Maxim Raginsky
@mraginsky.bsky.social
I used to scoff at Dennett’s “fear of counterfeit people” piece as too alarmist, but now I think he was spot on. We didn’t have to design anthropomorphic chatbot companions as wrappers for a connectionist system with a symbolic input-output interface.
November 9, 2025 at 4:45 PM
I used to scoff at Dennett’s “fear of counterfeit people” piece as too alarmist, but now I think he was spot on. We didn’t have to design anthropomorphic chatbot companions as wrappers for a connectionist system with a symbolic input-output interface.
The protagonist embodies Jünger’s idea of the anarch, someone who lives and functions in the midst of a totalitarian system, but is not corrupted by it. He’s also a former professor of history who uses a VR system to immerse himself in various historical events.
November 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
The protagonist embodies Jünger’s idea of the anarch, someone who lives and functions in the midst of a totalitarian system, but is not corrupted by it. He’s also a former professor of history who uses a VR system to immerse himself in various historical events.
Have you read Eumeswil?
November 9, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Have you read Eumeswil?
Ernst Jünger as well (in The Glass Bees and in Eumeswil).
November 9, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Ernst Jünger as well (in The Glass Bees and in Eumeswil).
It would be interesting to write an alternative history science fiction where this technology was developed during the height of Cold War, and both the Soviets and the Americans were working on it. Something like Ian Tregillis’ Milkweed series.
November 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
It would be interesting to write an alternative history science fiction where this technology was developed during the height of Cold War, and both the Soviets and the Americans were working on it. Something like Ian Tregillis’ Milkweed series.
We need to start a webring. Remember those?
November 9, 2025 at 3:01 AM
We need to start a webring. Remember those?
Yes, we have unleashed balletsky!
November 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Yes, we have unleashed balletsky!
Does being a ballet dad make me balletsky? bsky.app/profile/mrag...
Took the kiddo to see Joffrey Ballet’s “Alice in Wonderland” yesterday. She liked it even though “the choreography was too Balanchine.” I’m raising a ballet nerd here.
November 8, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Does being a ballet dad make me balletsky? bsky.app/profile/mrag...
Indeed. I slice them into medium-thick rounds, salt, dry on paper towels, then fry with garlic in olive oil on a hot carbon steel skillet until they are light golden brown.
November 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Indeed. I slice them into medium-thick rounds, salt, dry on paper towels, then fry with garlic in olive oil on a hot carbon steel skillet until they are light golden brown.
That takes me back to my grad school days (more than twenty years ago, I’m old). I remember reading the Princeton edition of von Neumann’s QM book, that typewriter font had a comfy vibe.
November 8, 2025 at 4:35 PM
That takes me back to my grad school days (more than twenty years ago, I’m old). I remember reading the Princeton edition of von Neumann’s QM book, that typewriter font had a comfy vibe.
Have you looked at Dugald Murdoch’s book on Bohr’s philosophy of physics? Very good reading, especially for those who think that the Copenhagen interpretation is just an attempt to obfuscate things. (Spoiler: it’s not.)
November 8, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Have you looked at Dugald Murdoch’s book on Bohr’s philosophy of physics? Very good reading, especially for those who think that the Copenhagen interpretation is just an attempt to obfuscate things. (Spoiler: it’s not.)
It’s incredibly light.
November 8, 2025 at 1:41 AM
It’s incredibly light.
Could have been said by Freud too.
November 4, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Could have been said by Freud too.
A while ago I came across that poem by Adrienne Rich quoted in Pamela McCorduck’s “Machines Who Think.” bsky.app/profile/mrag...
Adrienne Rich dedicated this poem to Newell and Simon’s General Problem Solver (GPS), but it reads equally well as a dedication to GPT — especially the last stanza.
November 3, 2025 at 3:32 AM
A while ago I came across that poem by Adrienne Rich quoted in Pamela McCorduck’s “Machines Who Think.” bsky.app/profile/mrag...
I’d say the hyperproductive PI types cranking out 10+ papers for every deadline are on track to burn the commons all the way down.
November 2, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I’d say the hyperproductive PI types cranking out 10+ papers for every deadline are on track to burn the commons all the way down.
By contrast, i feel like a slacker precisely because I spend about an hour a week with each of my students.
November 1, 2025 at 9:43 PM
By contrast, i feel like a slacker precisely because I spend about an hour a week with each of my students.
I get it. The T-shirt is a limited edition custom design by a friend and colleague.
November 1, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I get it. The T-shirt is a limited edition custom design by a friend and colleague.
Just to clarify, Anthropic had nothing to do with this.
November 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Just to clarify, Anthropic had nothing to do with this.