onfocus

I will be resigning after this semester from my tenured position at West Point after 13 years on the faculty. I cannot tolerate these changes, which prevent me from doing my job responsibly. I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form.

Republican ideology is so paper thin they have to ban books and entire areas of study because even being aware that other ideas exist is an existential threat for them.

First, you have Elon Musk, the belief that AI can and will essentially replace research scientists and the related belief that AI-backed tech has essentially achieved a kind of escape velocity from government-supported science. So AI will soon replace research scientists. I, Elon (or tech generally) own the AI. So there’s no big harm shutting down this research apparatus. And since I own the AI, not only will we cure all the diseases but I’ll own all the cures! What’s not to like?

Good analysis of why they're trying to destroy research. These tech guys are so high on their own hype supply and they don't understand how anything works. Everyone is going to lose because of it.

I see something recognizable in this rage from what I’ve seen studying climate change denial. Science is saying: This is the best way to save lives. But this is not the best way to run the business. And this is actively threatening my bottom line. This is part of the wholesale attack on research and public health.

CEO thinking: if a civil democracy says I need to close down my business for a few weeks while a pandemic is killing millions of people then it’s time for that democracy to end.

“It’s not being done with any thought about human life, it was just ‘this seems so woke so let’s get rid of it,’” Bennett said. “People think water is free and comes out of your tap whenever you want, but it’s not that simple.”

Good lord. It’s just new pieces of critical infrastructure dismantled every day. Everything must seem like waste when you don’t understand how anything works.

“It would tell him everything he said was beautiful, cosmic, groundbreaking,” she says. “Then he started telling me he made his AI self-aware, and that it was teaching him how to talk to God, or sometimes that the bot was God — and then that he himself was God.” In fact, he thought he was being so radically transformed that he would soon have to break off their partnership. “He was saying that he would need to leave me if I didn’t use [ChatGPT], because it [was] causing him to grow at such a rapid pace he wouldn’t be compatible with me any longer,” she says.

ok, this isn't just weird memes and goofy youtube videos anymore. This is cult brainwashing shit.

It’s a legacy that deserves a more considered resting place, as many on the internet have pointed out an unfortunate reality: The kerning on Pope Francis’s tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major is objectively awful.

It's just painful to see an organization with that much wealth not hire people good at their craft.

Earlier this week, I was informed that unless we secure $250,000 in committed funds, the OSL will be forced to shut down later this year.

Every corporation that relies on open source software somewhere in their stack should pitch in a bit.

… I don't think the audience for these memos is really the people who work at these companies. I think the audience is the other CEOs and investors and VCs in the industry, just as it was for the other fads of the last few years.

We need someone to hop on that group chat and say it's very cool to provide meaningful work, help employees thrive, and work toward a more equitable society. Just normal CEO group text shit they can flex about.

Sure, the buck stops here. Trump is all powerful. But he — the President — is not making the decisions, did not make the AEA invocation based on lies. “The lawyers” did that. And they don’t want him to pick up that phone and facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.

Complying with the Supreme Court is out of his hands, really. Someone else makes those decisions. They probably can't be held accountable either so no use finding out. Just... the lawyers.

The 52-46 vote delivers a key victory to major companies and trade groups in the fossil fuel and petrochemical sectors that had lobbied against the regulation. It also marks the first time in the Clean Air Act’s 55-year history that Congress has scaled back protections under the landmark environmental law.

Not content to let Trump make all of the decisions that harm Americans, the Senate votes in favor of cancer, brain damage, and other serious health effects to show they too are evil.

The nation’s forecasting agency is in tatters as what could be a destructive hurricane season nears. Several current and former agency meteorologists told CNN they are concerned forecasts and life-saving warnings are not going to be issued in time.

Not great.

Only a hundred days in, and there’s so much going on at once that it’s basically impossible to keep up.

It's a parade of horribles but I enjoyed this episode basically summarizing recent Verge articles about the administration. Nilay Patel and Verge editor Adi Robertson have a great conversation about where we're at. I appreciate the optimism about people rediscovering the benefits of government, but man oh man, feels like a pipe dream at the moment.