Chris James
@chris.whywhatsnext.com
+ indie web presence | - walled gardens
+ creating art to share | - commodified content
+ intentional futureshaping | - being tossed by algos
+ decentralization | - society's eggs in a single basket
+ creating art to share | - commodified content
+ intentional futureshaping | - being tossed by algos
+ decentralization | - society's eggs in a single basket
That is a very sneakily clever showcase of what bases is capable of.
Gotta dive into it now.
Obsidian has been my favorite piece of software in the past years. Thank you!
Gotta dive into it now.
Obsidian has been my favorite piece of software in the past years. Thank you!
September 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
That is a very sneakily clever showcase of what bases is capable of.
Gotta dive into it now.
Obsidian has been my favorite piece of software in the past years. Thank you!
Gotta dive into it now.
Obsidian has been my favorite piece of software in the past years. Thank you!
That's actually much longer of a runway than I expected!
However, I can't help but worry that the '10% growth forever' model that the developed world's economic system is based on, has been subsidized by the pop growth rate. And when the demographic pyramid inverts, the GDP gears start grinding.
However, I can't help but worry that the '10% growth forever' model that the developed world's economic system is based on, has been subsidized by the pop growth rate. And when the demographic pyramid inverts, the GDP gears start grinding.
August 11, 2025 at 3:51 PM
That's actually much longer of a runway than I expected!
However, I can't help but worry that the '10% growth forever' model that the developed world's economic system is based on, has been subsidized by the pop growth rate. And when the demographic pyramid inverts, the GDP gears start grinding.
However, I can't help but worry that the '10% growth forever' model that the developed world's economic system is based on, has been subsidized by the pop growth rate. And when the demographic pyramid inverts, the GDP gears start grinding.
Ah, I think we might be talking about diff problems.
I'm concerned about the 150-year global problem. I agree that immigration solves it for select countries, coming from developing countries. All dev. countries have followed the low tfr trajectory, then we run out.
The Earth is a closed system.
I'm concerned about the 150-year global problem. I agree that immigration solves it for select countries, coming from developing countries. All dev. countries have followed the low tfr trajectory, then we run out.
The Earth is a closed system.
August 11, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Ah, I think we might be talking about diff problems.
I'm concerned about the 150-year global problem. I agree that immigration solves it for select countries, coming from developing countries. All dev. countries have followed the low tfr trajectory, then we run out.
The Earth is a closed system.
I'm concerned about the 150-year global problem. I agree that immigration solves it for select countries, coming from developing countries. All dev. countries have followed the low tfr trajectory, then we run out.
The Earth is a closed system.
But isn't this time different? 19th c. childhood mortality meant eff. replacement rates were higher, right?
Worries then were about going below 2.5 or 3. But we offset that with good healthcare, so 2.1 is a good rate.
Can't offset sub-2.0 birthrate with healthcare. Only immortality. Where am I off?
Worries then were about going below 2.5 or 3. But we offset that with good healthcare, so 2.1 is a good rate.
Can't offset sub-2.0 birthrate with healthcare. Only immortality. Where am I off?
August 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM
But isn't this time different? 19th c. childhood mortality meant eff. replacement rates were higher, right?
Worries then were about going below 2.5 or 3. But we offset that with good healthcare, so 2.1 is a good rate.
Can't offset sub-2.0 birthrate with healthcare. Only immortality. Where am I off?
Worries then were about going below 2.5 or 3. But we offset that with good healthcare, so 2.1 is a good rate.
Can't offset sub-2.0 birthrate with healthcare. Only immortality. Where am I off?
Caricature in US. Tuesday here in Hungary.
bsky.app/profile/szab...
At least US has a culture where that is outrageous. It means there's still hope.
bsky.app/profile/szab...
At least US has a culture where that is outrageous. It means there's still hope.
Sounds familiar. Two years ago, Donald Trump’s Hungarian fanboy, Viktor Orbán, had his government fire the head of the National Meteorological Service after forecasted storms missed Budapest—causing an unnecessary cancellation of fireworks.
August 1, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Caricature in US. Tuesday here in Hungary.
bsky.app/profile/szab...
At least US has a culture where that is outrageous. It means there's still hope.
bsky.app/profile/szab...
At least US has a culture where that is outrageous. It means there's still hope.
Thanks, will check the reference. I can't help but wonder if that statement will hold much past 2040 though.
Not saying if that's good or bad, I just think that 1000s of years of legal framework and theory is based on humans being the primary agents. The future is weirdly different.
Not saying if that's good or bad, I just think that 1000s of years of legal framework and theory is based on humans being the primary agents. The future is weirdly different.
August 1, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Thanks, will check the reference. I can't help but wonder if that statement will hold much past 2040 though.
Not saying if that's good or bad, I just think that 1000s of years of legal framework and theory is based on humans being the primary agents. The future is weirdly different.
Not saying if that's good or bad, I just think that 1000s of years of legal framework and theory is based on humans being the primary agents. The future is weirdly different.
The question of 1st Am. rights to 'express' is a hairy one when code is speech and corporations are people (thus corpo AI is people) - The 21st century needs to see a new framework. With pieces of current patent and copyright/license law reconfigured to a new bucket of "compuright."
August 1, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The question of 1st Am. rights to 'express' is a hairy one when code is speech and corporations are people (thus corpo AI is people) - The 21st century needs to see a new framework. With pieces of current patent and copyright/license law reconfigured to a new bucket of "compuright."
Curious to hear your examples. Other than tech-tree (describing path-dependance), what is there? 4X genre of game?
August 1, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Curious to hear your examples. Other than tech-tree (describing path-dependance), what is there? 4X genre of game?
Most people mentioning cadence and tone, but the biggest IMHO is sentence structure. When writing, you get a chance to (re)package a thought. Speaking extemp is riding a wave of linear thought unfolding one semantic cluster at a time.
That produces cadence diffs, yes, but also forces structure diffs
That produces cadence diffs, yes, but also forces structure diffs
July 31, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Most people mentioning cadence and tone, but the biggest IMHO is sentence structure. When writing, you get a chance to (re)package a thought. Speaking extemp is riding a wave of linear thought unfolding one semantic cluster at a time.
That produces cadence diffs, yes, but also forces structure diffs
That produces cadence diffs, yes, but also forces structure diffs
Vivaldi has a built in RSS reader. For those who don't want to switch browsers, Inoreader has great extensions for Chromium and Mozilla browsers.
July 31, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Vivaldi has a built in RSS reader. For those who don't want to switch browsers, Inoreader has great extensions for Chromium and Mozilla browsers.
See other reply in thread about our brains being bad at math too. Different type of computation.
The new types of computation that AI uses makes things possible that we couldn't compute before - because it wasn't efficient and feasible for a CPU to generate images or songs or videos. Now GPUs can.
The new types of computation that AI uses makes things possible that we couldn't compute before - because it wasn't efficient and feasible for a CPU to generate images or songs or videos. Now GPUs can.
July 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
See other reply in thread about our brains being bad at math too. Different type of computation.
The new types of computation that AI uses makes things possible that we couldn't compute before - because it wasn't efficient and feasible for a CPU to generate images or songs or videos. Now GPUs can.
The new types of computation that AI uses makes things possible that we couldn't compute before - because it wasn't efficient and feasible for a CPU to generate images or songs or videos. Now GPUs can.
I agree that the _actual_ solutions should be a matter of democratic law and public policy. I wish they would wake up, get out of bed with Silicon Valley money and start on governance frameworks. Afraid it moves too slow, though, even in best case scenario.
July 28, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I agree that the _actual_ solutions should be a matter of democratic law and public policy. I wish they would wake up, get out of bed with Silicon Valley money and start on governance frameworks. Afraid it moves too slow, though, even in best case scenario.
So are our brains, which calculate with neurons firing and potentials reaching threshold levels and network effects of these things. Terrible at concrete math. But the architecture allows for me to throw a ball at a moving target without concrete arithmetic.
Different computational architecture.
Different computational architecture.
July 28, 2025 at 5:04 PM
So are our brains, which calculate with neurons firing and potentials reaching threshold levels and network effects of these things. Terrible at concrete math. But the architecture allows for me to throw a ball at a moving target without concrete arithmetic.
Different computational architecture.
Different computational architecture.
Agreed. The 'democratizing an existential threat' aspect of it is maddeningly handwaved away by the e/acc's.
But we desperately need a way to verifiably differentiate between human and bot. Else we have no gauge of 'what's the general population's view' on key societal issues-> Bots control Overton
But we desperately need a way to verifiably differentiate between human and bot. Else we have no gauge of 'what's the general population's view' on key societal issues-> Bots control Overton
July 28, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Agreed. The 'democratizing an existential threat' aspect of it is maddeningly handwaved away by the e/acc's.
But we desperately need a way to verifiably differentiate between human and bot. Else we have no gauge of 'what's the general population's view' on key societal issues-> Bots control Overton
But we desperately need a way to verifiably differentiate between human and bot. Else we have no gauge of 'what's the general population's view' on key societal issues-> Bots control Overton
All it is is a more efficient way to process 1s and 0s. It's a calculator with a more complex architecture that allows more complex applications. Just like how the server this is running on is a step up from a calculator which is a step up from a mechanical abacus.
The key is ethical use of the tool
The key is ethical use of the tool
July 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
All it is is a more efficient way to process 1s and 0s. It's a calculator with a more complex architecture that allows more complex applications. Just like how the server this is running on is a step up from a calculator which is a step up from a mechanical abacus.
The key is ethical use of the tool
The key is ethical use of the tool
Traffic laws, stoplights, seat belts and airbags _could_ have come before the first cars were released. But that's unfort. not how incentives work.
We're going to be swamped by non-human accounts and agents online before proof-of-human is mainstream.
I do wish they'd not released GPTs into the wild.
We're going to be swamped by non-human accounts and agents online before proof-of-human is mainstream.
I do wish they'd not released GPTs into the wild.
July 28, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Traffic laws, stoplights, seat belts and airbags _could_ have come before the first cars were released. But that's unfort. not how incentives work.
We're going to be swamped by non-human accounts and agents online before proof-of-human is mainstream.
I do wish they'd not released GPTs into the wild.
We're going to be swamped by non-human accounts and agents online before proof-of-human is mainstream.
I do wish they'd not released GPTs into the wild.
I think Kessler's argument is dumber than that.
The good faith reading is Kessler saying: their wealth only appears so little because they have debt, which cancels out assets.
Implying we shouldn't count their debt when making the comparison...
...
...
🤦
The good faith reading is Kessler saying: their wealth only appears so little because they have debt, which cancels out assets.
Implying we shouldn't count their debt when making the comparison...
...
...
🤦
July 28, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I think Kessler's argument is dumber than that.
The good faith reading is Kessler saying: their wealth only appears so little because they have debt, which cancels out assets.
Implying we shouldn't count their debt when making the comparison...
...
...
🤦
The good faith reading is Kessler saying: their wealth only appears so little because they have debt, which cancels out assets.
Implying we shouldn't count their debt when making the comparison...
...
...
🤦
LOOOOL. The good news: as long as it doesn't get turned into an 'office of media bias' with middle-managers and annual budgets, it doesn't have to take root and can be gone as soon as the personality in the middle of the cult moves on. If they make moves to institutionalize, we're cooked.
July 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
LOOOOL. The good news: as long as it doesn't get turned into an 'office of media bias' with middle-managers and annual budgets, it doesn't have to take root and can be gone as soon as the personality in the middle of the cult moves on. If they make moves to institutionalize, we're cooked.
Eternated? Endlessed? Infinitied? Infinitode? Infinituded?
July 25, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Eternated? Endlessed? Infinitied? Infinitode? Infinituded?
Any bets on when they pull the move to create an oversight office of 'media fairness'?
Sounds satirical but Hungary did that years ago (essentially).
Sounds satirical but Hungary did that years ago (essentially).
July 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Any bets on when they pull the move to create an oversight office of 'media fairness'?
Sounds satirical but Hungary did that years ago (essentially).
Sounds satirical but Hungary did that years ago (essentially).
Unless you already have a list of 3, here's mine
1) Here's a curated app experience, that does one thing well on rails!
2) Here's a superapp to tie together all the apps. Clippy will help!
3) Here's a robust sandbox, you can do anything with primitives!
4) The sandbox is too complex GOTO 1)
1) Here's a curated app experience, that does one thing well on rails!
2) Here's a superapp to tie together all the apps. Clippy will help!
3) Here's a robust sandbox, you can do anything with primitives!
4) The sandbox is too complex GOTO 1)
July 25, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Unless you already have a list of 3, here's mine
1) Here's a curated app experience, that does one thing well on rails!
2) Here's a superapp to tie together all the apps. Clippy will help!
3) Here's a robust sandbox, you can do anything with primitives!
4) The sandbox is too complex GOTO 1)
1) Here's a curated app experience, that does one thing well on rails!
2) Here's a superapp to tie together all the apps. Clippy will help!
3) Here's a robust sandbox, you can do anything with primitives!
4) The sandbox is too complex GOTO 1)
My argument is: the underlying problem the is trying to solve _will_ be necessary in some form. There is a very narrow path to get ethical implementation of it. ANYTHING off that path is dystopian. And all $ incentives and govt power draw toward the exploitation of the tech. :(
July 23, 2025 at 5:46 PM
My argument is: the underlying problem the is trying to solve _will_ be necessary in some form. There is a very narrow path to get ethical implementation of it. ANYTHING off that path is dystopian. And all $ incentives and govt power draw toward the exploitation of the tech. :(
True, unfortunately, this version is bad too 🤣. But primarily because govt isn't going to stop the exploitation. (thanks to big $ in politics.) ideal version: decentralized anonymous options where any entity resp. for protocol implementation obeys ethical laws set by govt. But they're all in bed. :(
July 23, 2025 at 5:43 PM
True, unfortunately, this version is bad too 🤣. But primarily because govt isn't going to stop the exploitation. (thanks to big $ in politics.) ideal version: decentralized anonymous options where any entity resp. for protocol implementation obeys ethical laws set by govt. But they're all in bed. :(
I'm with you on warning about grifters, but 'proof-of-human' is a hard but necessary problem to solve. It's either going to be solved with permissionless cryptography, or government-permissioned surveilled cryptography. One of those is dystopian.
July 23, 2025 at 8:39 AM
I'm with you on warning about grifters, but 'proof-of-human' is a hard but necessary problem to solve. It's either going to be solved with permissionless cryptography, or government-permissioned surveilled cryptography. One of those is dystopian.