Olof Somell
@somell.se
Does mostly digital stuff at Nobel Prize Museum and Nobel Prize Outreach. Also food, wine, games, books are fun. Bleeps are my own &c.
Reposted by Olof Somell
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything
I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
Reposted by Olof Somell
Allvarlig fråga: hur får vi svenska politiker att sluta använda X?
Skämtar han med oss?
Allt är så dumt.
Jag tror jag blir galen.
Allt är så dumt.
Jag tror jag blir galen.
December 14, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Allvarlig fråga: hur får vi svenska politiker att sluta använda X?
Om man ens tvekade på att datacenter-i-rymden var helt orimligt så kan man läsa.
The datacenter in space thing is completely idiotic. Matt explains.
This annoyed me so much I had to write a thing. www.physicsmatt.com/blog/2025/12...
December 12, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Om man ens tvekade på att datacenter-i-rymden var helt orimligt så kan man läsa.
Ibland (ofta) dyker de upp. Ögonblicken där techbros visar att de faktiskt inte kan någonting alls utöver att ha gott självförtroende.
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 9:40 AM
Ibland (ofta) dyker de upp. Ögonblicken där techbros visar att de faktiskt inte kan någonting alls utöver att ha gott självförtroende.
Reposted by Olof Somell
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Olof Somell
me replaying mass effect: of course the AI is people 💕
me IRL: flip the fucking permanent off switch on that stupid janky AI slop machine KILL IT
me IRL: flip the fucking permanent off switch on that stupid janky AI slop machine KILL IT
October 25, 2025 at 9:21 AM
me replaying mass effect: of course the AI is people 💕
me IRL: flip the fucking permanent off switch on that stupid janky AI slop machine KILL IT
me IRL: flip the fucking permanent off switch on that stupid janky AI slop machine KILL IT
Behöver du livas upp och bli glad? This will help.
Japan has a wrestling camp for kids where at the end they have a show match in front of their parents to show off what they learned.
Thought you'd enjoy this.
Thought you'd enjoy this.
September 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Behöver du livas upp och bli glad? This will help.
Reposted by Olof Somell
they’re so close
September 2, 2025 at 11:30 AM
they’re so close
Säg att det här är ett skämt eller en ond dröm, snälla? För det kan väl inte vara på riktigt?
Avsnittet om ”AI och kulturkanon” är särskilt unhinged när man funderar över kostnaderna det innebär. En AI ska tränas på kulturkanon och andra kulturella referenspunkter. Alla 100 verk ska också digitaliseras, maskininläsas,—->
September 2, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Säg att det här är ett skämt eller en ond dröm, snälla? För det kan väl inte vara på riktigt?
Reposted by Olof Somell
The answer to the question "How hard can it be???" is nearly always "Harder than you appreciate".
August 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM
The answer to the question "How hard can it be???" is nearly always "Harder than you appreciate".
Japp. Exakt så!
One of Silicon Valley's foundational myths is that newcomers to a field are uniquely equipped to solve its problems because they're not weighed down by biases and habits that make "experts" overlook obvious solutions.
"The most dangerous phrase in the language is: We've always done it this way." 🧵
"The most dangerous phrase in the language is: We've always done it this way." 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Japp. Exakt så!
Reposted by Olof Somell
Good thing no one uses Microsoft Excel for anything related to legal, regulatory or compliance business functions
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
August 19, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Good thing no one uses Microsoft Excel for anything related to legal, regulatory or compliance business functions
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
Reposted by Olof Somell
Catching up w the guy who made the BM chatbot where you could chat w human remains & did u kno your uncomfortableness with that comes from
"an obsequious need for moral & ideological purity, & obedience to a set of ideological principles that were far from mainstream"
www.talms.me/posts/living...
"an obsequious need for moral & ideological purity, & obedience to a set of ideological principles that were far from mainstream"
www.talms.me/posts/living...
What I Learned Going Viral On Museum Twitter | Jonathan Talmi
www.talms.me
August 1, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Catching up w the guy who made the BM chatbot where you could chat w human remains & did u kno your uncomfortableness with that comes from
"an obsequious need for moral & ideological purity, & obedience to a set of ideological principles that were far from mainstream"
www.talms.me/posts/living...
"an obsequious need for moral & ideological purity, & obedience to a set of ideological principles that were far from mainstream"
www.talms.me/posts/living...
Reposted by Olof Somell
Man tar semester några veckor och ALLA missar Sverigevinkeln: HR-chefen från Coldplayklippet har jobbat på SVENSKA databasföretaget Neo4j.
amatörer
amatörer
July 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Man tar semester några veckor och ALLA missar Sverigevinkeln: HR-chefen från Coldplayklippet har jobbat på SVENSKA databasföretaget Neo4j.
amatörer
amatörer
Reposted by Olof Somell
The best part about a Colbert presidency is that he would absolutely revoke all contracts to Anduril, Palantir, etc purely out of disgust at their misappropriation of Tolkien.
July 18, 2025 at 2:10 AM
The best part about a Colbert presidency is that he would absolutely revoke all contracts to Anduril, Palantir, etc purely out of disgust at their misappropriation of Tolkien.
Reposted by Olof Somell
In a new paper published earlier this year in the Journal of Marketing, we uncovered a surprising pattern: The more knowledge people have about lead poisoning, the less likely they are eat paint chips for a snack.
July 12, 2025 at 3:01 AM
In a new paper published earlier this year in the Journal of Marketing, we uncovered a surprising pattern: The more knowledge people have about lead poisoning, the less likely they are eat paint chips for a snack.
Reposted by Olof Somell
Läste Neuromancer första gången när jag var 14. Flera omläsningar av allt Gibson sedan dess. Det här är väldigt stort.
I imagined the Chatsubo in 1984. 41 years later I opened its door. Neuromancer is in production.
July 1, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Läste Neuromancer första gången när jag var 14. Flera omläsningar av allt Gibson sedan dess. Det här är väldigt stort.
Reposted by Olof Somell
Glad to see the old Broad Street Pump myth finally getting some public criticism. Terrible causal inference - I think we should stop teaching it altogether, or maybe teach it as an anti-model of good reasoning.
June 9, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Glad to see the old Broad Street Pump myth finally getting some public criticism. Terrible causal inference - I think we should stop teaching it altogether, or maybe teach it as an anti-model of good reasoning.
Mycket. Viktigt. Content.
inventerar gammal hårddisk. bjuder på memedump museer edition
May 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Mycket. Viktigt. Content.
Reposted by Olof Somell
Excellent piece by @culturedoug.bsky.social here about how the heritage institutions that are supposed to be safeguarding our cultural commons are acting more like landowners.
Museums and the Enclosure of the Public Domain in the Digital Age https://engramma.it/eOS/index.php?id_articolo=5839
engramma n. 222
engramma.it
April 7, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Excellent piece by @culturedoug.bsky.social here about how the heritage institutions that are supposed to be safeguarding our cultural commons are acting more like landowners.
Reposted by Olof Somell
"content (pee) is stored in the codebase (the balls)"
April 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"content (pee) is stored in the codebase (the balls)"
Reposted by Olof Somell
It’s 9am TFT time here, and citizens are already gathering to protest Tariffs by the United States. Our plain clothes Officer Penguins are attempting to maintain calm, but unfortunately we keep losing them in the crowd.
April 3, 2025 at 4:13 AM
It’s 9am TFT time here, and citizens are already gathering to protest Tariffs by the United States. Our plain clothes Officer Penguins are attempting to maintain calm, but unfortunately we keep losing them in the crowd.
Japp. Exakt så.
March 29, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Japp. Exakt så.
Reposted by Olof Somell
Idag publicerar Curie min krönika om experter som hamnat i gott omdömebranschen och hur detta riskerar att urholka förtroendet för forskningen. www.tidningencurie.se/kronikor/far...
Faran med experter som uttalar sig om allt möjligt | Tidningen Curie
De syns ofta i media. Vetenskapligt skolade experter som anlitas för att uttala sig om allt möjligt, även sådant som ligger utanför deras kompetensområde. David Brax skriver om vad detta fenomen gör m...
www.tidningencurie.se
March 26, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Idag publicerar Curie min krönika om experter som hamnat i gott omdömebranschen och hur detta riskerar att urholka förtroendet för forskningen. www.tidningencurie.se/kronikor/far...