M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 29/09/2026It helps on my end that every article I’ve read since about 2007 is in a database I’ve been keeping since that time. 010
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 29/09/2026I must admit that I do not even use it for that. I tend to have success just emailing colleagues for reminders about such papers. Plus I worry about the ecological footprint of each one of those searches vs. a much more traditional web search 110
Reposted by M R. X. Dentithkyle @kyledchurch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Wild claim to make in the face of Greens setting multiple discourse shifts over the last month and, as Sacha alludes to, the overt censure of Green policy announcements *alongside* giving David Seymour and Winston Peters constant headlines and columns of verbatim press release. 24313
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 29/09/2026They might be doing a simple prompt of "Hey, Claude, who works on conspiracy theories?" or maybe they have their own model? Whatever the case, I find myself increasingly disapproving of that kind of AI use in the peer review system 110
Reposted by M R. X. DentithSacha @sachadylan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026'The Greens have basically been invisible'. And why is that, Jenna? #NzPolstuff.co.nzNational and Labour abandon their principles - so voters abandon themANALYSIS: When Labour and National speak, all the public seem to hear is a faint white noise of political failure writes Political Editor Jenna Lynch 37114
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 29/09/2026No, but I'm decidedly against using AI at any stage in the reviewing process (which is a personal choice and does not reflect the official position of any journal I am an editor on) 110
Reposted by M R. X. Dentithkyle @kyledchurch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Thing is that Peters, Jones and newer candidates like Laws and Ikilei are ALREADY dangerously extreme AND likely far more motivated and networked to do real damage Covering the dregs is also important, but Laws and Ikilei in particular have been getting *positive* coverage by NZ msm despite it all 25019
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 29/09/2026At the moment the only party demonstrating both an awareness of the situation people find themselves in, and a credible economic pathway out of that situation is the Green Party. Labour's tinkering around the edges of what they will inherit from National won't shift the dial much (if at all) 0163
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 29/09/2026Labour leadership might want to reflect that the Green vote going up might possibly be due to Labour trash talking the role the Greens would have in a future coalition. People want MPs like Chloe in a senior finance role 2222
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026Which is emblematic of a particular set of problems when talking about agentic AI, LLMs & the like: people see success in x and assume if x is fixable, y probably is as well. But the model might only ever do well for cases like x because the problems doing y are systemic problems for the model, etc 010
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026Which is fair: there are cases where it works well (see also corpus analysis). But inferring from that that other issues (like those you named) will likely evaporate with time butts up against the scientific literature on how the models work & their current trajectory 100
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026The climate crisis has finally got to the point where my Mother (mid-80s) has gone from 'I wish you'd provide me with grandchildren' to 'I'm glad you aren't having kids given what the world will look like after I'm dead'! 0140
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026Just a reminder that Ben Thomas is somehow a valuable part of the Spinoff's podcast network, which really should call into further question the Spinoff's editorial policies 14716
Reposted by M R. X. DentithLululamarmiteontoast @lalamarmiteontoast.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Ben Thomas prior press secretary to the National Party & current political editor of the National Business Review doesn't know how to search/read Hansard but I, a 63 yr old school drop out ex cleaner managed? Ben Thomas either has a bad case of selective framing or is a lazy researcher #nzpol 15917
Reposted by M R. X. Dentithsingular locus sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026this seems bad without context. so i looked it up. and if you guessed that this was misleadingly out of context, well, you were wrong. it's exactly what it sounds like 2377
Reposted by M R. X. DentithDr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026So uhhhhhh… Apparently meta's muse "AI" is just straight up doxxing people to strangers on FB marketplace??? This has the potential to hurt so so many people, and I genuinely wonder how long before they roll out a fix for it. 11141631431
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026What is Peter's talking about with regard to Hipkin's stooping to low language? 100
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026Still heavily contested even if accept the slippery and vague language of "many" attached to "likely to evaporate"! 100
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 28/09/2026The claim it is "likely to evaporate" is heavily contested by people working on LLMs. Arguably the problem is that hallucinating is built into the current way models are developed, and getting rid of that might require a whole new approach, with no guarantee it won't happen again 100
Reposted by M R. X. DentithCraig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Your friendly reminder that Ben Thomas isn't a "political commentator". He's a for-hire spinner whose c.v. skews heavily right. No matter how disingenuous or straight-up dishonest, he's NEVER going to speak any inconvenient truths that will mess with his money. #nzpol 36617
Reposted by M R. X. DentithJosh Addison @monkeyfluids.com · 28/09/2026Hey, it's another new episode! Yet again, @mrxdentith.com and I refrain from dodgy Scottish accents and barely mention Highlander 2 at all! I can't think of a stronger recommendation.zencastr.comLockerbie: The Disaster: The Podcast: The Podcast · Zencastr VideoIt's been close to 40 years, and the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie remains the deadliest act of terrorism in the UK. It's an event with many conspiratorial angles, which were discussed i 042
Reposted by M R. X. Dentithsamuel mehr @mehr.nz · 27/09/2026I grew up in Cambridge, MA but spent a decent amount of time in Paris as a kid, as my grandparents lived in the 15eme, and let me tell you the pharmacie signs blew my tiny Cantabridgian mind 3358
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 27/09/2026Apparently a cobra was seen in our office building last week. 480
Reposted by M R. X. DentithGrumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 26/09/2026FFS - the expertise of one of these thinktank guys is an undergrad degree, the other an MSc. Even worse, journalist reporting on the story is a fellow at an AI journalism organisation funded by AI-obsessed EA/Less Wrong/Rationalist philanthropy bros. It’s AI the grift-cycle. 1134
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026I can see that. My favourite Doctors rotate from Pertwee to Troughton to McCoy 110
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026#ResidentEvilVillage, like its predecessor, is very good at giving you just enough ammo to get through a battle and then leave you in a very cautious state before the next checkpoint 000
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026Oh well. I’ll probably rewatch this again in a decade and have even more thoughts! 000
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026Which is to say it ended at the perfect moment. Maybe Hammond would have found both a perfect solution to rescue our heroes and find a way to tell new stories with a more personable kind of threat. But that is a big ask, and the ending we got was an actual ending (even if it was dark) 100
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026Some 12 hours later and I’m still thinking about that last episode. I don’t really know how the show could have continued after that story; it’s remarkably lore-heavy for a show that mostly relied on the audience to make sense of what was going on 100
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026I don’t like 5 that (least favourite classic series Doctor) so I guess that factors into my view on him and all his companions 200
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026I think the dislike of that character is somewhat exaggerated. I think he works better with Tom rather than Peter, but Peter just has too many companions in all but his last two stories 100
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026#StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds has never been quite as good as its first and second seasons, but season four was, overall, better than season three, and the finale was great 010
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 26/09/2026Episode 4 ends so tragically and beautifully. Our heroes trapped in a cafe on the edge of forever, ensnared by their transient counterparts 110
Reposted by M R. X. DentithJosh | writer, painter, tinkerer @tworuru.com · 25/09/2026Pols journos sneering that “everyone knows about the Taxpayers Union” and ”it’s just lobbying” are telling on themselves; the fact is that the public *doesn’t* know about the TPU‘s antics and that is because of the failure of mainstream journalists 618653
Reposted by M R. X. DentithTze Ming Mok 莫志明 @tzemingdynasty.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Lunchboxes guys, lunchboxes 34115
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026I guess it's actually more remarkable that, having lived in China for five years now, this is the first time someone has explicitly remarked to me that 'As a Marxist I can't believe in ghosts!' 020
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026This is a good problem to have, but I have two other revisions I have to make on other articles... 030
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026The changes are five seemingly minor things (could I say more about x; does y connect to something in section z; etc.) yet they have me going 'Oh, actually, if I say this thing I really have to track it through to this other thing, and...' 120
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026The minor changes required for publication for this article are turning out to require more effort than maybe a major revision would have, mostly because the review was so efffusive and the suggested changes so good that I really want to do them justice 161
Reposted by M R. X. DentithRussell Brown @publicaddress.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Chris Penk getting his new column off to a great start by reviewing a book he hasn't read and declaring that it belongs "in the fiction section". I hope Stuff's editors are proud of themselves. 1625865
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026The actual context is asking my Chinese students what they consider to be a strange or unusual belief, and I guess a committed Marxist has to be suspicious about superstitions! 120
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026You know, that would make a lot of sense of the comment 110
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026A student has noted on this worksheet I am marking that as a Marxist they find the idea of ghosts annoying 4152
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026Maybe this is an artefact of knowing how this all ends, but the use of the main theme over Sapphire’s images of the suited men she sees in her vision is great foreshadowing 110
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 25/09/2026Reviewing books they haven’t read is pretty typical for conservatives. Ignorance is, for some, people a virtue 1102
M R. X. Dentith @mrxdentith.com · 24/09/2026I’m halfway through “The Captive’s War” trilogy (on the assumption that halfway through book 2 is largely the mid-point) and whilst I’m enjoying it, there’s no standout characters (like Amos) that we got in the Expanse series. Everyone is just a little too one note 011