Sign in

Aaron

@aaron.compleatdiscography.page
242 followers 104 following 769 posts

Compleat Discography host, Terry Pratchett and Discworld enjoyer, food nerd, and all around semi-creative person. Warning: has opinions. He/him.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Aaron
Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 6h
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
9080032006
Reposted by Aaron
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.
20752301418
Reposted by Aaron
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 24/09/2026
Never been to the opera before? Now’s your chance. We’re giving away 70,000 free tickets to the @metopera at the iconic Lincoln Center. Go to on.nyc.gov/opera to enter the lottery. There’s not a bad seat in the house.
685248895503
Reposted by Aaron
Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”
APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.
1970102257
Reposted by Aaron
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NYT has now independently corroborated all the major allegations against Susan Collins in the ProPublica report, including that investigators were prepared to move against her and then Trump intervened to shut it down. This put Trump in a position of exceptional and extortionate leverage over her.
nytimes.com
F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins
The inquiry was closed last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of a campaign donor’s account, according to current and former officials.
24982223343
Reposted by Aaron
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Zohran post about filling one pothole: We filled our 2,000th pothole! Wow! New York is the greatest city in the world! Zohran post about meeting with the president: Some guy was here and that is now over.
1206585719
Reposted by Aaron
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 16/09/2026
I do think anyone who wants us to take Elizer Yudkowsky seriously as an authority on AI armageddon should be forced to testify on video that they have read the entirety of his 660,000 word rationalist Harry Potter fan fiction – written aged 30–34 – and still thinks the world needs his take.
32724122
Reposted by Aaron
Ayo @darrylayo.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Transgender people deserve to have a nice life. That is the entirety of the argument. If you disagree, you’re saying that you do not believe in liberty or justice for all.
8352241242
Reposted by Aaron
Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
‘The closer autocrats come to their end, the more frenziedly do they build.’
theguardian.com
The desecration of DC: from a giant arch to a nuke-proof bunker, Trump’s legacy-building blingfest is an architectural atrocity
A bloated ballroom, a six-storey military HQ, a helipad-cum-cocktail patio, a gilded angel on a giant arch honouring himself … our architecture critic deplores the decorator-in-chief’s mutilation of W...
317050
Reposted by Aaron
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 11/09/2026
Holy shit. Bloomberg just verified one of my biggest scoops - that Microsoft only has 2gw of operational capacity. I had it at 1.993GW in prep for the story that @aishadown.bsky.social and I did for the guardian. Vindication! www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Brody Ford @BrodyFord
Lot of speculation out there about how many GPUs are actually deployed.
Today, Microsoft has about 2GW of Al-specific capacity live. around 17% of the total fleet.
Only about 2 gigawatts of the company's current 12-gigawatt capacity is centered on Al-specific chips, the people said. This is expected to grow to about a third of the 38 gigawatts Microsoft plans to have online in 2032, they said.
Brody Ford @BrodyFord_ • 23h
scoop: Microsoft is planning a massive expansion of its data center fleet to 38 gigawatts. $msft w/ @mattmday bloomberg.com/news/features/...
3:15 PM • Sep 11, 2026 • 12.5K Views



1,993,608.00
W


MW


GW





Are Microsoft's AI
plans being held back by a shortage of chips?
Guardian investigation finds
apparent discrepancy between what tech company has said about its AI capacity - and the
number of advanced chips it
has in operation
By Aisha Down and Ed Zitron
A Microsoft datacentre in the North Holland village of
Middenmeer in the Netherlands. Photograph: Ramon van
Flymen/EPA
251938362
Reposted by Aaron
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Actually, idea: @carlquintanilla.bsky.social next time you have one of these guys on CNBC who says stuff like this, can you ask them to... be specific? Like how? How is AI going to "Destroy humanity?" I want to know details. I legit only trust you to do have these guys on your show and ask them.
3087163
Reposted by Aaron
Sam Benc 🐟 @nonvieta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Oh yeah, right in the vein please
What is discomfort? A thwarted will. An unmet I want. It often leads to pain. Response to discomfort is everything. If you do something with it, you're probably a creator. If you demand to have it removed, you're probably a customer.
225086
Reposted by Aaron
Micah @rincewind.run · 09/09/2026
a lot of people have trouble believing they are serious, because it is a ludicrous thing to say out loud, but as far as I can tell anthropic at least genuinely believes: 1. someone is going to build a machine god that might kill us all 2. we should build it first so we can minimize the risk
40658106
Reposted by Aaron
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 09/09/2026
Both Anthropic and OpenAI should face criminal action for felony hacking. We put people in jail for hacking, including people who use scripts. This is not a complex moral, ethical or legal situation, and the only difference is that they're doing it in public and boasting about it
11610107
Reposted by Aaron
Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The Malibu city geologist showing up in a thread to explain why a sinkhole just opened up at Nic Cage's house is everything I love about bsky
301429247
Reposted by Aaron
Jesse Raub @jesseraub.online · 08/09/2026
PEOPLE WITH LIBERAL ARTS DEGREES: so while i see there is utility to the system, i’m more or less morally opposed to their current constructs and have big concerns over the business structure and environmental impact WEB CODER: so i met God today,
323060623
Reposted by Aaron
Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Navier-Stokes fight is a perfect encapsulation of where AI development is right now: this should be really cool and exciting, and instead because of Silicon Valley egos it's become a fight over cheating, surveillance, and companies trying to get one up over the other
749682
Reposted by Aaron
Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Who knew that all along the secret of how to teach the kids lay in merely teaching the kids
0324
Reposted by Aaron
Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 05/09/2026
no joke for this one just think of all the people who don't get heard you could reach out to instead. like a lot of people who aren't trying to do bad stuff need to be listened to and understood, this time could have been spent on them. idk. idk know to convince them this shit just doesn't work.
1461473
Reposted by Aaron
Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Across the US, workers are souring on AI. The tech industry has insisted that AI would make workers’ lives easier and more productive, that the more people understood and used AI, the more they would like it. Something closer to the opposite has happened.
bloodinthemachine.com
Why office workers are turning against AI
Whether or not you like AI at work ultimately boils down to a question of power.
201549454
Reposted by Aaron
Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Happy Labor Day weekend. Nothing we have was not earned by the blood and sweat of those who have gone before. Enjoy a 40 hour work week? Thank a union. Enjoy PTO? Thank a union. Enjoy safety standards? Thank a union. Enjoy weekends off? Thank a union. Organizing wins. Period.
Picture of a cocktail and a book, “the Battle of Blair Mountain”
626768
Reposted by Aaron
Jen Taub @jentaub.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
ysph.yale.edu
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
596165407118
Reposted by Aaron
Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
these people should be ashamed of themselves for several reasons share.google/IB2NzxpKmZaF...
The USFS said the climbers told them they had used an artificial intelligence platform, YouTube videos and AllTrails to plan the trip. They said they relied on AI to decide what food to bring and how much food and water they would need.

The group said it packed supplies for an eight-hour climb, not its roughly 16-hour ascent. The climbers said AI recommended simple carbohydrates instead of fats because fats “take too long to digest.”

“We relied too much on AI rather than our own critical thinking,” the group told rangers
601772233
Reposted by Aaron
Jess✨ @angryartist.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
For the first time in 6 years it’s time once again for: HALLOWEEN CREEP 2026 ICON SALE! Send an email with the subject line “Halloween Icon 2026” to angryartist113@gmail.com and let me know what you’d like for your Halloween icon! This sale will be for the entire month of September
Halloween creep 2026, spooky icon sale. $50. Only available September 1- September 30Send an email with the subject line “Halloween Icon 2026” to angryartist113@gmail.com and let me know what you’d like for your Halloween icon! Be sure to include reference images in your email.
32619
Aaron @aaron.compleatdiscography.page · 31/08/2026
“I exclusively ate sandwiches made of butter and supermarket white bread for years; when I ate some vegetables my tummy ache went away”
000
Reposted by Aaron
Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I guess we have the answer to the “who could possibly say anything bad about Dolly” question and it’s exactly who you’d think
18999245
Reposted by Aaron
Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 25/08/2026
It’s the power fantasy of being able to help people.
51132188
Reposted by Aaron
Jay Edidin @edidin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I think of Superman not as a power fantasy, but as a fantasy of the powerful as really good people. I kind of feel that way about Dolly Parton, too.
161118212
Reposted by Aaron
FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Imagine being talented and beautiful and rich and famous and still the most noteworthy thing about you is how good a person you are.
100268206331
Reposted by Aaron
kate bush’s husband @airbagged.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
RIP TO ONE OF THE GREATEST TO EVER DO IT
89204156216
Reposted by Aaron
discWorld order @discworldorder.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Great stuff. Of course, my favourite riff on the glass half full/half empty is this bit from Terry Pratchett's The Truth:
042
Reposted by Aaron
Al Yankovic @alyankovic.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
youtu.be
'Weird Al' Yankovic: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
8151291161
Reposted by Aaron
Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I do believe that any scientific publisher residing anywhere may be legally exposed under these amendments unless they can guarantee that their editorial and peer reviewing processes were carried out by humans—not LLMs. www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/eu...
jdsupra.com
EU AI Act — Transparency Obligations for AI-Generated Content (Article 50) | JD Supra
Below, we map the transparency obligations applicable to AI-generated or manipulated content under Article 50 of the AI Act (Regulation (EU)...
3258
Reposted by Aaron
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"...findings that 3 [insts] violated civil rights law by tolerating antisemitism were predetermined by political priorities that blew past the evidence and cast aside standard investigative procedures..." Reading the whistleblower statement and taking rage breaks www.ms.now/news/frame-u...
ms.now
Whistleblower says probes into antisemitism at colleges were ploys to harass and strip millions
A former Justice Department lawyer says the Trump investigations squeezed Ivy League universities for millions before they were even concluded. A top Democrat is demanding answers.
10905375
Reposted by Aaron
Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The fundraising texts you delete are working on someone. It’s infuriating and heartbreaking. An 85yo in Ohio gave more than double the value of his home. A 91yo in an Indianapolis senior facility gave 25K times. The DCCC/DSCC don’t just tolerate the spammers who exploit seniors. They take part.
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
17745331583
Reposted by Aaron
Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
the students from abroad typically pay more in tuition and so subsidize working class US students. This policy is an attack on upward mobility
7537116
Reposted by Aaron
Chase Taylor-Carter @chasecarter.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Spoke to @rowanrookanddecard.bsky.social staff who have just unionized with @gameworkers.co.uk. It's a rare instance of workers' having no complaints with management. "Establishing our union was done with the mentality of ‘fix the roof while it’s sunny’", said @elainelithgow.bsky.social.
09126
Aaron @aaron.compleatdiscography.page · 10/08/2026
Feeling deeply depressed about LLMs eating my colleagues’ brains today.
010
Reposted by Aaron
Louis Peitzman @louispeitzman.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
We need to be saying this loudly and clearly: These people have lost their fucking minds.
1013308834
Reposted by Aaron
laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Abdul El-Sayed on capitalism: “I’m capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading, I’m so sorry.”
We’ve spoken about capitalism versus socialism.

Do you want to talk about capitalism? Let’s talk about capitalism. Are you recording? Capitalism is about leveraging the laws of supply and demand to efficiently allocate capital expenditure to maximize value. When capitalism works, it’s because you have free entry and exit into markets. So if you believe in capitalism, you have to believe in government regulation to protect markets. In fact, right now, we have exactly the opposite. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that you should be taxing billionaires their wealth. In fact, if you are a capitalist, you should believe in that. So, I’m capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading, I’m so sorry.
10869271510
Reposted by Aaron
Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 04/08/2026
Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia It's been a year & people tell me they've changed their mind, feel safer now to sign, etc. So I'm sharing it again for them. We're almost at 2k & anybody from anywhere can add their names. openletter.earth/open-letter-...
We call upon you to:

• Resist the introduction of AI in our own software systems, from Microsoft to OpenAI to Apple. It is not in our interests to let our processes be corrupted and give away our data to be used to train models that are not only useless to us, but also harmful.

• Ban AI use in the classroom for student assignments, in the same way we ban essay mills and other forms of plagiarism. Students must be protected from de-skilling and allowed space and time to perform their assignments themselves.• Cease normalising the AI hype and the lies which are prevalent in the technology industry's framing of these technologies. The technologies do not have the advertised capacities and their adoption puts students and academics at risk of violating ethical, legal, scholarly, and scientific standards of reliability, sustainability, and safety.

• Fortify our academic freedom as university staff to enforce these principles and standards in our classrooms and our research as well as on the computer systems we are obliged to use as part of our work. We as academics have the right to our own spaces.

• Sustain critical thinking on AI and promote critical engagement with technology on a firm academic footing. Scholarly discussion must be free from the conflicts of interest caused by industry funding, and reasoned resistance must always be an option.
6312144
Reposted by Aaron
Amos Posner @amosposner.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole of the Torah." -Rabbi Hillel
09416
Reposted by Aaron
Tanya D. || Writer || Narrative Designer @cypheroftyr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Daaaamn. “AI is the asbestos we're shovelling into the walls of our technological society. Our descendants will spend generations digging it out again, and the longer the bubble goes on without popping, the longer it will take to repair the damage." www.thenerve.news/p/cory-docto...
thenerve.news
Cory Doctorow: The people who tell you ‘AI is changing everything’ are lying
It has become impossible to tell managers mesmerised by artificial intelligence that the tools are not, in fact, helpful. So employees just play along with the fiction to keep their jobs, writes our t...
361302416
Reposted by Aaron
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 03/08/2026
Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude
955451947
Reposted by Aaron
Suw @suw.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Crops grown underneath solar panels produce more, require less water and are more resistant to extreme weather, even during a hot, dry summer. We need agrivoltaics to be rolled out asap, for both the electricity and the better growing conditions. microgridmedia.com/solar-panels...
microgridmedia.com
Solar Panels Are Helping Crops Grow Better, Global Studies Show - Microgrid Media
For farmers worried about losing land to solar energy, new research brings surprising news: many crops actually produce more food when grown beneath solar
13941411
Reposted by Aaron
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 31/07/2026
I've written a longer piece on the book that's been pulled due to "AI" use allegations, what that means particularly for newer authors, and what, if anything writers can do in the "AI" era to prove their work is their own: whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/31/a...
whatever.scalzi.com
Another Reason Not to Use “AI” For Your Writing
Back in February I did a long post about “AI” and why I wouldn’t use it for my own writing, and one of the reasons I gave was “the fact that ‘AI’-generated text …
17569158
Reposted by Aaron
Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
This is a factual sentence: Amid an outbreak of explosive diarrhea and with measles cases at a 35-year high, America’s top health official, who has an affinity for roadkill and guzzling raw milk, will soon start hosting a cooking show. My column, tragically: www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
usatoday.com
Move over, cyclosporiasis. RFK Jr. is hosting a cooking show. | Opinion
America's top health official, who has an affinity for picking up roadkill and guzzling raw milk, will soon start hosting a cooking show. Barf.
871397393
Reposted by Aaron
Jason Scott @textfiles.com · 29/07/2026
2853641583