S.M. Pritchard
@smpritchard.bsky.social
Physics BSc. | Hard SF Writer/Worldbuilder | Space Artist | Amateur (hopefully one day professional) Astronomer | They/Them | Opinions my own
At some point one must conclude they are not, in fact, the opposition.
November 10, 2025 at 1:53 AM
At some point one must conclude they are not, in fact, the opposition.
I've not seen this myself. Pretty much all of the hate is directed towards genAI specifically (deservedly so)
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I've not seen this myself. Pretty much all of the hate is directed towards genAI specifically (deservedly so)
I don't consider it to be, but that's the problem. There's no real functional definition of AI anymore, as it's become nothing more than a techbro buzzword. LLMs are built with ML which in itself is a huge array of techniques which could fall under AI. LLMs could be called AI but all AI is not LLMs.
November 9, 2025 at 9:00 PM
I don't consider it to be, but that's the problem. There's no real functional definition of AI anymore, as it's become nothing more than a techbro buzzword. LLMs are built with ML which in itself is a huge array of techniques which could fall under AI. LLMs could be called AI but all AI is not LLMs.
Well, I mean it is quite obviously artificial. It didn't just emerge from nature. Well, I suppose it kinda did in the sense that it was created by humans which arose from nature and so by extension is natural in a similar way to a beaver dam...
November 9, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Well, I mean it is quite obviously artificial. It didn't just emerge from nature. Well, I suppose it kinda did in the sense that it was created by humans which arose from nature and so by extension is natural in a similar way to a beaver dam...
That's their point, hence why they expressed frustration at the term "AI" being used to intentionally loop in things like chatGPT. The term AI has basically become meaningless nowadays.
November 9, 2025 at 8:44 PM
That's their point, hence why they expressed frustration at the term "AI" being used to intentionally loop in things like chatGPT. The term AI has basically become meaningless nowadays.
Here's an excellent source based on physical simulations that shows several examples
panoptesv.com/SciFi/Colors...
panoptesv.com/SciFi/Colors...
Colors of Alien Skies
share.google
November 9, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Here's an excellent source based on physical simulations that shows several examples
panoptesv.com/SciFi/Colors...
panoptesv.com/SciFi/Colors...
An air density/pressure thing. In the absence of colored gasses or particulates (with a white light source like the Sun), all atmospheres look blue thanks to Rayleigh scattering. At low pressure the sky would appear dark blue or even black. At higher pressures it starts turning white or even yellow.
November 9, 2025 at 2:43 AM
An air density/pressure thing. In the absence of colored gasses or particulates (with a white light source like the Sun), all atmospheres look blue thanks to Rayleigh scattering. At low pressure the sky would appear dark blue or even black. At higher pressures it starts turning white or even yellow.
begging and pleading for sci-fi authors to learn how magnetic fields work
November 8, 2025 at 11:28 PM
begging and pleading for sci-fi authors to learn how magnetic fields work
LLMs can't and will never do that.
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
LLMs can't and will never do that.
ooo this has aura, as the kids say
November 8, 2025 at 1:28 AM
ooo this has aura, as the kids say
Hmmm, there's a little easter egg in the blog text using italicized letters: "krogan".
November 7, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Hmmm, there's a little easter egg in the blog text using italicized letters: "krogan".
Well, real time relative to the data reduction, not live at the scope. Seeing it get plotted point-by-point as AIJ churns through the differential photometry is neat!
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Well, real time relative to the data reduction, not live at the scope. Seeing it get plotted point-by-point as AIJ churns through the differential photometry is neat!
I think δ Scuti's are some of my favorite variables just because of how dramatically they change over the course of a night, often swinging up and down in brightness by half a magnitude or more. Watching the data get plotted out in real time is so exciting!
November 7, 2025 at 10:55 PM
I think δ Scuti's are some of my favorite variables just because of how dramatically they change over the course of a night, often swinging up and down in brightness by half a magnitude or more. Watching the data get plotted out in real time is so exciting!
And that's 1 - 1.7 meters barring no sudden influx of additional water, say, from collapsing ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. Thankfully the risk there is on timescales longer than a single century, but with the way our luck has been going...
November 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
And that's 1 - 1.7 meters barring no sudden influx of additional water, say, from collapsing ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. Thankfully the risk there is on timescales longer than a single century, but with the way our luck has been going...
I know it's a meme but like... I genuinely think this works very well
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 AM
I know it's a meme but like... I genuinely think this works very well
Pretty sure this will never get off the ground (literally and figuratively) and is, if anything, just meant as yet another way for tech companies to grift funds off the public to prop up their rapidly-inflating bubble before the whole thing finally collapses.
November 6, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Pretty sure this will never get off the ground (literally and figuratively) and is, if anything, just meant as yet another way for tech companies to grift funds off the public to prop up their rapidly-inflating bubble before the whole thing finally collapses.
Clearish over on the east coast but the Moon is washing out anything that might be there. Tried with my phone but also couldn't see anything.
November 6, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Clearish over on the east coast but the Moon is washing out anything that might be there. Tried with my phone but also couldn't see anything.
I don't understand the push to put these things in space. Between the radiation environment, micrometeors, and thermal regulation issues, space is probably the worst place for datacenters. It's almost like these people don't know what they're talking about!
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I don't understand the push to put these things in space. Between the radiation environment, micrometeors, and thermal regulation issues, space is probably the worst place for datacenters. It's almost like these people don't know what they're talking about!
Great. So prepare for a sudden spike in false positives as it hallucinates phantom signals?
November 5, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Great. So prepare for a sudden spike in false positives as it hallucinates phantom signals?
giving myself permission to Lib Out for the night, as a treat
November 5, 2025 at 2:44 AM
giving myself permission to Lib Out for the night, as a treat
The first module for ISRO's Bharatiya Antariksh Station should hopefully go up around 2028 (probably later though(
November 4, 2025 at 11:28 PM
The first module for ISRO's Bharatiya Antariksh Station should hopefully go up around 2028 (probably later though(