Nico
@nico-encounter.bsky.social
Writer interested in theory of the state, political economy, AI and semiotics.
Substack: https://nicolasdvillarreal.substack.com/
Substack: https://nicolasdvillarreal.substack.com/
Pinned
Nico
@nico-encounter.bsky.social
· Mar 21
My new book, "A Soul of a New Type: Writings on Artificial Intelligence and Materialist Semiotics" is now out as an ebook! www.amazon.com/dp/B0F22WV3P7
Reposted by Nico
Reposted by Nico
Software 2.0 relies on validation
If your code base doesn’t have verification & controls that are as good or better than your senior dev, you’ll get slop
If your code base doesn’t have verification & controls that are as good or better than your senior dev, you’ll get slop
November 21, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Software 2.0 relies on validation
If your code base doesn’t have verification & controls that are as good or better than your senior dev, you’ll get slop
If your code base doesn’t have verification & controls that are as good or better than your senior dev, you’ll get slop
Gemini breaks down the average Pre-History of An Encounter enjoyer. Alarmingly realistic lmao.
November 21, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Gemini breaks down the average Pre-History of An Encounter enjoyer. Alarmingly realistic lmao.
Reposted by Nico
Great video from @pbseons.bsky.social about Darwin and his work on barnacles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=plYu...
#histsci #HPS
#histsci #HPS
November 21, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Great video from @pbseons.bsky.social about Darwin and his work on barnacles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=plYu...
#histsci #HPS
#histsci #HPS
Reposted by Nico
Fighting fascists with the machinery of the Democratic party and liberalism in general is like trying to get a stripped bolt out with a banana peel
The Democrats are circulating talking points (leaked to me) about Trump's call for them to be arrested for telling soldiers to disobey illegal orders. They're told to cite things like the Law of War Manual to show that what they did was legal:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/national-s...
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/national-s...
National Security Moms Are Here
Trump's call for arresting Democrats targets new political bloc, foreshadowing what's to come
www.kenklippenstein.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Fighting fascists with the machinery of the Democratic party and liberalism in general is like trying to get a stripped bolt out with a banana peel
It is simply not the case that democrats are not the bigger moralists here or have anything resembling a pragmatic strategy
bsky in a nutshell
OP: of the two choices in political parties we have, the one that commits less violence than the other is preferable, even if it's still not great.
geniuses in replies: um W O W u just said bombing is GOOD??? literally shaking rn, can't believe u said that VERBATIM 😤😤😤
OP: of the two choices in political parties we have, the one that commits less violence than the other is preferable, even if it's still not great.
geniuses in replies: um W O W u just said bombing is GOOD??? literally shaking rn, can't believe u said that VERBATIM 😤😤😤
I hate this sort of meme.
“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”
Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?
“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”
Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?
November 21, 2025 at 3:43 AM
It is simply not the case that democrats are not the bigger moralists here or have anything resembling a pragmatic strategy
Reposted by Nico
The way we're getting (and got!) a state which doesn't support LGBT rights was by allowing it to be conflated with establishment and warmongering politics.
The deranged response to this makes me despair. There are so many educated, politically engaged people who are averse to thinking systematically. If you support LGBTQ rights, it is better, all else being equal, for the state to also support them.
I hate this sort of meme.
“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”
Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?
“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”
Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?
November 21, 2025 at 3:21 AM
The way we're getting (and got!) a state which doesn't support LGBT rights was by allowing it to be conflated with establishment and warmongering politics.
Im pretty sure bidens biggest gaffe was being unable to articulate lucid sentences live on national TV.
Remember when Biden’s biggest gaffe that his staff had to walk back was him stating we’d defend Taiwan lol
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
November 21, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Im pretty sure bidens biggest gaffe was being unable to articulate lucid sentences live on national TV.
The only way we get out of this situation politically is the wholesale destruction of the democratic party. If the left keeps tailing the democrats then we're resigning ourselves to fascism.
November 21, 2025 at 3:13 AM
The only way we get out of this situation politically is the wholesale destruction of the democratic party. If the left keeps tailing the democrats then we're resigning ourselves to fascism.
Reposted by Nico
Rogue Scientist Has Own Scientific Method https://theonion.com/rogue-scientist-has-own-scientific-method-1819568501/
November 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Rogue Scientist Has Own Scientific Method https://theonion.com/rogue-scientist-has-own-scientific-method-1819568501/
Reposted by Nico
Reposted by Nico
The year is 2025, and the NSA is recruiting the nation’s top poets
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The year is 2025, and the NSA is recruiting the nation’s top poets
Reposted by Nico
You don’t want to read the adversarial poetry
November 20, 2025 at 7:13 PM
You don’t want to read the adversarial poetry
This was a great conversation, not often I get to talk so much about all the Althusser and Lacan related ideas I've been obsessing about youtu.be/Z5xPO_nRero?...
Structuralism & Marxism (feat. Nicolas Villarreal)
YouTube video by Emancipations with Daniel Tutt
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
This was a great conversation, not often I get to talk so much about all the Althusser and Lacan related ideas I've been obsessing about youtu.be/Z5xPO_nRero?...
Wow!
Amazon Greenlights A New Stargate Series
www.gateworld.net/news/2025/11...
FIRST ON GATEWORLD: A new #Stargate series is now in pre-production for Prime Video, with veteran writer and producer Martin Gero at the helm. @primevideo.bsky.social
www.gateworld.net/news/2025/11...
FIRST ON GATEWORLD: A new #Stargate series is now in pre-production for Prime Video, with veteran writer and producer Martin Gero at the helm. @primevideo.bsky.social
Amazon Greenlights A New Stargate Series » GateWorld
FIRST ON GATEWORLD: A new Stargate series is now in pre-production for Prime Video, with veteran writer and producer Martin Gero at the helm.
www.gateworld.net
November 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Wow!
impressive advances.
This is so good. Its actually folding like a human would. The socks look great. Its autonomous, not teleop. It looks like a sim but its real.
November 20, 2025 at 1:46 AM
impressive advances.
Reposted by Nico
new effective altruist cause: mass migration of right-wing dipshits onto bluesky
November 19, 2025 at 7:47 PM
new effective altruist cause: mass migration of right-wing dipshits onto bluesky
Reposted by Nico
Its both true that breaking the private keys is possible with quantum computing and that this isnt at all why its selling off.
November 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Its both true that breaking the private keys is possible with quantum computing and that this isnt at all why its selling off.
Reposted by Nico
BLS confirms they will not publish the October household survey data. Establishment survey to be published December 16.
www.bls.gov/bls/2025-lap...
www.bls.gov/bls/2025-lap...
November 19, 2025 at 5:25 PM
BLS confirms they will not publish the October household survey data. Establishment survey to be published December 16.
www.bls.gov/bls/2025-lap...
www.bls.gov/bls/2025-lap...
Reposted by Nico
Reposted by Nico
THE POLITICS OF AI ARE ABOUT TO EXPLODE
We talk with @esaagar.bsky.social about how big tech may soon find itself friendless in DC, as basically all sides of the political spectrum are setting up to oppose AI in some way podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
We talk with @esaagar.bsky.social about how big tech may soon find itself friendless in DC, as basically all sides of the political spectrum are setting up to oppose AI in some way podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Politics of AI Are About to Explode
Podcast Episode · Odd Lots · 11/19/2025 · 45m
podcasts.apple.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:46 AM
THE POLITICS OF AI ARE ABOUT TO EXPLODE
We talk with @esaagar.bsky.social about how big tech may soon find itself friendless in DC, as basically all sides of the political spectrum are setting up to oppose AI in some way podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
We talk with @esaagar.bsky.social about how big tech may soon find itself friendless in DC, as basically all sides of the political spectrum are setting up to oppose AI in some way podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Reposted by Nico
Altman is clearly using “electrons” as a metonymy to refer to “cheap, reliable electrical power delivery”, in the same sense that someone at an auto dealer saying their car “needs more horses” is asking for a powerful engine rather than a horse-drawn carriage.
I laughed at loud. These people are so pathetic; our enemies are numbskulls. They will kill us all and still not know hs physics.
COWEN: The stupidest question possible: Why don’t we just make more GPUs?
ALTMAN: Because we need to make more electrons.
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam...
COWEN: The stupidest question possible: Why don’t we just make more GPUs?
ALTMAN: Because we need to make more electrons.
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam...
November 19, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Altman is clearly using “electrons” as a metonymy to refer to “cheap, reliable electrical power delivery”, in the same sense that someone at an auto dealer saying their car “needs more horses” is asking for a powerful engine rather than a horse-drawn carriage.
Reposted by Nico
Cloudflare explains Tuesday’s outage that temporarily took down ChatGPT
Cloudflare explains Tuesday’s outage that temporarily took down ChatGPT
It wasn’t DNS?
buff.ly
November 19, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Cloudflare explains Tuesday’s outage that temporarily took down ChatGPT
Reposted by Nico
Ezra Klein talks with Bhaskar Sunkara about Abundance, Zohran Mamdani’s victory, and why progressives need a state that works at the speed of their ambitions.
Abundance and the Left
Ezra Klein talks with Bhaskar Sunkara about Abundance, Zohran Mamdani’s victory, and why progressives need a state that works at the speed of their ambitions.
jacobin.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Ezra Klein talks with Bhaskar Sunkara about Abundance, Zohran Mamdani’s victory, and why progressives need a state that works at the speed of their ambitions.