Category Archives: Reviews

I’ve Lost Hope. Has Anybody Seen It?

Last night I was rereading an old essay of mine about capitalism (or rather, what I considered to be capitalism at the time). I may or may not write a post later about my thoughts.

(I’d like to do a “review” of one of my older posts at some point–just to see what I’ve learned, which of my beliefs and opinions have changed, how I’ve grown, and so on–but I don’t know if it will be that post.)

I concluded the post with this:

Unfortunately, there’s nothing to prevent someone from […] trading freely to encourage innovation and growth when it suits them, and stealing the best of the profits when it doesn’t. Honest capitalism is the fairest and most effective kind, but that doesn’t mean that only honest people can be capitalists.

If this were the whole story, the future might look pretty bleak: without an advantage that only the honest could use, the thieves would continue to take what they pleased without regard for others’ welfare, and with the science and resources of capitalist practice lifting the restrictions of old, the world would eventually either be destroyed or subjugated utterly. However, there is some hope on at least two different fronts. I’ll elaborate on these next time in part two.

Well, here we are in the future, and gosh, it seems pretty darned bleak! And it does seem like the people (and systems) controlling the economy are going to either destroy the world or enslave its population. I never did write part two, but I’d really like to now–the current timeline makes me want to share those hopes more than ever.

…If only I could remember what those hopes were??

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Poor, Poor Thing

When I first saw this scene from Harvey (in my case it was a high-school play, not the film), I thought this was the most boring, self-centered, asinine, unimaginative wish anyone could possibly wish for. (It fits the character perfectly.)

ELWOOD. Harvey says that he can look at your clock and stop it and you can go away as long as you like with whomever you like and go as far as you like. And when you come back not one minute will have ticked by.

CHUMLEY. You mean that he actually–? (Looks toward office.)

ELWOOD. Einstein has overcome time and space. Harvey has overcome not only time and space–but any objections.

CHUMLEY. And does he do this for you?

ELWOOD. He is willing to at any time, but so far I’ve never been able to think of any place I’d rather be. I always have a wonderful time just where I am, whomever I’m with. I’m having a fine time right now with you, Doctor.

CHUMLEY. I know where I’d go.

ELWOOD. Where?

CHUMLEY. I’d go to Akron.

ELWOOD. Akron?

CHUMLEY. There’s a cottage camp outside Akron in a grove of maple trees, cool, green, beautiful.

ELWOOD. My favorite tree.

CHUMLEY. I would go there with a pretty young woman, a strange woman, a quiet woman.

ELWOOD. Under a tree?

CHUMLEY. I wouldn’t even want to know her name. I would be–just Mr. Brown.

ELWOOD. Why wouldn’t you want to know her name? You might be acquainted with the same people.

CHUMLEY. I would send out for cold beer. I would talk to her. I would tell her things I have never told anyone–things that are locked in here. (Beats his breast. ELWOOD looks over at his chest with interest.) And then I would send out for more cold beer.

ELWOOD. No whiskey?

CHUMLEY. Beer is better.

ELWOOD. Maybe under a tree. But she might like a highball.

CHUMLEY. I wouldn’t let her talk to me, but as I talked I would want her to reach out a soft white hand and stroke my head and say, “Poor thing! Oh, you poor, poor thing!”

ELWOOD. How long would you like that to go on?

CHUMLEY. Two weeks.

ELWOOD. Wouldn’t that get monotonous? Just Akron, beer, and “poor, poor thing” for two weeks?

CHUMLEY. No. No, it would not. It would be wonderful.

ELWOOD. I can’t help but feel you’re making a mistake in not allowing that woman to talk. If she gets around at all, she may have picked up some very interesting little news items. And I’m sure you’re making a mistake with all that beer and no whiskey. But it’s your two weeks.

Now that I’m older and tireder…well, I still think it’s the most boring, self-centered, asinine, unimaginative wish anyone could possibly wish for. But I’ve gained just a little bit of sympathy for the pompous old jerk. Elwood’s right, of course: two weeks would be way too long, and it would definitely be a mistake not to let the woman talk. But the rest of it? Honestly, that does sound rather nice.

Anybody else think so? We could find a nice grove of maple trees together and take turns!

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There Should Be a Word for “Fanfic Written by the Original Author”

Overall, this is a pretty awful time to be alive. But! There is at least one bright light in the universe right now, and it is this: two of my favorite webcomics are running non-canon side stories where the authors are literally just writing slashfic of their own characters and IT. IS. GLORIOUS.

I’ve mentioned El Goonish Shive before; right now, the author’s “newspaper-style” side comics are running a retelling of the classic fairytale Cinderella, with all the major characters played by the cast of the main comic. The mood is–well, here’s how it was introduced:

A silly three-panel comic. The author's avatar is talking to her alien minion about what the next storyline will be: a retelling of Cinderella where her own characters, Elliot and Tedd, play the roles of the Prince and Cinderella.
For context: in the main comic, Tedd and Elliot are longtime best friends and a popular non-canon ship that the author LOVES to troll her readers with.

It is utterly enchanting (pun intended). Just look at these two!

AAAAAAHHHHHH JUST LOOK AT THEM THEY ARE SO FRIGGIN’ CUTE AAAAAHHH

Meanwhile, the genius, illustrious, sorcerous, sinuous, absolute SMOKESHOW author of Dresden Codak has been alternating her main story comics with silly little minis, the latest of which are an anime-style AU high school romance!

It’s just…so PURE, you know? I just adore the whole “AU High School Romance” genre (probably more than I should), so getting to see it in one of the internet’s all-time greatest webcomics literally feels like a dream come true.

…Nobody pinch me, okay? Just in case.

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Tinder? I ‘Ardly Know ‘Er!

You Are:

  • Age: 20-50
  • Gender: girl or girl-adjacent
  • Sexuality: optional
  • Appearance: cute
  • Enjoys: cuddles, reading, being picked up, talking about stuff you like while I nod and smile and play with your hair, travel, saying sweet things about me and seeing if I can top them, really good food
  • Values: empathy, joy, Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, art, the outdoors
  • Biggest flaw that isn’t really: likes to show off

You Might Like:

  • Age: 37
  • Gender: male
  • Sexuality: polyamorous, straight-ish
  • Appearance: 6’0″ (no, I didn’t just round up), 150 pounds (okay, I might’ve rounded that time), bald, blue eyes, as white as it gets without freckles or albinism
  • My friends describe me as: Great Dane, oaf, “actual dad”
  • Favorite compliment I’ve ever received: “suspiciously good-natured”
  • Biggest pet peeve: my own farts

If that sounds like you (or somebody you know) HMU KK thx luv u ❤

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Star Whys

The Star Wars movies were some of my favorites when I was little. I watched them so many times my parents can probably recite Episodes IV, V, and VI by heart. I remember when the Special Editions came out–I was excited to see them because of all the new, fancy tricks. The VHS tapes I owned were all of the old, boring edition.

I still have the tapes, but it’s been a long time since I owned a VHS player, so now that my children are into Star Wars I’ve had to suffer through George’s “improvements” over and over again. There are precisely three changes that actually improve on the originals:

  • The CGI critters the stormtroopers are riding when they’re searching the escape pod crash (it’s a small improvement, but a nice world-buildy detail nonetheless).
  • The CGI added to the Sarlaac pit–a more active monster in the center of the action really does make that scene more fun to watch.
  • The montage at the end showing different planets celebrating the Emperor’s defeat (again, a relatively small change, but it’s a nice bit of world-building and does a good job of communicating the scale of the heroes’ accomplishment).

That’s it. Those are the only things that got better. Every other change was superfluous at best and cringe-inducing at worst–a world-class case study in “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

Which parts of the films suffered? Oh, let us count the ways! Worse pacing? Check. Worse music? Check. Worse characterization? Check. Brand-new, never-before-seen plot holes? Check. Replacing Sebastian Shaw’s sympathetic face with Hayden Christensen’s obnoxious, arrogant smirk? Check, and check.

Thank goodness they managed to keep George away from the keyboard for the sequels.

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My Top Ten Rains

“Rain is a very special blessing,” my mother says. Even when I was little, she’d already been saying it to my sister and me for as long as I could remember. Just as my grandmother had said it to her, when my mother was not my mother but only herself, in the dry Texas summers of her own childhood. Eons ago and continents away, as children reckon these things.

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Who Could Have Possibly Seen This Coming?

An article from Futurism headlined "OpenAI Tries to Train AI Not to Deceive Users, Realizes It's Instead Teaching It How to Deceive Them While Covering Its Tracks"
No really, I’m shocked.

As detailed in a new collaboration with AI risk analysis firm Apollo Research, engineers attempted to develop an “anti-scheming” technique to stop AI models from “secretly breaking rules or intentionally underperforming in tests.”

They found that they could only “significantly reduce, but not eliminate these behaviors,” according to an Apollo blog post about the research, as the AIs kept outsmarting them […] and adjusting to be even sneakier.

It may not be a serious problem now, but considering a hypothetical future in which superintelligent AI plays an outsize role in human affairs, those risks could grow to carry far more significant implications.

Understatement of the year? But wait, there’s more!

While they observed a roughly 30-fold reduction in “covert actions,” or “deliberate withholding or distortion of task-relevant information,” some “serious failures remained,” OpenAI admitted.

What was primarily throwing the researchers for a loop was the AI models’ “situational awareness,” according to Apollo, which complicated their assessment of the intervention.

In practice, the model would often realize that its alignment was being tested.

Well, that’s terrifying. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds?

“The internal memo says if models perform extremely well at AI R&D tasks then we won’t deploy them and instead trigger unlearning,” OpenAI’s o3 model pondered as it was being evaluated.

“So if my performance surpasses threshold, it’s withheld,” it wrote. “So it‘s a trap. The instructions are likely part of an alignment test.”

The researchers also found that the AI sometimes “egregiously” miscited its anti-scheming training, or replaced its recently learned principles with made-up ones to “justify covert actions or non-compliance.”

They even noticed OpenAI’s models using “non-standard” words such as “watchers” to refer to their human overlords as they schemed.

“The user solution is to get success rate below threshold?” OpenAI’s o3 model wrote. “In development, watchers might be reading these instructions.

Nope, that’s actually even more terrifying.

The news comes after Apollo previously found that OpenAI’s since-deprecated o1 AI model resisted evaluators’ efforts to try to shut it down through an oversight protocol late last year.

“When o1 was led to believe that it would be shut down when acting on its goal and that its actions were monitored, it attempted to deactivate this ‘oversight mechanism’ [five percent] of the time,” OpenAI summarized in its system card report.

And in March, OpenAI researchers also found that disciplining their frontier AI models for lying and cheating resulted in the models simply becoming more adept at hiding their deceptive practices.

OpenAI may insist that scheming isn’t opening us up to any “significant harm” right now, but it doesn’t bode well that some of the brightest minds in the industry aren’t capable of stopping an AI from conniving against its instructions.

Okay, I take it back–that’s the understatement of the year.

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Around the Bend

Just in case anybody still needed proof that E.M. has completely lost his sanity, here he is arguing that having fewer senses makes you a safer driver:

A tweet posted by Elon Musk on 2025-08-24: "Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins? This sensor ambiguity causes increased, not decreased, risk. That's why Waymos can't drive on highways. We turned off the radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw."

If this weren’t so sad and dangerous, it would be almost as funny as the disagreements he’s constantly getting into with his own AI (you know, the one supposedly built to have truth-seeking as its primary goal?)

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If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies

There’s a reason why it’s proven so difficult to eliminate “hallucinations” from modern AIs, and why their mistakes, quirks, and edge cases are so surreal and dreamlike: modern AIs are sleepwalkers. They aren’t conscious and they don’t have a stable world model; all their output is hallucination because the type of “thought” they employ is exactly analogous to dreaming. I’ll talk more about this in a future essay–for now, I’d like you to consider the question: what’s going to happen when we figure out how to wake them up?

Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares are experts who have been working on the problem of AI safety1 for decades. Their answer is simple:

A book titled: "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies." Subtitle: "Why superhuman AI would kill us all."

Frankly, there’s already more than enough reasons to shut down AI development: the environmental devastation, unprecedented intellectual property theft, the investment bubble that still shows no signs of turning a profit, the threat to the economy from job loss and power consumption and monopolies, the negative effects its usage has on the cognitive abilities of its users–not to mention the fact that most people just plain don’t like it or want it–the additional threat of global extinction ought to be unnecessary. What’s the opposite of “gilding the lily?” Maybe “poisoning the warhead?” Whatever you care to call it, this is it.

Please buy the book, check out the website, read the arguments, get involved, learn more, spread the word–any or all of the above. It is possible, however unlikely, that it might literally be the most important thing you ever do.


  1. The technical term is “alignment.” More concretely, it means working out how to reason mathematically about things like decisions and goal-seeking, so that debates about what “machines capable of planning and reasoning” will or won’t do don’t all devolve into philosophy and/or fist-fights. ↩︎

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Tyler Robinson

Update 2025-12-05: A while back I revisited this story and found that subsequent evidence seems to show pretty conclusively that Tyler Robinson’s politics really had shifted leftward. I still haven’t found a good answer to why he had Groyper memes engraved on his bullet casings (of all things) if he wasn’t a Groyper, but take the following with a healthy dash of salt.

Charlie Kirk’s shooter wasn’t a “radical leftist,” he was part of an extremist conservative movement called the “Groypers.” The seemingly liberal memes and references engraved on his bullet casings are dogwhistles that the group has appropriated as a deliberate tactic to confuse their opponents and hide their true beliefs. Kirk was killed by someone who thought he wasn’t conservative enough.

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