Blog

Page 7
The VAX in My Pocket

The VAX in My Pocket

My first employer ran Florida's telecom on millions of dollars of mainframes and VAX clusters. My phone outclasses all of it. We never stopped to notice.

Hasta la Vista, Baby

Hasta la Vista, Baby

Arnold's most famous line is a Spanish phrase in an English-language film spoken in a thick Austrian accent. What it tells us about how language acquisition actually works — and how you can learn from his mistake.

Why You Should Always Ask for the File

Why You Should Always Ask for the File

Stop accepting reports. Ask for the artifact — the actual numbers, the actual error, the actual file — and the confident-sounding failure disappears.

I Banned Words From My AI. It's Smarter Now

I Banned Words From My AI. It's Smarter Now

Hand the model a list of phrases it must not use. It turns a vague complaint into a rule the machine can follow — and mine is at the bottom of this piece, all hundred and fifty lines of it, free to copy.

Persons, Selectively

Persons, Selectively

A German court ruled Google liable for AI-generated defamation. The slippery slopes are real. So is the principle behind the ruling.

Movin' On Up

Movin' On Up

AI is making cognitive labor cheap. The meritocracy was built on it being scarce. Something has to give — and for once, that might be good news.