Syed

Currently a philosophy assistant professor at University of Texas - Arlington, where I work on ethics & social agency related to Social/Relational AI systems.

[Syed @smusab]

What if the arguments used to oppose capital punishment lead us toward AI executions? I, together with @reneeasirbu.bsky.social, & @floridi.bsky.social explore this possibility & why we must prevent it. Happy to end fall with a 2nd pub! https://t.co/cJmgC81ZeY #AI #AIethics

[Syed @smusab]

@PhilipDBunn @MushtaqBilalPhD 💯.

[Cenk Uygur @cenkuygur]

I’ve been banned from the UK. I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!

[Syed @smusab]

Should be illegal.

[Hedgeye @Hedgeye]

Rule changes for the SpaceX $SPCX IPO:

Index providers waived the profitability requirement and cut the seasoning window from 90 days to 5.

This forces over $30 trillion in passive 401k and retirement money to buy SpaceX at IPO valuations.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates S&P 500 funds must absorb 19% of SpaceX's float within 6 months.

Russell 1000 and Nasdaq 100 funds will absorb 24%.

The rules built to protect passive investors:

1. S&P 500 has required 12 months of trading and 4 quarters of GAAP profitability since 2002. Both waived.

2. Nasdaq cut its inclusion window from 90 trading days to 15.

3. FTSE Russell cut its to 5.

All three benchmarks are now structured to buy SpaceX at IPO pricing.

[Thierry from arvy 🇨🇭 @ThierryBorgeat]

Imagine you spent 40 years doing the boring, responsible thing.

You opened a 401k at 23. You contributed every paycheck. You ignored the noise. You bought the index because Bogle told you to, because Buffett told you to, because every honest piece of financial advice for 30 years told you the index was the safest, most diversified, most rules-based way to own America.

The whole point was the rules.

The rules said: a company must trade for 12 months before joining the S&P 500. The rules said: it must show four consecutive quarters of GAAP profitability. The rules existed because in 1999 the index quietly bought a lot of stocks at the top, and pensioners paid the bill.

After the dot-com crash, S&P tightened the rules. Nasdaq tightened the rules. FTSE Russell tightened the rules.

For 23 years, those rules held.

Then SpaceX filed for IPO.

And the rules changed.

The S&P 500 waived the profitability requirement. Nasdaq cut its trading-history window from 90 days to 15. FTSE Russell cut its to 5.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the major index funds will absorb between 19% and 24% of SpaceX's float within six months. That's over $30 trillion of passive 401k and retirement money, mechanically buying a single newly public company at IPO valuations, because the rules said they had to.

Except the rules used to say they didn't.

Here's the thought exercise:

If you spend 40 years building a system designed to protect ordinary savers from buying overpriced stocks, and then you waive the protections the moment a sufficiently large stock asks you to, what was the system actually protecting?

Most of investing is about understanding what's a rule and what's a guideline.

A rule binds the rule-maker.

A guideline binds the saver.

You're allowed to find out which is which only after the fact.

[Ben Norton @BenjaminNorton]

The world's richest centi-billionaire oligarch used his power to change the rules, so he could dump his garbage company (which is cartoonishly overvalued, unprofitable, and incinerating cash) on retail investors, using trillions of dollars in retirement funds as exit liquidity, all in order to become the first trillionaire.

This is the perfect metaphor for the US economy as a whole, which is entirely based on bubbles and scams.

[neyi kaybettiğini hatırla @neyikaybettik]

🚨Gazze'de açıklama yapan Avustralyalı kadın doktorlar:

▪️Bu videoyu çekiyoruz çünkü her an ölebiliriz.
▪️Hastalarımızın %70-80'i çocuk ve hamile kadınlar.
▪️9 aylık hamile, başı kesilmiş bir kadını doğurttum.
▪️Lütfen bu terör ve dehşeti durdurun.

[Kelley B. Vlahos @KelleyBVlahos]

Absolute madness. New @aidachavez https://t.co/jm4MHUyd5F

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

The reason the war doesn’t end and prices don’t come down and people are losing health insurance and the measles is spreading is that all the White House does is corruption 24/7.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

How many ordinary Americans even know this is happening, let alone support sending their tax dollars to fund it? If only Americans knew…

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

‘The castle is protected under the Enhanced Protection mechanism of the Hague Convention, one of the highest levels of international protection granted to cultural heritage during armed conflict’ - @GreenSoutherns

[Green Southerners الجنوبيون الخضر @GreenSoutherns]

BREAKING: Israءl has directly struck Beaufort Castle (Qalaat Al-Shaqif), one of Lebanon’s most important cultural heritage sites, after days of relentless artillery bombardment targeting its immediate surroundings.
@UNESCOBEIRUT
@UNESCOarabic

[liam cunningham @liamcunningham1]

Are we getting this yet.

[Matthew Keys @MatthewKeysLive]

Just one day after ending "The Late Show" on CBS, Stephen Colbert returned to TV — to host a public access show with rocker Jack White in Monroe, Michigan.

Appearances by Jeff Daniels, Eminem and Steve Buscemi.

[99% Johnny Graz @jvgraz]

He's not the first NYC mayor to skip a Nazi parade.

Fiorello LaGuardia did it in 1939.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Big Money campaign contributions are destroying American democracy.

Today, Rep. Summer Lee and I are introducing legislation to end billionaire-funded super PACs.

Democracy means one person, one vote.

We must not allow oligarchs to buy elections.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Join the struggle.

[John Cusack @johncusack]

There is no universe where this is not an evil act - cold blooded murder of innocents

[Syed @smusab]

What are the chances that he’d take a debate from an actual economist?

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Bezos on CNBC: "You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you."

[Syed @smusab]

@JimDMiller This is insane.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

But if you talk about this too much you’re an antisemite. 🤷🏽‍♂️