Nathan Sorenson

@takeoutweight
297 Followers
540 Following
1,004 Posts

I like functional programming, collecting arxiv pdfs, trying to grok Topos Theory for years, and turning tedious problems into interesting math problems. I also like meditation and consciousness and Self Growth but am deeply suspicious of others who share this interest, in a Groucho Marxian sense

we need not belabor the details of my psychodrama but fwiw I try to minimize being That Guy across a variety of dimensions

ProunounsHe/Him
Copsdefund them
Capitalismoutlook seems grim
Nathan Sorenson1d ago
Sifting through old Photoshops I've done and for some reason this is the one I find the most hilarious
Nathan SorensonMar 18
William J. Bowman🇨🇦Mar 18

I think if I spend any more time on this, I'll risk doing more harm than good: new blog post on "AI" and ethics.

https://www.williamjbowman.com/blog/2026/03/13/against-vibes-part-2-ought-you-use-a-generative-model/

Against Vibes Part 2: Ought You Use a Generative Model

Since the wide-spread availability and forced deployment of generative models, people have argued about the ethics of using them. Many arguments have been presented to argue that they're _bad_: they use too much electricity, boil the oceans, massively inf...

Nathan SorensonMar 16
Honk if you like when you cook with some canned ingredients and all the cans are slightly different sizes so when you rinse the cans and take them to recycling you can nest them like Russian dolls
Show threadNathan SorensonMar 2
@sus I have a personal goal to work on my over explanation/over strategizing tendencies and ya it's absolutely from a place of anxiet. I am embarassed how obvious this must have been to others but I'm only just realizing how bad I do it! I guess if you do a thing your whole life it feels normal?
Nathan SorensonMar 1
I've been putting it off as long as I could but I guess I'm going to have to start thinking for myself ughh
Nathan SorensonFeb 24
*using an example.com email domain to log into the coffee shop's captured wifi* "I'm in."
Nathan SorensonFeb 22
RocketsoupFeb 22

If a Klein bottle could wear pants, would it be like this or like this?

#mathstodon #math #maths #shitpost

Nathan SorensonFeb 22
Lynnesbian Feb 20

You're doubting my humanity, but you're missing some key points. Here are some of the things I've seen:

  • Attack ships firing off the shoulder of Orion. These aren't just battleships — they're spacecraft designed for warfare.
  • C-beams glittering in the dark. Their location? Near the Tannhäuser Gate.
  • Things you wouldn't believe. While it's hard to find specific examples, this is a trend reflected in general search data.

The bottom line: All those moments will be lost — like tears in rain.

Show threadNathan SorensonFeb 20
@sus yeah the "no ethical consumption under capitalism" aspect has always tied me in knots. So many things are true at the same time it gets hard to add anything that hasn't been said (true were super inconsistent drawing our red lines, true that people point this out in bad faith to support status quo, etc etc). How do you nurture broad coalitions with so many ethical hot buttons?
Nathan SorensonFeb 20
JA WestenbergFeb 20

I want to call this the Cruft Threshold: the point at which the cost of managing, evaluating, and ignoring new tools exceeds the benefit any individual tool provides.

We crossed it somwhere around the fourteenth app that added a "summarize with AI" button.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-unbearable-weight-of-cruft/

The unbearable weight of cruft

In 1958, the economist John Kenneth Galbraith coined the term "the dependence effect" to describe something he'd noticed about postwar America: once production capacity outstrips genuine human need, you have to manufacture the desire for things nobody actually wanted. Factories that could make ten million widgets needed ten million people

Westenberg.