iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

I still have an X account, but I've tuned it to only show stuff about engineering, manufacturing and AI. All the political stuff is gone; if something creeps in I kill it. Bsky is where I go to relax and enjoy discussions outside the engineering space.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

”60% of people are below average creativity” “LLMs score a .25 on a 0 to 1 scale” A significant number of people reading this will miss the joke. Here’s the pre-print in all its glory. It’s a masterclass. osf.io/preprints/ps...

osf.io

OSF

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

I think they were gently reminded by Disney of their contractual obligation. After Disney was gently reminded of similar obligations by Jimmy Kimmel.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Even the tech geeks are beholden to market econ. Full adoption of AI won’t happen until the quote is reality.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Some thoughts on the usefulness of LLMs: We are used to very narrow domain computers being perfectly correct. We not at all used to very wide-domain computers which approximate correctness. It's the difference between looking up information in a textbook and asking your friend for help on homework

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Basically, LLMs "know" things because we know things and it's trained on our writing which is embedded with our knowledge. We are used to computers which are absolutely accurate in very narrow domains. LLMs are approximately accurate in very wide domains. It's a whole new thing.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

This is basically how research goes though, correct? For knowledge outside your own expertise, you are typically consulting sources and taking the consensus. Wikipedia is simply random people writing things which make sense to them. It's still valuable as an approximate source knowledge.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Because Republicans are the ones causing it. They want this. We don’t need accounting of “blame”. We all know who to blame. We need accounting for action. If our reps don’t act as a counterbalance, then the only other opposition is the street. Or we just lie back and let it happen.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Everyone shout it out loud. We don't have Kings in America! "king" Trump is anti-American. Why do Republicans even support this? Wouldn't it be hilarious if "king" Trump has his parade and nobody came? Or better yet, how about a website to charge MAGA $30 each to attend for free?

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Ha ha, no. You couldn't even buy stuff on the internet back then. I bought a chainring from an online bike shop a few years later and to pay I had to email my CC number and info split between two emails.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Hit up the old internet. Shit was good back then. People wrote actually interesting stuff because they didn't expect to be paid and didn't expect to be read except by a few

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Trump as Pope really highlights the difference between modern conservative and progressive. Conservatives are interested primarily in the person involved. Progressives are interested primarily with the ideas involved. Trump as pope is the same as Trump with a muscular body. A form of idolatry.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Yes, this. The model isn't "reasoning" in any sense of the common use of the word. It's basically an internalized chain-of-thought to get a better quality response by dragging out inference.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Trump has done something no other President has done in a very long time. He’s pushing the US towards a socialistic planned economy. Tariffs calculated based on trade imbalances are a super far left move.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Last time tariffs like this happened, WWII ended the economic doom by converting a lot of flesh/blood to the manufacture and use of weapons.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

The opposite of bureaucracy is autonomy, not more central control. But seriously, I think I'm just gonna file an extension and see where the IRS is in a few months.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

thewalrus.ca/i-used-to-te... From this, I think students are going to college for the wrong reasons. Or, that colleges are being used for the wrong purpose.

thewalrus.ca

I Used to Teach Students. Now I Catch ChatGPT Cheats | The Walrus

I once believed university was a shared intellectual pursuit. That faith has been obliterated

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I dislike the spring leap. Just had the worst migraine in the last five years.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Is this going to have stop sign ads as well?

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Democratic supporters can't control Trump, but they might be able to influence the Democratic party. This criticism might actually help give cover to the Democratic politicians to be the opposition. Politicians get their power from their constituencies.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Dude, stop posting this. Power is not just in majorities. Republicans have known this for decades at this point.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

They are not. Republicans have shut shit down with less power. Democrats need to put on their big boy pants and go to work.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Senator, it’s time to filibuster everything. Shut this shit down. Sue if that’s the path. You own lawmaking, not Trump, and this is the Executive taking power away from the Legislative.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Trump is trolling. The best way of dealing with trolls is to not reply to them. Might unsubscribe from NYTimes over this.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

I kinda want a higher resolution version of this so I can set it for a wallpaper

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

One might argue “native” does have some specialness, since US citizens are bound wholly by US law, whereas foreign owners of corporations have a split obligation. Particularly when it comes to China and Chinese law. This is certainly taken into account.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

okay, that makes sense. But this doesn’t really have bearing on the discussion, does it? The courts define the constitutional protections in detail via their rulings. They aren’t some separate interpreting organization aside the constitution. If the SCOTUS passes, the interpretation stands

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

I think you are trying to make up some sort of broad principle and then argue against it. Specifics are the only thing that matter in this. China/TikTok/national security balanced against free speech are the specifics. Courts are the ones doing the balancing. Not sure your point anymore.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

2 points: 1) “It’s not American” can be a meaningful constitutional argument, because the 1A protections are not absolute. Under conditions. 2) “it’s Chinese”, and the associated way China deals with its corporations, is absolutely a balancing factor for 1A protections.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Back when Wikipedia started, it wasn’t like that. I assume ChatGPT will get that way as well. With wiki, until that happened, you had to take it with more than a good dose of salt. My point is we’ve been here before. We dealt with it. We’ll deal with it again.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Wiki’s not a source, but it’s good for casual knowledge. ChatGPT too. Working knowledge has always required first sources. Here’s the kicker though. Most knowledge doesn’t need to be working knowledge. 85% correct is good enough. ChatGPT and wiki both are about that: 85% correct.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Back when I was going to school, the all-knowing lying machine was Wikipedia. So, take two, I guess. You can take the same text and replace “ChatGPT” with “Wikipedia” and you’d have the exact same conversation from 20 years ago. Now Wikipedia is god and LLMs are the liars.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

I was dreading figuring out how to put a bunch of files in a .json alpaca format for training a homebrew LLM (I am not a programmer). Claude gives me python code with a prompt and half an hour later (including time for me to understand said code) and I have a function. Stupid simple.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

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Reposted by Brian Ratliff

Chris Offner @chrisoffner3d.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Glad to see synthetic data really coming to the fore in 3D Vision recently! Here's MegaSaM showing stunning results from synthetic data: mega-sam.github.io

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

LLMs don't have direct experiences, but neither do people, on the vast majority of information we hold in our heads.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

The counterpoint is, this is essentially what we do as people as well. Our knowledge comes in two types. One is direct experience. But the bit about a country south of Rwanda is more likely the statistical consensus of the sources we read.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

GPT (and by extension, the consensus of its training data) seems to be at odds with the ethical mores of both the insurance industry and the news industry. This tells me both these industries are over-leveraging their positions in society. GPT opinions are agglomerations of society at large.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

- CEO murder = bad (we can all agree on that). - The insurance business might explore their business practices, since this seems a motivating factor. - NYT full coverage of this murder vs other murders warrants an exploration of ethical principles of the news.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Queried ChatGPT about the UHC CEO killing, the ethical implications of this, and the ethical implications of the NYTs devoting full coverage to the CEO killing vs (far) below the fold coverage of the kindergartners killed in CA.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Here's a riddle: I sell you a product. You like it and it's necessary for you, so you pay me a subscription fee to use this product when you need it. I take your money each month, but I don't give you the product when you need it. You pay me anyway. Every month. What am I?

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Reposted by Brian Ratliff

God @thegodshow.com · 05/12/2024

People hate health insurance companies with a passion. They’re not laughing because someone died—they’re laughing because the system that crushed them finally took a hit.

thegodpodcast.com

Thou Shalt Not Deny People Health Insurance

Capitalism and healthcare do not mix.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Not an argument against democracy. It's an argument on relying on it to protect minorities.

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Brian Ratliff @brierrat.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

In fact, when you are in a minority and vulnerable, you need protection *against* democracy. Which is the entire reason why the US is not a pure democracy by design. Majority rule doesn't always equals wisdom and might never mean inclusion. Systematic racism *is* democratic, by definition.

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Reposted by Brian Ratliff

Keith Boone Photography 🇨🇦 @keithboone.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

What can I say about #CannonBeach on the beautiful #OregonCoast that you don't already know? Let's talk about something else... Unlike many photographers, I actually enjoy including people in a #landscape photo. I call this one "Humans in the mist" 😀 #photography #PNW #beach #sunset #Oregon

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