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Matthew Sheffield

@matthew.flux.community
13K followers 1.3K following 7.1K posts

🟦 Analyst and writer focusing on cognition, politics, religion, technology, and media 🟦 Host, Theory of Change 🟦 Also a software developer and web admin Signal: matthewsheffield.01

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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 6h
Religion has its problems, but the vast majority help people realize that chatbots that can't solve captchas are not alive.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 6h
In case you've been wondering what bizarre libertarians have been up to since Trump embraced big deficits....
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 04/10/2026
Oh, finally that healthcare plan!
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Yes. Thought is not in language, however, because it's our primary method of extruding it, we are uniquely vulnerable to supposing that linguistic competence means that someone is home inside the internality that produces it.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
I don't get that reference, but please do share if you'd like.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
I think the reason so many people are inclined to imagine their chatbot is alive is that the human lineage never had to evolve the ability to spot linguistic imitation. Spotting visual simulacra was essential to survival for our ancestors, by contrast:
plus.flux.community
No one thinks Midjourney is alive, that’s a big problem for people who think that Claude is
Artificial intelligence and the textual nude
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
I think the reason so many people are inclined to imagine their chatbot is alive is that the human lineage never had to evolve the ability to spot linguistic imitation. Spotting visual simulacra was essential to survival for our ancestors, by contrast:
plus.flux.community
No one thinks Midjourney is alive, that’s a big problem for people who think that Claude is
Artificial intelligence and the textual nude
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Agreed. And the reason most theories are so lacking is that we need better theories of cognition and epistemology. Richard Dawkins is a perfect case in point of how easily computational functionalism is misled:
flux.community
Richard Dawkins and the Claude Delusion - Flux
Senescence makes people believe silly things; so does bad science
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Sarah Andersen @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The image is of a four panel comic. The title reads "Poltergeist".
In the first panel we see a woman with a worried expression on her face. She says, "stuff keeps moving around my house."
In the second panel the same woman says "I'm terrified. I can't sleep."
In the third panel we see a ghost holding a candle and a pillow that reads "live laugh love". The ghost is zooming through the house.
In the fourth panel we see the same ghost hanging up a frame and thinking, "home decor is my passion".
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Profiles like this are dispiritingly similar: A young Republican person given vast access to money and media because they have a modicum of talent. It's basically the opposite of how things work on the left: People who fail for decades never face accountability, while talented ppl are shut out.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
No one can fill this void left by the theft of basic research funding.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Some people only believe things are true if they personally witness them. Even if that "witness" is nothing more than fuzzy feelings. They never bothered to look into things about Trump that his critics said, but now they have firsthand evidence that he's a failure.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
We're at a point now where these things can be extremely helpful if you know how to use them properly. But at the same time, they are not anywhere close to being alive or set to extinguish humanity. We desperately need something other than "it's all a giant scam" and "my chatbot is alive!!!"
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
It depends on how you use them. They are definitely not always reliable, but then again, neither are people. Chatbots do not deserve rights because they have no somatic selfhood, but they can still do really useful work in many areas. Always double check it, but oftentimes the answer is right.
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dame @dame.is · 03/10/2026
feeding carrots to horses ASMR
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
They are ok with people voting others' ballots--but only if they vote Republican.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Hard to say. But tbh, I have known many Republicans who think their ideas are really popular and the only reason they don't win landslides is because of irrational prejudice. Back during my own benighted R days, I used to think that. I remember initiating several really dumb convos on this!
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Two other thoughts on this strange ad: 1) It's a great example of how most Republicans have almost no understanding of liberal arguments. They really do think people vote against them w/o any reasoning. 2) It's yet another example of how Republicans hate young women but are also obsessed w/them.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
It's so strange. Yet another example of how so many Republican luminaries are failed entertainment media creatives. That also includes porn.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
As Republican parties in many states are banning porn, desperate California GOP gubernatorial nominee Steve Hilton just released a first-time lesbian experience ad for himself. And of course, it's just creepy leering without any attempt at argument. This won't win a single vote:
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Yes, and that is the bigger problem with Bender's position. By not always using an LLM, chatbots are much more capable. She wants to say they have basically zero utility, which is untrue.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 03/10/2026
Her knowing that chatbots use implicit code execution (however she may understand that term) is actually the stronger critique to make of her larger position. She argues that chatbots are only LLMs and that they are overwhelmingly unreliable. Neither statement is true.
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Flux @flux.community · 02/10/2026
As Republicans' electoral fortunes fade significantly, many of its politicians are trying to distance themselves from Trump, but it's only verbal misdirection. He owns the Republican party, and Democrats must remind voters of that, @jtccarroll.flux.community argues:
plus.flux.community
Flimsy GOP attempts to show ‘distance’ from Donald Trump should fool no one
As Republicans face a likely midterms wipeout, Democrats must be unsparing in reminding voters that there is little daylight between a radicalized GOP and the aspiring despot in the White House
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
I wasn't using the word "reasoning" here, that was Google. But since you asked, I do think that manipulating symbols and their relationalities within formalized and discrete spaces is a form of abstract reasoning. But this reasoning is parasitic on somatic, embodied reasoning. Much more here:
flux.community
It’s like this: Why perceptions are our realities - Flux
Minds do not create experience, experience creates minds
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
After impeaching and removing RFK Junior, impeaching and removing Russ Vought is the first major task of any Democratic Congress. His illegal acts are legion, flagrant, and comprehensively documented. And notably, they are also frequently in defiance of Republican appropriations.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
I agree that Bender has not kept pace with LLM capabilities, but it is true that current chatbots use programming tools to answer certain requests. Implicit or explicit code execution for answering chatbot user inputs has been a thing since Google Bard.
blog.google
Bard is getting better at logic and reasoning
Two improvements are launching in Bard to help you get more accurate responses and export to Google Sheets.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
This is a bit of a catch-22 since there isn't any reason that a computer could not participate in a knowledge community by using local argot, so it cannot really be used to say that machines have no understanding. The better argument is Lakoffian: embodied meaning is the source of language.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
I agree with you that her particular arguments against AI are often inaccurate, however, her argument is essentially that language and use are all separate. Basically, words mean things because a community of speakers agree that they mean those things. Ipso facto, no word means anything.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
Sankey diagrams are indeed very cool.
en.wikipedia.org
Sankey diagram - Wikipedia
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
Source www.thenewworld.co.uk/peter-kellne...
thenewworld.co.uk
An anti-Brexit majority of eight million
The British electorate are now overwhelmingly pro-remain. And yet the europhobes still argue the votes of the dead count for more than the views of the young
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026


On the left are three starting groups: 2016 Remain voters (16,100,000), new voters (3,000,000), and 2016 Leave voters (17,400,000). On the right are three outcomes: 2025 Rejoin voters (19,800,000), dead (5,000,000), and 2025 Stay out voters (11,700,000).

Most Remain voters flow to Rejoin, with a smaller stream going to dead and a thin stream to Stay out. Most new voters flow to Rejoin, with a thin stream to Stay out. Most Leave voters flow to Stay out, but a sizeable stream flows to Rejoin and another to dead. The Leave-to-dead stream is larger than the Remain-to-dead stream.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Trump's redistricting push gave Republicans an edge of roughly nine House seats. With the political environment shifting, the question is whether the advantage Trump created will hold or backfire.
thinkbigpicture.substack.com
How's Trump's Mid-Decade Redistricting Ploy Looking Right About Now?
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks.
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
New: Jasmine Crockett was offering government relations & lobbying services on a campaign-funded website. It was taken down after Zeteo reached out. Experts say they’d never seen something like this before. Rules bar members from lobbying and from using campaign funds for non-campaign purposes.
zeteo.com
Jasmine Crockett Offered Lobbying Services on Her Campaign-Funded Website – While in Office
The offering was removed after Zeteo contacted the Texas Democratic congresswoman’s office.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 02/10/2026
O
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 01/10/2026
Yes, he is very big on the Norman Vincent Peale/The Secret thinking, but I think he also knows that he's lying sometimes. But he's so demented that it's really hard to tell whether he can actually distinguish between reality, lies, plans, and delusions.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 01/10/2026
Trump's unique advantage is that he lies so often that it's hard for casual observers to understand when he is being serious. So many of his voters thought he meant that he would only deport criminal unauthorized immigrants, even though he never actually claimed that.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 01/10/2026
Reddit is cancelling its RSS feeds as part of a larger pattern of ending its support for unauthenticated API access. This is both a money grab since Reddit can make AI companies pay for their data, but also because AI crawlers have been slamming websites with API access:
techcrunch.com
Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots | TechCrunch
Reddit is ending support for RSS feeds, as the company continues tightening access to its trove of user-generated content.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 01/10/2026
Actually, only people applying for them in-person in DC can get one:
npr.org
New U.S. passports with Trump's image are available. Here's how to get (or avoid) one
The passports feature an image of President Trump and are only available in person at the Washington Passport Agency — and only by appointment.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 01/10/2026
I wouldn't be surprised if the next announcement from the Trump administration is that all credit and debit cards will feature special new envelopes also.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
I suppose this is what a nation that is "hot" looks like?
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
If you choose to stay in touch, I'd recommend avoiding boosting particular lefty ideas or people and focus more on occasional facts about Trump messing up.
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Reposted by Matthew Sheffield
Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 29/09/2026
Here's a $20 million order, paid for by CBP's Office of Public Affairs, awarded to LMD Agency for a national media campaign starting on Sept. 20. The first pro-Trump ad aired on Sept. 23. www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_A...
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Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) Call
PIID

70B06C26F00001137
In Progress
(11 months remain)
Unlinked Award
Awarding Agency
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Recipient
LMD AGENCY, INC.
5950 SYMPHONY WOODS RD STE 500
COLUMBIA, MD 21044-3592
UNITED STATES
Congressional District: MD-03
Related Awards
Parent Award Unique Key
CONT_IDV_70Z02323ACGRC0001_7008
Dates
Today
Start Date
Sep 20, 2026
Current End Date
Sep 19, 2027
Potential End Date
Sep 19, 2027
$ Award Amounts
$20.0 Million
Current Award Amount
$20.0 Million
Obligated Amount
$20.0 Million
Potential Award Amount
Outlayed Amount
$0.00
Obligated Amount
$20,000,000.00
Current Award Amount
$20,000,000.00
Potential Award Amount
$20,000,000.00
View Transaction History
Description

NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)Code
54 : Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
5418: Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services
541810: Advertising Agencies
Product or Service Code(PSC)
SERVICES
R: SUPPORT SVCS (PROF, ADMIN, MGMT)
R7: MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES
R701: SUPPORT- MANAGEMENT: ADVERTISING
Contract Activity
$0$5 M$10 M$15 M$20 M$25 MSEP FY '26OCT FY '27DEC FY '27JAN FY '27FEB FY '27APR FY '27MAY FY '27JUN FY '27AUG FY '27SEP FY '27StartTodayCurrent EndPotential End
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Federal Accounts
This award has not been linked to any federal account.
Award History

This section displays the awards:

Transaction History - Displays modification records for an award. Each modification appears as a row in the table below.

Sub-Awards - Displays any sub-contracts reported by this contract's recipient (the 'prime recipient' in the sub-award context). Sub-contracts are contractual agreements that a prime recipient makes with another entity (sub-reci
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
Moments like this are why reality has a liberal bias--and also why everything else is imagined to by the radical right.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
Yep. He inadvertently highlighted their entire epistemology. It's flim-flam and wishful thinking.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
I personally witnessed or delivered several moments like this back when I was a Republican. Alleged experts like Stephen Moore constantly falling on their faces was the reason I started having doubts. (Seeing the vicious Christian nationalism up-close was the final straw.)
A photograph of former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
The core appeal of reactionary politics is hatred of competent and smart people who follow evidence rather than use it to support conclusions. A million incidents like this happen daily in academia and legal settings, and they're behind almost all right-wing "liberal bias" accusations.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
The root of Trump's most durable support is that he is stupid, and deep down, his most fanatical supporters know that he is. Like recognizes like. They don't like scientists, minorities, journalists, and professors being high-falutin' -- and neither does Trump.
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Reposted by Matthew Sheffield
Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Anyway, the Iran conflict is probably one of the less destructive ways Trump could detonate his political power. Albeit still hugely destructive. But at least we're getting a forced green energy transition and electrification (much stronger than any politically viable federal incentive).
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Reposted by Matthew Sheffield
The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 30/09/2026
Trump’s evangelical allies thought overturning Roe would cement their influence. But some of their leaders are discovering just how little sway they still have. @cheetah.bsky.social went inside a major evangelical summit to see why cracks are starting to show. lnk.thebulwark.com/4hSCSS6?utm_...
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