Michael caldwell

live in tokyo and new zealand - 3 months on and off. teach in tokyo, have a shop in new zealand. love japanese indies bands.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@alex_read13 @GeboMpls None of those things gobble up almost half of all land use in towns / cities, while also making life worse for most people. Except cellphones, and the problem there is that we ARE glued to our phones. Can you IMAGINE if we spent as long in our cars as on our phones each day 😆

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@cottage_st3w @marlo_safi In this case it’s less that and more generalised misanthropy and inability to connect with other humans in a reasonable way - so the “not like other girls thing” is kind of beside the point, while ALSO being too low hanging fruit 😆

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@Randolp38058019 @Felix_Romanus @UpdatingOnRome Germany doesn’t count as a Vietnam analog, because they never really managed to take it - it was a frontier, not a conquered tributary state.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@Randolp38058019 @Felix_Romanus @UpdatingOnRome Apart from Boudicca’s rebellion, which was bloody as hell, but which Rome won, and, along with crushing the welsh on Mona, that was that.

Palestine dragged and dragged and dragged, and needed FOUR legions to try and keep the lid on it.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@i_zzzzzz @writerofscratch Randomly trying to chat up a woman just doing her job stacking shelves… dude is a certified creeper 😆

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@PeterDiamandis If you’re going to make hot takes on cost/benefit, at least get the price right.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@PeterDiamandis lol, no they don’t. 4 year degree averages from ) $12k-$45k a year depending on school type, with the total average being $38k INCLUDING books, supplies, and daily living expenses. Unless it’s dentistry / medical school, which you absolutely don’t want LLMs teaching.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@53gaDr3amca5t I’m mostly confused by the way he tried to chat up some poor woman while she was working stacking shelves. 😆 Creeper.

[Nick Kapur @nick_kapur]

Compelling essay by sci-fi writer Ted Chiang on why LLMs are nowhere near consciousness, but why it serves the interests of LLM companies to constantly suggest that they might be.

I've pulled one quote below, but the whole article is worth reading.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@patwayyy @richthruster @constans Bro, under Mughal rule, it produced 25% of GLOBAL GDP. Meanwhile, Western Europe in the period was an economic basket case, with regular famines, until the Americas and trade routes to the east opened up, and eventually you got the Industrial Revolution.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@kisstheblade_ All that is spot on, and also…….. she’s dragging you to her house. Where she lives. And where you’re almost certainly going to “unwind” together after gardening all afternoon. Assuming you don’t fuck it up somehow by being a creep, you’re probably staying over if you want.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@NicholasOShaug1 You mean the post war period with bomb craters everywhere, absolutely no money, and a population boom creating massive housing shortages? They built them that way because they had to.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@GuardianJavier @feetlover122 @letsblowdrobro Nah, mismanagement / inability to do financials was a big part of the failure of a lot of these, even when the food and service was ok. It’s why a lot of the time it was the refit / advertising boost that saved them (or, given that its restaurants, made them fail slower).

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@LAChas77 I mean…… I get the sentiment, I do, but part of the reason you don’t know anyone who does any of these is because you yourself don’t do any of them. Those of us who DO know hundreds of people who also do them.

So, first step, leave your house and join a club for one of these

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@davidmrattigan The tragic thing is that I’m pretty sure the interior of the Lego version actually looks less plasticky and fake than the full size version.

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@constans Yes, although, in fairness, part of that was local corruption, (on the part of both British and genuine locals), part was spending on occupying troops for security, and part of that was them spending money on genuinely beneficial (but massively money-losing) modern infrastructure

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@constans The British especially, but also the other European powers actually SUCKED at this side of colonialism anywhere that had a decently large pre-existing population that they didn’t wipe out via disease (South America / Australia / the islands being examples of this).

[Michael caldwell @Absurdum14]

@constans The weirdest thing about OPs post is that the Mughals were actually one of the best examples of a conqueror that genuinely supercharged the economy in the conquered territory in history - The Romans and Mongols are the only other ones who come close.