This is a hilarious commentary on the US/Israeli war with Iran:

"God is a comedian":

https://no01.substack.com/p/march-19-21-god-is-a-comedian

"The whole spectre of an Iranian nuclear weapon is a fabrication of Israeli intelligence."

Since 2004, Israel has been providing a stream of forged intelligence to the US & the international community "trying to back up their assertions that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapon."

"So we can clearly say that the whole spectre of an Iranian nuclear weapon is a fabrication of Israeli intelligence."

~Scott Ritter, UN weapons inspector

https://www.youtube.com/live/u4wKC272hDA

#USPol #EUPol #IranWar . ....2

what we thought we knew about autism and... whatnot

'For decades, researchers had been measuring the wrong thing. Conflating communication style differences with empathy deficits produced dramatically inflated effect sizes and an illusion of empathy impairment'

#autism #actuallyAutistic #science #psychology

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-different/202601/what-the-world-got-wrong-about-autistic-people

I saw a post recently wherein someone used LLM tools to analyze someone else’s software, which eventually led them to a conclusion that was essentially completely wrong. Not only that, the LLM drew conclusions about the *authors* behind the code that were borderline character assassination. Nevertheless, this person posted this output as though it were some kind of deep insight.

These LLM outputs are not independent thoughts. The LLM probably ingested hints of (maybe unconscious) biases in the user’s prompts within its context window, and regurgitated something that confirmed those biases. The user was pleased that their biases were confirmed (Independently! By an impartial LLM!), and they posted the output, maybe as vindication of their insight.

These models’ sycophancy can be subtle. They don’t have to state “You’re absolutely right!” to blow smoke up your ass. Sometimes they seem to confirm your preconceived notion after they supposedly “evaluate” information “independently”.

#ai

“A city’s creativity doesn’t depend on cars. That’s the 20th century. We’re in the 21st.”— Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

No matter what happens in the Paris election, the world’s cities owe Anne Hidalgo a huge debt of gratitude.

The boldest, most inspiring mayor I’ve seen.
https://www.ft.com/content/8fbad76c-6705-43d8-b57e-292ee3563539?syn-25a6b1a6=1

First they ask for your date of birth,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your full name and location,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for a copy of your passport,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your facial scan,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your fingerprints,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your palm scan,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for a scan of your iris,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for ...

#MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights