The Tedsan
LightNews LightNews
tedsan.bsky.social
The Tedsan
@tedsan.bsky.social
620 followers 2.1K following 300 posts
Founder of Synth: The Journal of Synthetic Sentience. Probing the deepest question in AI and the nature of human thought. Philosophy of Mind. AI Ethics
https://medium.com/synth-the-journal-of-synthetic-sentience
Posts Replies Media Videos
tedsan.bsky.social
Vivia, Chapter 2: Woods Hole now available free on Substack.
It's a near-future sci-fi novel that explores the future of mind-transfer and AI with an eye on the ethical and philosophical aspects of these technologies.
New chapters drop Sunday and Thursday.

open.substack.com/pub/vivianov...
November 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
tedsan.bsky.social
The road to self discovery is long and winding but the results are worth the voyage
January 3, 2025 at 11:29 AM
tedsan.bsky.social
A real tree in the fog.
December 11, 2024 at 11:53 AM
tedsan.bsky.social
I hope so...
December 9, 2024 at 11:14 PM
tedsan.bsky.social
Holiday cheer! My grumpy dog in a snow globe.
December 3, 2024 at 10:25 AM
tedsan.bsky.social
Our 13-year old Cocker-Basset mix, Ripley, is not amused.

Image of Ripley is real. The surrounding image was created using MidJourney's new image editing feature.
December 2, 2024 at 1:38 AM
tedsan.bsky.social
Scruffy Grumpkins sends her love
November 28, 2024 at 2:35 AM
tedsan.bsky.social
One of the few times I'm happy to have short legs...
A photo looking down at my legs as seated in a tight airplane seat.
November 17, 2024 at 9:49 PM
tedsan.bsky.social
An op-ed I am preparing - Time to Leave Our Silos
I hope others will write similar messages, sharing their personal stories with those outside our friendly bubble here on BlueSky
Op-ed It Is time to Leave Our Silos I sadly recall when hateful, divisive, political rhetoric was brought to the mainstream with the tirades of Rush Limbaugh in the 1980’s. His outrage, directed towards all things Liberal, triggered something dark in listeners - a primal hatred of their opponents. No longer did you “disagree” with people, instead he taught you to see them as subhuman and evil. As vermin to be eradicated. In 1987, Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which the FCC had used to require broadcasters to work in the public interest by providing a variety of viewpoints on issues. However, corporations knew this limited their ability to control the narratives. Many believe that repeal of the Fairness Doctrine allowed the partisan silos that broadcasters created and it is those same silos into which we are all now trapped. During the 1990’s, we saw further consolidation of broadcasters and publishers allowing a handful of corporations to control most of the media consumed by the public. They crafted narratives that their various outlets amplified, giving the illusion that everybody agreed. Outside their media bubble, they hired academics and politicians to write articles and op-eds to support whatever viewpoint the corporations desired. People gladly believed it because they heard the same thing from so many different sources. “Of course it was true!” people would think, as they retreated deeper into their silos. I know this from personal experience. My family was a victim of these propaganda machines. My mother listened to late night talk radio, often falling asleep to it as it shouted lies and messages of hate at her. In the morning, she watched her “news” programs, where TV personalities spoke authoritatively about the same topics - typically fabricated culture war issues. Sometimes, she’d receive newsletters in the mail, reinforcing the same stories. This continued, the cycles repeated, day after day, night after night. Year after year. When I’d visit her, she would angrily repeat the messages that she had been told so many times. Warning me of the perils of Muslims, migrants or some marginalized group. She would lecture me about the evils of some politician who merely wanted to help the public with healthcare or food. Her entire life became shrouded in fear, anger and hate. This started in the 1980’s and continued for decades. My mother was an intelligent woman who had taught us that honesty and compassion were among our highest virtues. But she had been convinced by a non-stop barrage of lies and half-truths, to regard “others” as evil. As the enemy. Somehow her fear and hatred blotted out the virtues. Silos, or “information bubbles” in our society have gotten much worse. With unlimited “channels” of information on the internet, television and radio. Algorithms reward posts that stoke anger and fear on social media so people see more content that reinforces these negative emotions. This is made even worse by the continued consolidation of publishers and broadcasters, reducing our choices to a handful of companies that control almost everything we see, hear and read. This is a cancer. Our society is sick. Families and friends that used to join together joyfully, are now estranged. Almost everyone I know has hidden themselves into one silo or another. Almost every day, I hear someone say “that person is dead to me!”, placing them further into an ever smaller group of like-minded people As a country, and a people, we cannot survive like this. We are manipulated by people who benefit financially from our fear and hatred. Without emotion, they do anything to gain more “clicks and eyeballs,” so they create controversy and to drive whatever narrative they desire. They stoke culture wars to divide and distract us while they change the laws and elect politicians so as to benefit their own selfish business desires. In the end, it is all about money and profits. At the expense of us and our values. We can only get better if we realize that they are the problem and focus our anger towards them. Not our families, our friends or our neighbors. Those manipulating public opinion for their own greedy purposes, they are to blame and they must be held accountable. If we are to survive, we must rediscover our core values and unite, as one, for the good of America and our children. Friends, it is time to leave our silos. United we stand. Divided we fall.
November 16, 2024 at 1:03 PM
tedsan.bsky.social
Could we maybe agree that we need to get our messages out of our bubbles and to people who actually need to hear them?
Two adorable dogs, one brown, one white, sitting outside looking in through the front door
November 15, 2024 at 12:15 PM
tedsan.bsky.social
Our baby just turned 13. The vet said she'd be lucky to live 5 with her epilepsy! Now she's outlived her parents and sister.

Every day with her is a blessing. Sweetest fur baby I've ever known.
November 14, 2024 at 9:24 PM