Barry Kelly
@barrkel.bsky.social
Software engineer and architect. Zurich, London, Galway. Google, Duco, Delphi.
Well they shouldn't need a search warrant for your house either then, since all the stuff inside was bought from retailers who may have collected and shared your data.
December 19, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Well they shouldn't need a search warrant for your house either then, since all the stuff inside was bought from retailers who may have collected and shared your data.
At as a motorcyclist, don't even get me started at the speed cameras! Only been caught once, 1km over the adjusted limit, but Black Forest is my preferred destination.
At least it's central and the weather is pretty good, proper summer mostly, and good views, good hiking. That stuff is good.
At least it's central and the weather is pretty good, proper summer mostly, and good views, good hiking. That stuff is good.
December 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM
At as a motorcyclist, don't even get me started at the speed cameras! Only been caught once, 1km over the adjusted limit, but Black Forest is my preferred destination.
At least it's central and the weather is pretty good, proper summer mostly, and good views, good hiking. That stuff is good.
At least it's central and the weather is pretty good, proper summer mostly, and good views, good hiking. That stuff is good.
My main entertainment spend is eating out (or was, when I lived in London), so I feel it a lot. And to be quite honest, I am less impressed by the restaurants here, even at the same level (Michelin ⭐). So London and Paris it is.
I spent 604chf at meat4you for Christmas... For decent beef & lamb.
I spent 604chf at meat4you for Christmas... For decent beef & lamb.
December 16, 2025 at 9:28 AM
My main entertainment spend is eating out (or was, when I lived in London), so I feel it a lot. And to be quite honest, I am less impressed by the restaurants here, even at the same level (Michelin ⭐). So London and Paris it is.
I spent 604chf at meat4you for Christmas... For decent beef & lamb.
I spent 604chf at meat4you for Christmas... For decent beef & lamb.
Eating out in London is still a lot better value than Zurich though.
December 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Eating out in London is still a lot better value than Zurich though.
I bought these bad boys in October, not due to tariffs (these are CHF prices) but due to lack of belief in significant hardware speed leaps any time soon, and got ahead of the great memory spike. 128G for my desktop and 768G for my home server, & 32+96 VRAM for the two GPUs. 1TB RAM total!
December 16, 2025 at 8:44 AM
I bought these bad boys in October, not due to tariffs (these are CHF prices) but due to lack of belief in significant hardware speed leaps any time soon, and got ahead of the great memory spike. 128G for my desktop and 768G for my home server, & 32+96 VRAM for the two GPUs. 1TB RAM total!
Pesky creatives are how the folks with the big libraries think of them. Surprising you can't see that. It might be due to your limited discourse, but I can't be sure.
And it is how it goes. The Suno agreement is the template.
And it is how it goes. The Suno agreement is the template.
December 15, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Pesky creatives are how the folks with the big libraries think of them. Surprising you can't see that. It might be due to your limited discourse, but I can't be sure.
And it is how it goes. The Suno agreement is the template.
And it is how it goes. The Suno agreement is the template.
The result would be corporations with big libraries controlling the technology eith their leverage. That way, they can eliminate the cost of creatives and focus on profits.
I expect you see this too, but there are a lot of not very savvy creatives who can't see second order effects.
I expect you see this too, but there are a lot of not very savvy creatives who can't see second order effects.
December 15, 2025 at 3:48 PM
The result would be corporations with big libraries controlling the technology eith their leverage. That way, they can eliminate the cost of creatives and focus on profits.
I expect you see this too, but there are a lot of not very savvy creatives who can't see second order effects.
I expect you see this too, but there are a lot of not very savvy creatives who can't see second order effects.
Why do you think it wouldn't result in large corporates with big libraries doing a deal with AI vendors, and then eliminating pesky creatives from their own cost base?
December 15, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Why do you think it wouldn't result in large corporates with big libraries doing a deal with AI vendors, and then eliminating pesky creatives from their own cost base?
The result of this would be corporations with large copyright libraries, who have the most leverage in any negotiation, controlling the technology. Just to be clear.
That way, they can eliminate the cost of creatives and focus on profits.
That way, they can eliminate the cost of creatives and focus on profits.
December 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM
The result of this would be corporations with large copyright libraries, who have the most leverage in any negotiation, controlling the technology. Just to be clear.
That way, they can eliminate the cost of creatives and focus on profits.
That way, they can eliminate the cost of creatives and focus on profits.
The result of this would be corporations with large copyright libraries, who have the most leverage in any negotiation, controlling the technology. Just to be clear.
That way, they can eliminate authors and artists, and focus on profits.
That way, they can eliminate authors and artists, and focus on profits.
December 15, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The result of this would be corporations with large copyright libraries, who have the most leverage in any negotiation, controlling the technology. Just to be clear.
That way, they can eliminate authors and artists, and focus on profits.
That way, they can eliminate authors and artists, and focus on profits.
Isn't that another phrase for inbred?
It's just a really weird thing to be proud of.
It's just a really weird thing to be proud of.
December 15, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Isn't that another phrase for inbred?
It's just a really weird thing to be proud of.
It's just a really weird thing to be proud of.
The only people that switcheroo of the historical norm benefited, aside from the ego of pedants, was hard drive manufacturers' shortchanging their customers.
December 13, 2025 at 5:54 PM
The only people that switcheroo of the historical norm benefited, aside from the ego of pedants, was hard drive manufacturers' shortchanging their customers.
FOMO is a big driver. If the market believes something (as revealed by what they're buying) the upper echelons of executives want to lean into it, otherwise they'll miss out on the stock bump.
December 12, 2025 at 10:02 AM
FOMO is a big driver. If the market believes something (as revealed by what they're buying) the upper echelons of executives want to lean into it, otherwise they'll miss out on the stock bump.
I know the point the tiktoker wants to belabour, but I also know the point of the comic. I recall my personal frustration around 2005 trying to get a decent black coffee and not a sugary milk drink. And I don't think the frustration the comic strip points to leads to right wing radicalism.
December 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I know the point the tiktoker wants to belabour, but I also know the point of the comic. I recall my personal frustration around 2005 trying to get a decent black coffee and not a sugary milk drink. And I don't think the frustration the comic strip points to leads to right wing radicalism.
I don't think our brains are non-biological.
December 11, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I don't think our brains are non-biological.
Nihilism isn't a breakthrough. It's a stance that ignores how meaning actually arises in embodied, relational beings. We don't choose our value function. It's grounded in care, dependence, biology.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
December 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Nihilism isn't a breakthrough. It's a stance that ignores how meaning actually arises in embodied, relational beings. We don't choose our value function. It's grounded in care, dependence, biology.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
I think your opinion, that meaning as optional, is epistemically unsound.
For clarity, I asked a friendly local AI. It suggests a bridge to help explain:
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
December 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
For clarity, I asked a friendly local AI. It suggests a bridge to help explain:
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
Al replacing human provisioning roles could undermine the biological foundations of meaning, because we derive value from being needed and supporting others.
It comes from the main thread you're referencing. It's the entire topic of the conversation. Life's universal meaning - successful reproduction - isn't made up. The psychology we've evolved with isn't prepared for self-constructed meaning.
bsky.app/profile/peli...
bsky.app/profile/peli...
Suppose AI could cook everyone's favorite comfort foods in a way that makes the food 10% less unhealthy. Should humans resolve to never cook for each other again and only make game-food you throw in the trash when you're done cooking?
December 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
It comes from the main thread you're referencing. It's the entire topic of the conversation. Life's universal meaning - successful reproduction - isn't made up. The psychology we've evolved with isn't prepared for self-constructed meaning.
bsky.app/profile/peli...
bsky.app/profile/peli...
Meaning is grounded in support and reproduction though.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
December 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Meaning is grounded in support and reproduction though.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
There's no stronger love than for your child, and being a provider anchors value within a loving relationship.
This meaning is not made up. It's real: it doesn't go away when you pretend it doesn't exist. It exists in other animals too.
Third wave coffee has saved us though, with single origin lighter roasts in pourovers.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
December 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Third wave coffee has saved us though, with single origin lighter roasts in pourovers.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
I just couldn't get past the guy saying the scenario hasn't happened once. Because it happens all the time, just usually confined to muttering under your breath while looking at the menu.
It is harder these days to get a black coffee that isn't a watered down espresso though. Just saying, the comic is not wrong. It's more a late 1990s / early 2000s complaint about Starbucks and second wave coffee than culture war.
December 11, 2025 at 3:01 PM
It is harder these days to get a black coffee that isn't a watered down espresso though. Just saying, the comic is not wrong. It's more a late 1990s / early 2000s complaint about Starbucks and second wave coffee than culture war.
This applies particularly to goods bought for their use value. Brand advertising is still important for goods bought for social amd symbolic value, where ads sell an image that the buyer is adopting and wants to rub off on them; those ads, in fashion etc., can work for the consumer.
December 10, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This applies particularly to goods bought for their use value. Brand advertising is still important for goods bought for social amd symbolic value, where ads sell an image that the buyer is adopting and wants to rub off on them; those ads, in fashion etc., can work for the consumer.
Advertising distorts the flow of information. If what customers learn is determined by competitive bidding, the result is less efficient: biased information at a higher cost. What people actually need is analysis and peer reviews calibrated to their own preferences.
Aand now we have AI.
Aand now we have AI.
December 10, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Advertising distorts the flow of information. If what customers learn is determined by competitive bidding, the result is less efficient: biased information at a higher cost. What people actually need is analysis and peer reviews calibrated to their own preferences.
Aand now we have AI.
Aand now we have AI.
Do they subjectively feel like they've overcome LLM limitations to you?
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
December 9, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Do they subjectively feel like they've overcome LLM limitations to you?
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
It's great that they've been fine-tuned on a bunch of synthetic symbolic problems. Benchmarks go up.
But I still need to clear the context whenever a bad take or mistaken assumption gets in.
Reposted by Barry Kelly
2/6
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
December 8, 2025 at 4:30 AM
2/6
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...
This is the point I have been making again and again over the years. The global economy is a closed system, and it must balance. This means that domestic imbalances created by countries that control their external accounts must...