My biggest problem with the concept of LLMs, even if they weren’t a giant plagiarism laundering machine and disaster for the environment, is that they introduce so much unpredictability into computing. I became a professional computer toucher because they do exactly what you tell them to. Not always what you wanted, but exactly what you asked for.

LLMs turn that upside down. They turn a very autistic do-what-you-say, say-what-you-mean commmunication style with the machine into a neurotypical conversation talking around the issue, but never directly addressing the substance of problem.

In any conversation I have with a person, I’m modeling their understanding of the topic at hand, trying to tailor my communication style to their needs. The same applies to programming languages and frameworks. If you work with a language the way its author intended it goes a lot easier.

But LLMs don’t have an understanding of the conversation. There is no intent. It’s just a mostly-likely-next-word generator on steroids. You’re trying to give directions to a lossily compressed copy of the entire works of human writing. There is no mind to model, and no predictability to the output.

If I wanted to spend my time communicating in a superficial, neurotypical style my autistic ass certainly wouldn’t have gone into computering. LLMs are the final act of the finance bros and capitalists wrestling modern technology away from the technically literate proletariat who built it.

HI! Every Tor Books release from @annaleen and me is available thru @humblebundles for a few weeks!

Get 2 books for at least $3
Get 4 books for at least $10
Get all our stuff for at least $18

This bundle supports the amazing TGI Justice Project!

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/charlie-jane-anders-annalee-newitz-tor-books

Never forget this:

https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2025/12/12/its-surreal-us-sanctions-lock-international-criminal-court-judge-out-of-daily-life/

All it takes is a single tantrum.

Here's where you can sign up for Proton email, calendar, VPN, etc...

https://pr.tn/ref/90A9QAFA

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Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics were never intended as a practical framework for robot behavior. Instead, they represent one of the most elegant pedagogical devices in speculative fiction—a deceptively simple ethical system designed to fail in illuminating ways, thereby forcing readers to grapple with the genuine complexity of moral reasoning.

This paper argues that Asimov deliberately crafted the Three Laws as a static, incomplete framework whose very limitations would generate the philosophical investigations that form the heart of his robot stories. By presenting ethics in the language of engineering specifications, Asimov created a bridge between technical and moral reasoning, demonstrating to his scientifically-minded audience that ethical questions cannot be reduced to algorithmic certainty.

https://mystry-geek.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-three-laws-as-philosophical-trojan.html

I'm excited to release Just the Browser! It helps you remove AI features, sponsored content, shopping integrations, and other annoyances from desktop web browsers.

This project includes configuration files (group policies), a simple setup script, and guides for manual installation. It supports Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Everything is open-source on GitHub.

https://justthebrowser.com