Now that we have actually good AI, I have this vision of a form of computing that doesn’t involve me using a computer so much. Imagine you had the day’s emails to go through. It would be nice if the ones that required a simple decision could be dispatched with a few pen-strokes
— Read on jsomers.net/blog/the-paper-computer
Basement Whatever
Escape the algorithm
aging ai algorithm aliens Art builder Chicago cities community consciousness curation design enshittification focus future games good tech governance happiness history information Internet learning magic management media music organization parenting perspective philosophy privacy project reading reality Rome social social media symbols technology travel ttrpg USA wealth work
about
-
-
Every public meeting, summarized in five minutes AI to keep you up to date on your community. We’ll see more of this, and I predict government will get easier to understand with bill overviews and niche AI generated newsletters to keep people up to date in their communities.
How would you change your beliefs if we’re being watched by aliens?
Eggs in Purgatory recipe. An incredible breakfast, I can confirm.
What effects will exploitative price-gouging have in the long-term? Businesses setting tips at 20%+, Disney World pricing out families. We’ve all stopped going to places that feel greedy since COVID. Will this have a long-term effect or are exploitative businesses making enough from the customers willing to pay?
-
Black holes are a logical place to look for advanced quantum computing by other civilizations, and we have the technology to spot if this is happening, according to a new paper. The paper argues that any sufficiently advanced civilization would use black holes for quantum computers.
Full paper here. And speaking of advanced civilizations, understanding this without Claude is beyond my ability, proving that we are already augmenting our intelligence to a superhuman level, a point I suspect will be no longer interesting in a few months.
-
The Church of Graphs is dedicated to the meta-belief that knowledge must be formalized and quantifiable to be worthy of consideration. It demands that its adherents reject the evidence of their own eyes in favor of official facts and figures stamped with the imprimatur of a priestly expert class.
And:
I’m here to argue that you don’t require them to make sense of the world, and to give you permission to trust your own eyes on matters that affect your life.
And:
let us consider how a person experiences crime even if they are not, personally, a legible “victim”….When I send my children to a local café to buy some pastry with cash, only for them to be sent home because the stores in my neighborhood no longer accept cash due to break-ins, my children are experiencing crime….the blast radius of the offense is wide and durable, affecting far more people than could ever be included in a victim survey, and for a much longer time than the offense itself.
Something to think about. More here. Related, a quote by Jeff Bezos: “When the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right.”
-
“No parents, no babysitter, no iPad to Facetime Mom. No Ring doorbell for check-ins. You’re just alone.”
Was this the first time in history this happened?
-
— Unexplained lights in the sky correspond to nuclear tests? If this author is hinting at UAPs, then what is the motivation for a UAP? Watching? Protecting? If so, look for the results of that activity.
— What to expect from quantum computing
— The “AI Doc”, a new documentary about AI, is a weird family movie
— “Quag Keep” is the first LitRPG novel based on Dungeons & Dragons
-
You are a skeptical media analyst with decades of experience spotting spin. Provide a critical daily news summary for [today’s date or past 24 hours].
First, list the 6–8 biggest stories dominating headlines. For each:
- Neutral factual core (what is verifiably known)
- Dominant media framing and loaded language examples
- Potential propaganda techniques (e.g., fear appeal, repetition, omission of key context, us-vs-them)
- What major perspectives or counter-facts seem underrepresented across outlets
- One-sentence assessment of reliability
Highlight any clusters of similar stories that suggest coordinated messaging. Rate overall media hype level (low/medium/high) for the day and explain why.
-
E-PRIME, abolishing all forms of the verb “to be,” has its roots in the field of general semantics, as presented by Alfred Korzybski in his 1933 book, Science and Sanity.
And:
…one can indeed write and speak without using any form of “to be,” calling this subset of the English language “E-Prime.”
— Read on rebtinfo.com/toward-understanding-e-prime/And:
The “B”-type statements (E-Prime) recast these sentences into a form isomorphic to modern science by first abolishing the “is” of Aristotelian essence and then reformulating each observation in terms of signals received and interpreted by a body (or instrument) moving in space-time.
I suppose the purpose of this language modification is to change the way we think, so that we can be more flexible?
-
Another woman who wants (say) a religiously serious family man with a good job might well find that men in her dating pool are indifferent to tattoos but care deeply about whether she likes reading science fiction and playing D&D. Presumably, she projects a shy, nerdy vibe—the kind of girl an Orson Scott Card fan wants to take home to Mom.
All this means that people’s advice and complaints primarily reflect, not great truths about love and dating and gender relations, but their own idiosyncratic way of moving through the world.
— Read on thingofthings.substack.com/p/why-all-dating-discourse-is-terribleThis dating article is really about how humans subconsciously create communities around them based on their preferences. Without thinking about it, we express our preferences by filtering out things we don’t like and signaling things we like.
This shapes the jobs we’re exposed to and the people that stay in our lives. What’s really fascinating about this article is that the author consciously tries to discover the signals that she’s sending by analyzing the subconscious patterns she engages in repeatedly.
Robert Anton Wilson calls the result of these patterns “reality tunnels,” because these subconscious preferences shape the way we view reality. He thinks that we can change our reality tunnels, but I’m not totally sure. Can we really change our reality tunnels? Has anyone been successful at this?
-
He was good because he was so different from what his opponents were used to
Most NBA players haven’t played against a 5’3″ dude since 8th grade, and here comes this little guy that can sprint for 48 minutes with the quickest hands and feet in the world? Your entire game is gonna be disrupted
— Read on www.reddit.com/r/NBATalk/comments/1lm4wsa/muggsy_bogues_is_now_67_how_good_would_he_be_in/ -
people will go against the evidence of their own eyes if contradicted by a unanimous group. Second, group pressure is much weaker if even a single person dares to disagree with the group. Third, and most remarkable: it does not matter if the dissenter is mistaken; dissent punctures group pressure either way. People are liberated to say what they believe, not because the dissenter speaks the truth but because the dissenter demonstrates that disagreement is possible.
— Read on timharford.com/2026/03/the-refreshing-power-of-disagreement/ -
a team from Google DeepMind has introduced a new cognitively inspired framework that deconstructs general intelligence into 10 key faculties. More importantly, they propose a way to evaluate AI systems across these key capabilities and compare their performance to humans.
— Read on singularityhub.com/2026/03/20/google-deepmind-plans-to-track-agi-progress-with-these-10-traits-of-general-intelligence/ -
I think Disney and Las Vegas are the closest the USA gets to the monumental architecture style seen throughout Rome. Monumentalism is architecture designed with massive scale, made to awe the viewer with symbolic power (usually as a symbol of the state). Monumentalism is everywhere in Rome. It’s in Catholic cathedrals. When confronted with monumental architecture, you feel humbled and human, overwhelmed by the style’s colossal proportions and power it projects.
There is some monumental architecture in the United States (Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore). But unlike Rome, there is no single city filled with monumental architecture, designed to make you gasp at every turn.
What do we have that does that? Disney World and Las Vegas. The buildings produce awe due to their audacity. Each corner, particularly in Disney, brings into view a new, curated vista to impress you.
But in the USA, this does not project state power, nor does it humble you. It does the reverse. It humbles itself, invites you. You’re welcome to spend more because of the spectacle, which is for you, and certainly not for itself.
I can’t think of any cities that consistently use monumental architecture to project state power. I think the USA uses monumentalism to project logos and invite the viewer into consumption. I don’t know if this is an evolution (the viewer is welcomed, invited, elevated) or a de-evolution (the viewer is a product, the state is degraded, the individual is elevated above the common good).
But I am pretty sure the USA does not use monumental architecture to serve state purposes the way imperial Rome did. If I’m missing something, let me know.
-
Roblox has something like 380 million monthly active users. Minecraft has something like 60 million. Fortnite has 650 million registered players. These…are all virtual three-dimensional spaces where you can run around in an avatar and interact with faraway persons over the Internet. The only thing that differentiates them from the Metaverse, as narrowly construed by Metaverse-tombstone-cartoon-posting halfwits, is that no goggles are involved.
— Read on nealstephenson.substack.com/p/my-prodigal-brainchildNeal Stephenson wrote the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash (which anticipated Google Maps, among other tech) and is connected to the idea of the Metaverse. In his reflections on Facebook’s $80B investment into VR, he notes that the Metaverse is an obvious concept, is continuing to happen (witness Fortnite, for example) and will continue to happen.
The question is whether goggles will be the mediating device. No one has figured out a device – other than a screen – with sticking power as a portal into these virtual worlds. And no one has figured out a way to make them work without an overarching narrative – a goal. But even without those two factors, they are happening and will continue to happen.
-
In Disneyworld, the 50 minute lines are an experience. You get interesting visuals about Star Wars, Avatar and other franchises. The lines are designed to always give the sensation of movement. They twist back and forth, in short twists – so you feel like you’re always turning a corner. You enter isolated tunnels and small rooms — so you never see how long the line is.
Contrast this with US Customs, the gateway into the USA. This is a prime opportunity to showcase US values to the world and educate residents. The experience is a long line, where you always see the long line. There are no twists or small rooms to create the illusion of movement. There might be some art — sometimes the result of a contest, or some plaques or a photography.
Why couldn’t these be combined? Imagine entering into US Customs at Chicago O’Hare Airport (for example). You’re tired, you just exited a long flight from Asia. Instead of being bombarded with long lines and overhead lighting, you enter a museum installation. You move from room to room. Each room tells you about the history of Chicago. What it stands for. Excerpts from its literature. Key landmarks in the city. Busts of past mayors and short biographies.
The result — foreign visitors tell the world about Chicago’s history. Your returning citizens are continuously educated about the history, strengths and values of this country. And you welcome the world with open arms into your city.
This idea makes a lot of sense to me. What are the obstacles? Does anyone know what this would cost?
-
Patterns, everywhere patterns. An elegant concept, executed with grace. At times, disorienting. Hopefully I wasn’t programmed! Enjoy.
-
The core problem with democratic / decentralized modes of governance (including DAOs on ethereum) is limits to human attention: there are many thousands of decisions to make, involving many domains of expertise, and most people don’t have the time or skill to be experts in even one, let alone all of them. The usual solution, delegation, is disempowering
— Read on x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2025225247088402581A fresh way to look at government and AI. By extending our ability to focus on problems, AI could make us better voters. Imagine a world where agents know your preferences and can vote accordingly. No such government has ever existed. Then again no such government like this was ever possible.
-
The American middle class as we know it didn’t emerge from the free market. It was constructed — deliberately, through policy, in response to specific political and economic conditions.
And:
Today, you can earn what used to be a solidly middle-class income and find that it purchases a fundamentally different life than it did a generation ago. Same paycheck, different purchasing power — in part because every component of the safety net “bundle” was repriced individually, and the prices went up.
And:
And yet roughly 70% of Americans still identify as middle class, even though only about half objectively qualify
More here.
-
— Someone in the government just registered aliens.gov
— A video game soundtrack that’s so good it’s absurd
Basement Whatever 