iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 09/09/2026

I am writing as someone who wants them to slow down but cannot single-handedly convince them. I think failure to acknowledge the competitive dynamic makes one less persuasive to the people at frontier companies who could either quit, or could change the safety practices of their companies.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 09/09/2026

>why are they waiting[?] I agree with you that more people should be unilaterally acting to slow things down. But the answer to your question is, they think if they don't build it, someone they trust less will. And there are concerned AI developers who aren't waiting: x.com/hilbertspaes...

x.com

Jacob Coxon (@hilbertspaess) on X

I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 09/09/2026

You are misreading Pachocki's post. Pachocki would like the AI to be less dangerous. OpenAI and Anthropic are in a dynamic where each company doesn't trust the other, and trusts China even less. Someone is going to get hurt soon because they simply aren't co-ordinating.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 04/09/2026

What are they getting wrong about bibliometrics? (I know nothing about it.) Happy to read a link.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 29/08/2026

Enough info was leaked that the hacker could call my phone company and pretend they were me. I'm also now going to have to be extra wary of spearphishing.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 29/08/2026

I've gotten reports from GWWC members who hadn't received the email before my post who received it afterward 😬 I suppose the best course of action is to keep checking your email over the next few days. I've also asked Giving What We Can to delete my account.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 28/08/2026

Giving What We Can was hacked, and people with accounts may have had details leaked, including * name * address * self-reported income If you have an account, check to see if you've received an email from GWWC today. Not all accounts were affected.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 27/08/2026

I understand why more people with type 1 diabetes would survive today compared to 1920, but have there been great strides in diabetes treatment since, say, 1980? I know very little about this

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Daniel Munro @dkmunro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I’ll keep saying it: The issue the world has with America goes deeper than Trump. It’s the institutions that enable and fail to check the American threat to peace, order, decency and justice. bsky.app/profile/dkmu...

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 26/08/2026

Yes - there is a new system for reminders, but no one is enrolled by default. I could definitely have used your PSA 14 months ago!

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 22/08/2026

Nice! And congrats on outliving Schubert 🫡

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 22/08/2026

Shots from the OUP Archives

A cupboard to store slips of crowdsourced quotations for the Oxford English Dictionary. This cupboard precedes the editorship of James Murray and his "scriptorium". A woman holds a slip for the phrase "clean coffee".

Closeup of a slip containing an example quote for the phrase "clean coffee". The slip reads, "The beans [of coffee are then put through a winnower … and it is then called 'clean coffee'". Source: Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883, August.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 22/08/2026

Then there are those who (AFAIK) did not meet Alexander von Humboldt but were influenced as readers of him: Ralph Waldo Emerson Mary Shelley Wordsworth Coleridge Byron Poe Whitman Jules Verne Ernst Haeckel Hector Berlioz Henry David Thoreau It's a long list!

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 22/08/2026

2/2 … Tsar Nicholas I Simón Bolívar Thomas Jefferson James Madison Charles Lyell Friedrich Schiller Friedrich Schelling Gauss Babbage Lamarck Laplace Georges Cuvier Alessandro Volta Humphry Davy William Herschel Morse Fanny Mendelssohn (Hensel) Alexander Pushkin

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 22/08/2026

I read "The Invention of Nature", a biography of Alexander von Humboldt by Andrea Wulf. The most striking thing about the book is *how many* people Humboldt directly interacted with. This PARTIAL list reads like a who's who of the 19th century: Goethe Darwin Queen Victoria Napoleon Bonaparte 1/2 …

Cover of "The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World", by Andrea Wulf.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 10/08/2026

This is nuts. I hope you get home tonight!

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 09/08/2026

2/2 We can and should try to have control measures and security guardrails to stop misaligned models from doing bad things, but the models are getting so powerful that better alignment really needs to be the top priority.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 09/08/2026

Dear reader, if you haven't watched the talk about the Hugging Face incident, I encourage you to check it out as soon as you can. From Pressman's thread: this, I think, is the largest issue. 1/2

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Jonathan Birch @birchlse.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

There's no humanities academic on Earth who doesn't dream of writing a review so withering it makes the news.

BBC News headline that reads "Odyssey translator writes scathing review of Nolan film adaptation."

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 24/07/2026

Lauren runs In Development Magazine, and the tweet seems earnest - if you're the right person to write this, you can pitch the article at indevelopmentmag.com/pitch/ @lgilbert.co

Screenshot of tweet by Lauren Gilbert:

I would really like to commission a piece on variations in cancer care across LMICs.

70% of people who are diagnosed with breast cancer in India are alive ten years later, but only 11% of those diagnosed in Nigeria are alive ten years later - even though incomes are similar.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

7. Finally, I was struck by Harper's disagreement with the "hockey stick" view of economic history. Though no preindustrial society reached a sort of economic takeoff we have today, the high Roman Empire (and other civilizations elsewhere) did have "efflorescences" that genuinely increased wealth.

Screenshot of text:

The Roman Empire set the stage for an efflorescence of historic proportions. Already in the late republic, Italy experienced precocious leaps forward in social development. To a certain extent, the prosperity of Italy might be written off as the result of sheer takings, naked political rents seized as the fruits of conquest. But underneath this veneer of extracted wealth, real growth was afoot. This growth not only continued after the military expansion had reached its outer bounds—it now diffused throughout the conquered lands. The Romans did not merely rule territory, transferring some margin of surplus from periphery to center. The integration of the empire was catalytic. Slowly but steadily, Roman rule changed the face of the societies under its dominion. Commerce, markets, technology, urbanization: the empire and its many peoples seized the levers of development. For more than a century and a half, on a broad geographical scale, the empire writ large enjoyed both intensive and extensive growth. The Roman Empire both staved off Malthusian reckoning and earned uncalculated political capital.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

6. Justinian had to content not only with plague, but with major disruptions to the climate: volcanic eruptions in 536 and 539/40, and a period of declining solar output. The 536 eruption caused a "year without summer" and forced reliance of the previous year's grain storage to avoid famine.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

5. The final and largest plague—the Plague of Justinian, starting in 541—had the same pathogen as "the Plague" of medieval Europe. Because this plague's main hosts are rodents, it spreads differently: not just in cities, but through the countryside.

Two cemeteries outside Munich in southern Germany, at Aschheim and Altenerding, have yielded paleomolecular evidence for Y. pestis. The cemetery at Aschheim was in use across the sixth and seventh centuries. It humbly served a settlement of less than a hundred residents. The unusual frequency of multiple interments, datable to the middle decades of the sixth century, looked suspiciously like an episode of crisis mortality. DNA extracted from the dead has conclusively determined that these victims died of Y. pestis. The beast was here. It is hard to overstate the ramifications of finding the plague in a remote, rural outpost in the west. If the plague was here, it must have been in many other places which lie in the dark zones on our map.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

4. The second major pandemic was one I previously hadn't even heard of: the Plague of Cyprian, in the 3rd century. The period is poorly attested, but there are indications of it from all over the Roman world:

Map 12, Indications of the Plague of Cyprian. There are dots in Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, and around Jordan/Palestine.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

3. Beyond general mortality, the Empire experienced three major pandemics. Harper says the earliest of these (the Antonine Plague) was the first pandemic in world history. What enabled this, and why this hadn't happened before, was a very feature of Roman strength: good transportation networks.

3. Beyond general mortality, the Empire experienced three major pandemics. Harper says the earliest of these (the Antonine Plague, in the 2nd century) was the first pandemic.

What enabled this, and why this hadn't happened before, was a very feature of Roman strength: good transportation networks.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

2. One specific reason for high general mortality was poor public sanitation. The Romans had aqueducts, yes, but actual management of human excrement was done with things like chamber pots next to the kitchen. The following passage—especially the end—was memorable.

Screenshot of text: There are strong grounds to be reserved in our optimism. The sewers of Rome, while massive, have not been held in esteem by modern experts. They were more storm culverts than waste disposal systems. The ingenuity of the monumental public toilet seems to have been summoned for the sake of imperial or civic vanity, rather than practical motives of hygiene. The more important system of private waste disposal registers as a befuddling missed opportunity. Domestic toilets were often not linked to sewer lines: the gaseous backflow, risk of flooding, and invitation to vermin outweighed the benefits. For the wealthy hilltop mansions, this situation may have been tolerable. For the rest of humanity, it meant being surrounded by the effluvia of the crowd. Internal cesspit toilets dominated in Roman houses, and chamber pots never went out of style. Private toilets were often built next to the kitchen. The Romans apparently used (and re-used) sponge sticks for the purposes we employ toilet paper. In the words of one classicist, "The hygienic implications of using such an implement are again at best dubious."

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

1. The Roman Empire, Harper argues, was in general not only sicker than we are today, but also sicker than most preindustrial human societies. Mortality data from Christian graves show a seasonal pattern consistent with malaria and gastroenteric disease in fall, and respiratory infection in winter.

Lines showing an index of mortality of different age groups throughout the year. People under 50 have a mortality peak in September, and those over 50 (most vulnerable to respiratory infection) have highest mortality between December and February.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 21/07/2026

Assorted things that struck me from reading "The Fate of Rome" by Kyle Harper

Cover of "The Fate of Rome: climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire".

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 18/07/2026

not IB physics YouTube tho

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 09/07/2026

Classic instance of synecdicke

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 06/07/2026

I pre-ordered a few months ago based on a podcast appearance you did. Certainly not a failure!

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 30/06/2026

Famous people afflicted with malaria: * St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, died from malaria after being sick nine days * the Roman general Belisarius, famous for retaking Ravenna from the Ostrogoths in the 6th century, himself got very sick from malaria at Ostia See Sallares 2002, p. 86 (below)

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 27/06/2026

The Scroll Prize / Vesuvius Challenge has its first academic publication, based on three different scrolls. The biggest result is a complete reading of one of the Herculaneum papyri, a Stoic text. Check out the paper here: scrollprize.org/pdf/main.pdf

Screenshot of the title, authors, and author affiliations of the paper "Complete virtual unwrapping and reading of a rolled Herculaneum papyrus". First authors are Giorgio Angelotti, Stephen Parsons, and Federica Nicolardi.

Screenshot of a reading of column 19. The English translation reads, starting and ending in the middle of a sentence, as follows:

… need none. Having certainly strained ourselves to the utmost through research and learning, we will no longer be inferior to them in any respect, accomplishing in like manner the things that befit them and possessing the same practical wisdom as they …

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 13/06/2026

Great new post by Joseph Heath on human evolution, why it's hard to explain the sudden emergence of the traits that make humans unique, and why Yuval Harari's explanation can't be the right one. josephheath.substack.com/p/harari-vs-...

Screenshot of post: "Harari vs. Henrich: What science actually says about human evolution".

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 06/06/2026

Very much enjoyed the all-Beethoven opening concert of the Céleste Music Early Keyboard Festival in Newmarket, ON last night! There are concerts throughout June featuring many fortepianos and harpsichords. Info at www.celestemusic.org/festival2026

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Reposted by Alessandro

Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 27/05/2026

Guys, how do you invent a vaccine? Or even wilder, how do you invent a vaccine during your PhD?! In a new episode of Hard Drugs, we talked to someone who did just that: @kat-a-collins.bsky.social! Plus: • Why did the first malaria vaccine take so long? • Could we make better vaccines today?

open.spotify.com

Inventing the second malaria vaccine with Katharine Collins

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 31/05/2026

Yeah English drifted quite a bit, more than any other very widely spoken language I can think of. Of course there's also something like Modern Greek, where like half the vowels and diphthongs turned into /i/

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 28/05/2026

I think Google's default AI is giving the public the wrong idea about the upper bounds of current LLMs' capabilities, but good heavens, it is a master at comedy (image from @rebeccarightnow.bsky.social on the other site)

Screenshot of Google search result for the question "How many P's are in Google?"

The result says:

There are 2 "P"s in the word "Google".

In result then breaks this down in two bullets. In the first bullet, the word "Google" is split letter by letter and highlights the second G.

In the second bullet, the AI spells "Goople" and highlights the P, then comments "(not the word)".

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 23/05/2026

Next to Robarts Library in Toronto: May 21 vs April 27. It was rather more crowded a month ago!

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 23/05/2026

when you're in a rush in France: "We've got no time Toulouse!"

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 19/05/2026

*stile misto, not stile antico (I have much to learn)

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 19/05/2026

newly released: Canon and Fugue in B minor in the stile antico By Ericsson Hatfield, lover of canons nonpareil www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGo2...

youtube.com

Kyrie Eleison | Canon & Fugue

YouTube video by Ericsson Hatfield

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 16/05/2026

Wilhelm and Caroline von Humboldt lost their infant daughter Louise when Caroline was living in Paris. Louise was vaccinated at 14 weeks old on 9 October 1804 and died just over a week later.

Screenshot of the first paragraph of letter 113 from volume 2 of collected letters.

Caroline an Humboldt [Paris], 30. Oktober 1804

Ich nehme mit Zittern die Feder, mein Wilhelm, und doch kann ich und darf ich nicht länger gegen Dich schweigen. Ach, wie blutet mein Herz über den Kummer, den ich dem Deinen bereite! Wilhelm, mein teures Leben, wir haben aufs neue ein geliebtes Kind verloren, und der tiefste Schmerz des Lebens kann sich erneuern. Louise ist uns entrissen, und schon vorigen Montag, wo ich Dir schrieb, war sie nicht mehr im Licht dieser irdischen Sonne. Ach, ich vermochte nur nicht, es Dir zu schreiben und zu dem Schmerz um den Verlust des schönen Kindes noch die Unruhe für meine Gesundheit bei diesem gewaltsamen Aufhören des Stillens hinzuzufügen. Wenigstens kann ich Dich heute über meinen physischen Zustand beruhigen und Dir die heilige Versicherung geben, daß alles für mich getan worden ist und daß ich leidlich wohl bin.

Translation of first paragraph from Google Translate:

113. Caroline to Humboldt [Paris], October 30, 1804

I take up my pen with trembling, my Wilhelm, and yet I cannot and must not remain silent to you any longer. Oh, how my heart bleeds for the sorrow I cause yours! Wilhelm, my dearest, we have lost another beloved child, and life's deepest pain can be renewed. Louise has been taken from us, and already last Monday, when I wrote to you, she was no longer in the light of this earthly sun. Alas, I simply could not bring myself to write to you and add to the pain of losing our beautiful child the worry for my health at this forced cessation of breastfeeding. At least today I can reassure you of my physical condition and give you the solemn assurance that everything has been done for me and that I am reasonably well.

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 16/05/2026

Famous people who lost children to smallpox variolation or vaccination: a thread

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 16/05/2026

Simón Bolívar lost his wife María when she was 21, less than a year into their marriage

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Alessandro @poli.sisti.ca · 16/05/2026

Famous people who lost loved ones to water-borne disease: a thread

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It's Jamie @sjamieit.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The City of Ottawa posted the raw speed data from before and after Doug Ford banned speed cameras and the effect is so obvious it's not even necessary put a line marking when that happened. This chart shows the percentage of drivers going 15km/h or more over the posted limit.

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