civilian drone technology and GIS/spatial data consultant, journalist and writer, monitors small drones in the Ukraine war, humanitarian-aid adjacent, always annoying online. they/them pronouns. read my newsletter: little-flying-robots.ghost.io
civilian drone technology and GIS/spatial data consultant, journalist and writer, monitors small drones in the Ukraine war, humanitarian-aid adjacent, always annoying online. they/them pronouns. read my newsletter: little-flying-robots.ghost.io
How StrongDM’s AI team build serious software without even looking at the code
Last week I hinted at a demo I had seen from a team implementing what Dan Shapiro called the Dark Factory level of AI adoption, where no human even looks …
StrongDM Software Factory
StrongDM's field notes on non-interactive agentic development: specs + scenarios, validation harnesses, feedback loops, and the supporting components.
Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book
Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"
USAID Whistleblower Says It Was Even Worse Than People Knew
Political appointees wanted a quiet drawdown, the whistleblower says. DOGE wanted an execution.
weird little AI guys
weird little AI guys
TESCREAL
TESCREAL is a neologism proposed by computer scientist Timnit Gebru and philosopher Émile P. Torres. An acronym, it stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, (modern) Cosmism, Rationalists (the internet community, not to be confused with other uses of the term), Effective Altruism, and Longtermism.
Rationalist Cults
Articles on rationalist-adjacent cults: the Zizians, Leverage Research, and the darker outgrowths of the rationalist / LessWrong-derived / Aella polycule scene that is behind "AI Safety" in Silicon Valley. Working thesis: MIRI and CFAR read as high-control groups (cults) who believe in P(DOOM) and use sex (and power) maliciously — yet they are unfortunately the ones who have captured the framing of "AI Safety," which has little to do with actual safety.
AI existential risk probabilities are too unreliable to inform policy
Learnings from a week in the wet lab — LessWrong
First They Built a Secular Apocalypse Belief System. Now They Want Religious Authority.
#13: A Timeline of the OpenAI Board
Effective Altruism Funded the “AI Existential Risk” Ecosystem with Half a Billion Dollars
Think tank tied to tech billionaires played key role in Biden’s AI order
AI existential risk probabilities are too unreliable to inform policy
Learnings from a week in the wet lab — LessWrong
First They Built a Secular Apocalypse Belief System. Now They Want Religious Authority.
#13: A Timeline of the OpenAI Board
Effective Altruism Funded the “AI Existential Risk” Ecosystem with Half a Billion Dollars
Think tank tied to tech billionaires played key role in Biden’s AI order
papers.ssrn.com
Extinctiopolitics: Existential Risk Studies, the Extinctiopolitical Unconscious, and the Billionaires’ Exodus from Earth
Calamity Theory
TESCREAL
My Experience with Leverage Research
What Policymakers and the Public Need to Know About the Cult of AI
banteg (@banteg)
The Techno-Religion at the Center of the A.I. Debate
SE Gyges (@segyges.bsky.social)
CEA's response to sexual harassment