iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 12h

Ok, but.. ::deep breath:: NOBODY UNDERSTOOD THE HEADON COMMERCIALS. Sorry. But like they did not show someone with a headache. They did not show someone getting relief. They were inscrutable and rightfully mocked.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 14h

And in this case we're doing it in such a way that you have to interact with the machine in the most awkward, annoying way that's professionally possible (out loud, without food in your mouth, and with pants on).

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 14h

Like, I can see the value of simulating human interaction for training purposes, but this can't do that (it's always going to be cool headed, friendly, and subservient). Humans also have limitations that this isn't simulating. It's slapping a human face on a weird machine. Why do that?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 14h

I also have this general critique of voice assistants, but concede there are edge cases where they're helpful (for children, people driving, and when using a watch, etc). Some people also are just terrible at typing! Also I'm not sure that passing the Turing test has value here?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 16h

This is correct, but also if I'm going to have an AI assistant, why would I want to do a video chat with it? Do they think the problem with the modern workplace is that we don't have enough meetings with real people?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Oh I see, they murdered someone trans and he says they're heroes. Thanks!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What is he even saying here? It seems like there's some chinese people who saw a murder and that makes them heroes?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm saying Monaco isn't less technologically advanced than the US and in many ways surpasses it.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ok, but no one says that Monaco is "technologically unadvanced."

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In a different direction: credit card payments. Most of the rest of the world uses systems that are faster, less cumbersome, and more secure than what our banks do. So we have entire third party ecosystems just for small payments.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Is it the manufacturing of the thing that makes a country advanced, or its usage? But yes, I think the last sentence is the crucial one. There are things the US excels at, but I'm not sure its unambiguous that we're more "technologically advanced". There are certain things we lag behind on!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ok, the EU and Australia have a higher EV adoption rate and cleaner energy grids.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What does that have to do with anything? He didn't say "you can buy the average car", he said you could buy a car. Also, the tax credit applied to used cars, which your own graph shows are cheaper.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A lot of the industrialized world? I guess it depends on how you would measure such a thing.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There are countries that are more technologically advanced than the US.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The problem isn’t installation, it’s “what if this battery powered lock runs out of power?” I guess you’re just locked out?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Every Friday: “Thank God, the weekend!” Every Monday: “Thank God, daycare!”

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It was Christmas Eve, which is also primo Cullen.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Everything else aside, would Ghengis Khan know a lot of history? Why is he a professor of history and not, like, horse?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Sliced apples taste better, and that’s a fact. It’s a self slicing apple! The plan is foul proof!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I’m getting personally offended as the parent of a toddler.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I find this baffling in that I had 0 knowledge that anyone on earth had opinions on this as recently as last week. It’s like finding out that job interviewers were checking and ruling out candidates based on the tire pressure of their cars. “Underinflated tires mean underinflated performance!”

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

To be caffeinated and alert for their questions?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Some of these I remember being big deals at the time, but I thought we all agreed that in the end they didn’t deliver the goods. Yes “Game of Thrones”, but also “Lost”. Lost? Really?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Man, that poster is going to be embarrassed when someone points out she says “daddy” at the end of that one episode (S4E10).

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I don’t know if you’ve looked at US Mormon shifts in the past 5 years but they might be in a state of collapse (especially among youth). Young women abandoning in droves, self identification halving, wards closing in Utah collapse.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I actually don’t know what you’re talking about. I think we have misunderstood one another on a deep level. But I wish you well!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I mean… no? Maybe this is a man thing, but I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a coworker’s shoes. I assume they’re wearing ‘em?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I got mine Friday. Was totally fine for 22 hours. Then I was exhausted and achy for 12. Be warned!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Failing a state assessment is strong evidence that something has gone wrong! It didn't occur to her that the test might have been right? Or that she should drill in to what her kid was learning? Also, test taking is an important skill, and is something that can be taught. I just don't get it.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I've made this point elsewhere, but it seems alien to me as a parent that her kid failed a state exam in algebra (making her repeat a class!) and her reaction was "Well, I guess my kid isn't good at test taking" and did no course correction (until the kid, retaking the class, started failing).

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Now that you mention it, a fairly notable spice-supplying empire was collapsing around that time too, huh?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I wonder how much of it is a long hangover from the depression, where people just got used to eating whatever was around and cheap. Spices are a *luxury* and jam is 3¢ more expensive per oz, so for lunch we're having peanut butter and mustard sandwhiches and we'll be grateful for it!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

On AIM you could “warn” another user, and they’d get a “warning level” increased by 5%. If it hit 100, they’d be temporarily suspended. You could only “warn” them 5 times in one go or something, but it was also super easy on AIM to get multiple accounts, making the limit useless.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

In the telling her daughter kept going with high confidence until she eventually started failing tests. I guess it’s possible that she drilled down and didn’t see anything amiss, but it seems relevant? And hey, the whole piece is a mea culpa. Maybe the lack of intervention is part of the culpa!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

What I find odd about this is that there’s a lack of involvement into how her kid is actually doing. Like her kid does well in algebra and fails a state exam and she assumes her kid is “bad at test taking.” Does she see if that’s true? Coach them on test taking? Ask them algebra questions? No! Why?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Also yes! Personal finance comes to mind. Isn’t very hard, but is boring as hell. Therefore you see a lot of people in the real world who are terrible at it. The more “spicy” and “interesting” they make it, the worse they tend to be!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I tend to call this in general the “math teacher problem.” The people who teach math generally think of it as inherently interesting, and eschew any concrete applications. But people (especially the engineering focused) tend to like concrete applications, even if they’re silly!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Having met some Arizona republicans in my life, I gotta say: that doesn’t sound weird at all

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Iirc heavens gate members were especially educated and intelligent and got talked into metaphorically getting sucked into space!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

There’s an open source computer version of the game called TripleA. It’s… a lot better as a computer game!

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It's weird getting into back and forths with the Europeans on this because... you know we can see you, right? Like we know there are honest to god authoritarian dictatorships over there? What exactly are you, personally, doing about Lukashenko?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I remember meeting someone 14 years ago trying to talk it up. “It’s like, instead of magic, they use education and rational thinking!” Me: “isn’t that more or less what they also do in the original?” They got real mad.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Stop to end doesn’t work at all for me, but I recently found out about an app that will auto-bounce keywords.

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I mean it's not like it's a big car state

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Also historically the difficulty is translating formal, stuffy language of government into something kids can understand and now it goes the other way. “So here is a senator saying that he is… ‘based’… and he has lasers shooting out of his eyes. I think it’s about trade policy?”

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

You may have experienced this, but I find it hard to explain the dumbness of our era to my kids. Normally you can present a quasi decent case for political issues and you let the kid chew on them. But these days I… can’t?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Also: frustrating that a coordinated hate campaign against public service isn't considered "terrorism", because it sure seems like it?

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Jon Russell @watchreader.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

You're a lot actually closer to the situation, and I'm glad someone is going to stand up for them. Here in a different part of Wake county, they removed all teacher pages from the school website, probably as a defensive mechanism against the hate campaign.

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