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David McRaney

@davidmcraney.bsky.social
2.8K followers 215 following 99 posts

How Minds Change: www.davidmcraney.com | YANSS: YouAreNotSoSmart.com | Speaking: www.harrywalker.com/speakers/david-…

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Reposted by David McRaney
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One thing I find endlessly funny about the rise of AI is that it has revealed that there is a large number of people who believe that the reason they wrote essays at school or university is their teachers were desperately waiting for them to provide a definite answer to “Lear: what’s up with him?”
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I print them out and then add them to a slowly forming paper mache Beelzebub I’ll burn in effigy at the next solstice
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Tough episode to put together. I remember listening to the full recordings and weeping: youarenotsosmart.com/2024/01/20/y...
youarenotsosmart.com
YANSS 279 – Why people don’t speak out against, and even defend, norms they secretly despise
Have you ever been in a classroom or a business meeting or a conference  and had a question or been confused by the presentation, and when the person running the show asked, “Does anyone have …
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Reposted by David McRaney
Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 18/09/2026
This is the far more likely pathway for how AI will end us all, btw. Not via some superintelligent swarm of paperclip maximizers, but by a cascading sequence of dumb fuckups driven by human beings who have arranged things to be fast-moving and catastrophically fragile while also being really lazy.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Headed to Dent 2026 to meet amazing people and give a lecture about how brains make meaning via conceptualization and categorization and, with the word “genius” as my example, how that can lead to the very weird things like the fallacy of reification: dentthefuture.com/conference
dentthefuture.com
The Dent Conference — Dent
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I too have no memory of such a time. I think he means “possibly inaccurate sources” and “things you should not cite” which is not what slop means to most people which means his conceptual boundary for slop is currently a bit too encompassing.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Every once in a while, I retrain all my algorithms, especially YouTube, by searching for and clicking on the things that would be in the sections I’d most frequent in a giant, perfect bookstore. I find this comforting in the way one might with gardening or closet organizing.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Stegosaurus, not triceratops, in the book. Whole plot about it eating rocks covered in plant material to grind food in its bird-like gizzard. Movie keeps a few bits of this but cut the rest
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In the book they bring back plants from the Mesozoic to make the exhibits seem more movie-prehistoric. It is never explained how though. Sattler identifies the plants are toxic, which is what made the triceratops sick, foreshadowing the park designers are making reckless decisions for aesthetics
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Reposted by David McRaney
Katherine Alejandra Cross @quinnae.com · 29/07/2026
Out of all the cataclysms we suffer, pandemics alone deny us our most important coping mechanism: each other. To gather, to seek comfort in each other's company, becomes deadly--a vector of the disaster, rather than shelter from it. And yes, that very obviously fucks with you.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Contact Steve Franconeri at Northwestern — he will be happy to help get the game out to anyone interested.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The same
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I just Shazam-ed “My Life” by Billy Joel, made the huh face to no one, looked around the cafe, the eyes-down non-audience, and was for a moment truly, fully the universe experiencing itself. I will now sit and drink my coffee in an emotional state our language lacks the capacity to express
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Also, ironically, what I just wrote and posted here is an example of this very thing, including this part ironically noting the irony
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
For the new book I’m almost done writing, I had to read a lot of hot take collections (philosophical texts) from around 1600 forward, and it’s bonkers how many insights get repeated every 20 years or so by people who assume they are the first person to ever notice X. Note: I am super guilty of same
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Just finished another chapter of this very strange book about collective sensemaking told through the story of a single word (genius). I will now celebrate with a brief interlude in this long writer hermitage by buying coffee in person.
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Reposted by David McRaney
Dominic Manchee @dpmanchee.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Facts don't really matter when it comes to changing beliefs. Ppl will do anything to keep their 'in-group' strong, even if it means endorsing lies and misinformation. But there will be a threshold above which individuals start to question what they stand for. @davidmcraney.bsky.social's book 👇
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I have a friend whose central hobby is making elaborate mixed drinks and collecting obscure liquers. Thanks to this post, I just spent 10 minutes figuring out how to get a bottle of this shipped to me so I can gift it. Fistbump.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Often, yeah. I think 20 from now seems hand-wave-ably abstract, but the feeling of time between now and a movie you remember well transposes quite well into something more temporally palpable.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
For me, it gives me a sense, a temporal texture, for the distance from now to that same span of time ahead of me
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Reposted by David McRaney
Mike Rugnetta @mikerugnetta.com · 26/06/2026
Pals! A new @neverpo.st! I read the news and Producer @audreyevans.bsky.social talks with @oddletters.bsky.social and @kissane.myatproto.social about AI hallucinations sweeping the nation, what this means for the production of knowledge, and what Dark Elves have to do w/ it all (a fair amount tbh!)
neverpo.st
🆕 Never Post! What Happens When Search Goes Full AI
Producer Audrey talks with Mols Sauter and Erin Kissane about what AI hallucinations actually are – * Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voicemail * Drop us a voice memo via airtable * Or email u...
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Reposted by David McRaney
m. r. sauter @oddletters.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
this summer i am splitting my time between thinking about LLMs + genre theory and wrapping up my book on venture capital policy in the 1970s and as a result i am _moderately crazed_. please enjoy the evidence here!
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Reposted by David McRaney
Erin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social · 26/06/2026
Looks like the unhinged AI podcast ep with the always-great @oddletters.bsky.social is up! Ty Audrey and co for the chance to talk about LLMs as, you know, demons.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I’m in the just wept in public to Long As I Can See the Light while transcribing an interview with a Shakespearean actor telling me about his Jean Valjean tattoo over chips and salsa in Texas stage of writing this book. Solid.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
True. I mention kerning on page two of my next book.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
To be fair, the next most-downloaded episodes are: Quit with @annieduke.com, The Conspiracy Theorist Who Changed His Mind (about How Minds Change), Visual Thinking with Temple Grandin, and Procrastination with Britt Frank
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Huh, this is now the most downloaded episode since my interview with @rushkoff.com about billionaire preppers (episode 242). youarenotsosmart.com/2026/04/13/y...
youarenotsosmart.com
YANSS 337 – How to preserve your critical thinking and avoid cognitive surrender when using AI to solve problems, make decisions, and learn new things
How is AI reshaping human reasoning? What is cognitive surrender, and how do we avoid its negative impact? What is system three thinking, and how can we get the most out of it? Artificial intellige…
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
These orgs will also record your presentation, feed it into an AI, and then offer to sell you advice generated by that AI.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
I love that the word “refrigerator” stuck, and now we must live with it. Also, FYI, the “re” part doesn’t mean “to return to its previous state,” but “to intensely and purposefully make so.” Latin stuff.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
10-4, will peruse. Thank you!
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
You can feel the struggle, the spark of revelation, in human writing, in the same way you can when someone is telling you something and has a “hmmmm” or a “huh, you know…” moment. AI writing never has this moment, and right where I expect it, that’s where it usually reveals its hand (I think, maybe)
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
All my spam emails have switched over to rather obvious LLM-generated body copy. I'm fascinated by how writing like this now seems, well, obvious. It took a minute, but our innate pattern recognition (much of what brains do) is catching up, maybe even outpacing the spam/slop.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I'm in the wipe-chalk-marker-streaks-off-desk-with-coffee-retrieved-by-pinky-then-post-about-it stage of the writing process.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I'd like to see an alt Spider-Man comic/movie where this is the species of spider that bites him, and these are the extent of the powers he gains:
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Reposted by David McRaney
Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
This is incredible. I don’t know how else to explain this but it makes the moon look so real. I get that’s a funny thing to say but the clarity and the closeness of the image taken by an actual person changes the perspective I think.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Thank you!
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
New episode about the latest research into how AI can negatively impact human reasoning and decision making: youarenotsosmart.com/2026/04/13/y...
youarenotsosmart.com
YANSS 337 – How to maintain your critical thinking and avoid cognitive surrender when using AI to solve problems, make decisions, and learn new things
How is AI reshaping human reasoning? What is cognitive surrender, and how do we avoid its negative impact? What is system three thinking, and how can we get the most out of it? Artificial intellige…
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I love it too. It comes from the work of Bransford and Johnson. Here is a link: www.gsis.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/opencourses_...
gsis.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
Schema Theory
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
I strongly suspect AI is not getting better nearly as quickly as it is getting better at convincing users that it is getting better.
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Phil PlAIt @philplait.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Splashdown! Welcome home, Integrity.
A big splash in the ocean under the three red and white parachutes
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Lawd. Happycry over here
Integrity main chutes
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Reposted by David McRaney
Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
🌎 Watch the return of NASA's Artemis II mission live with us--just an hour to go until the astronauts splash down! www.scientificamerican.com/video/watch-...
A "live" logo above a headline reading NASA's Artemis II crew returns to Earth. Above an artist's rendering of the Orion spacecraft entering Earth's atmosphere.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Old stream ended. New livestream: www.youtube.com/live/nfhDuOH...
youtube.com
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Comes Home (Official Broadcast)
YouTube video by NASA
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
This is so exceedingly rad. Livestream: www.youtube.com/live/6RwfNBt...
Astronauts in the cockpit of Orion viewed from NASA livestream
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Reposted by David McRaney
Clive Thompson @clivethompson.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
hey kids you may want to tune into the NASA livestream for the Artemis 2 mission it's rapidly approaching home and the earth is getting *big* they're set to splashdown at 8:07 pm tonight www.youtube.com/live/6RwfNBt...
A screenshot of the Youtube live stream of the Artemis Two mission, it shows the Artemis 2 craft on the far left lit by the sun, and in the middle of a completely black background is Earth, looming fairly large half shadowed, with the brightly lit part showing blue ocean interlaced white clouds
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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I went back to capture what the astronauts said in full when the clock was stopped at T-10 minutes and they were asked if they were go for launch: This is Victor. We are going for our families. This is Christina. We are going for our teammates. This is Jeremy. We are going for all humanity.
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Ben Jackson @jacksobc.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Really timely re-release of @davidmcraney.bsky.social’s brilliant You Are Not So Smart podcast with @chenoweth.bsky.social. #NoKings feels so close to 3.5%. Also makes the key point that the likes of the odious MTG opposing the US government really helps. Stoking division works both ways.
you-are-not-so-smart.simplecast.com
336 - The 3.5 Percent Rule - Erica Chenoweth (rebroadcast) | You Are Not So Smart
If you want to create a movement that can change the national status quo, you don't need half the country, you only need 3.5 percent of the population to join – but there are some caveats.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
I appreciate how when I fumble a bit entering my food intake into my app for that stuff, it just dutifully records and calculates. You ate 690 little red potatoes? Sure. 11,900 calories for dinner? Ok. No judgment here. Keep at it. What gets measured gets managed
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Yeah. If the word limit had allowed, I probably would have replaced love with "intensely fascinating" or somesuch.
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David McRaney @davidmcraney.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
I love how we reacted to Furbies, owl toys that played prerecorded gibberish less and less and prerecorded words more and more. People believed they were learning, they had minds. Give us just the right amount of the right kind of lifeform cues, and we will fill in the rest with agentic pareidolia
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