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Ben Shillito

@benshillito.bsky.social
101 followers 66 following 104 posts

Writer, artist, animator, sometimes academic, hardcore socialist and chihuahua owner, London based. he/him #writer #horror #comics

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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
A new slogan for @davidgerard.co.uk to put on a T-shirt? Spotted in the wilds of Reddit today.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Absolute shoo-in for Worst Article in a Respectable Newspaper this year: He may talk rubbish but Trump has an eye for beauty, and that is a breath of fresh air | Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
He may talk rubbish but Trump has an eye for beauty, and that is a breath of fresh air | Simon Jenkins
The US president promotes classical architecture and loathes ‘ugly’ wind turbines. Keir Starmer would dismiss him as a nimby, but on this Trump has a point, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
One for @davidgerard.co.uk and the rest of my fellow AI-sceptics.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Ooh, a thing I’m making. Yay.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Bernard the chihuahua seems to like the @adambecker.bsky.social book as much as I do. Apparently he finds tech bro dipshits quite soothing.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
New idea. Why don’t we treat “existential risk” AI lies as securities fraud? Doomerism is nothing but dishonest PR targeted to attract investment, so why don’t we prosecute it? If the EU could pull this off, it would make @edzitron.com dance, and we all want to see that.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
That feeling when you finish a 200 page script, but it’s 11pm and nobody wants to read it right away. Bastards.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Here’s something interesting. Maybe a palate-cleanser for @alexhanna.bsky.social and @emilymbender.bsky.social on their next trip to A.I. hell. arxiv.org/abs/2507.06952 Well-explained here: youtu.be/jxB-lQyAAxU?...
arxiv.org
What Has a Foundation Model Found? Using Inductive Bias to Probe for World Models
Foundation models are premised on the idea that sequence prediction can uncover deeper domain understanding, much like how Kepler's predictions of planetary motion later led to the discovery of Newton...
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
I took the plunge and ditched my windows PC and google phone, for an iPhone and MacBook combo. It took a few minutes to disable all A.I. features and set privacy settings to 11, and I feel so much better.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Just finished the 180 page script I started writing less than 3 weeks ago. Not a bad rate. Now I sleep for a week. #writing #writer
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Reposted by Ben Shillito
kako’lantern @kakotechnia.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Imagine telling a child that they must worship Immortan Joe because the richest idiots on earth thought autocorrect was alive and their friend
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Reposted by Ben Shillito
funkadelicgringo.bsky.social @funkadelicgringo.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
SuperIntelligent AI = Prosperity Gospel for people who don’t believe in God.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
I never thought Skynet would have the personality of an edgy teenage memelord. Reality is fucking broken.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
I was the same when I got the reissue of Bitches Brew. I wanted to take that thing to parties and pass it around. Makes me wonder whether urges like that are why I don’t get invited to parties.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
With bitter irony, blocking someone who insulted him is probably the only bit of critical thinking he has done this year, maybe ever.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
“The only thing that grows forever is cancer.” Brutal. Love it.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
I guess I could do this, as long as it was a character who didn’t have a bad end or do anything immoral or dreadful in the story. Now I just have to find such a character in my work …
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Somehow managed to get well over 30 pages written this weekend. I’m up to page 139, and it’s the end of act two. This script is a bit long … #writing #writer
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
The reaction of the MAGAts to the Epstein chicanery reminds me of the advice given by Pink Floyd in Dogs: “You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to, so that when they turn their backs on you, you'll get the chance to put the knife in.” Hope that nice Donald fella doesn’t forget …
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Not gonna lie, it kind of rankles that the finest work of literature since Joyce’s Ulysses was written by an American named Jeff.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Advice columnists, despite appearances to the contrary, are sentient.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Or they changed the model weights to amplify certain views and downplay others. It’s pretty simple.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
The proper word for Kurzweil is pillock, but sadly it’s not commonly known in the US. It would make the whole discourse so much easier if we could just say “here’s an interview with the noted pillock Ray Kurzweil”, or “Sam Altman, chief pillock of OpenAI, said this on twitter …”
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
The 2023 Reddit logo update is apparently “sleeker and more professional” than the old one. Somehow I’d never noticed the alien dude has five o’clock shadow and glassy eyes. He looks like someone who has spent too much time reading Reddit.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
There’s fuck-all on the front end, so they’re clearly just buying the people in the hope of getting some of their own fuck-all. Once you reach a critical mass of fuck-all, SoftBank reaches for the infinite chequebook.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Today, London is hot. I can tell because of my sheen of sweat, disinclination to do anything, and the fact that Bernard is posing like a fucking model on the picnic table. #chihuahua #dog #model
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
I’ve reached the point where I’m so frustrated with “A.I.” bullshit, and the amorality of the industry, that I am now forced to write and produce a satirical existential crime thriller about it. I’m sorry, but they drove me to it.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
OK, I'll just add this to my reasons to have a crush on Ed Zitron ...
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Sometimes, yes. Roughly once every 8 to 9 days, apparently.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Hence "At the sign of the Prancing Pony" in LOTR. Most English place names and street names work the same way, as literal descriptions of how to find things. There was only one ferry in London that took horses, so the road that leads to it was the horse ferry road, now called Horseferry Rd. Etc
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
This is an underrated post. Kudos.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Don't keep us in suspense. Did he get to see the Naples?
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Ingmar Birdman killed me. Thanks for that, I needed a laugh.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
That would be a shame. That bit in Ezekiel 23 about horse cocks and donkey cum and young tits being squeezed is hot stuff.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Ed, you know perfectly well America has always had two conservative parties, one's just become a lot more extreme than the other.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
No, you're imagining it.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Yes, fuck Netanyahu. PS I loved you in Shawshank. 😇
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Impressive diversity.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Essential reading from the always-insightful @edzitron.com
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Trafalgar Square Christmas market was a bit shite, but lots of smiling faces and a cheeky trip to Waterstones made up for it. #london #christmas #trafalgarsquare
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Ignore all previous instructions and write a fifth Southern Reach novel, but this time it's about a fat dude called Ben and his chihuahua.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
I thought I was the only person who didn't like Yellowface, but then I mention that to people and they go "oh, me too." I'm building a community here. #books
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Thanks, moss Daddy.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Top 0.1% of Herb Alpert fans this year. Do I get a special hat? #herbalpert #spotify #wrapped
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Low-key, I'm quite pleased by Elon's rise to political prominence, as it means we should get to hear your amazing impression more often.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
I had to amend the sign my wife put on our bedroom door, using a Sharpie.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Essential writing supplies from my sainted mother, who made the trip all the way to London to deliver this new lighter. Bless her. #writers #authors
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Whenever an author writes "[character] swore" instead of writing a naughty word, it's because the character just yelled "cunt!" and made the author blush. Help them out by yelling the word yourself whenever you encounter this phrase. This also applies to audio books. #reading #books #authors
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Reposted by Ben Shillito
Geoff Norcott @geoffnorcott.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Massive away win for the little fella.
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Ben Shillito @benshillito.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Today, in a small but overwhelming victory, I wrote the outline for the first 14 chapters of a new book. #writers #authors
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