botwerks

movies knives out (no, not the new one) white noise (netflix) why did we watch this again? pinocchio (netflix) - very good. would recommend. the menu (on the plane) - very good. would recommend. jurassic world: dominion (amazon prime) - amusing, would not recommend. ticket to paradise (on the plane) - saccharin. would not recommend. patagonia films (on the plane) - i’ve been watching these on flights lately. they really make me feel like i’ve been living my life wrong....

books the high sierra: a love story (kim stanley robinson) i’m a recent convert to KSR’s stuff. i’ve loved all of it and this is no exception. this is the first bit of non-fiction i’ve read by him. honestly, i don’t know if he has more. having done a limited amount of hiking in the sierra’s, i was hooked and burned through this faster than i expected to. a book like this makes you question your life decisions....

links, etc [2311.07590] Technical Report: Large Language Models can Strategically Deceive their Users when Put Under Pressure this is the most interesting (and likely disturbing) thing that i’ve read re: AI in the past couple of months.

links, etc Effective obfuscation - by Molly White - Citation Needed i became a huge molly white fan with the whole w3igjg thing. the move to a substack and the subsequent shift to “citation needed” is a solid evolution. this summary of “effective altruism” and “effective accellerationism” nails it. the footnotes are pretty spot on as well.

links, etc Silicon Valley’s worldview is not just an ideology; it’s a personality disorder. — Crooked Timber reductive and handwavy, but on balance a pretty solid summary of the emergent behaviors we’ve seen over the past 20 years. not that many of these haven’t been seen before, we just see the iteration process sped up dramatically. i particularly appreciated the call out of the politicians as insipid betas to big tech....

links, etc It’s Pretty Cool Being an Adult and a Beginner – Adventure Journal pretty much the story of the last few years for me. it’s been a blast

links, etc If You’re Worried About the Climate, Move Your Money - The Atlantic probably dead on. seems like a slog to align my investments to my morals. what’s a dork to do?

links, etc Rosalynn Carter, First Lady and a Political Partner, Dies at 96 - The New York Times major bummer. growing up in the 80s, i didn’t realize what gems the carters actually are/were.