Documenting the first time one affected technology.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
AI Doom
Eric Raymond makes the case against it.
This is the case against AI doom. Pass it on
— Eric S. Raymond (@esrtweet) September 17, 2026
First we recaptulate standard x-risk argument: we build AI substantially smarter than humans → it becomes an autonomous optimizing agent → its goals are misaligned → instrumental convergence makes it seek power and resist…
The Attention It Deserves
Researchers have (finally) made a neurological map of the clit.
An Interesting Take
If nobody builds AI, everybody dies?
The Deconstruction Of Scotty
…is an indictment of our times.
A large part of NASA’s problem is that dishonesty is often rewarded, particularly when testifying to Congress.
[Update late morning]
Link added, sorry!
SpaceX Launch Costs
Ozan runs some numbers.
After the Starship $300/kg price floor nonsense made the rounds, the ones who shared the studies started saying there isn't a better model out there to look at. I'd be willing to bet whatever @mach33 has put out is way better, but I've always run my own numbers on this stuff…
— Ozan Bellik (@BellikOzan) September 7, 2026
I don’t understand, though, how you get two flights per pad per day into SSO, at least not if you want the SSO on the terminator, which is where everyone claims to want to be, for continuous sunlight.
[Wednesday-afternoon update]
Investors are stoked about Stoke’s latest announcement.
[Thursday-afternoon update]
The coming tidal wave of new rockets.
Some Labor Day Thoughts
…from Supersonic Redhead:
What We Carry Forward Some Thoughts on Work, Talent and the Obligations of Experience https://t.co/o4cMKVptxR
— Supersonic Redhead🛫 (@Supersonic_Red) September 7, 2026
[Afternoon update]
Ask communists to explicitly describe what communism would be like. The answers are hilarious.
— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) September 6, 2026
> Everyone gets a modern urban apartment in a city, no cars
> You don't have to work
> Things are just produced so everyone has stuff somehow
> People work because of a 'sense of… pic.twitter.com/KzG2nT0c8k
All we need to make it happen is the New Soviet Man!
The PhD Experts
Well, this certainly kicked off a lively discussion (full of nonsense in replies):
Your occasional reminder that physics PhDs are not engineers. The physics PhDs told us that we couldn't do missile defense. https://t.co/ra7Ybd82G0
— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) August 31, 2026
September 10th, 2001
Reflections on the past quarter century.
Data Centers: Pro Or Con?
A completely rational, unbiased explanation.
We asked AI to give us the unbiased facts about AI data centers: pic.twitter.com/BCp8pesK0q
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) August 25, 2026