Thursday Tweets

I only watched the first season so it is possible Succession got much better later on. It is not, however, possible that it got good enough to justify the coverage the finale has been getting. Thank God for Pitchbot.

The Upshot | Our new interactive feature harnesses the power of generative AI to help you write your own “Succession” fan fiction.

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 31, 2023

'Succession' anxieties are real for mega-rich families, psychologists say - The Washington Post https://t.co/uirLQ1wNyq

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 31, 2023

A few choice moments with today's GOP

Remember when they used to cry over and over about “cancel culture” from the Left? pic.twitter.com/i0iELrswY0

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 31, 2023

The best part is when she misses the bags completely.

The War on Woke Target continues. pic.twitter.com/rmJhELgFhe

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 30, 2023

And you thought being fired by email was bad.

Dude just got fired on Twitter tonight. Gonna be a fun primary! pic.twitter.com/3boSsOuulG

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 26, 2023

I prefer to think of it as the politics of catharsis, but it's basically the same concept.

So opposition to collective action on pandemic protection or climate change carries over into anti-vax crusades and attempts to strangle renewable energy. It doesn't make logical sense, but the politics of rage don't have to.2/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) May 31, 2023

Republicans are providing the opposition with plenty of ammo. Now if the Democrats will only use it.

Worth remembering that Biden got something else out of this deal getting little mention now. He got every member of the House GOP caucus to vote for the nutball Freedom Caucus budget bill that will be the Rosetta Stone of 30 second ads in 2024.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 30, 2023

 

For example.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announces he is assembling “a commission” to look at potential cuts in entitlement programs:

“The president walled off all the others. The majority driver of the budget is mandatory spending. It’s Medicare, Social Security, interest on the debt.” pic.twitter.com/vm3jUuL6fO

— The Recount (@therecount) May 31, 2023

911 call from Lauren Boebert’s son where she gets on the call. pic.twitter.com/jK9HHbhyAE

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 26, 2023

The line between satire and...

Target Gay Pride Display pic.twitter.com/RWTGor1IBJ

— Brent Terhune Royal Oak, MI June 15-17 (@BrentTerhune) May 26, 2023

A Mount Everest of false equivalence. Remarkable even for the New York Times.

Opinion | The Politics of Delusion Have Taken Hold - The New York Times https://t.co/s1u4xidLbc

— Thomas Edsall (@Edsall) May 31, 2023

The trouble isn't that this is what Heritage has become; the trouble is that too many journalists still think they're dealing with the old Heritage. 

Heritage is now just another nest of kooks. And before you say "well, it was always like that" - no, it wasn't. You might not have liked the views it espoused, but it wasn't this. Over 40 years, I've agreed and disagreed with Heritage - but it's no longer a serious place. https://t.co/zJxohje0Ul

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 30, 2023

Back in the USSR

And she had Maria Butina there with her to help her with her defection announcement. https://t.co/87uAKWMuuS pic.twitter.com/63iQRI28oE

— Pete Strzok (@petestrzok) May 30, 2023

[I feel like there ought to be a smooth segue from Russia to failed policies and food shortages...]

perhaps India can send a viceroy to help work things out

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 31, 2023

"In the weeks after the former president appeared on CNN, the network's ratings have plummeted. In fact, its ratings last week were the worst the network has posted since June 2015." https://t.co/YeLcDo6HOD

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 26, 2023

Checking in with Elon.

True. 🤔

After Musk’s takeover, Twitter’s API went from one of the most transparent and accessible on the planet to truly bottom of the barrel, jeopardizing more than 250 different projects and signaling the end of at least 76 long-term efforts.https://t.co/ZH5PtFv9iH

— BA Rehl 🌐 (@Brehmel) May 31, 2023

Zero …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2023

https://t.co/1cyOjgv666

— ES (@ericswerdlin) May 29, 2023

Right after Elon Musk hosted Ron DeSantis on Twitter for his presidential announcement, DeSantis signed a bill shielding SpaceX from liability if workers are killed from his rockets blowing up.

SpaceX lobbied state officials at least 5 times for the bill.https://t.co/qxwoWvAMnF

— Prem (@prem_thakker) May 26, 2023

Retweeting. It's not just the safety complaints -- it's Tesla's instructions to employees to HIDE the safety complaints.https://t.co/UrICAzuMN2

— Russ Mitchell (@russ1mitchell) May 27, 2023

You know those stories where bigotry is overcome by a parents love of an LGBT child? This is not one of those stories.

I honestly hope you can reconcile with your child, who deserves understanding and compassion. https://t.co/yeD9plruVZ

— Russ Mitchell (@russ1mitchell) May 27, 2023

Researchers at academic institutions have used this data to track disinformation, misinformation, and extremism on Twitter. https://t.co/3ph9SkuLSp

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 25, 2023

Conversations in AI


Thread

Here's a wild--but simple!--idea that I think might bridge a lot of ideological gaps in the heated debates concerning AI and help people assess & discuss & confront risks of all kinds:

What if instead of talking about "AI" we talk about "automation"?

Let's have a look:

— Noah Giansiracusa (@ProfNoahGian) May 31, 2023

I teamed up with philosopher @sethlazar and AI impacts researcher @random_walker to investigate the "Statement on AI Risk" that proposes:

"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority".

tl;dr: We're not convinced.🧵https://t.co/fdvKXkmotR

— Jeremy Howard (@jeremyphoward) May 31, 2023

How it started How it’s going pic.twitter.com/rZFd3vfIAL

— Ariel Guersenzvaig (@interacciones) May 31, 2023

"oh no now it can't solve problems it hasn't seen before, and it generates buggy code!" -- it was always like this, but there was a short period of time during which you were completely suspending critical thinking. Welcome back?

— François Chollet (@fchollet) May 31, 2023

This isn't what I thought people meant when they said that lawyers were going to lose their jobs because of ChatGPT 😅 https://t.co/A0BolVE0t4

— Scott Kominers (@skominers) May 27, 2023

The essay on The National Library of Thailand thought experiment is highly recommended.

In other words, I'm writing in the context of 2019-2023 where it has become very clear that we have to guard against our tendency to attribute a mind behind the words, once the words are fluent enough.

— @emilymbender@dair-community.social on Mastodon (@emilymbender) May 27, 2023

 

And one more from Pitchbot.

pic.twitter.com/31MtotvYMO

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 28, 2023