A random tech person
@greentechperson.bsky.social
Tech, people and the environment
Reposted by A random tech person
End of year overview of posts on my blog Soft Machines.
Featuring
-the UK's economic stagnation
-why the UK's new nuclear build programme failed
-good & bad reasons for growing UK manufacturing
-scenarios for the future of AI
-Moore's law
-university/R&D policy for hard times
softmachines.org?p=3218
Featuring
-the UK's economic stagnation
-why the UK's new nuclear build programme failed
-good & bad reasons for growing UK manufacturing
-scenarios for the future of AI
-Moore's law
-university/R&D policy for hard times
softmachines.org?p=3218
The Year in Soft Machines – Soft Machines, by Richard Jones
softmachines.org
December 27, 2025 at 10:20 AM
End of year overview of posts on my blog Soft Machines.
Featuring
-the UK's economic stagnation
-why the UK's new nuclear build programme failed
-good & bad reasons for growing UK manufacturing
-scenarios for the future of AI
-Moore's law
-university/R&D policy for hard times
softmachines.org?p=3218
Featuring
-the UK's economic stagnation
-why the UK's new nuclear build programme failed
-good & bad reasons for growing UK manufacturing
-scenarios for the future of AI
-Moore's law
-university/R&D policy for hard times
softmachines.org?p=3218
Reposted by A random tech person
The present global economic system has only one setting: destruction of everything that has true value for profit.
Yet if you point this out, you're assailed by smart arses trying to show how clever they are.
Yet if you point this out, you're assailed by smart arses trying to show how clever they are.
Thousand of bulldozers on the way to flatten over 5 million acres of forest in West Papua and this is just one ship
Such is the rush that even the Indonesia army has been brought in to speed up the deforestation
A shameful day for Indonesia and the world
Such is the rush that even the Indonesia army has been brought in to speed up the deforestation
A shameful day for Indonesia and the world
December 27, 2025 at 10:07 AM
The present global economic system has only one setting: destruction of everything that has true value for profit.
Yet if you point this out, you're assailed by smart arses trying to show how clever they are.
Yet if you point this out, you're assailed by smart arses trying to show how clever they are.
Reposted by A random tech person
Meta thinks its camera glasses, which are often used for harassment, are no different than any other camera.
Here's 404 Media's guide to the PR team at Meta:
www.404media.co/whats-the-di...
Here's 404 Media's guide to the PR team at Meta:
www.404media.co/whats-the-di...
What’s the Difference Between AI Glasses and an iPhone? A Helpful Guide for Meta PR
Meta thinks its camera glasses, which are often used for harassment, are no different than any other camera.
www.404media.co
December 26, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Meta thinks its camera glasses, which are often used for harassment, are no different than any other camera.
Here's 404 Media's guide to the PR team at Meta:
www.404media.co/whats-the-di...
Here's 404 Media's guide to the PR team at Meta:
www.404media.co/whats-the-di...
5 perfect movies, no particular order:
- Spirited away
- The Ballad of Wallis Island
- Nomadland
- Oldboy
- Amelie
- Spirited away
- The Ballad of Wallis Island
- Nomadland
- Oldboy
- Amelie
5 perfect movies (in no particular order):
-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
-True Grit (2011)
-The Apartment
-Cure
-The Ring
-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
-True Grit (2011)
-The Apartment
-Cure
-The Ring
5 perfect movies (in no particular order):
-Paper Moon
-High And Low
-All That Jazz
-Miracle Mile
-Broadcast News
-Paper Moon
-High And Low
-All That Jazz
-Miracle Mile
-Broadcast News
December 24, 2025 at 5:52 PM
5 perfect movies, no particular order:
- Spirited away
- The Ballad of Wallis Island
- Nomadland
- Oldboy
- Amelie
- Spirited away
- The Ballad of Wallis Island
- Nomadland
- Oldboy
- Amelie
Reposted by A random tech person
Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
December 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️
Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei
Happy holidays!
Reposted by A random tech person
Another new a16z idea: giving letters of medical necessity to anybody so they can commit tax fraud
Between funding social media bot farms, crypto, and prediction markets, this company represents the new era where tech is mostly just for fraud
Between funding social media bot farms, crypto, and prediction markets, this company represents the new era where tech is mostly just for fraud
December 23, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Another new a16z idea: giving letters of medical necessity to anybody so they can commit tax fraud
Between funding social media bot farms, crypto, and prediction markets, this company represents the new era where tech is mostly just for fraud
Between funding social media bot farms, crypto, and prediction markets, this company represents the new era where tech is mostly just for fraud
Reposted by A random tech person
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM
This is genuinely horrifying. Fact-free far-right agitprop given accolades by credible media across the political spectrum.
Reposted by A random tech person
I wrote this earlier.
"...while there are likely people in China who know how much oil they can store and how much excess storage capacity currently exists, they aren’t sharing that info and we have no real idea. We do have an idea what would happen if China stopped buying this oil next year."
"...while there are likely people in China who know how much oil they can store and how much excess storage capacity currently exists, they aren’t sharing that info and we have no real idea. We do have an idea what would happen if China stopped buying this oil next year."
Gluttons For Punishment: Oil Industry Doubles Down Against Reality
The world is facing a multi-year oil glut where the oil producers will be pumping more oil out of the ground than the world is using. This will keep oil prices at low levels – likely well below the le...
powering-the-planet.ghost.io
December 23, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I wrote this earlier.
"...while there are likely people in China who know how much oil they can store and how much excess storage capacity currently exists, they aren’t sharing that info and we have no real idea. We do have an idea what would happen if China stopped buying this oil next year."
"...while there are likely people in China who know how much oil they can store and how much excess storage capacity currently exists, they aren’t sharing that info and we have no real idea. We do have an idea what would happen if China stopped buying this oil next year."
Reposted by A random tech person
No, people are not exaggerating the significance of what's going on at Heritage. We're talking massive capital flight, in every sense of the word. It will never be the same, and it will be less powerful.
December 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
No, people are not exaggerating the significance of what's going on at Heritage. We're talking massive capital flight, in every sense of the word. It will never be the same, and it will be less powerful.
Reposted by A random tech person
Finally got around to read Darwin. The clarity of thought is wholly impressive and still compelling today.
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
November 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Finally got around to read Darwin. The clarity of thought is wholly impressive and still compelling today.
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
Also very quotable and perhaps one of the reasons this work became such a recurrent tome.
Will add examples below
1/n
🧪
Reposted by A random tech person
the category error most generative AI defenders make is that it doesn't make them better artists, it makes them worse patrons of the arts
December 20, 2025 at 9:12 PM
the category error most generative AI defenders make is that it doesn't make them better artists, it makes them worse patrons of the arts
Reposted by A random tech person
Easy fix: 🚲
The Backlash Against Car Prices Is Here
There's plenty of blame to go around, and no easy fix.
www.theatlantic.com
December 20, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Easy fix: 🚲
Reposted by A random tech person
This reactor will provide less than one gigawatt of capacity.
That is a rounding error in the larger discussion.
I wouldn't be too happy if this was my poster child for the future.
That is a rounding error in the larger discussion.
I wouldn't be too happy if this was my poster child for the future.
Energy secretary says Three Mile Island is ‘poster child’ of Trump energy, AI agenda | WITF
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday called restarting the nuclear reactor facility on Three Mile Island the “poster child” of Pres […]
www.witf.org
December 19, 2025 at 1:14 PM
This reactor will provide less than one gigawatt of capacity.
That is a rounding error in the larger discussion.
I wouldn't be too happy if this was my poster child for the future.
That is a rounding error in the larger discussion.
I wouldn't be too happy if this was my poster child for the future.
Reposted by A random tech person
An analysis of X posts from the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology suggests it is overwhelmingly pro-AI.
I analysed the sentiment of every X post from DSIT that mentioned "AI" this year. Of 122 posts, 110 were positive about AI, and only 7 mentioned its downsides.
🧵 1/2
I analysed the sentiment of every X post from DSIT that mentioned "AI" this year. Of 122 posts, 110 were positive about AI, and only 7 mentioned its downsides.
🧵 1/2
December 19, 2025 at 9:40 AM
An analysis of X posts from the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology suggests it is overwhelmingly pro-AI.
I analysed the sentiment of every X post from DSIT that mentioned "AI" this year. Of 122 posts, 110 were positive about AI, and only 7 mentioned its downsides.
🧵 1/2
I analysed the sentiment of every X post from DSIT that mentioned "AI" this year. Of 122 posts, 110 were positive about AI, and only 7 mentioned its downsides.
🧵 1/2
Reposted by A random tech person
“I'm afraid it's too late to argue, Barack Obama, for you see I have already depicted you as the soyjack and myself as the chad”
December 19, 2025 at 5:21 AM
“I'm afraid it's too late to argue, Barack Obama, for you see I have already depicted you as the soyjack and myself as the chad”
Reposted by A random tech person
Doesn't seem *hugely* surprising www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK’s largest proposed datacentre ‘understating planned water use’
Analysis suggests consumption at Northumberland site could be 50 times higher than US operator QTS estimates
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Doesn't seem *hugely* surprising www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by A random tech person
Get in here bean heads. This is a treasure trove.
newly in the market for best big batch meal prep options for dried beans. please my family is hungry
Beans, beans, the more you eat, the more your … meals are healthier and cheaper
December 18, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Get in here bean heads. This is a treasure trove.
Reposted by A random tech person
Matt Yglesias gets a guest essay in The NY Times to push oil industry propaganda. And he is no different from the likes of Stephen Miller in his approach to the facts. But let's start with his big idea!
"Liberals should support America’s oil and gas industry."
"Liberals should support America’s oil and gas industry."
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Do. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Matt Yglesias gets a guest essay in The NY Times to push oil industry propaganda. And he is no different from the likes of Stephen Miller in his approach to the facts. But let's start with his big idea!
"Liberals should support America’s oil and gas industry."
"Liberals should support America’s oil and gas industry."
Reposted by A random tech person
It’s simply not possible to overstate how important NCAR is to US and world science. We need to fight this with everything we’ve got.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 12:15 PM
It’s simply not possible to overstate how important NCAR is to US and world science. We need to fight this with everything we’ve got.
Reposted by A random tech person
Pipeline giant Energy Transfer secretly funded a front group to influence the North Dakota court in the company's ongoing effort to destroy Greenpeace. The front group is run by infamous dirty tricks PR firm DCI Group. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/c...
Greenpeace’s Fight With Pipeline Giant Exposes a Legal Loophole
www.nytimes.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Pipeline giant Energy Transfer secretly funded a front group to influence the North Dakota court in the company's ongoing effort to destroy Greenpeace. The front group is run by infamous dirty tricks PR firm DCI Group. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/c...
Reposted by A random tech person
Prisoner 4 Palestine Qesser Zuhrah is at imminent risk of death!
I've contacted people at HMP Bronzefield
They have 2 doctors with them trying to get an ambulance in to take her to hospital
The prison has refused to transfer her
Justice Secretary David Lammy you must step in. Show humanity
I've contacted people at HMP Bronzefield
They have 2 doctors with them trying to get an ambulance in to take her to hospital
The prison has refused to transfer her
Justice Secretary David Lammy you must step in. Show humanity
December 17, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Prisoner 4 Palestine Qesser Zuhrah is at imminent risk of death!
I've contacted people at HMP Bronzefield
They have 2 doctors with them trying to get an ambulance in to take her to hospital
The prison has refused to transfer her
Justice Secretary David Lammy you must step in. Show humanity
I've contacted people at HMP Bronzefield
They have 2 doctors with them trying to get an ambulance in to take her to hospital
The prison has refused to transfer her
Justice Secretary David Lammy you must step in. Show humanity
Reposted by A random tech person
🚨 ROUND TWO STARTS NOW 🚨
We’re down to the final 16 contestants as you decide who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/wpit25-round...
We’re down to the final 16 contestants as you decide who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/wpit25-round...
December 16, 2025 at 2:26 PM
🚨 ROUND TWO STARTS NOW 🚨
We’re down to the final 16 contestants as you decide who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/wpit25-round...
We’re down to the final 16 contestants as you decide who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/wpit25-round...
Reposted by A random tech person
🚨 THE BATTLE BEGINS 🚨
Your favorite year-end contest is back. It’s time to choose who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech for 2025!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/worst-person...
Your favorite year-end contest is back. It’s time to choose who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech for 2025!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/worst-person...
December 15, 2025 at 4:09 PM
🚨 THE BATTLE BEGINS 🚨
Your favorite year-end contest is back. It’s time to choose who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech for 2025!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/worst-person...
Your favorite year-end contest is back. It’s time to choose who will be this year’s Worst Person In Tech for 2025!
Each day of this week new matchups will drop until we choose the winner on Friday.
🗳️ Cast your ballot: twsu.forms.app/worst-person...
Reposted by A random tech person
Welcome to a morning of silly hype about UK trade policy. Part one, "a serious setback in US-UK relations" as "£31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice"?
Invented number, good thing if the UK pushes back on US regulatory asks. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Invented number, good thing if the UK pushes back on US regulatory asks. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice
Pledge to invest billions in UK paused, with Washington citing lack of progress on trade barriers across pond
www.theguardian.com
December 16, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Welcome to a morning of silly hype about UK trade policy. Part one, "a serious setback in US-UK relations" as "£31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice"?
Invented number, good thing if the UK pushes back on US regulatory asks. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Invented number, good thing if the UK pushes back on US regulatory asks. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by A random tech person
This is organized fraud, it's not accidental. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly | PNAS
Science is characterized by collaboration and cooperation, but also by uncertainty,
competition, and inequality. While there has always been some c...
www.pnas.org
December 15, 2025 at 9:15 PM
This is organized fraud, it's not accidental. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...