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Matt Ballantine

@ballantine70.bsky.social
540 followers 358 following 859 posts

Sociologist. Musician. Technologist. Dad. Current side project: randomthebook.com "Someone called Matt Ballantine" New Scientist, June 2026

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 16h
What has Andrew done now?
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
They're using ChatGPT for policy development.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
You know the rules
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I'm starting to wonder if they have delegated new policy generation to ChatGPT...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Software "engineering"≠ engineering
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
There is an apparently sacrosanct view on the right that people need to be punished to make them work harder. There's little evidence to show that this approach works, but ideology trumps evidence-based policy making.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It was Tom Baker and this album which scared the bejaysus out of me...
An illustrated vinyl record cover for the Doctor Who audio drama Doctor Who and the Pescatons
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Full size ones or a pack of the minis?
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
More experiments at the random fringes of LLMs... mattballantine.substack.com/p/simh-exper...
mattballantine.substack.com
SIMH* experiments with LLMs Part 3
Or, what would it be like to talk to a cat?
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
As a Watford fan there are parts of Luton where I won't go (wearing a Watford shirt).
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
More randomness - Celebrity Traitors-themed... youtube.com/shorts/sUWrw...
youtube.com
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Reposted by Matt Ballantine
Rishi Dastidar @betarish.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Artificial theology

How many local models do I run?
In proxy I hold 1.4 billion networked souls.
On the ground – 3,041,
Bishoprics, as I call the local models I run.
Silicon scrolling is not the holy son.
The original transformer is my patrol.
How many local models do I run?
In proxy I hold 1.4 billion networked souls.


RD  3 / x / 26
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
And inspired by @betarish.bsky.social, I've also distilled 800 weeknotes into a Fruit Machine... experiments.mattballantine.com/weeknote800/
experiments.mattballantine.com
The Weeknote Machine
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In 2010, I started a habit. 800 weeknotes later, I'm still writing them every Friday. Here is my 800th set. I've maybe got another 800 in me. mmitii.mattballantine.com/2026/10/02/w... @weeknotes-bot.bsky.social
mmitii.mattballantine.com
Weeknote 800: EIGHT HUNDRED!
This week I have learned: When push comes to shove, there are few better ways to solve a problem than to ask someone else. A problem shared, etc.It felt like my 800th weeknote should be somehow cel…
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I meant news not need, but probably about the same...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Manchester City of Need channels...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Building little devices like this to allow me to have new types of interactivity at a big conference thing I'm doing next month..
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Tomorrow will be my 800th set of #weeknotes I feel I should celebrate, but how? @weeknotes-bot.bsky.social
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Though to be serious for a moment, I've realised that I'd got increasingly ratty in the months since finishing our book. However I'm now back on a new project.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Phew!
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I find it much easier when I've got a project on the go...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
RNLI volunteers are shaking tins and card readers at Waterloo station, and there are people queuing up to give donations at before 7.30am. I mostly read this as a collective "fuck you, fascists". Well done.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Another Something Interesting Might Happen experiment, this time creating a musical board game out of a piece of hotel art... mattballantine.substack.com/p/simh-exper...
mattballantine.substack.com
SIMH* experiments with LLMs Part 2
Or Why do we always have to start with words or numbers?
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm sorry... experiments.mattballantine.com/lechatgpt/
experiments.mattballantine.com
Le Chat GPT
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I've been experimenting with this. Does it feel pain?...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
That he was only 26 when he made it is a fact that regularly humbles me.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Wow. IP numbering for a street...
A rectangular white sign with a black border is mounted horizontally on a red brick wall, directly underneath a wooden structure.The left side of the sign features smaller, all-caps text arranged in two stacked lines that reads "LEADING" over "TO NOS".To the right of this text, the numbers "247, 249, 251 & 253" are printed in a much larger, bold black font.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This weekend's experiments... mattballantine.substack.com/p/simh-exper...
mattballantine.substack.com
SIMH* experiments with LLMs Part 1
Or how I learned to stop thinking of Claude as a spreadsheet
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I swear they have motion sensors.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Currently in a limbo state as I stare at the smoke alarm in our room as I'm sure it's just made the "my battery is dying" chirp.
A smoke alarm
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In my experience, one can achieve a similar effect by sticking a pair of googly eyes on just about any object.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I'll ask Claude. It will start by noting how 6 decades ago the same thing happened with ELIZA...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I'm unreasonably excited that Watford might yet win the 2019 FA Cup.
Watford fans at Wembley stadium, a sea of yellow.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Wrapping up a long week with a set of #weeknotes. My 799th edition. mmitii.mattballantine.com/2026/09/25/w... @weeknotes-bot.bsky.social
mmitii.mattballantine.com
Weeknote 799: MCR
This week I have learned: the importance of play (part one): fascinated by the work Jude Pullen and Max Park’s latest experiment, the AI Divergence Engine. It’s made me realise that, un…
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
You make it sound like you'd only just started working in 1998...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I fondly remember being introduced to the series as a sociology undergraduate in 1991. Quite how 35 years has passed should be the subject of another documentary series.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Imagine being as rich as Jim Ratcliffe and still being that miserable. Although I just found out he was born in a place called Failsworth so maybe there's some sort of nominative determinism going on... share.google/eJWsiqBiopAu...
share.google
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
TBF we've been hearing "computer says no" for decades.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
However, I dunno. A dog is sentient but is still the responsibility of its owner.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I'd not thought before that claims of AI having sentience might just be an elaborate way to avoid legal liability for the batshittery that seems pretty inevitable. But now you mention it...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A week in which I made a big announcement. More in the #weeknotes mmitii.mattballantine.com/2026/09/18/w... @weeknotes-bot.bsky.social
mmitii.mattballantine.com
Weeknote 798: marathon not a sprint
This week I have learned: the enjoyment to be had at a marathon. Assuming that you’re doing the baggage, rather than running 26.2 miles which, from the look of it, looks like a laudable aim b…
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The world around us is a series of random events of varying predictability. You can either deny that or embrace it... youtube.com/shorts/8iVlP...
youtube.com
Random Pics - Oblique Strategies
YouTube video by Matt Ballantine
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Because the public ends up paying for all massive new technology bubbles. Look at the railways, which, whilst of huge utility, are still publicly subsidised for nearly 2 centuries on...
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Your online safety depends on random numbers. Here's why... youtube.com/shorts/VgUs8...
youtube.com
Random Pics - Encryption
YouTube video by Matt Ballantine
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
They'll need visas. Or run the risk of being identified as irregular migrants. I'm not sure they've thought this through.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I hope they've sorted out Piddington passports to travel into Oxfordshire.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Poop Art.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Even when there's no one in the driver's seat, they have operators. On the principle that no CEO wants to have liability for anything their org does, I wonder if those underlings hold human liability?
Waymo uses remote human workers called fleet response agents to help its autonomous vehicles navigate difficult or unusual road situations.

YouTube-Whol... +1

What Remote Operators Do

Provide context: They answer specific questions from the car's software, such as identifying if an emergency vehicle is blocking a lane or if a road is closed.

Do not drive: They never take the wheel, steer, brake, or accelerate the vehicle remotely.

Offer guidance: The autonomous system remains in control of driving at all times and can accept or reject the human agent's input.

Ratio: Waymo employs roughly one remote support agent for every 40 vehicles in its fleet.

Staffing and Locations

Locations: Waymo uses a hybrid staffing

model.
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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Weeknotes 797 on the topic of procrastination... mmitii.mattballantine.com/2026/09/11/w... @weeknotes-bot.bsky.social
mmitii.mattballantine.com
Embracing Procrastination: A Creative Week in Review
Explore insights on procrastination's role in creativity, the nature of value, and the importance of meaningful conversation in this week's reflections.
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