Rachel Coldicutt
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rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Rachel Coldicutt
@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
13K followers 1.2K following 7.1K posts
Internet person. Community tech, careful innovation, socially progressive tech policy.
https://www.careful.industries
https://buttondown.email/justenoughinternet
DMs don't work but hello [at] careful.industries will find me eventually
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rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Facial recognition notification in the big supermarket. "Don't worry, the technology is designed to only recognise known offenders who have committed acts of violence, aggression or theft. For everyone else any data generated by the software is deleted instantly."
Sainsbury's Your safety is our priority We're trialling facial recognition technology to protect colleagues and customers in this store. Your privacy is protected Don't worry, the technology is designed to only recognise known offenders who have committed acts of violence, aggression or theft. For everyone else any data generated by the software is deleted instantly. Scan the QR code below to learn how it works.
December 7, 2025 at 12:40 PM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
The kitten was clearly the one to fix it
A small grey cat examining a printer
December 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
And this interview with the co-founder of autonomous vehicle start-up Wayve is interesting on whose dreams get subsidised, and to what extent giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
At present, such talk sounds like magical thinking for a company that - according to its latest Companies House filing - does "not yet generate material revenue or profits". • In fact, Wayve recorded an operating loss of £81.8mn in the year to end August 2024, though it still had £877mn in cash in the bank. Throwing such large sums of money at a start-up that does not yet have a fully commercial product may not strike investors as odd in Silicon Valley. But it is still a rarity in Europe. "It's amazing that the markets can support a deep tech journey like this," he says. "But I wouldn't say it's a dream. It's the incremental progress that we've shown over the years that makes this possible."
December 7, 2025 at 7:37 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
'And what about fears that this marks the rise of techno-fascism? "[w] are funding companies that will operate non-democratic cities... if you're not into that you shouldn't move there."'
Some of the earliest investment into tech-aligned nation-building came from Thiel, who in 2008 donated $500,000 to the Seasteading Institute, a non-profit founded by Friedman dedicated to setting up autonomous "floating societies" atop platforms in international waters. While enthusiasm for seasteading has since waned for practical reasons ("I think the ocean is just too difficult and expensive," Friedman tells me), the crypto boom has breathed new life into the broader space. If decentralised currencies could be created outside of government oversight, could a new type of society be built on top of these currencies? Patri Friedman initially pushes back on the notion of these projects as neocolonialist, declaring "most of our projects are greenfield" • He pauses. "Although, in Africa, we are looking at land parcels large enough that there will be people living there, in which case we will offer relocation bonuses to pay for anybody who wants to move out of the zone." And what about fears that this marks the rise of techno-fascism? "I mean, we are funding companies that will operate non-democratic cities," he says, shrugging. "And if you're not into that you shouldn't move there." Friedman is cheerfully contrarian and wants to unlock what those in the space dub "radical governance optionality" so that even those who don't share his politics can experiment. "It's kind of like an oligopoly, right? There's 193 firms and it's super, super hard to start a new one. And it's super hard to switch [between] them," Friedman says, meaning the 193 UN-recognised nations that exist globally. "My work over the last 25 years has been, How do we lower the barrier to entry, make it so that people can start new jurisdictions so that we can innovate? Maybe somebody makes a communist city state that works incredibly well, more power to them. I just want people to be able to try new things.
December 7, 2025 at 7:02 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Sequel
December 6, 2025 at 10:50 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Okay, give me your kittens + Christmas tree wisdom. Tiny maniac will swing from anything if there is even a hint of something to be caught. WWYD? Big tree that will definitely be climbed with no lights and minimal decor? Small tree in a high place? No tree? Too many possible variables
December 6, 2025 at 10:38 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Everyone always laughs nervously when I show this slide, but - seriously - don't make things that are creepy and weird. Don't purchase tools that are creepy and weird. Don't get free licenses to see how they work, just in case. Don't take meetings with the people who make them.
Don't make things that are creepy and weird
December 6, 2025 at 12:42 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
I'm in Birmingham. where the buses appear to have names. Is this a routine occurrence?
a bus called Gina Ann a bus called Aneeka
December 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Having a great time at the Fantastic Futures Conference today and love this National Archives acronym: ROT, information that is redundant, obsolete and trivial
Context: Digital Heap Explosive growth of digital information since the early 2000s, without scalable record management tools and practices. • Many official records remain in shared drives and email inboxes. • Continuous technological and operational changes, inconsistent approaches, and migration risks have all contributed to the accumulation of digital material and loss of corporate memory. • In the last few years, departments are beginning to adopt tools and methods to identify and remove redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) records to reduce their digital heap. Proof Of Concept; Al for Approisal and Selection at scole (detailed graph on the right)
December 4, 2025 at 11:55 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Cannot get past the first paragraph of this without my blood pressure going up www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
Humanity will have to decide by 2030 whether to take the "ultimate risk" of letting artificial intelligence systems train themselves to become more powerful, one of the world's leading Al scientists has said.
December 2, 2025 at 9:24 PM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
2025:

A WordPress plug-in accidentally pushes something to live - the chair of a national institution resigns

OpenAI intentionally release products to a mass market that includes errors, manipulations and stolen material - cool, cool

Is this how it works?

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The report found that the OBR had uploaded its budget documents to a link which it believed to be inaccessible to the public. However, because the organisation was using a particular add-on to the WordPress publishing system, the link ended up being live, unbeknownst to the OBR itself.
December 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
If you want to get involved, let us know! Theoretically the last thing I need for 2026 is another side project, but obviously I can't help myself. After all, technology is far too important to leave to the billionaires. *taps the sign*
Let's make tech work for 8 billion people not 8 billionaires
December 1, 2025 at 9:35 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Building a common room in a pub for global technology thinkers to solve humanity's biggest problems sounds a LOT like a vibe killer to me tbh
Ellison Scholars will be graduates and undergraduates "passionate about solving humanity's most serious problems". '. At least 20 will be appointed each year, working at EIT's £1bn campus with the Faculty Fellows on solving the world's problems through technology. Ellison could hardly set his sights higher: The next generation of political and entrepreneurial leaders will inhabit a world being continuously transformed by technological advancement. Progress in artificial intelligence, genetics, robotics and data science will fundamentally transform a majority of our economy and change the way we live, work and govern ourselves. The Eagle & Child will be these scholars' common room.
December 1, 2025 at 6:26 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
I mean, I know pubs have changed a lot (and my only personal experience of the Eagle and Child is on 6th form nights out in the early 90s, when it had an excellent juke box) but I wonder if Ellison has ever been the the pub?
Yet the plans do offer Oxford something different. A pub/restaurant with its sights above pub grub; an artisan bakery; a no-holds-barred historic restoration; and a common room for tomorrow's "global technology innovators and leaders of the future".
December 1, 2025 at 6:22 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Not a new story, but this morning's rabbit hole is the fact that Larry Ellison has bought the Eagle and Child, a pub on St Giles in Oxford, and Norman Foster is redesigning it oxfordclarion.uk/the-bird-and...
Scholars' quarters Why is a Californian billionaire funding an Oxford pub, even one where Tolkien and Lewis once conversed? The answer lies on the Eagle & Child's upper floors. Ellison Scholars will be graduates and undergraduates "passionate about solving humanity's most serious problems" '. At least 20 will be appointed each year, working at EIT's Elbn campus with the Faculty Fellows on solving the world's problems through technology. Ellison could hardly set his sights higher: The next generation of political and entrepreneurial leaders will inhabit a world being continuously transformed by technological advancement. Progress in artificial intelligence, genetics, robotics and data science will fundamentally transform a majority of our economy and change the way we live, work and govern ourselves. The Eagle & Child will be these scholars' common room.
December 1, 2025 at 6:19 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
And I'm also really interested in the way that Toner uses Ethan Mollick's concept of "jaggedness" to describe another human truism, which is that it's possible for a tool to be quite good at some things without being perfect for all things. The fact that this needs to be broken down is fascinating
In other words: today's Al frontier is "jagged" "We suggest that the capabilities of Al create a "jagged technological frontier" where some tasks are easily done by Al, while others, though seemingly similar in difficulty level, are outside the current capability of Al." - Dell'Acqua, McFowland, Mollick et al. 2023 - seemingly equal-difficulty tasks • the jagged frontier| task on the frontier • task outside the frontier @CSET / diagram adapted from Ethan Mollick cset.georgetown.edu The basic idea here is that if the dashed line is representing tasks that seem roughly similarly difficult to us, then the frontier is jagged. So some of those tasks that seem similarly difficult to us, some of them are very easy for the Al models, they're well inside the frontier. Some of them are on the frontier, they're kind of borderline. And some of them are outside the frontier, even though, again, they seem to us to be quite similar. So that's the basic concept of jaggedness.
November 29, 2025 at 6:49 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
what I find fascinating is how Toner gets there and how she unpacks it. For anyone working in foresight, the idea that future events can't be controlled or predicted is obvious, but it's clearly not obvious at all to her audience or to her community of practice. To put it another way, life is messy
Smooth asymptotes vs. transition turbulence
November 29, 2025 at 6:43 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
The part that's most interesting to me is where she uses an eg from fluid mechanics to bring to light the concept that the future is not certain and progress isn't linear - that contradictory events can take place at the same time. Any sociotechnical researcher will say "Well duh" about this but...
And as I was preparing this talk, I was reflecting on perhaps one factor in how I think about this, how it looks in my head, which is: a lot of people in this space are coming from computer science or math backgrounds. And in those fields you have a lot of series converging to infinity, you have asymptotes being reached, you have differential equations with smooth solutions. But my undergraduate degree was in chemical engineering. If you're not familiar with chemical engineering, it doesn't have that much chemistry in it, but it has a lot of fluid dynamics, a lot of processes, heating and cooling water and oil and-I'm from Australia where we produce a lot of milk and powdered milk, so a lot of processing powdered milk. But the point, is a lot of fluid dynamics.
November 29, 2025 at 6:37 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
"Finally, we'd like to ask you about the British Consulate" made me spit out my coffee
Connect Which? Moving on... Do you currently_hold premium bonds? • Yes • No, but I have held them in the past • No, I have never held them • Don't know/ Can't remember • Prefer not to say Connect Which? Finally, we'd like to ask you about the following... Which of the following statements are True or False about the British Consulate if you encounter problems while abroad? Please answer True or False for each statement.
November 27, 2025 at 10:07 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Because I am quite passionately trying to avoid replying to some emails, I just completed this month's Which? Omnibus survey, which is quite the exercise in what the what now handbrake turns. DWP! Fabric softener! The British Consulate! Carpets! Premium bonds! End-of-life planning!
Connect Which? Please select a statement to finish the sentence that best fits your view of the DWP. 'The continued payment of a £10 Christmas bonus makes me feel that the DWP is -------- • Neutral - it has no impact on my perception of the DWP Keeping a caring tradition alive and acknowledging pensioners Out of touch with the financial realities of pensioners and other benefit claimants Wasting money on a payment that should be modernised or cut Don't know Prefer not to say Connect Which? Moving on... How often, if at all, do you use fabric softener/ conditioner when you do the laundry? Fabric softener/conditioner softens clothes and reduces static. • N/A - I have not/ do not use fabric softener/ conditioner N/A - I do not do the laundry/ someone else does the laundry Every load Most loads Some loads When I feel like I need to I used to use fabric softener/ conditioner but not anvmore Connect Which? On a different topic... When in the last ten years (i.e. since November 2015) have you purchased a new carpet for your home? If you have bought carpet more than once in the last 10 years, please answer about the carpet you bought most recently. N/A - I have not purchased a new carpet in the last 10 years 2025 2024 • 2023. 2022 2021 Connect Which? On a different subject... Which, if any, of the following money matters have you discussed with your family in the last 12 months (i.e. since November 2024)? Please select all that apply. N/A - I have not discussed any money matters with family in the last 12 months Your will and where it's stored 口 Your wishes for your funeral and how you plan to pay for it How you plan to, or currently, pay for care Your power of attorney The cost of your retirement Other (please specify)
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Waves from the Siberia of SE London, where we ofc have actual dinosaurs
The boating lake in Crystal Palace Park, with several statues of dinosaurs
November 27, 2025 at 8:36 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
This snippet from an interview with Enver Solomon, outgoing head of the Refugee Council, seems very typical of this govt's approach and speaks to a desire to relentlessly spend tax payer's money in pursuit of a dream of total administrative control
Solomon is clear on the potential problems of Labour's new suite of policies - in particular reviewing a person's refugee status every 30 months to determine if their home country is safe to return to, which will cost, estimates the Refugee Council, £872m over a decade. "They're going to have to create a new bureaucracy to do this, at enormous cost,' he says.
November 24, 2025 at 6:53 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
"America is British", "socialism is heaven". Good Charlotte Edwardes profile of Danny Kruger, in which he gets the opportunity to say what he really thinks. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Isn't it an import from the US, though, specifically Trump's Maga America? "I dispute that," Kruger says. "I recognise there's a bit of a conscious echo. But remember America is British." "I think that socialism is in heaven, he says. "The problem with socialists is they don't accept the fall of man. They try to create heaven on Earth with the assumption that if we somehow just got our institutions or culture right, we could be synonymous beings and all behave nicely to each other." Wait, I say, checking I have heard correctly. Heaven is socialist? "Heaven is a socialist state," he says. "The effort of socialists is to bring heaven on Earth, with the state in the position of God. That is not a good idea. That's because no state of human beings can be all good or all powerful."
November 22, 2025 at 8:15 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
If people in your team or organisation are using AI notetakers as a way of coping with too many meetings and a culture of presenteeism, there's not a technological fix for this. The answer is to have fewer, better organised meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
Careful Industries Have fewer, better meetings
November 21, 2025 at 7:13 AM
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Sometimes, at the end of a project, you get a quirky thank you gift and other times you get a framed picture of yourself in the style of Clippy that you have to *carry home* because they make you open it before you leave
A framed line drawing of someone who may or may not be me
November 19, 2025 at 11:26 PM