iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by David Pick

Rowenna. 2 ‘n’s. Ro-WEN-na. @missiggeek.bsky.social · 2h

I have a very cost-effective, safe and low-effort approach to AI governance. Unless I can get peer-reviewed and scientifically-rigorous evidence that it is fit for the purpose to which it is to be applied, auditable, and privacy-safe; I absolutely refuse to have anything to do with it.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 28m

Thinking about it that way, with an unofficial name making those comparisons, they'll probably try to hook up with the Israelies. Better to hook up with the Ukrainians with so much less dependence on unreliable suppliers down the supply chain. Planning documents to be called the Iron Tome...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 1h

Of course, the public in the UK forgets the US has had recent "poor outcomes" at Iranian hands at bases in the Gulf region...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 2h

I'm English, so I'm not sure about this, but is his audience more likely to cheer about the idea of destroying a "blue" city then a "red" one? (Really not sure about San Diego with the size of the military adjacent population.)

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 7h

Don't worry. They'll all have been put on a programme of testerosone shots...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 22h

Sorry this is probably too late in the day to help, but there's an outdoor clothes and paraphernalia shop on the south side of the Mile End Road just opposite the Physics building and chapel. It's called Silvermans. I normally get my trousers there...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 23h

Everyone seems fixated on the bombers. Are the tankers and intelligence aircraft still there and operating?

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 05/10/2026

The Colossal Cave Adventure.

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Reposted by David Pick

David Anderson @bricksilk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Letter printed in The Times today

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 05/10/2026

I'm sure it's all related to the original ideas behind the Common *Market*, to use an older name.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 05/10/2026

IIRC the EU free movement requirements are about the free movement of *labour*, not all people. It includes job seekers, and family members, but might exclude people like pensioners who don't have relatives working or seeking work. Makes the whole thing more complicated and morally difficult.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 04/10/2026

Suspected so, but it's been around 60 years and I only had a couple of rides in a Chipmunk and never one of the fighters.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 04/10/2026

Likewise. But only twice. 🥲

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Reposted by David Pick

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Sir Ian McKellen orates 'The Stranger's Case' from 'Sir Thomas More' by Shakespeare about the Evil May Day xenophobic riot of 1517 in London. This passage was written 400 years ago, but times never change. Humanity refuses to change its unwarranted bias against 'others'.

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Reposted by David Pick

Massimo (mirror) @rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A family of cheetah sleep with the forest guard every night. This is what the camera recorded. [📹 Dolph C. Volker / Cheetah Whisperer] Original post

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Reposted by David Pick

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This, presumably, helps explain why so few universities right now want to call getting AI to do your assignment as cheating.

ft.com

Students turn to lawyers to fight AI misconduct accusations

Legal cases rise as universities struggle with approach to technology

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 04/10/2026

moving target at the moment. The critical thing, in my mind, is the importance of *transparency* by both staff and students to preserve academic integrity and the consequent value of both research and taught degrees.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 04/10/2026

During the intervening years there have been cases of students complaining about the reduction of "contact hours", online teaching, and reductions in lab hours. (I must admit to some sympathy with the removal of the nuclear reactor from such classes...) The role of LLMs in academia has to be a /

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 04/10/2026

'Twas ever thus. When I was an undergrad ('68 to '71, QMC) there was a film skit made one rag week. Student brings a tape recorder to a lecture, starts it, and leaves. Following week, several do. Then they all do, then the lecturer does leaving one tape recorder speaking to a room full. /

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

There are two things that make using LLMs risky for undergrads: 1) not doing the work yourself fails to train you to check LLM output properly 2) so many LLMs do not curate training data properly and risk feeding you falsehoods. Undergrads should be taught how to deal with both these risks.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

I'm not saying my own country doesn't have some similar problems that need similar treatment. And the Billionairs are a global problem.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

Looking at the US from the outside there are several types of rot feeding off each other and all need to be tackled. The Billionairs need taxing out of existence. Large political donations and PACs. Ignorant voters. "News" organizations with a political agenda. /

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

Is this a metaphor for LLM training???

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

But I'm very sure you know all that.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

You only need these if you think there's a "problem". There's no problem for society at large. (There is a problem with artifically-stoked hate and division, but that's a much wider problem.) Even the people who worry about money forget that making any necessary care inaccessible costs in itself. /

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

There is *one* small advantage: it makes it harder for the government to deny political responsibility for what the company does. OTOH it also makes cover-ups easier. Hmmm...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

And QUANGOs to provide political "plausible" denyability.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

So with Trump strong-arming other countries to run down their strategic reserves, the longer the Strait of Hormuz is blocked, the higher prices will go. This increases profits for the oil companies. No wonder Trump has been anti-renewables!

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

functions of one value could be calculated faster than a nominally simpler function of two values. Square root was faster than multiplication. I suspect similar considerations could easily apply with the specialised optimisations in the hardware of the processing chips used at scale for LLMs.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

Pure guess here based on some hysterical facts. Many years ago my university ran a DAP (Distributed Arrap Processor) with an array of 1-bit serial processors interconnected in a square array; all processors getting a common stream of instructions. Arithmetic could be "interesting" and most /

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 03/10/2026

Difficult in the current political climate. It might be considered too close to gender affirming care...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 02/10/2026

It's so that if there's some disaster "they" can declare Claude liable for damages rather than the company. Ot's also telling that they're implicitly admitting to bring slavers...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 02/10/2026

Hmmm... If Claude, or any LLM, is regarded as having moral standing, then I have to think it must be regarded as having liability. But it has no money, being a slave, and this would considerably reduce any opportunities for victims to obtain redress. I'm sure the companies would prefer this.

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Reposted by David Pick

Kirsty McTear 🏳️‍⚧️ She/Her @kirsty-mctear.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

ONLY THOUGHT OF THE DAY… You know ParkRun could save themselves a lot of bother by just ditching the recording of peoples sex… When signing up, people could opt to run on blue team, pink team or purple team, for example. Obviously, most people know what blue and pink may represent 🙄

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Reposted by David Pick

Alan @gammacounter.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Someone took an xray of a bunch of USB drives and it came out kind of menacing.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

Hmmm... And these days you probably can't trust a reporter with the story either. And whistle-blower protections aren't good either.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

This is a fun rabbit hole!

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

With a multi-member constituency you have to make sure any issue does not fall down the organisational cracks between the individual MPs. Or maybe replace the MPs duty to follow up individual issues from constituents by something like an ombudsman service with real power.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

Governance. It's the control mechanisms that assure things are working as intended. Should be present is all large organisations, and governments are pretty large. In this case it's the rules that govern how MPs behave and their relationships with constituents, party, quangos, &c, &c, &c.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

The treecats would definitely not allow this...

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

I'm inclined to agree for at least middling-recent history. But the mechanism is cultural and being assulted by badly regulated things like social media and large amounts of money in politics. I'm not sanguine for the near future.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

Given the amount if time before the next general election.

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David Pick @davidmichaelpick.net · 01/10/2026

Same as AV with the addition of multi-member constituencies for the electorate. But multi-member constituencies *also* requires work on what I call the governance of government that AV with existing boundaries doesn't require. I think the electorate would be happier with one step rather than two.

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