iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 06/10/2026

Hey. The fragmentation of the social media landscape has been hard on indie #scicomm 🧪 projects So if you'd like to follow a podcast that's enthusiastic about #linguistics, could you check out @lingthusiasm.com? And if you think your followers might like to, could you give this a repost?

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Please, for the love of all that is good and right in the world, if you are going to use AI, at least read the output.

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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 29/09/2026

A key component of the Cambridge Analytica outrage was your friends subjecting you to data theft without your consent or knowledge. Facebook is running the same playbook on your text messages. Even if you’re not on Meta properties, they’re ingesting your interactions.

Aten installed Muse on both his iPhone and a Mac mini that he uses to test out various Al agents and tech. It took Meta a single day to begin "helpfully" pitching article ideas based on texts he'd sent to a podcast co-host.
When he asked Muse how it got the information, it said that it read banners from incoming texts. But that's not true, either.
After doing a little digging, Aten says Muse synced 187,000 lines from his Messages database, despite Full Disk Access being Off.

Unless Aten is the most popular person on the face of the planet, I sincerely doubt he'd gotten 187,000 lines of text in roughly 24 hours. What happened is that, without permission, Muse went into the app and downloaded the information.
He had not given Muse permission to access Messages, and full disk access was not enabled. It just went ahead and uploaded those texts anyway.
Muse can take "unexpected actions" indeed.

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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

There is no safe way for researchers to use the systems provided by OpenAI, Anthropic, or any of these other companies. They have all admitted that plagiarism is an integral component of what they do. If you put your work in – even if it's just to touch up a manuscript – they will take it.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Flames, flames, flames on the side of my face, breathing breath with heaving breaths.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Nothing quite like doing some old fashioned research to get the gears in the brain going. AI might be a fast answer, but it's shallow. Deeper research and real synthesis is a magical experience.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Do not let a machine generate more code than you can fix in one sitting" chrisstead.net/coding/softw...

chrisstead.net

Limiting LLM Code Generation 丨 Chris Stead

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Thought for the day: It's easy for people to use AI to create software and then say "look what I made/wrote". The problem is it ascribes authorship to the prompter. Instead it would be more accurate to say "look what I had AI generate". It's not as sexy, but it's accurate.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Do not let a machine generate more code than you can fix in one sitting" chrisstead.net/coding/softw...

chrisstead.net

Limiting LLM Code Generation 丨 Chris Stead

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

It's time to bring back those hand-drawn punk and metal style flyers. Draw with sharpie and photocopy them at the library. No I'm not kidding. They are about as anti-ai as it gets and I miss them.

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Tao Neuendorffer @taonf.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Crocheting is an inherently mathematical process. You need to keep track of the number of stitches added to a disc to make a tablecloth or a hat. The first should have zero curvature, whereas the second should have the correct positive curvature…

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

"... when all other skills have faded and we are left simply verifying the code that is generated for us by agents and AI systems, the one thing which will endure is refactoring." share.google/l9IZMfbRaN5P...

share.google

Refactoring: The Last Human Coding Skill 丨 Chris Stead

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Block is the best feature on reddit, full stop.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Name a film you’ve seen 10+ times

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Prototypes are for learning. Hand-build them.

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Orcspiration @orcspiration.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

YOU MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO EAT TO HAVE STRENGTH TO CRUSH YOUR ENEMIES.

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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

when you work at the BPAF but you’re beginning to realize there’s not going to be a successful IPO

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Fight For A Union @fightforaunion.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Its a me, social equity

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Thomas Spooks 🎃👻💀 @thomasfuchs.at · 10/09/2026

I’m sure DHH also honors Sophie Wilson, Lynn Conway and Ashawna Hailey. [one second, I’m getting a transmission on my earpiece]

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you optimize a model to find exploits, you should expect it to find them—and prepare for that. OpenAI didn't. They built a model, removed the safeguards, gave it the ExploitGym task, let it run, and didn't even monitor it. That's human decision-making. mail.cyberneticforests.com/models-dont-...

mail.cyberneticforests.com

Models Don't Go Rogue

Stochastic Flocks & Cybersecurity 'Pandemonium' 💡This essay was drafted from my appearance on Mél Hogan's podcast, The Data Fix, discussing the OpenAI / Hugging Face hack. Embedded below or find it o...

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm tired. I want a different reality.

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Linda Holmes @lindaholmes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

It’s an animated character, not an actor. If you want to nominate animated characters for Oscars, I’d be cool with that sloth from Zootopia.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you can't be bothered to put any energy into having an honest conversation, why should I spend energy on you?

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I just came across a comment saying refactoring is the job of AI. This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of refactoring and what it is for. If you are having the AI refactor code, then one of the most important aspects is being neglected: humans. Refactoring is a human practice.

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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It's my birthday! So I donated to World Central Kitchen in honour of my illustrious birth. And you can, too! Or you can do it honour of Star Trek's anniversary, if you don't wanna do it in honour of my illustrious birth for some unfathomable reason. Feeding people in crisis zones is very Starfleet.

wck.org

World Central Kitchen | WCK

Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a nonprofit organization that is first to the frontlines providing fresh meals in response to crises. Applying our model of quick ...

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Never trust a machine to write more code than you can reasonably fix in one sitting.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It absolutely slays me that solutions to software development problems that exist now were solved 50 years ago and nobody bothers to learn their history.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Refactoring will be the final, enduring human coding skill. My thoughts on why: chrisstead.net/coding/softw...

chrisstead.net

Refactoring: The Last Human Coding Skill 丨 Chris Stead

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Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Excuse my language, but what the actual fuck? This is so far beyond okay that it crosses an event horizon into truly and utterly fucked the fuck up. Do fucking better, Worldcon.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Refactoring will be the final, enduring human coding skill. My thoughts on why: chrisstead.net/coding/softw...

chrisstead.net

Refactoring: The Last Human Coding Skill 丨 Chris Stead

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

One person's ignorance is not just as good as another person's skill. Sorry, that's just the way it is. I'm tired of seeing people equating vibe coded garbage with enterprise software engineering. They are not the same.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Oh dear god. I saw an "ackshually" post in a journalist's thread correcting their choice of words? Somehow I feel journos choose their words pretty carefully/intentionally. Am I wrong?

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Oof, I'm glad I'm through that. My writing ground to a halt for about a week as I hemmed and hawed over one small section of my book. I couldn't get over it, around it, or through it. I was just sitting and wallowing in the dread. Tonight I conquered the beast and I am back to writing chp 3!

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I'm Chris Stead, a software developer and tech author from Southern California. I'm married with two children and several pets. I like the dynamics in the song "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans".

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I wrote a blog post about source code internal quality and stress. Short and sweet version - high stress environments garner low-quality source code. chrisstead.net/coding/softw...

chrisstead.net

Software Quality and Stress 丨 Chris Stead

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tinybaby @tiny.baby · 03/09/2026

i hate this shit. one of those two groups are correct! this isn't a debate over which fanta flavor is the best

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

OMG why does AI generated code suck? One reason, I believe, is that LLMs don't really adhere to Grice's maxims unless it is statistically relevant. They can ramble and go off topic worse than any human. They will jam anything into any file. They fail to be clear or concise. It's bedlam.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

It might not sound like much, but I'm currently writing chapter 3 of my book. It's about stuff like cognitive load theory, verification fatigue, and cognitive economics in software development. Even if my book isn't any good, I'll have written it and learned a lot.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

What's lake America? Oooooh! You mean lake Ontario. Fuck Trump.

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Caelan Conrad @caelan.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Is the thing you're reading AI or human slop? That's the question everyone was asking about "Shy Girl" a book pulled off the shelves after accusations of AI Writing. Here's how you find out whether something is AI or just... bad. New Video: youtu.be/N-tME9IHBlU

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Hi, I'm writing a book about writing software as a human using AI assistance. It's about the human part. If you are looking for a different sort of book about AI coding, this might be the book for you. #ai-coding leanpub.com/generativeswe

leanpub.com

The Generative Software Engineer

AI has entered the programming picture, let's learn how to be humans working with AI to build better software, together.

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Something something the human in the loop should be doing the thinking. Stop offloading the thinking work to AI. kthxbai

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Just a friendly reminder that building open source software and making creative commons works can be and is political work. If you're thinking about creating something that makes a statement, or makes the world better just by existing, now is the time.

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Auuuulet 🍂👻 @aulet.es · 26/08/2026

"LibreOffice 26.8 contains no generative AI features. Documents are not transmitted to remote services for processing, and no component of the suite requires network access to function. This is a deliberate position."

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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

In an interesting reframe and expansion of Robert Hare’s work on psychopathy, this researcher describes high functioning psychopaths as having “Persistent Predatory Personality.” As I’ve detailed in the past , these types can best be understood by the suffering and damage they leave in their wake.

theguardian.com

How to spot a psychopath: ‘It’s like the difference between a domestic cat and a wild cat’

People with persistent predatory personalities cause an inordinate amount of pain. Recently, our shared understanding of them has grown – and it could help protect us

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Chris @cmstead.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

No, AI doesn't automatically make you a software developer. chrisstead.net/coding/ai/20...

chrisstead.net

AI Doesn't Make You a Developer 丨 Chris Stead

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