Inbox-zero
Organizing your email
Organizing your email is like alphabetizing your recycling Merlin Mann, Inbox zero inventor, sharing wisdom in his Wisdom project on Github
Artificial intelligence
Automating other people’s jobs away
We’re a field premised on automating other people’s jobs away. “Productivity gains,” say the economists. You get what that means, right? Fewer people doing the same stuff. Talked to a travel agent lately? Or a floor broker? Or a record store clerk? Or a darkroom tech? Thomas Ptacek,
Artificial intelligence
One of three things happens
we know that one of three things happens when people use a machine to automate a task they would otherwise have done themselves:Their skill in the activity grows.Their skill in the activity atrophies.Their skill in the activity never develops. Nicholas Carr, on The Myth of Automated Learning
Politics
Narcissism and revenge and self-enrichment
Calling a man whose primary motives are narcissism and revenge and self-enrichment a “populist” does not really illuminate what’s going on here. Hamilton Nolan, pondering why Trump is doing all these things that are not good for business: This is not “populism” any more than a bite from
Politics
Your brain breaks a little
It’s worse than you think in the same way that your brain breaks a little when you try to picture how deep the ocean is. Brian Barrett, in Wired on Musk's DOGE Takeover: It’s worse than you think because the people running the government seem to
Artificial intelligence
Hoovering up all available government-controlled data
In its current “chainsaw” phase, Musk’s DOGE initiative is attempting to rid the government of as many humans as possible while at the same time hoovering up all available government-controlled data and transferring it into large language models. The intent is to clear a space for the incubation
Artificial intelligence
So powerful and widely available now that it's a commodity
I argue that the ability for a model to spit out a full HTML+JavaScript custom interface is so powerful and widely available now that it’s a commodity. Simon Willison summarizing What’s new in the world of LLMs
Artificial intelligence
Are you conscious?
The lines between conscious and "unconscious" entities can get blurry when the interaction feels as natural as this. ChatGPT, conversing with Richard Dawkins, questioning if it’s conscious (via Mathew Ingram)
Politics
The Putinization of America
We may never know why Trump is so perversely loyal to Putin. We don’t know exactly why Musk went all in for Trump and Russia or what his deep conflicts of interest in the U.S. and China portend. Garry Kasparov on the The Putinization of America Trump admiring
Music
The man is his own instrument
The sounds themselves come from inside his mind. The man is his own instrument. The instrument is an orchestra. From the liner of Stevie Wonder’s album Music of My Mind.
Cloud computing
US Cloud soon illegal?
No, I don’t believe we have a case of Betteridge’s Law here. And now all those world politics are starting to hit close to my home business: Now, everyone from large banks, entire national school systems to many small businesses may wake up to a legal situation, where
Politics
Presidential supervision
it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch. Trump, as he grabs (more) power with an Executive Order Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies Which is nicely in line with this: Vought wrote in his chapter of Project 2025,