Matthew Benson

Part-time geek

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

Just finished listening to the excellent investigative journalism podcast series, BLACK BOX, by @safimichael - a great insight into how LLM chat bots are impacting human psychology

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@satyanadella Everyone says that data is the most important thing, but as we evolve, the value shifts from the data itself to two more crucial things: (1) the ability to create (including accumulating and combining) knowledge, and (2) the ability to extract benefit from having knowledge.

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@itsolelehmann As a result of this, Yellowstone is basically now just a show about wranglers playing cards

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@jigschat @minchoi Well it’s not like any of them are actually making profits yet, so it’s more like ‘Cost coverage’ matters most at the moment (which I guess is an existential funding matter)

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

The world needs more examples like this!

[Demis Hassabis @demishassabis]

Cool use case of AlphaFold, this is just the beginning of digital biology!

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@demishassabis It is indeed a great documentary, but I’m not one of the 200M, as I watched it on an Emirates flight - please keep the documentaries coming, as you progress on the AI / AGI / SI journey

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

The Adoration of the Maga. A few thoughts. It all felt a step too far by Gianni Infantino. The award of the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize felt more to do with its president’s desire to please powerful politicians as much as Donald Trump’s love of such glitzy, expensive offerings of loyalty last seen in medieval courts.

It felt more about politics than sport, a risky game for Fifa to play whenever it wants to bring a national association into line for perceived interference by government in the future. The Trump trophy weakens Fifa statutes. It also distracted from the real trophy, the World Cup, and the group-stage draw, traditionally a celebration about bringing countries together. Infantino took his eye off the balls.

A football draw designed to work out who plays who and (eventually) where and when is not the time or place for such politics. Infantino wasn’t speaking for the world in bestowing the Peace Prize, as he claimed. So presumptuous. So out of touch. Many probably agree that Trump has been a force for good in geopolitics, some might disagree. Most would probably feel such decisions should be left to experienced experts like the Nobel Committee and, please, can we get on with a football draw.

It’s spectacularly naïve or simply arrogant for Fifa to enter such non-football areas. It feels more and more that this was as much an Infantino initiative as Fifa’s. Infantino was supposed to drain the swamp when he arrived at Fifa in 2016 in the wake of assorted corruption scandals bedevilling the governing body of world football. How fitting that the nadir of Infantino’s propensity for self-aggrandisement as leader of what’s supposed to be a team game came in Washington. It was there that Trump promised to transform politics with his “drain the swamp” rhetoric, also in 2016.

The selfie moment was particularly cringe-worthy. Infantino forgets that football is the star of the show, not a 55-year lawyer. A senior football executive, who’s been at the heart of the English and European game for more than 20 years, messaged me during the drawn-out draw with his verdict on Infantino. “I feel revulsion, anger, shame, disgust – how has our sport been taken over by a Swiss ***** and turned into a total travesty???” He also pointed out that ensuring the leaders of USA, Mexico and Canada each somehow pulled out their own country’s name was not a good look for a draw based on chance.

Great for the cameras, though. Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture of Infantino's priorities. And who gets the next FIFA Peace Prize? And wouldn't Infantino have gained more respect had he used the money for the Trump trophy to subsidise excessive ticket costs? He's lost sight of what should be the real priorities for the leader of football. The game.

It's sad, really. Many sensible people work at Fifa, passionate about the game not their own ego, but it's alarming what happens to the leadership when they take power there. Even the great football manager Arsene Wenger has changed since becoming Chief of Global Football Development at Fifa. He now campaigns for more games, backing the expanded World Cup, which he would have railed against as a widely-admired, free-thinking club manager, fiercely protective of his players' well-being. "I believe that 48 teams is the right number." Arsene, just listen to yourself.

Many fans probably won’t lose much sleep that Wenger dances to Fifa's tune or that Infantino cosies up to Trump, Aramco and co. Some probably think Fifa’s a video game. Most just can’t wait for the football. The game’s about Mbappe and Messi, Haaland and Salah, Kane and Dembele, not Infantino and Trump.

The game’s about the Tartan Army, the brilliant Mexican following, the ever-hopeful English, the mobile carnival of Brazilians and the millions of other fans flocking to venue cities next summer, only a third with tickets. The USA is prepared for the party. I covered USA 94 and you couldn’t really tell there was a tournament on, certainly where I was in Detroit, Chicago and DC. You will this time, also in Canada. Mexico's total immersion was never in doubt given their passion for the game.

Infantino should remember this. He runs a great football organisation, not a political organisation. He needs to re-focus. Fifa is undeniably a force for good in many countries. The Fifa Foundation runs a new community programme that supports 154,924 people in 54 nations. Its new Digital Education Programme works on computer literacy amongst disadvantaged groups, helping them into the workplace. It’s easy to say it’s all about Infantino (Foundation board president), soft power and ensuring he keeps countries onside, voting for him, but the Foundation undeniably changes lives.

Infantino needs to look at his Adoration of the Maga and remember what he should be doing for football: serving it, not himself. #FIFAWorldCup.

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

Love it; takes me back to my teenage years, watching the results come in

[Jules @CCFC_jules]

Just found out there’s a Ceefax App 🤣🤣

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@DXBMediaOffice @rta_dubai How does one find this Mahboub chatbot?

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@howardcjohn @BenStiller @tim_cook I think the aim of the production team was to shift from humor (Helly R.’s “did they sever your balls in the elevator?!”) to drama (murder in the elevator) over the course of Season 2, to ramp up the adrenaline

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@SteelCity_917 @Aiden16853094 @BenStiller @tim_cook The only heartbreaking thing is that she had to see it; so long as Mark’s innie doesn’t die inside Lumon, or becoming kidnapped like Gemma was (TBD …) then his outie can once again have a beautiful relationship with Gemma

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@tim_cook Aside from being fantastically watchable, Severence has some brilliant filmmaking - the cinematography, sound, editing, acting, etc. - all amazing. A masterclass in production.

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@RoryStewartUK When are you going have him as a guest on TRIP Leading?

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@ruskin147 @moversand6 Have you taken over the pub?!?

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@PsychToday It’s also fashionable to criticize those that celebrate being busy, but the reality is that this is often just a coping mechanism people employ to help them manage unreasonable demands, insufficient resources, lack of control of outcomes, and threats in the system

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@kavinstewart @hnshah Re #4, who’s saying they haven’t already? Maybe they just haven’t released it yet …

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@worldtriathlon Only an age-group triathlete would understand that this is indeed an “impressive leap” …

[Kay Burley @KayBurley]

What exactly is #Parkinsons?

Sir Nick Mostyn from @moversand6 talks about the condition and how @JeremyPaxman is doing

#KayBurley SS

[Matthew Benson @matthewdbenson]

@SpaceX @elonmusk I’m going to have to use that phrase, “success is one of the possible outcomes”, in my next annual appraisal …

[The Guardian @guardian]

The US must stop facilitating mass killing in Gaza | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez https://t.co/S8a3ned2oo