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Rob Fagen

@robfagen.bsky.social
102 followers 57 following 2.6K posts

Raised in Arizona; Not as funny as the movie.

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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 8h
Down that chain, abstractions resolve into practical approximations leading to concrete effect on the “real” world. So LLMs cannot feel pain on a scientific level, but my fear is an engineer builds a disastrous approximation that is close enough to real to have consequences.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 8h
If the internal state of “pain” results in real world activity indistinguishable from a human reaction, is the “pain” “real”? Consider how a mathematician formulates something useful to a physicist for abstractly modeling something an engineer can use to build a mechanism with that model.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 8h
1. granted an LLM alone cannot feel pain; 2. an LLM is “connected” to a gun; 3. one submits a “mean prompt”, which leads to “emotional pain” in the LLM’s response; 4. in response to the “pain” the LLM shoots you.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 8h
Prof. Bender, I agree 100% with what you’re saying as a scientist about science. Is it a relevant nuance that we are talking about engineers? Contrived example:
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 21h
… T. Coyote?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I couldn’t get a good screenshot on my phone, but the link for: Penitent — Quietly excellent, 74/100, $166M seems to reproduce it ok. I’d watch it.
tentpolegame.com
Penitent — Tentpole
“Walk far enough, you become somebody else's miracle.” — Coming-of-age farce, rated R, dir. Wim Wenders. $166M domestic · 74/100 · Quietly excellent. A picture made at Tentpole.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Oh! That’s why they call them frontier models!
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Had my first a decade back. The drugs were so pleasant. Pleasant to the point that I don’t have first person recall of anything that happened. Including the fact I was out at the curb about an hour waiting for my wife to pick me up because she’d been told the wrong discharge time.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Had my first a decade back. The drugs were so pleasant. Pleasant to the point that I don’t have first person recall of anything that happened. Including the fact I was out at the curb about an hour waiting for my wife to pick me up because she’d been told the wrong discharge time.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I really think Gregor would have transformed into a rat. Maybe his sister Boots would transform into a beetle given her affinity for the cockroaches. Oh. Samsa. Not "Overlander".
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
You’re going to need a bigger pancake.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream. At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines.”
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Went and saw it. It takes some very big swings, and it connects for me. Although I can definitely feel why the “Why Doesn’t Hollywood Make More Than Franchise Sequels? No, Not Like That!” crowd might sneer and howl. Not sure if it’s a home run or a triple (complimentary).
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
He's Captain Anti-merica! I can just imagine him huffing out the words "on your left... way behind you, but on your left".
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
From the trailer, I am intrigued.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
emmanuel kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable! m.youtube.com/watch?v=PtgK...
m.youtube.com
The Philosopher's Song - Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
YouTube video by AtheistArchives
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
But why did the shelter give him a Great Dane tongue transplant before you decided to foster?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Quite possibly the highest impact per word of any of this collection of posts across all the featured public figures.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Phew. That's a relief. Because SCOTUS is an absolute bastion of respect for decades-long precedent.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
When reading this, I could almost hear the mustache being twirled (complimentary).
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Am I interpreting correctly that this means the individual entries in the Yellow Pages could now be copyrighted versus before where only the Yellow Pages as a whole were protected?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Is this where I'm supposed to say "You must be fun at parties."? How does honesty factor into quoting the article you cited that you were using to support the idea that AVs were not as safe as human drivers? I've put up a bet on Kalshi about whether or not your next reply includes profanity.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Not really. There was enough in-universe immorality that we don't have to reach out into the so-called real world.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Think? While skeeting? <BWAHHHAHAHHAHA>
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I thought the point of House of Cards is that there was no moral scaffold to speak of?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You misunderstand him. He’s not saying that they’re going to ask. They’re just going to “take care of us” instead of asking for standing.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
So you’re saying you also are “not that complex”? See? Two people can use invective instead of argument. What alternative measure do you propose to determine whether AV or human drivers have greater relative safety at scale? Humans are already at scale. Do we have to wait for that many AV miles?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Awaiting the advent of “dark data centers” to follow in the footsteps of all the DotComBust 1.0 dark fiber that is now lit up and happy. Sadly, Sun is merely a withered appendage of Oracle instead of being succeeded by a next generation company building compute platforms. Or maybe that’s AWS?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Especially as the article you cite had this in it: However, since releasing the report, the groups had retracted a portion of it dealing with robotaxi safety. So your source doesn’t even have anything to do with assessing safety (or reached invalid conclusions based on incorrect data?).
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I’m really puzzled by how your profile states that you love Derek Guy. I’m a fan of his work as well, but your refusal to acknowledge objective evidence on this subject (and your use of invective instead of argument) seems diametrically opposed.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It does feel like a very savvy promotional strategy for the next book, which will just happen to accommodate the necessary word count.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Rule 9.06 I’m really hoping there isn’t a Rule 34 about Rule 9.06 but I’m not going to kink shame if there is.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Now THAT is uncanny!
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
May I (as a USAian) ask a clarifying question, so that I have an accurate mental picture? “Fancy dress” does not mean “ball gown” or other formalwear, but more like what we over here call “Halloween costume”, right? A clown in full makeup, or an Optimus Prime cosplay?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Pray for prey? Okay.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
About half a moon's worth? what-if.xkcd.com/4/
what-if.xkcd.com
A Mole of Moles
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Much better than being a dumbass, I suppose?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
But there’s so much more space to line up there.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
well, you've only got 18 or 19 more to go!
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I can't imagine not having that.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm also gratified to see where those I gave a chance and supported have gotten to (foremost my beautiful, beloved, and ridiculously talented children, and also those I've hired, mentored, and worked with). As a poet once said, "what a long, strange trip it's been" -- time to start another one.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Shameless plug aside, looking back at all my steps and mis-steps along the way, I can't really imagine very much that I would have done differently. I'm grateful to all of those that gave me a chance and supported me (foremost my beautiful and beloved wife).
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When the project actually happens, my plan is to produce a coffee-table book with a page of words, maps, and pictures for each day's discoveries. There's some video documenting the trial run at: www.youtube.com/@OneLapLower48
youtube.com
One Lap: Lower 48 Edition
Finding special places every 30 miles along the edge of the U.S.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm fortunate to have the professional, financial, and familial planets all align in support of this next step. So what _is_ next? 1. There's a bunch of things I've been wanting to do around the house. 2. An 11,000 mile year-long project that I did a 120 mile week-long trial run for in August.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As Zoox evolves from pure R&D to a live commercial service, the shape of the work needed in my role and the way I work best have slowly diverged. It's best for Zoox to find that right person, and it's best for me to cheer them on from the stands.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As of October 16, after just shy of 8 years there, I'll be leaving #Zoox to retire. When I told my manager she asked "have you been thinking about this long?". I told her that I've been doing this "computer stuff" for 39 years and been thinking about retiring for 38.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Ah. I was thinking more of a VP candidate who destroyed their credibility via verbal miscues.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I thought Roosevelt was reasonably competent (if a bit blusterous)? There's no way Quayle or Palin would have created 150 National Forests by executive order.
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
So who would be the ur-Quayle? George Romney?
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Rob Fagen @robfagen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“The Great Diner of New Jersey” provides Civ-wide benefits of a diner in every city. Must have built at least three diners before building this.
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