Reposted by Lane BeckerEd Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.socialsammatey.substack.comHappy Stanislav Petrov DayTake five minutes to not destroy civilization 252124938
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 11/09/2026“how to make sure that, as AI changes the way work is done, we do not lose sight of what that work was meant to achieve in the first place.” terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...terrytao.wordpress.comA Severe Misalignment of AI in MathematicsI am proud to be among the list of 25 initial signatories — all Fields Medallists — to the declaration below, which grew out of discussions between ourselves over the last week. We have… 020
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 09/08/2026"Work is not, in the grand scheme of things, that important. No one ever died over a spreadsheet. Marketing campaigns don't change the world. No one will remember our work, but they might remember the types of people we were, the relationships we had, & how we treated the people we worked with."noemamag.comWhy Is Everyone In Tech So Sad? | NOEMAA lot of people seem to be realizing that knowledge work is mostly pointless. AI might give us the pleasure of finding out what happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers. 0101
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 25/07/2026“There is no honour for the humanities in regaining their standing through the attention of AI companies, if they engage only on the technology industry’s terms. In that case, they will have become important in exactly the wrong way.”ft.comWhy this philosopher turned down AnthropicThe AI industry is courting the humanities — but it is asking the wrong questions 010
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 26/06/2026“The Reflecting Pool is a metaphor so perfect, it feels almost valedictory, as though symbolism as a whole gave up and decided to sign off. On its way out, it killed a duck.” www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...theatlantic.comOne Metaphor to End Them AllThe Reflecting Pool is an image so perfect, it feels as though symbolism as a whole gave up and decided to sign off. 030
Reposted by Lane BeckerShiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 20/06/2026the problem with modern society is that everyone wants to run their country like a business and their business like a country but nobody wants to run their country like a country and their business like a business 131099208
Reposted by Lane BeckerAlexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 06/06/2026A growing discourse in the United States through which AI becomes viewed as the default cause of every manner of economic dysfunction and social ill is a testament to the political ineptitude of the dominant class in Silicon Valley 510418
Reposted by Lane Beckerdepths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 01/06/2026it has come to my attention that busytown is anti pig 834574873
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 22/04/2026“The people who tell us AI will dominate our future & take our jobs are the people hoping that will be true. They may be hoping this because it makes them feel important, because they want to be billionaires, or because they simply do not understand other people. That final point is underestimated.”theverge.comSilicon Valley has forgotten what normal people wantDid the tech industry get high on its own supply? 171
Reposted by Lane BeckerRebecca Williams @rebeccawilliams.info · 20/04/2026nyc has the greatest privacy hopecore events wearealreadygathered.infowearealreadygathered.infoWe are already gathered'We are already gathered' brings together people who are already gathered in datasets. 024
Reposted by Lane BeckerSMBC Comics @smbccomics.bsky.social · 09/04/2026Does this change my imaginary Erdos number to a complex number? Click the link to read the full comic on the site! COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sphere... PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com 817734
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 04/04/2026“Modernity feminizes society. It’s a good thing. Modernity feminizes society by empowering women to become full participants in economic and political life. The elevation of women is the great achievement of modernity, and probably what makes modern life tolerable compared to much that came before.”hegemon.substack.comThe Incel Global Ordermodern autocracy as a cult of masculinity 030
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Thanks to the indefatigable @cydharrell.bsky.social, I’ve followed the awe-inducing career of @blairbraverman.bsky.social and her sled dogs for over a decade. This is a beautiful essay about the end of it. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/m...nytimes.com‘Their Power Feels Like Mine’: A Dog Sled Racer Says Goodbye to Her Pack 091
Reposted by Lane BeckerJoel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 07/02/2026"By “unequivocally” rejecting all analogies, it [the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum] has erected a fence around the Holocaust that ensures that its moral lessons will be forgotten." www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...nybooks.comNever Again, Once Again | Peter E. GordonA few years ago, in the early summer of 2019, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum declared on its website that it “unequivocally rejects efforts 26927
Reposted by Lane Beckerceej @ceej.online · 07/02/2026production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA 250176873851
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 01/02/2026Holy hell, gang, I’m in the Epstein Files! (No, not like that.) www.justice.gov/epstein/file...justice.gov 3323
Reposted by Lane BeckerBrian Coulter @philabcoulter.bsky.social · 09/01/2026Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional. 228153703617
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 31/12/2025“It is to hollow out journalism of anything that threatens those reactionary elite sensibilities and replace it with a simulacrum of journalism appeasing those sensibilities, and claim to have saved the profession.” www.forever-wars.com/watching-bar...forever-wars.comWatching Bari Weiss Murder Investigative Journalism at CBSNotes from someone who's withstood White House demands to stop an explosive story—and who once even had a 60 Minutes piece spiked 021
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 26/12/2025You thought you could solve it in one day, but then it miraculously took you eight days instead? 150
Reposted by Lane BeckerWilliam Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 15/12/2025O, horrible, O, horrible, most horrible! 223511664
Reposted by Lane BeckerMatt @tiredgenerally.bsky.social · 05/12/2025the US is abandoning green energy at precisely the moment it is becoming not just a climate neccesity but also like a strategically important industry 840558
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 26/11/2025“We use language to think, but that does not make language the same as thought. Understanding this distinction is the key to separating scientific fact from the speculative science fiction of AI-exuberant CEOs.” www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...theverge.comIs language the same as intelligence? The AI industry desperately needs it to beThe AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake. 030
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Actually, rereading this @adamserwer.bsky.social piece, maybe we should call it “No Chickens.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...theatlantic.comLower Than CowardsThe surrender of America’s elites 010
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Need to follow-up the “No Kings” protest with one called “No Cowards.” 1164
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 05/11/2025Voted against most of them, knew this would happen, still completely sucks. 150
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 01/11/2025“One way of thinking about the past half-decade or so of life on the internet is that we’ve all become test subjects in a grand experiment to see just how bad ‘good enough’ can be.”maxread.substack.comPlatform TemperanceNotes on a new wave of the Techlash 031
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Yeah! Agreed. Much appreciated @alexfalcone.bsky.social. The Wikipedians will be delighted to hang with you. 010
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 27/10/2025"And through it all, my army of well-intentioned dorks keeps documenting every bit." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-...mcsweeneys.netHi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology“Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for the dum... 020
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 16/10/2025So much love for the matcha and sakura sake flavors. 000
Reposted by Lane BeckerCyd Harrell @cydharrell.bsky.social · 08/10/2025thread, h/t @yvonnezlam.bsky.social (think about this in concert with how much we value "focus" these days) 042
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 23/09/2025“Use strong white flour for a superior product. Form the dough. Knead until it’s as elastic as the truth.” www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how...mcsweeneys.netHow to Make Strudel Like Magda Goebbels“My grandfather used to say ‘and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel’ and I never knew what it meant until after he died my grandmother explained s... 010
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 19/09/2025“Fascism is a temper tantrum disguised as an ideology.” www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8SHcorw/tiktok.comthere’s no such thing as hypocrisy when you’re worldview is that you can just do whatever you want. * * * enjoy my rant. views are my own TikTok video by Abbie Richards 041
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 18/09/2025“You can tell the country is free because everywhere you look, there is less and less evidence that slavery ever happened.” www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...theatlantic.comA Beautiful Day for Saying NothingThat chill in the air isn’t Jimmy Kimmel’s show being suspended. It’s just autumn! 130
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 05/09/2025”Wikipedia is one of the few platforms online where tremendous computing power isn’t being deployed in the service of telling you exactly what you want to hear.” www.theverge.com/cs/features/...theverge.comWikipedia is under attack — and how it can surviveThe site’s volunteers face threats from Trump, billionaires, and AI. 0136
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 26/08/2025Holy hell. There’s bad, incredibly bad, unbelievably bad, and then, much, much worse than all of those, is this. 084
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 23/08/2025Whaaaat? We must agree to disagree. You don’t find the slow mystery of it all entirely gripping? I love the way Clarke totally marinates all her characters in the environment. And the metaphor! All the metaphor! 110
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 22/08/2025youtu.be/TsdY2tccB0wyoutu.bePhotoshop Tutorial Web Design Gold PsdYouTube video by Mir Rom 130
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 22/08/2025Oh joy. Can’t wait to see how many vehicles pile up in this particular car crash. Is there even anyone left to do the work? 140
Reposted by Lane BeckerBen Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Holy shit, they did it. They wrote the headline. 795420869309
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 29/07/2025Ohhh this is good to know! Thanks for the pointer. I was a little sad about losing Arc, Dia is super-uninteresting, and really didn’t want to go back to the regular browsing model. 010
Reposted by Lane BeckerRoland Meyer @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 26/07/2025Counterfactual pseudo-history is the default mode of AI slop. The latent spaces of #genAI are free of chronology, causality, or historical time. All visual patterns exist here simultaneously as equally accessible & exploitable resources, organized by similarity & ready to be endlessly recombined 4/ 315030
Reposted by Lane Beckerae @aelkus.bsky.social · 12/07/2025and I think it symbolizes a lot about why tech progress right now feels so strange and perverse, you have people promising that things like this will lead to a new gold rush while much of the actual foundations of American scientific and technological superiority are being burned to the ground 18412
Lane Becker @lanebecker.bsky.social · 29/06/2025Yes! So well-said. I have been sitting with similar thoughts and frustrations, and musing about possible paths forward, and this really helps frame the moment. You described the situation and the pitfalls hidden in post-DOGE era thinking so well. Also, love love the phrase “public mechanics.” 110