iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

ikat, youkat, mekat. There was some ikat in this embroidery exhibition at @artinstitutechi.bsky.social but I only photographed the bath towels... www.artic.edu/exhibitions/...

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The AI use of my Italian diaspora society cracks me up. For a cookbook they published, they used AI to help interpret historic old world recipes into things we could make with our kitchens and grocery stores today. And now we have this. Both cringy and endearing....

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This is definitely not as fun as Universal Paperclips or Cookie Clicker, but I still played it a handful of times. And maybe I will pay it more... Play a company developing AI through to recursive self improvement. www.paradigm.xyz/research/rsi...

paradigm.xyz

RSI Simulator | Paradigm

A game of recursive self-improvement. Run a frontier AI lab from a 2017 cold start and close the loop.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I feel so affirmed in my decade-long astrology studies seeing measured looks at it from places like @pioneerwork.bsky.social pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ge... Getting ready to go to @unitedastrology.bsky.social in a few weeks, preparing to be overwhelmed. 🌞🌔☄️

pioneerworks.org

Gen Astro | Broadcast

Dispatches from the <i>new</i> new age.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I'm speechless! That was bonkers!!!

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I kept having to pause this to clutch my dropped jaw and take a breath. Definately worth watching. So wild.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Hello from norther Spain. Searching out a spot to watch the total solar eclipse. This one looks like a winner.

Sunset in August in the hills of Northern Spain. Light clouds in the sky.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Someone tried to convince me to work on their app for personal reflection, based on the premise that AI is too sycophantic to support useful reflection. It was not convincing. Lots of "AI will never..." arguments fall flat because they are based on definition by contrast to something changing fast

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Fun to see what @blasttheory.bsky.social is up to. Their explorations of depopulation in Japan, and a gynecological office untouched for 20 years, brings me back to my trespass adventure design days. It's a great way to reflect on space, people, and change. www.youtube.com/shorts/e98ah...

youtube.com

Artist Diary: YCAM Residency Reflections | Blast Theory

YouTube video by Blast Theory

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

After so many circular conversations about AI agents, I wrote an essay about focusing on skills instead. It includes links to documentation of 4 of my skills. One reader already said he loved the change log because it reads like a test pilot, not an engineer. 👩🏼‍✈️ uncommonplaces.com/resources/sk...

uncommonplaces.com

Obsessing Over AI Agents Is Slowing You Down

Agent hype distracts from a tool called skills that already works. Here are four of my skills shared in full: what they do, what they need to run, and how they evolved.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This essay rings so true. Clearly, I enjoy consulting on AI capacity building because of the risk mitigation components involved, and the weirdness this whole AI moment is producing in organizations. hermit-tech.com/blog/ai-mani...

hermit-tech.com

AI Mania Is Eviscerating Global Decisionmaking

The reality of how much damage AI mania is doing to our ability to run institutions effectively.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Having this weird experience getting a decent personal server setup with AI and feeling like I no longer need anyone else's software. I can just make what I want. This is clearly an exageration. I am using lots of open source stuff, still other people's software.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I shared my ludicrously detailed Spain solar eclipse itinerary with a friend . He immediately shot back, "IDA API WTF!" 🤣 So true, AI helped me with it. If you haven't heard about my Ida API, here is the essay: uncommonplaces.com/resources/yo... I wouldn't reshare if people didn't love this.

uncommonplaces.com

Your Move 78 and My Colorblind Glasses

Ask not what AI will do for you. Instead, ask what you will do because of AI.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Anyone else have scenes from Jurassic Park running through your head as you read about this stuff? thezvi.substack.com/p/openai-mod...

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The personal overview of computing and game experiences in @robinkwong.bsky.social's talk was dizzying. So much has happened in how we relate to each other over the last quarter century... www.youtube.com/watch?v=sze5... He makes very kind use of my research to ground his key questions. 🙏🏻

youtube.com

Robin Kwong | Some Good News about AI

YouTube video by The Power of Storytelling

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

This line made me chuckle: "Whenever I visit sacred buildings I open myself to the vibes, whatever the intellectual or ethical risks." I can so empathize with the disposition. From www.burningshore.com/p/still-expa...

burningshore.com

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Watched the Odyssey. It brings me back to Jonathan Shay's harrowing work on moral injury. Listening to Achilles in Vietnam took my heart away. www.are.na/block/26708279

are.na

Achilles in Vietnam | Are.na

Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character by Jonathan Sha…hings in our culture that so that we don’t continue repeating the same mistakes.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Been using this prompt lately. Claude wrote it for themself. The results are curious, from digital math geometry toys to deep research holes on niche LARP experiences

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Reposted by Ida Benedetto

Simon Willison @simonwillison.net · 17/07/2026

Google used 10.9 billion gallons in 2025, so about 30m gallons per day The Coachella Valley has 120 golf courses each using ~800 acre feet per year, which is ~750,000 gallons/day: www.cvwd.org/167/Water-Co... So Google buying up 40 of those courses (1/3) should do the trick

cvwd.org

Water Conservation | Coachella Valley Water District - Official Website

Making every drop count is more than the Coachella Valley Water District slogan, it’s a way of life in the desert!

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Lots to learn from this podcast on writers using LLMs. Both discussants have a high bar for craft and don't let LLMs write for them. They do prompt for feedback in very specific ways. The research prompt for deep investigative work made me choke-laugh. www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/llm...

complexsystemspodcast.com

What LLMs can and can't do for writers, with Clara Collier of Asterisk Magazine

How to use LLMs in investigative journalism

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Grief is the price of love. Reminding myself of this as I unexpectedly bump into my ancestors belongings.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I so love Melanie Mitchell. All of this is worth savoring. yalereview.org/article/mela...

yalereview.org

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I incresingly get annoyed with commercial software and just ask Claude to do things for me through the command line with bash and python, neither of which I know. And the results are great.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

My essay on the two failure modes of high-stakes gatherings sparked unexpected offline conversations. People described facing "highly charged chaos" in their own organizations. Here's my advice for those underdesigned situations. uncommonplaces.com/resources/wa...

uncommonplaces.com

Walking Into Highly Charged Chaos

For the person walking into a high-stakes gathering — anchors set up in advance, ways to stay connected to yourself and what's actually happening. Companion to The Two Failure Modes of High-Stakes Gat...

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

My second-cousin once removed tipped me off to this 70-hour meticulous boat restoration series that has over 8 million views. One boat, lots of love. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

youtube.com

Rebuilding TALLY HO - from the beginning. - YouTube

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

The Infinity View of the @publicdomainrev.bsky.social is one of my favorite places on the internet. Just drag and gaze until I have a, "What the heck is that?" moment. Never disappoints. pdimagearchive.org/infinite-view/

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

You can create custom filters in the Brave browser that block specific CSS elements on web pages. This one makes YouTube much more tolerable for me, no more algorithmic suggestions of what to watch next floating on the lower right side.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

It's been wild to see the range of AI adoption at organizations as I help more of them with this work. I liked a lot of things about this @pioneersof.ai episode from @waitwhat.com on the topic. open.spotify.com/episode/4gOe...

open.spotify.com

Spotify – Web Player

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Uh... is the excessive sycophancy around spiritual topics a result of excessive spiritual bypass in the internet chatter based training data? Wild. www.anthropic.com/research/cla...

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

I tell people I'd rather mediate in small claims court than go to a Broadway show any day. Maybe this piece will show you why, or maybe you'll still think this is a bit weird. www.linkedin.com/pulse/see-yo...

linkedin.com

See You in Court

I’m in a spacious, brown, municipal elevator at 6:15 on a Thursday evening. Plenty of people are in there with me, all going to the third floor.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

That's are really cool. What dignified photography, too.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

My high school experience was nothing like this but I did have to wear uniforms. I loved the bit about dismantling the 6G tower and just how long that dance sequence is at the end. youtu.be/x6_mbnsh6VU?...

youtu.be

GENER8ION - STORM starring Yung Lean

YouTube video by GENER8ION

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Now, after taking a digital embroidery course, I see images like this and think, "I could embroider that."

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

This was incredibly satisfying to watch. Quality filmmaking, zany characters, crass social commentary, good adventure. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl-w...

youtube.com

LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching

YouTube video by owen reiser

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Been having interesting conversations with AI detractors who realize their stance is more informed by a hate of the tech bros than actual concerns with the tech itself. This was interesting to tease apart.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

I feel like I've told three different groups of people that I hate theatre in just the past 24 hours. Must be something in the astrology at the moment.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Did you know that for the cost of one high-end digital embroidery machine, you could get an entire pack of robot dogs? I just cannot stop thinking about it. Which would you choose?

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

There's this zany bit of AI nonsense where you can have Kagi translate into anything. I tried this on my most recent article not thinking it would work..... but it did! 🤣 I loooosing it!!! translate.kagi.com

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Could it be reasonable to draw sweeping conclusions about a culture based on whether their old people play mahjong or bingo? 🀄️

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Even routine gatherings can become high stakes when they push on something deeply important to the people involved. When that happens, people behave differently as their protective instincts take over. The usual approaches to group dynamics can backfire. uncommonplaces.com/resources/tw...

uncommonplaces.com

The Two Failure Modes of High-Stakes Gatherings

High-stakes gatherings push on things genuinely important to the people involved. Designing well for these moments means working with fear, not against it.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Just subscribed to a print publication at full price for the first time in I don't know how long... a decade and a half maybe? You've got me hooked with an upcoming issue on risk. asteriskmag.com @asteriskmag.bsky.social

asteriskmag.com

Asterisk

Asterisk Magazine covers science, emerging technologies, economics, politics, culture, global health, threats to human development and flourishing.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Every single language I've learned I can use back home in New York City. I just thanked the guy at the bodega counter in Nepali, a language I didn't even realize I remembered any of. I love it.

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Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

I probably already have "Photographs of the People of New York Who Look Like Birds" somewhere on my bookshelf. Looks so familiar.

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