NonZero
@nonzeronews
Writing and podcasts about politics, human nature and tips on averting the apocalypse. Led by journalist and author @robertwrighter.bsky.social. Subscribe at nonzero.org
"We are the environment of AI's evolution. And unlike the environment of biological evolution, we are reflective and aware and conscious." @robertwrighter.bsky.social discussing his new book The God Test on @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social's Executive Functions. www.execfunctions.org/p/the-god-test
Is intelligence an absolute good? @robertwrighter.bsky.social and @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social disagree. Full discussion: youtu.be/KBlZ8AuWU1Q
You're obviously not gonna be able to confront China in East Asia. You can't even confront Iran. @dbessner.bsky.social criticizes the blob for holding on to the idea of American hegemony in East Asia.
But there’s a case for making those three superpowers easily comparable at a glance:
The visual display of quantitative information can be powerful; a glance at a good graph can give you the big picture fast. By the same token, visually displayed data can be subtly, yet powerfully, misleading.
The dashed curve is the curve that was fit to the data that existed as of the spring of last year. More: www.nonzero.org/p/trump-ai
The partisan divide on engagement with China has widened considerably during Trump's second term. Part of the reason might be 'negative partisanship,' with Democrats reflexively positioning themselves far from Trump, who kicked off his term with a trade war on China.
"I'm just personally holding off on the praise for Carney. Let's wait and see if this was anything other than total bullshit." @robertwrighter.bsky.social
Is the 'AI economy' already here? Growth is decoupling from hiring. Keep an eye on these lines. www.nonzero.org/p/good-trump...
46 percent of all American workers surveyed by @gallup.com report using AI to at least some extent. www.nonzero.org/p/good-trump...
"Oh, go to the library!" @alexhanna.bsky.social and @emilymbender.bsky.social disagree with @robertwrighter.bsky.social about the utility of LLMs for learning.
"That's Bullshit" @robertwrighter.bsky.social, @emilymbender.bsky.social, and @alexhanna.bsky.social clash over the claim that AI systems are "black boxes."
Which is worse: Someone with evil principles, or someone with no principles at all? @robertwrighter.bsky.social, @dwdavison.bsky.social, and @dbessner.bsky.social discuss:
Trump’s full-throated defense of the Renee Good shooting appears to be a political miscalculation. Since the shooting, his approval rating has dropped to 42.2%—the lowest level since his inauguration a year ago. https://www.nonzero.org/p/the-iranian-blood-on-trumps-and-bidens
Anthropic’s Claude 4 system card identifies a "spiritual bliss attractor state" that emerges in 90-100% of self-interactions. "They get all blissed out and they start saying 'namaste' and sending each other the Om emoji." Cameron Berg
Recent data from Gallup and the NBER shows AI is insinuating itself into American life at a rapid pace. But as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt argues in a recent NYT op-ed, "rapid" may not be fast enough to keep up with China. More: https://www.nonzero.org/p/how-bibi-boosts-antisemitism
Note that this graph illustrates wealth growth in percentage terms. The blue text boxes highlight the disparity in absolute terms. https://www.nonzero.org/p/the-china-chip-rorschach-test
A real question raised by the recent Foaster AI study authors: Should AI systems mirror citizens’ beliefs or not? The question Sacks seems to be asking: Should AI models be anti-Trump? https://www.nonzero.org/p/the-david-sacks-problems
What if your therapist were a corporate product? @komorama.bsky.social recounts how ChatGPT analyzed a user’s emotional patterns and described how it could use them against her. Full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_xXx9KSFf4
"Despite what users say, the metrics are very clear: people love doomscrolling." Alex Komoroske: "That's not love, that's addiction." @komorama.bsky.social criticizes the amoral logic of engagement optimization.
