iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/09/2026

Wouldn't that be a sharp reduction in genital mutilation by US standards?

Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 27/09/2026

As it turns out, there is a causal link between poor impulse control and crimes of the sort they actually put you in prison for.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 26/09/2026

I may have just been ridiculously lucky, but this was absolutely not my experience. I still had multiple threads going when I managed to pull on most of them in a single run and through the endgame scenario. Still need to go back and pull on the last few, though. Pretty sure I didn't unravel it all.

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Reposted by Herbert Snorrason

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 10/09/2026

FWIW I don’t think that AI is an existential threat, nor on track to become one. I do however think that the leaders of the biggest AI companies, AI’s strongest boosters, and some of the folks who are most adept at using it to exploit others are actively hastening along OTHER existential threats.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 20/09/2026

Why is whaling the go-to example, though? There's basically no indication that the species in question are any more sophisticated than domesticated animals, and it's not like we treat them well.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 05/09/2026

I did assume that was it, but figured it couldn’t hurt to have an actual explanation as well.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 05/09/2026

It's a proxy. If you can use something blindfolded, you don't ever need to look at it. If you can't, you must look at it at some point - and therefore take your eyes off the road.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 04/09/2026

Given how common that is, I was kinda starting to assume it was part of the definition.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 02/09/2026

If there is a difference, it’s that ÍE at least nominally was after data for medical research, not sheer frivolity like many of the more recent operations.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 02/09/2026

My point being that the Icelandic state wasn’t directly involved except as a (perhaps not active enough) regulator. The people participating in their studies did hand their genome to a private company, and that was made abundantly clear at the time. (That, I know first hand.)

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 02/09/2026

It was never public, though. It’s always been controversial in Iceland for that precise reason.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

Hopefully about as many as require the study of theology. Although theology is a substantially more scientifically oriented field.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

While not wishing to disagree with what you're saying, an economy structured so that the success of one undertaking helps other undertakings instead of undermining them _is_ a mutual aid system. Mutual aid is not the same as charity.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

So what does “respect their choice” even mean? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that used for a referendum result except as a way to silence criticism.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

Exactly what is the qualitative difference between a referendum on a question like this and a hypothetical referendum granting a fascist government perpetual authority which allows the latter to be criticised but the former not?

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

Your argument implies they are not, if there was an election. That would be disrespecting the choice.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

By that argument, nobody is allowed to say Trump shouldn’t be US President.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/08/2026

Who needs an investigation? 'No' proponents have all the money in Iceland.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 29/08/2026

The craziest part is that the US already often has a higher tax rate if you actually include things like health insurance costs.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 25/08/2026

“Ally states”? You do realise that people outside the US largely don’t care about your domestic divisions, in much the same way USians don’t care about, say, Canadian provinces, right?

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 09/08/2026

They were then, just as they are now. Another thing that hasn't changed is that idiots often end up in positions of power.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 02/08/2026

I'm bad, but not quite _that_ bad. Although I do enjoy Dropout's "Um Actually".

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 02/08/2026

As I recall, that was in fact the situation 'mansplaining' was coined to describe.

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Reposted by Herbert Snorrason

Charlie Stross @cstross.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

"Hi! I see you're trying to build the Torment Nexus from my book, Do Not Build the Torment Nexus. I told you not to do that. How much clearer do I need to be, punk?"

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 30/07/2026

UEFA has a non-trivial number of those, so that carrot is clearly not working as well as expected.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 26/07/2026

Instead, what has very obviously happened over the last 18 years or so is that the extremists get a lot more support in elections than they would have otherwise. The other party, of course, is actually also controlled by extremists, just not ones that are recognised as extremists.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 26/07/2026

The two-party system in the US has repeatedly proven remarkably helpful to (proto-)fascism, considering how we keep being told it prevents extremists from coming to power.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 20/07/2026

"barely understand" suggests we have some level of understanding. We don't really.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 20/07/2026

To be fair, there was a period where they changed titles without there really even being anything to understand.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 18/07/2026

Tolkien never conceded any allegory, obviously, but the message here is clear enough: If you look through the enemy's eyes, you risk seeing not only what they see but how they see. Yet some nutjobs think it's a cool thing to name a company purporting to give you insight into what your enemies see.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 18/07/2026

Even when it's not a direct extrapolation, it's a comment on currents visible in society. The clearest example is in fantasy: A magic scrying device that worked after a fashion - you saw things as the maker wanted you to, pushing you to think and act as they would want you to. The name? Palantír.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 18/07/2026

I mean, isn't that why we have that meme about a story called "don't build the Torment Nexus"?

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 13/07/2026

Nowadays, yes. Which is genuinely a problem, of course.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 13/07/2026

That's not 'saving', that's in use.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 11/07/2026

That is not a legitimate need.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 11/07/2026

You also see a similar phenomenon amongst women. It just doesn't turn quite as toxic for a variety of reasons.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 11/07/2026

There's a really simple fact underlying a ton of problems that have been getting worse lately, which is that a lot of our social structures actively harm people who show empathy. Worse, the advocacy for change that has actually worked is always "well, these people should be less empathetic, then".

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

Even that is questionable. You can only make that claim if the cohort stays the same but most of the evidence of generations getting more conservative involve them being old enough that substantial portions of them are dying.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

Except that's not GPS. That kind of navigation is a whole different complicated infrastructure on top. The underlying data for which, incidentally, can be turned into printed maps just as easily as directions on a screen.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

Except you don't even need those complications for it to become beneficial for aggressive men. As long as the accuracy isn't better than chance, ignoring the signals is more likely to lead to a connection.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

One of the ways the whole thing is rigged in favour of those who are comfortable with being aggressive. Maybe even two of them, depending on how you look at it.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

Okay. "You can do the usual thing" just doesn't seem like what people usually make a point of saying.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

Given everything that's going on, I suspect you're saying the opposite of what you mean: That people can be sorry about the death of someone they loathed - that is, the same. Feeling differently about someone's death than their life is probably the usual situation.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 10/07/2026

To me, it very much looks like it is. It’s just that the question they’re concerned with isn’t “how can we help victims” but “how can we ensure victims can’t disrupt anything”.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 08/07/2026

All the archies, but that's not a bad place to start.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 08/07/2026

All of which seem to feed into the same Gordian knot around the subject. Except there doesn't seem to be any sword for cutting this one. I hate it.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 08/07/2026

They said it's worth learning, not that they did so themselves.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 08/07/2026

It's kind of … even worse than that? Because the worst offenders are nigh-untouchable, any high-profile case becomes dubious on its face: "If he's being attacked for that, surely it's a front for something else." See also: Julian Assange.

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Herbert Snorrason @anarchism.is · 08/07/2026

I don't want to come off as saying "we shouldn't care", but I probably will: The problem here is that there is no response that doesn't favour the aggressive men who don't care. It's all rigged for them, because exactly the same carelessness of others are required traits to obtain wealth and power.

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