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Jeff Kaufman

@jefftk.com
541 followers 159 following 382 posts

Contra dance musician, parent, effective altruist, biosurveillant, software engineer, blogger. www.jefftk.com

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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/09/2026
Several months ago I wrote a program to normalize your clipboard, removing fonts / colors / sizes and mostly leaving semantic information: anything that can't be represented in Markdown was dropped. Now available as a free app on the Mac App Store: www.jefftk.com/p/clipboard-...
jefftk.com
Clipboard Normalizer in Mac App Store
Several months ago I wrote a program to normalize your clipboard, removing fonts / colors / sizes and mostly leaving semantic information: anything that can't be represented in Markdown was dropped. ...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 26/09/2026
Frog and Toad and the Increasingly Capable Machines: www.frogandtoad.ai
frogandtoad.ai
Frog and Toad and the Increasingly Capable Machines
Frog and Toad face the most modern of challenges
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 24/09/2026
Summary of where we currently are with pathogen-agnostic early warning, what the benefit curve looks like, and what still needs doing.
data.securebio.org
State of Pandemic Early Warning
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 24/09/2026
Macintosh is really pretty terrible as a grocery store apple. I love them off the tree, or when they have been continuously refrigerated between then and eating, but the grocery store experience loses the wonderful crisp and much of the flavor. And almost everyone gets apples from grocery stores.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 23/09/2026
I didn't end up applying (at least not yet). I pulled together most of the records, but with a lot of other stuff going on didn't get all the way to a submission.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 22/09/2026
I tried positively pressurizing a room with a HEPA air purifier. It maybe worked, but I'm not really set up to test it well yet.
jefftk.com
Initial DIY Cleanroom Experimentation
In It May Be Possible to Improvise A High Grade Bioshelter, Adin Richards discusses the possibility of improvising defenses against an environmental threat such as mirror bacteria. He gives an explor...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 20/09/2026
[BOS] There's a new Dawn Dance in VT, the weekend of 9/26: 7pm Sat to 7am Sun. I'm playing the 1am-4am shift with Cecilia. Driving out on Saturday and back Sunday; anyone want a ride? Timing is flexible: I need to be there Sat by 5pm, and on Sun I need to take a nap before driving back.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 20/09/2026
I avoid Twitter (𝕏) for similar reasons to drugs: I think it would change me for the worse, and I would be unable to give it up.
jefftk.com
Why I Stay Off Twitter
I avoid Twitter (𝕏) for similar reasons to drugs: I think it would change me for the worse, and I would be unable to give it up. After staying off Twitter reasonably successfully for years, ...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 14/09/2026
I expect this to look like SV-style "disruption", where a small number of experienced people who understand both the technical space and the trade build new businesses. And I expect data center construction to be the core of it.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 13/09/2026
When I look at why I expect the world to change a lot in the next few years, a big component is that I expect to see widespread "teleoperation": AI walking people through work where the motions are straightforward, timing is not critical, and people are paid a lot for their knowledge and judgement.
jefftk.com
Teleoperated Humans
When I look at why I expect the world to change a lot in the next few years, and why other people expect slower changes, I think a big component is disagreement on the extent to which AI will affect n...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 11/09/2026
To increase resilience to disruptions that might bring down the power grid we should end net metering (including for existing installations) and compensate people with a one-time subsidy for battery purchase. www.jefftk.com/p/replace-ne...
jefftk.com
Replace Net Metering With Batteries
We should end net metering, including for existing solar installations, and compensate people with a one-time subsidy for battery purchase. I'm going to give an argument from grid efficiency, which I ...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 08/09/2026
The FAA has one of my favorite examples of thoughtful rulemaking. They haven't banned flying with a baby on your lap, because the extra cost would mean many parents would drive instead. But their nonsense rule that babies can't be in carriers for takeoff and landing is one of my least favorite.
jefftk.com
Allow Carriers on Planes
The FAA has one of my favorite examples of thoughtful rulemaking. They haven't banned flying with a baby on your lap, because the extra cost would mean many parents would drive instead. Since driving ...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 08/09/2026
If you have solar and an electric car, what should happen during a power outage? Solar should be able to charge the car and power you house, drawing from the car battery as needed. My only option for doing this anytime soon seems to be a Cybertruck, so I'm just going to get a stand-alone battery.
jefftk.com
Bidirectional Charging During Grid Outages
David asked a great question on my solar battery system post: why buy a small battery just for emergencies when electric cars have a large battery you can also use for other things? [1] This would be ...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 07/09/2026
I'm considering a solar battery backup for our house. Decided not to do this in 2024, but since then: * I've learned about utility incentives if we let them drain it remotely. * We can finance most at 0% for 7y. * I'm increasingly concerned about long-term disasters.
jefftk.com
Considering Installing a Solar Battery System
Like most houses with solar, our house is capable of generating a lot of power, and it's basically useless [1] in a disaster. If the grid is down, the panels shut down automatically. This is a lot of...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 03/09/2026
A few months ago Chris Bakerlee wrote up "10 big projects for reducing bio x-risk." Working on any of these professionally would be really valuable, but most have solid actions we can do at the individual level.
jefftk.com
Invididual Effort to Reduce Biorisk
I'm pretty worried about how AI might change the world a lot very soon. In some of these cases things go very wrong very quickly, in others things go very right very quickly, but I'm increasingly (re...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 02/09/2026
If you make an "ooo" sound and adjust down the lowest accepted frequency, yes.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 02/09/2026
My program that lets you whistle to control a synthesizer is now available in the Mac App Store: www.jefftk.com/p/whistle-sy...
jefftk.com
Whistle Synth Mac App
My program that uses whistling to control a synthesizer is now available in the Mac App Store: It's free, no ads, and open source. If you have a mac and like to whistle, give it a try? You need a...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
I do think taking care of kids is likely to require humans longer than most jobs, but if parents can't get well-paying jobs then there's no one to pay for childcare.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
Even if robotics goes slowly, lots of jobs likely move to humans who are ~remotely operated by robots. Taxi driving used to require a huge amount of knowledge (famously, "the Knowledge") but now Ubers use GPS. Billions of meatpuppets, mostly interchangeable, minimal bargaining power, survival wages.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
Waymo is solving a realtime control problem in an unconstrained environment where people die if you screw up and you can't even always safely stop. A lot of work that could be given to robots is not like this. I expect robotics goes quickly over the next few years.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
No, when I say "goes well" I mean a bunch of things but one of them is that we take regulation much more seriously, including redistribution. If things keep going as they have been no one will be able to earn enough to live on.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
Even with efficient options, you still have the raw heat output of running so many computers. Running 10,000x more computers would heat the world more than current climate change. I also don't expect it all to be done efficiently. Data center power generation was just exempted from EPA oversight.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
As described, that sounds like one of the bad outcomes. We probably all die.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
I do think that may well happen, and is one of the reasons we should act now to slow this all down.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
I'm being a bit lazy here because the tweet format means I can make bold claims without backing any of them up. If you think I'm wrong on any of these, happy to give arguments in the comments.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
If AI goes well I think the world could be extremely good. The bottom 10% living far better than the top 10% do now. This is the promise that gets people working so hard to build something so dangerous.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
Lots of people have plans to make the world better by improving X to improve Y to improve Z, where it's Z that matters. If Z is more than 3y out, consider finding a different plan.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
Many paths to appropriately serious action run through warning shots, and we've been getting some. So far they look like hacks, and there will be more. Aside: information that should not become public is increasingly dangerous to keep.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
I'm worried about the environmental impacts of data centers, in that I see plausible near futures in which the world produces vastly more energy than it does today and almost all of it goes into powering computers.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
If you think AI isn't improving rapidly you're doing some combination of not applying it to hard enough problems, not giving it enough context/tooling/tokens, or not using top models.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
I don't know if the metaphor is "goalpost moving" or "frog boiling" but if you dropped a top model into 2006 it would very clearly be "AGI".
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
We are already seeing AI speeding up the development of AI, as it substitutes for human expertise. As the remaining human contribution gets smaller I expect this to compound dramatically, and we'll see rapid improvement even compared to today.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
But also don't live your life in a way where if it takes longer than that you're destitute; there's still a lot of uncertainty in how quickly this plays out.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
AI is so quickly approaching (or exceeding) expert human abilities across so many areas that most people should be planning for 1-3 more years in which they can productively contribute. Use the time well!
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
AI has a very real chance of getting us all killed. I think it probably won't because I expect a lot of people to work very hard to avoid that outcome.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/08/2026
I've had several conversations with people over the last few weeks that have highlighted how far apart my view of the near future is from many people I talk to. Here are some things I might tweet if that was the kind of thing I did: www.jefftk.com/p/ai-tweets
jefftk.com
AI Tweets
I've had several conversations with people over the last few weeks that have highlighted how far apart my view of the near future is from many people I talk to. Here are some things I might tweet if t...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 26/08/2026
The standard recommendation on time out duration is one minute per year of age (up to 5min). In my experience this is much longer than needed; I typically do about a minute regardless of age. The important thing is that the punishment is predictable and immediate, not that it's strong.
jefftk.com
Short Time Outs
The standard recommendation on time out duration is one minute per year of age, often capping out at 5min. In my experience (n=3, not independent) this is much longer than needed; I typically do abou...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 24/08/2026
I'm voting for Burhan Azeem for State Senate, and if you're in Somerville, Medford, or parts of Cambridge and Winchester I think he's the best candidate I've had the opportunity to vote for on housing, transit, and AI.
jefftk.com
Endorsing Burhan Azeem for State Senate
For the last twenty years I haven't paid much attention to my State Senate race: Pat Jehlen hasn't had a close race since she won the seat in 2005. I think she's done a lot of good work: while allocat...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 20/08/2026
The OpenAI Foundation has granted SecureBio Detection $17.2M for pathogen-agnostic detection. I'm very excited about this, I think we can do a lot of good stuff with this funding, and also do want to make sure we're not providing cover for OpenAI (the for profit) to do less.
jefftk.com
Thoughts on Taking OpenAI Foundation Funding
In May 2025 I met Yo Shavit, who was working on national security policy at OpenAI and was thinking about how to prepare for a future in which models could seriously assist attackers in creating pand...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 18/08/2026
Walking through an example of how I used my 5yo's motivation to eat ice cream to get them to practice interacting with strangers.
jefftk.com
Natural Independence Incentives
In raising my three kids I think a lot about how to cultivate independence. I want them to grow into people who can handle unfamiliar situations, including interacting with strangers as needed, and I...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 11/08/2026
In 2015 I made a little webapp to show predictions for the MBTA. A few years later they moved APIs and it stopped working. Back in those days programming required effort, and I let it die. But now that we have genies (for better or worse) I had Claude one-shot a fix.
jefftk.com
Revived Lightweight Transit Predictions Page
In 2015 I made a little webapp that would use the NextBus API to show predictions for the MBTA: A few years later they moved from NextBus to their own API, and it stopped working. Back in those d...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 09/08/2026
Thinking about what worked well (and a little of what didn't) at the amusement park with the kids last week: www.jefftk.com/p/canobie-la...
jefftk.com
Canobie Lake Visit
A few days ago I took the kids to Canobie Lake amusement park. It's the closest one to Boston, and while it's not a serious roller coaster park I don't actually like roller coasters (and the kids are...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 05/08/2026
Side tabs are the thing I missed most after switching to Chrome (originally for speed and stability, but now that those are table stakes, for security) and I was really sad when they removed the experimental vertical option ~15y ago. Excited to see that they've added it for real!
jefftk.com
Vertical Tabs in Chrome
When you have a lot of browser tabs open it can be very hard to tell them apart, especially if they're from the same site: Since monitors are wide and websites are tall, we should very clearly pu...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 05/08/2026
Really impressive foot drumming technique: youtu.be/u4RSlO9nS50?...
youtu.be
Foot drumming on pedal board, close-up
YouTube video by Rochus Keller
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 30/07/2026
I picked that specific one because it is small and reasonably attractive. The main counterargument I've gotten to "use purifiers instead of white noise machines" is that purifiers are too big + ugly.
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 29/07/2026
Air purifiers are great, but they make a noise. Which means in most cases where you'd use a white noise machine an air purifier is better.
jefftk.com
Air Purifiers as White Noise Machines
White noise machines are widely used for sound masking, increasing privacy in offices and helping people sleep. The classic approach is a fan in a box, though in the past ten years people have mostly...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 27/07/2026
Liner notes from the 1972 Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra album. www.jefftk.com/p/canterbury...
jefftk.com
Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra Liner Notes
Leading up to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival the organizers asked Dudley Laufman to put together a band. He got together some folks he'd been playing for, and this was the start of the Canterbury Coun...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 26/07/2026
Someone submitted my musical multitasking post to Hacker News, where Rochus Keller saw it and left some fascinating comments. He's developed a method of foot drumming, using midi organ pedals: www.jefftk.com/p/organ-peda...
jefftk.com
Organ Pedals for Drumming
Someone submitted my musical multitasking post to Hacker News, where Rochus Keller saw it and left some fascinating comments. He's developed a method of foot drumming, using midi organ pedals: you...
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 24/07/2026
I went to find the paper, and couldn't even find a preprint or blog post from the authors. Not a good sign! (I'm pretty skeptical about this sort of result, because in my testing with my electric stove the pm2.5 that the cooking food puts out is the big thing)
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Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 23/07/2026
Notes on reading Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman's barn dance book. I'm especially interested in the presentation of the question of live vs recorded music for contra dancing (Dudley was a famous partisan of live), especially when combined with a selling a book of recorded music to dance to.
jefftk.com
Reading Dudley and Jacqueline's Barn Dance Book
Dudley Laufman passed away last week at the age of 95. He's best known for his extensive contribution to the 1970s contra dance revival, and especially for fostering live music. Twenty years ago [1] ...
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