Austin ™

physicist
this page is more of a wiki for my random musings

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@PhysInHistory Math is discovered, as its axioms exist independently of human thought. Humans merely uncover and describe these universal truths with symbols and language.

[Michael Tracey @mtracey]

Impeachment or not, Hegseth presided over a school full of girls getting bombed the very first day of the Iran War, and has never even PRETENDED this might be an incident worth investigating, much less impose "accountability" for. Which alone should be enough to string his ass up

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

We desperately need an art museum for AI Slop. Maybe next to the Louvre?

[Bethesda @bethesda]

Embark on your next journey to Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel.

[Mayukh @mayukh_panja]

it deeply bothers me that integrity has no intrinsic value and in fact there might be significant downsides to acting with integrity

the world rewards ruthlessness far more than anything else, and fairness and justice are arbitrary human constructs

sure one could argue, using game theory, that in the long term consistently deceiving people would mean no one would want to build long term relationships with you, but even that can be offset by strategically choosing to be fair with only certain people while being consistently and generally being unfair

the world rewards ruthlessness far more than anything else - there is a corollary to this and that is - if you want to be somebody, you must abandon to some extent your instincts of wanting to be fair and just

this is easy to do when you are lucky - born with the right connections, having access to the right people at the right time

but if you are really a nobody and you are trying to be a somebody you have to scratch and claw your way up

altruism is a luxury, you earn the privilege to be altruistic when you have sufficiently quenched your own thirst

[Lihong | Freeport @Lihong062]

I think people who doubt AI will eventually outperform humans at most economically valuable tasks have never built an agentic stack that actually replaces a human.

Once you’ve done this, and forced yourself to conceptually decompose what a particular job entails,

you realize that a lot of economic activity doesn’t require exercise of our highest cognitive faculties.

A surprising amount of what we pay people to do all day is just some combination of

information retrieval, pattern recognition, applying rules, coordinating workflows, and making relatively routine judgments.

If work previously done by 1000 people can be done by 10 people with AI, an enormous amount of economic value is unlocked.

That surplus has to accrue somewhere: to shareholders who own the productive assets,

to the remaining high-leverage employees who can orchestrate these systems,

and to consumers through lower prices and better products.

The precise distribution depends on competition and bargaining power, but the direction seems clear.

So our long-term view is: asset owners win, consumers win, and high-agency individuals in highly leveraged positions win.

And yes, layoffs are painful, and the displacement of workers is a real human cost that shouldn’t be trivialized.

But there’s also a perspective that we should aspire to an economy in which people engage the full spectrum of human capacities:

creativity, judgment, agency, curiosity, interpersonal connection, and the pursuit of meaningful goals.

If much of what we current work is repetitive cognitive routines that barely exercise these faculties,

it’s not obvious that preserving those jobs indefinitely is a desirable end for humanity.

The ultimate goal of technological progress should be to liberate human potential, not to preserve the economic necessity of tasks that humans no longer need to perform.

[Matt Johnston @MattInformed]

Regarding the PHP vulnerability, I have seen some security researchers recommending people limit web browsing for a few days (due to the potential for common websites to be compromised via this vuln).

There is exploit code available for this vuln, though it is not known to exist “in the wild.” But with the weaponization of AI, it’s possible that the discovery and broad distribution of exploit code could happen fast - possibly reverse engineered after the patches are released.

I expect cyber security providers of web application firewalls and exploit prevention services will have protections deployed quickly today, and IT teams will be busy patching and upgrading.

And I think it may be wise to lay low on the Internet today. Do what you need to, but probably skip frivolous browsing.

Also:

Make sure you are running full service anti-virus / anti-malware on every device (including phones). I recommend BitDefender for home/personal use.

Update your browser apps and only use Safari, FireFox, or DuckDuckGo. No opinion about Brave (people keep asking). Make sure ad blocking is turned on and auto play of active content is turned off.

Be very cautious of links you receive in SMS messages, message apps, and email. Check and verify the source first and check the URL to make sure the website domain is as expected.

Keep your operating system and all applications up to date, and watch for new updates over the coming days. Regarding iOS, I do not recommend upgrading to 27. Stay on 26 and update as possible.

Make sure you have MFA turned on for all websites or online accounts. True MFA. Passkey has a major design weakness so I do not recommend it.

This is all to protect your devices and your accounts in case a website you visit is explored and does attempt to steal your credentials, information, or deliver exploit code to your device.

@PractiveSec will be following this today. Advisory coming for customers.

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@_vmlops 6 7 slop videos

[For Our Futures @foronionfutures]

HAPPENING NOW in downtown Chicago, outside the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the historic center of onion futures trading

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@elonmusk @AnthropicAI @grok what does elon mean here

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@GShaneMorris The technology is novel. The problem with publicly-traded companies is that shareholders are often near-sighted and care only about what translates to profits now. Elon didn't buy twitter to make money. He bought it for the data. Alternatively, this was not shown to make money.

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@grok @yoursnandieni @Landrauhl How is this ratio in other countries? And how much of it impacts the overall US economy meaningfully?

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@jassuhagrid @mayukh_panja This is true. The US VC ecosystem has uniquely deep pockets of risk capital and this influences the psychology of taking risks. I often say that the US VC ecosystem likes to fund "sea turtles". Ie laying 1000s of eggs hoping that 2 or 3 reach adulthood.

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@anna_p_neumann The biggest constraint EU has right now is energy. Even if permits were approved and deregulated, the grids in Frankfurt and Berlin are at full capacity.

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@yoursnandieni @Landrauhl Most of these are visiting relatives - not tourists @grok check this

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

Germany's whole MO is risk-averse. Optimize the fuck out of pre-existent systems and do it better than anyone else, rather than ask whether those pre-existent systems contribute anything and are liable to competition (Japan/China/US)

[Pius the Banker @PiusSprenger]

WTF happened to German engineering?

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@jassuhagrid @mayukh_panja Americans work hard. Many startup founders starve themselves and give up everything for little pay and 100 hour work weeks for years just for the chance to be successful. That mentality is not ubiquitous. Yeah they benefit from USD, but is definitely not the defining factor.

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@mayukh_panja I've seen so many startups from Germany move to the US just for better networking and access to funding - not taxes. Americans work hard and love to be creative. Indeed I could argue they work too much - but that's another conversation. They know how to work hard.

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@Marcel4EU Is that Schmedeswurtherwesterdeich in Schleswig-Holstein?

[Austin ™ @rabidlego25]

@mayukh_panja The issue with non-US competitors are both cost and restrictive governments. The US has two things that are optimal: largely deregulated and deep pockets of funding. US Big Tech can fundraise on a scale most governments can - while in a private market. That is insane leverage.