California, Ireland, Colorado.
MS Math/CompSci UCLA.
Locus, Sun Microsystems; PDP-11, x86, C, Go.
Programming since 1973.
I wrote the program that calculated the GPA that appears on my high-school transcript.
Starting in 1984 I led the project at Locus to create the first x86 virtual machine, to run MS-DOS under Unix, on the AT&T 6300 Plus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6300_Plus).
The lines in the avatar are horizontal.
There should be no profit in human misery.
| Github | https://github.com/DavidButterfield |
| Climate Change | https://mastodon.social/@weaselx86/110737482227627636 |
| Thread of Wisdom | https://mastodon.social/@weaselx86/110647947776142998 |
| Threads of Poetry and Lyrics | https://mastodon.social/@weaselx86/110673668598154424 |
Wow. [Financial Times]: Pete Hegseth’s broker looked to buy defence fund before Iran attack By Paul Murphy and Harriet Agnew in London, Joshua Franklin in New York and James Politi in Washington
Morgan Stanley wealth manager approached BlackRock about multimillion-dollar investment on behalf of US defence secretary
https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/ebff2ba5-6582-42cc-a306-f0d20b938065
Two recent non-technical pieces on the philosophy and practice of mathematics:
"Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI", by Tanya Klowden and myself: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26524 (also discussed in https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/mathematical-methods-and-human-thought-in-the-age-of-ai/ ). This was a solicited piece for a forthcoming compendium in the philosophy of mathematics.
"What does it mean to think like a mathematician?", https://terrytao.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/talk-ver-3.pdf . These are slides for a talk I gave during a Pi Day (Mar 14) event at the local Curtis Center. The talk will be posted shortly.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the name popularly given to a broad spectrum of computer tools designed to perform increasingly complex cognitive tasks, including many that used to solely be the province of humans. As these tools become exponentially sophisticated and pervasive, the justifications for their rapid development and integration into society are frequently called into question, particularly as they consume finite resources and pose existential risks to the livelihoods of those skilled individuals they appear to replace. In this paper, we consider the rapidly evolving impact of AI to the traditional questions of philosophy with an emphasis on its application in mathematics and on the broader real-world outcomes of its more general use. We assert that artificial intelligence is a natural evolution of human tools developed throughout history to facilitate the creation, organization, and dissemination of ideas, and argue that it is paramount that the development and application of AI remain fundamentally human-centered. With an eye toward innovating solutions to meet human needs, enhancing the human quality of life and expanding the capacity for human thought and understanding, we propose a pathway to integrating AI into our most challenging and intellectually rigorous fields to the benefit of all humankind.
This looks like becoming a defining photo for the Court of the Tangerine Tyrant's attack on democracy
Malignant narcissism is recognized by psychologists as a blend of two dangerous pathologies—Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) & Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).
“So much for Caligula as emperor; we must now tell of his career as a monster.”
—Suetonius
https://www.mind-war.com/p/mathematics-of-caligula-malignant
The Quicker Fucker Upper
bot by @davidaugust
No laws were broken in the making of this bot: put the zip ties down.
The Trump administration is using immigration law to punish and silence disinformation researchers, advocates, and trust-and-safety professionals on the basis of the misleading premise that by doing research and advocacy, they are ‘complicit’ in censorship.
Minnesota Kicks Off Legal Battle With Trump Administration to Hold ICE Shooters Accountable
--
With the federal government refusing to identify agents or share evidence relating to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the dispute has become a game of constitutional chicken: states’ rights versus federal immunity.
https://www.propublica.org/article/minnesota-trump-ice-shooting-lawsuit-alex-pretti-renee-good?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Minnesota #ICE #Trump #Law #Constitution #Lawsuit #AlexPretti #ReneeGood
California Democrats are proof positive that humans are not an intelligent species.
Here in Calif we have a unique primary system - a single primary for *all* parties. The top two move onto the general election, the rest are out of the game.
So here we have two R's splitting a smaller part of the electorate and a dozen D's splitting a larger part.
The result is that it is likely that the two R's will get larger vote counts than any of the dozen D's. Thus *only* those two R's will move onto the general election and *ALL* of the D's will be sent to the showers. And California will end up with a conservative R governor despite the state being overwhelmingly D.
The key is that at least ten of the D candidates need to drop out, IMMEDIATELY. But they are squabbling like D's normally do about identity politics and other stupid things.
"California governor poll raises prospect of two Republicans contesting runoff"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/24/california-governor-election-republicans
jackhutton 🇺🇸
𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 "not yet begun to fight"
Terence Tao
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Jim Stewartson 
45 Name an Hour
Dr. Emma L Briant🐕🇬🇧in🇦🇺
ProPublica
Karl Auerbach