.
I can’t stop thinking about how blue cities’ failure to build is creating a Malthusianist society. The median NYTimes reader now believes the solution to the housing crisis is to accept that homeownership is impossible, or wait for a fraction of society to die off. Just completely bleak stuff.
December 12, 2024 at 6:30 AM
I can’t stop thinking about how blue cities’ failure to build is creating a Malthusianist society. The median NYTimes reader now believes the solution to the housing crisis is to accept that homeownership is impossible, or wait for a fraction of society to die off. Just completely bleak stuff.
Inference-time scaling marks the twilight of the “write better than ChatGPT” assignment paradigm, which is (ironically) a good example of goal misspecification in an adversarial multi-agent environment.
One warning to instructors is that the new Google Deep Research feature solves most of the issues with AI-created research assignments, at least at the undergraduate & below level
Pretty solidly well-organized and written, with accurate citations, it makes it very easy for students to skip research
Pretty solidly well-organized and written, with accurate citations, it makes it very easy for students to skip research
December 11, 2024 at 5:57 PM
Inference-time scaling marks the twilight of the “write better than ChatGPT” assignment paradigm, which is (ironically) a good example of goal misspecification in an adversarial multi-agent environment.
Reposted by Steve Zekany
The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.
All three statements are true at the same time. Understanding this is key to solving big global problems.
We believe data & research can help us understand both the problems we face & the progress that’s possible. 🧵
All three statements are true at the same time. Understanding this is key to solving big global problems.
We believe data & research can help us understand both the problems we face & the progress that’s possible. 🧵
December 10, 2024 at 1:05 PM
The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.
All three statements are true at the same time. Understanding this is key to solving big global problems.
We believe data & research can help us understand both the problems we face & the progress that’s possible. 🧵
All three statements are true at the same time. Understanding this is key to solving big global problems.
We believe data & research can help us understand both the problems we face & the progress that’s possible. 🧵
Lot of people dunking on this but it illustrates why Democrats need to get serious about improving local governance; plus permitting reform and overhauled comms strategies at the national level.
If you accomplish things but don’t talk about them, the median voter won’t know.
If you accomplish things but don’t talk about them, the median voter won’t know.
December 10, 2024 at 4:24 PM
Lot of people dunking on this but it illustrates why Democrats need to get serious about improving local governance; plus permitting reform and overhauled comms strategies at the national level.
If you accomplish things but don’t talk about them, the median voter won’t know.
If you accomplish things but don’t talk about them, the median voter won’t know.
I know booking my flight to London six months out reveals my pathological obsession for meticulous planning, but I’m genuinely curious about this person in 18B who booked even further in advance just to ensure they would have a middle seat.
December 10, 2024 at 7:34 AM
I know booking my flight to London six months out reveals my pathological obsession for meticulous planning, but I’m genuinely curious about this person in 18B who booked even further in advance just to ensure they would have a middle seat.
Reposted by Steve Zekany
this talking point was annoying 5 years ago but is straight-up infuriating in 2024. COVID saw the largest outflux of economic activity from cities in decades, and CHIPS/IRA spent billions to move jobs out of the coasts. When is it OK to say the problem is a lack of homebuilding?
Could it be that metropolitan areas produce jobs and opportunity through agglomeration and network effects? Impossible! Surely the same productivity is possible in exurbs and rural areas
December 1, 2024 at 2:55 AM
this talking point was annoying 5 years ago but is straight-up infuriating in 2024. COVID saw the largest outflux of economic activity from cities in decades, and CHIPS/IRA spent billions to move jobs out of the coasts. When is it OK to say the problem is a lack of homebuilding?
Thanksgiving dinner host is sick with a fever, so I’m making croissant cinnamon rolls instead. (No I have not done this before. Yes it will probably end in disaster.) 😅
November 28, 2024 at 9:19 PM
Thanksgiving dinner host is sick with a fever, so I’m making croissant cinnamon rolls instead. (No I have not done this before. Yes it will probably end in disaster.) 😅
I added custom instructions for Claude to use chain-of-thought reasoning and optionally respond in the persona of Roy Kent if the mood strikes, but now I’m worried I have created a monster 😅
November 26, 2024 at 10:37 PM
I added custom instructions for Claude to use chain-of-thought reasoning and optionally respond in the persona of Roy Kent if the mood strikes, but now I’m worried I have created a monster 😅
Reposted by Steve Zekany
🔭🧪🧬 Amazing DeepMind longread on how AI advances science by tackling scale/complexity bottlenecks: processing literature, enhancing data quality, simulations modeling complex systems, and exploring solution spaces that exceed human cognitive limits. www.aipolicyperspectives.com/p/a-new-gold...
A new golden age of discovery
Seizing the AI for Science opportunity
www.aipolicyperspectives.com
November 26, 2024 at 11:13 AM
🔭🧪🧬 Amazing DeepMind longread on how AI advances science by tackling scale/complexity bottlenecks: processing literature, enhancing data quality, simulations modeling complex systems, and exploring solution spaces that exceed human cognitive limits. www.aipolicyperspectives.com/p/a-new-gold...
Reposted by Steve Zekany
In the last four decades, the number of people who were paralyzed by polio was reduced by over 99%.
This chart is from my article on why we can be the generation that ends polio forever everywhere: ourworldindata.org/global-fight...
This chart is from my article on why we can be the generation that ends polio forever everywhere: ourworldindata.org/global-fight...
November 24, 2024 at 8:35 PM
In the last four decades, the number of people who were paralyzed by polio was reduced by over 99%.
This chart is from my article on why we can be the generation that ends polio forever everywhere: ourworldindata.org/global-fight...
This chart is from my article on why we can be the generation that ends polio forever everywhere: ourworldindata.org/global-fight...
I’m visiting my brother in NYC in a few weeks and every reputable hotel is over $500/night. Every single one. Like the best you can do is a sketchy hotel (3.2/5 stars, 8500 reviews) for $400.
“Maybe I’ll just stay in Jersey City.” Nope, Holiday Inn Express for $534.
“Maybe I’ll just stay in Jersey City.” Nope, Holiday Inn Express for $534.
banned airbnbs so the hotel supply plummeted. and now you pay $500/night. congrats on delivering the most obvious outcome
Seems like a place where we should effectively ban new hotel construction. 🙄🙄
November 24, 2024 at 4:50 PM
I’m visiting my brother in NYC in a few weeks and every reputable hotel is over $500/night. Every single one. Like the best you can do is a sketchy hotel (3.2/5 stars, 8500 reviews) for $400.
“Maybe I’ll just stay in Jersey City.” Nope, Holiday Inn Express for $534.
“Maybe I’ll just stay in Jersey City.” Nope, Holiday Inn Express for $534.
Being a Tottenham fan is to constantly cycle between two modes (usually one week apart):
- “We’re absolutely terrible”
- “We’re winning everything” < we are here
(Haaland forgetting how to score goals today certainly helped too.)
- “We’re absolutely terrible”
- “We’re winning everything” < we are here
(Haaland forgetting how to score goals today certainly helped too.)
November 23, 2024 at 7:55 PM
Being a Tottenham fan is to constantly cycle between two modes (usually one week apart):
- “We’re absolutely terrible”
- “We’re winning everything” < we are here
(Haaland forgetting how to score goals today certainly helped too.)
- “We’re absolutely terrible”
- “We’re winning everything” < we are here
(Haaland forgetting how to score goals today certainly helped too.)
For real though, it would be great if NIMBYs on all social platforms could please collectively decide whether new housing is “luxury condos” or “overcrowded literal tenements”. I can only argue against one strawman at a time.
it's funny when ppl refer to the trickle of modern apartment construction as tenement blocks when here in reality we can't build enough to replace literal-tenement-buildings in NYC
November 23, 2024 at 4:45 AM
For real though, it would be great if NIMBYs on all social platforms could please collectively decide whether new housing is “luxury condos” or “overcrowded literal tenements”. I can only argue against one strawman at a time.
Reposted by Steve Zekany
This place is too cozy, so let me be a little provocative:
In the last 5 years or so, the climate movement had the opportunity to pivot away from No No No (fighting/blocking things) to Yes Yes Yes (supporting abundance, more RE, more housing, more building).
But ...
In the last 5 years or so, the climate movement had the opportunity to pivot away from No No No (fighting/blocking things) to Yes Yes Yes (supporting abundance, more RE, more housing, more building).
But ...
November 22, 2024 at 6:46 PM
This place is too cozy, so let me be a little provocative:
In the last 5 years or so, the climate movement had the opportunity to pivot away from No No No (fighting/blocking things) to Yes Yes Yes (supporting abundance, more RE, more housing, more building).
But ...
In the last 5 years or so, the climate movement had the opportunity to pivot away from No No No (fighting/blocking things) to Yes Yes Yes (supporting abundance, more RE, more housing, more building).
But ...
Reposted by Steve Zekany
Starting to see the first serious economic analysis attempts to grapple with what AGI might mean. I appreciate that this piece embraces scenarios, we don’t know if or when AGI might happen.
But wow that wages graph is something else. www.imf.org/en/Publicati...
But wow that wages graph is something else. www.imf.org/en/Publicati...
November 22, 2024 at 1:29 AM
Starting to see the first serious economic analysis attempts to grapple with what AGI might mean. I appreciate that this piece embraces scenarios, we don’t know if or when AGI might happen.
But wow that wages graph is something else. www.imf.org/en/Publicati...
But wow that wages graph is something else. www.imf.org/en/Publicati...
The tragedy of modern America is that instead of making our cities affordable, safe, inclusive places where rural Americans can participate in economic & cultural opportunities, we spend $100 billion on rural broadband and pretend that’s the same thing. We can do better! Progress is a policy choice.
keep being told that another $100B of subsidies to rural broadband and infrastructure in exurban areas will fix everything while we let the cities where actual Dem voters live rot! It doesn't work! You can see how it doesn't work!
November 21, 2024 at 7:22 PM
The tragedy of modern America is that instead of making our cities affordable, safe, inclusive places where rural Americans can participate in economic & cultural opportunities, we spend $100 billion on rural broadband and pretend that’s the same thing. We can do better! Progress is a policy choice.
Reposted by Steve Zekany
The worsening bird flu situation is an alarming reminder that years after Covid we’re still not taking pandemic defense seriously enough even though we’ve learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work.
www.slowboring.com/p/how-trump-...
www.slowboring.com/p/how-trump-...
How Trump can lead on vaccine development, again
It’s time to get ready for bird flu
www.slowboring.com
November 20, 2024 at 11:08 AM
The worsening bird flu situation is an alarming reminder that years after Covid we’re still not taking pandemic defense seriously enough even though we’ve learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work.
www.slowboring.com/p/how-trump-...
www.slowboring.com/p/how-trump-...
Reposted by Steve Zekany
Los Angeles' inability to upzone single family neighborhoods even in the face of a state mandate and the threat of losing Congressional seats and an acute housing shortage goes to show: Housing is the issue where progressive values crumble.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-housi...
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-housi...
More Housing In Your Neighborhood Is a Progressive Value
Liberal homeowners, wake up.
www.hamiltonnolan.com
November 18, 2024 at 4:11 PM
Los Angeles' inability to upzone single family neighborhoods even in the face of a state mandate and the threat of losing Congressional seats and an acute housing shortage goes to show: Housing is the issue where progressive values crumble.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-housi...
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/more-housi...
The rate at which solar cell production has increased is incredible. Twelve months of China’s solar cell production at current rates (65 GW/month) would be enough to replace *every* gas, coal, and oil power plant in the US (733 GW of generation capacity in 2023).
Chinese production of solar cells hit another record high in newly-released data—monthly production has grown more than 13% compared to last year and is above 65GW of capacity for the first time
November 19, 2024 at 7:00 PM
The rate at which solar cell production has increased is incredible. Twelve months of China’s solar cell production at current rates (65 GW/month) would be enough to replace *every* gas, coal, and oil power plant in the US (733 GW of generation capacity in 2023).