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victor

@ifvictr.com
300 followers 337 following 90 posts

reverse-engineer all the things

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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/05/2025
thanks for reminding me to reread dark forest theory of the internet www.ystrickler.com/the-dark-for...
ystrickler.com
The dark forest theory of the internet
In his sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem, author Liu Cixin presents the dark forest theory of the universe. When we look out into space, the theory goes, we’re struck by its silence. It seems lik...
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victor @ifvictr.com · 25/02/2025
samo burja called this unwritten knowledge “intellectual dark matter”. his essays and talks on this are quite interesting
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victor @ifvictr.com · 13/02/2025
was she referring to any specific tool?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 09/02/2025
love the vibe of all the art you’ve posted so far! where are you finding them?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 01/02/2025
i’m less interested in what the machines say and more interested in what they get other people to say. they’re good at surfacing unknown knowns
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victor @ifvictr.com · 01/02/2025
i’m less interested in what the machines say and more interested in what they get other people to say. they’re good at surfacing unknown knowns
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victor @ifvictr.com · 19/01/2025
works the other way around too. tiktok updated their messaging in the app to highlight his involvement in the policy change. they’re essentially locking him in by setting public expectations that’ll make it hard to make a significant pivot without taking a hit to credibility
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victor @ifvictr.com · 21/12/2024
the dev community (well the vocal ones at least) seems ideologically homogeneous and that’s a bad thing in the long term
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victor @ifvictr.com · 21/12/2024
my worry is that the network’s vulnerable if a critical mass of devs ever stage a protest and take their tools hostage for an extended period of time when there’s a mod decision they disagree with. reminds of all the subreddits going dark in 2023 to protest reddit’s changes to API pricing
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victor @ifvictr.com · 21/12/2024
might depend on the feed you primarily use, but it makes the entire place feel cozier? bsky.app/profile/ifvi...
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victor @ifvictr.com · 21/12/2024
single-bit error by ken liu is a story about memory and how it shapes identity, relationships and faith. follows the protagonist who’s a database programmer. originally written in chinese, but was translated into english! kenliu.name/stories/sing...
kenliu.name
Single-Bit Error
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victor @ifvictr.com · 06/12/2024
good observation about cartography. 2D vector maps make sense from a performance and cost standpoint, but that invitation to explore the world gets stripped away, and people end up being less curious by default. i wonder how much impact switching the default to satellite imagery would have
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victor @ifvictr.com · 13/12/2024
is this hardcoded into the algos or just revealed user preferences?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 12/12/2024
people didn’t know what the simcluster algo was nor did they appreciate the work it did until elon removed it…
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victor @ifvictr.com · 12/12/2024
i think it’s downstream of custom feeds fostering a more fragmented userbase and limiting potential for hypervirality. the default Discover feed exists, but it’s not overarching in the way For You is on X
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victor @ifvictr.com · 12/12/2024
ended up pulling the trigger on it the other day—now we wait! in the meantime, know of any other writings on or adjacent to the topic that you’d recommend?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 12/12/2024
one or two well-placed cold emails can do a lot for many people’s lives, so it’s a bit disappointing to see such a negative visceral reaction towards them
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victor @ifvictr.com · 11/12/2024
i’ve found it very effective to get a helping hand from a friend to kickstart that momentum, really helps that they’re not weighed down by inertia
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victor @ifvictr.com · 11/12/2024
i would love to play around with custom filters for replies… bsky.app/profile/ifvi...
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victor @ifvictr.com · 11/12/2024
i read yancey, venkatesh, and maggie’s essays on their respective sites and enjoyed them. i’m considering getting the book now for the other essays—how did you like them?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 09/12/2024
yes, LLMs should be used to “sand down” your thinking bsky.app/profile/ifvi...
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victor @ifvictr.com · 09/12/2024
i visit around twice a week and find there’s always a lot of thoughtful discussion of tech and niche hobbies. very cozy vibes. miss me with the political discussion though
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victor @ifvictr.com · 09/12/2024
in my experience i’ve found this to be true and it also applies to who ends up meeting irl related:
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victor @ifvictr.com · 09/12/2024
obligatory
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victor @ifvictr.com · 08/12/2024
some replies i’d like to boost: - from people i don’t follow yet who have replied to me that i liked/reposted - insightful, novel - contains a neologism
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victor @ifvictr.com · 08/12/2024
kinds of replies i’d like to hide: - one emoji replies from people i don’t follow - mean-spirited - captain obvious, glaringly self-evident, nothing insightful
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victor @ifvictr.com · 08/12/2024
you should for its concurrency features alone, much better than dealing with JS promises
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victor @ifvictr.com · 08/12/2024
custom algos for feeds are a thing already, so why not custom algos for the replies section as well?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 08/12/2024
wip cozy is nice when i want something that’s a bit slower than following bsky.app/profile/did:...
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
it’s fine if you stay off the discover feed before you have a curated following list tbh
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
home and lock screen widgets would be the perfect thing to add to this tbh
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
protein water feels illegal
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
oh, can you link to it? ty
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
do they all congregate somewhere? feels very scattered on the feed
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
ok wow this is cool
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victor @ifvictr.com · 07/12/2024
where’d you get the “changed handle” labeler?
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victor @ifvictr.com · 06/12/2024
so many ideas to build so many places to go so many people to meet
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victor @ifvictr.com · 06/12/2024
i’ve also been looking for the first one! @paulbutler.org shared a builder-heavy starter pack that had a few people sharing what they were working on bsky.app/start/did:pl...
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victor @ifvictr.com · 06/12/2024
where are you finding these alt clients? i haven’t seen any mentions on my feed
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victor @ifvictr.com · 06/12/2024
good observation about cartography. 2D vector maps make sense from a performance and cost standpoint, but that invitation to explore the world gets stripped away, and people end up being less curious by default. i wonder how much impact switching the default to satellite imagery would have
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victor @ifvictr.com · 05/12/2024
yeah i don’t think i’ll do a mutual block unless there’s a consistent pattern of nastiness—feels like it locks the door on possible future reconciliation when they go to your profile and see you’ve blocked them
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victor @ifvictr.com · 05/12/2024
what’s the reasoning behind blocking people who’ve blocked you? i don’t block anything except spam so i don’t understand that
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victor @ifvictr.com · 05/12/2024
i saw that the other day too! it’s the most beautifully-written reply i’ve come across on there in a long time
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victor @ifvictr.com · 05/12/2024
i’m convinced a good portion of the recipes and novel food pairings we’ve passed down originated from the cravings of pregnant women. they’re coming up with pairings i would never even think of
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victor @ifvictr.com · 29/11/2024
instagram’s strict post:comment hierarchy and lack of nested replies stifles generative conversation. you can’t follow dialogue under any decently popular post because of the sheer volume. would make sense why intellectually-driven users go elsewhere x.com/ifvictr/stat...
x.com
x.com
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victor @ifvictr.com · 04/12/2024
more people just need to take an “observe a master craftsman” approach to learning how to use LLMs. the subtlety lies in the framing of the question and that can’t be discovered on your own very easily
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victor @ifvictr.com · 04/12/2024
i use them to: - sand down my raw thoughts - revisit past social interactions to surface any nuances/patterns - run simulations of novel situations so i know how to navigate them when they actually happen. it’s a sandbox for decision-making and strategizing in the form of a text adventure game
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victor @ifvictr.com · 04/12/2024
two months was just a guess but it seemed just right. anything longer would be too slow
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victor @ifvictr.com · 04/12/2024
they passed 294,823,300 total users just now. i think they’re going to do for the adoption of the at protocol what threads did for activitypub
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victor @ifvictr.com · 04/12/2024
they launched substack notes in april 2023 just days after twitter started throttling links to them, but it doesn’t seem to have taken off based on how little i hear about them elsewhere. chris best’s (the CEO) answers on his interview with the verge suggests he’s aligned with bluesky’s philosophy
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