Made of Triangles

I would suggest the decline is now getting on for 50-60 years old, it was just easier to ignore and in some ways considered a good thing at first.

I wonder if this is the 'UI optimisation' effect The more you tune a UI for the median user, the more you get an increasingly positive response from a steadily decreasing pool of users Eventually you have 1 really happy user and no business

The fall in immigration is mutilating Healey’s Budget iandunt.substack.com/p/the-fall-i...

Really important to remember that while these flaws were discovered by AI there is no reason that they couldn't have been discovered in other ways The problem is the flaws, AI is the flood revealing the buried bodies

Struck again today by the effort people will go to in blaming things for the actions of people Yes some things need to be controlled others regulated, but it's because of people not the things - unless you focus on that you'll screw up the regulation

I wonder what the public view is on the mass of the sun, or the size of the grand canyon? Perhaps YouGov could poll the british public about whether water should contain nitrogen rather than oxygen atoms?

It’s entirely fair to say that most European nations have failed to invest in defence over the last decades - but isnt it also true that if they had they’d have mostly invested in all the wrong sorts of things for the current world? l

I think it's absolutely fantastic. It shows what an extraordinary country I live in and that refugees can fully integrate and participate in society

Security threat that was predicted years ago happens and is declared new and unforeseeable security threat.

Brittin so far absolutely fucking hopeless. There are countless tech and discussion podcasts in the private sector. You and Yours was exceptional public interest journalism.

If we accept the principle that the costs and flexibility of a different floating currency mean that the UK is better off with Sterling than the Euro, it seems likely we should have London Sterling and UK Sterling for the same reason

Tax suggestion: Christmas Added Tax - any business mentioning Christmas in external marketing, communication or in store displays liable to pay % of revenue during month mention occurs. Rate is 10% in Jan, decreases by 1% each month. Nov & Dec being zero rated

So it's goodbye to the triple lock, hello to the bounded triple lock then? I like the way that really, it's a pretty limited technocratic change (with admittedly big fiscal impact in the long run, in theory) that's being portrayed as a massive political change by both those opposed and in favour

It seems significant that you can see thousands of comments about the EU insisting the UK sign up to the Euro before rejoining, and thousands more on how the UK public won’t agree to that. But pretty much nothing on whether it would be a good idea or not in itself for either party

I'll put it on the record now that using CPI rather than Earnings as the triple-lock replacement is a political and fiscal crisis scheduled for the future

And the decline begins. Ok. The decline accelerates.

If I was an evil foreign state intent on causing havoc and security incidents in the UK, I'd not bother with complex bomb or assassination plots I'd just hire some random blokes to nick transit vans, park them near potential targets and run away 90% of the disruption for 10% of the effort

AB: "I don't think you get the welfare bill down with crude cuts. It plunges people into crisis and they show up in other parts of the system which end up costing more." LK: "Yeah, you've said this before, but I'm looking for a specific commitment you will cut the bill by the next election." WOW

Abolish The Home Office. (c) @dankaszeta.bsky.social

That doing the right thing has a cost is rarely a very good reason for not doing the right thing. Sometimes the cost will be too high, but that argument has to be won by the person claiming it, not just asserting 'a not very good thing might happen as a consequence'

I think it's usually worth remembering that in terms of day to day thought, 1/3 of the UK hates the EU but doesn't know why, 1/3 loves the EU but doesn't know why and 1/3 doesn't care. Those that know enough to have a reason are just a rounding error at the level of the overall population

In a similar vein, one of the reasons the Tech industry is the way it is, is how copyright and patents work, which is an irony considering how AI is now interacting with artists and writers

I wonder if mobile phones are the proof that consumer choice breaks down with tech Cheapest iphone is £800, so if you want a reasonably priced smart phone your choices are Android, Android or that other Android

Software does not make decisions It expresses decisions that were made by a human

I think it should be a source of deep embarrassment – and perhaps even shame – that Rishi Sunak has spoken out on this before Andy Burnham has.

Good thread, though an aspect that it perhaps misses (but it's almost always missed) is that it's probable that software is the way it is because no one is paying how much it would cost to make it better - and because of that for the last decade or so, it's been getting worse

I do wonder if spending controls are more useful than donation controls - particularly given the donations have already been made but they haven't been spent yet

One of my unpopular but extremely niche opinions is probably that "Software Architect" is a bullshit job. You're either architecting the system or engineering the software

Very clever of Apple to upgrade the Apple Watch into a spy-device thereby killing the interest I had in one, after I decided to wait for the new model

Increasingly thinking that for me the cost of a decent mobile phone is rapidly outstripping its benefit. There are increasing aspects of necessity - which makes it resemble more pure cost of living overhead, not a consumer good

I think the worst part of Labour's response to the fascist mobilisation is Andy Burnham's absence. He's the most popular politician in the country, with social media reach and actual powers of persuasion, and he's saying nothing in public. He can actually be of use here but he's choosing not to

Oh well, time to switch from odd donations and buying things from their shop, to a monthly RNLI donation

I think the biggest two problems with dropping the triple lock are "defined contribution pensions" and "falling home ownership"

What is a legitimate concern anyway? I get what ' reasonable concern means, and serious concern, and debatable, facile, ridiculous, spurious, insane, unreasonable, nonsensical... But legitimate? Isn't it tautological? if it's not legitimate it's not really a concern is it?

This should be the easiest open goal in the world for a progressive government - they are literally violent criminals. Most voters do not like violent criminals.

Of course it’s generally the case if you have a job title like distinguished engineer typing code has already been over for a decade for you - doesnt make the claim false, but worth bearing in mind assessing it

Important to remember that AI isn't any more autonomous than other software because it is software It has the capabilities we give or allow it Unfortunately we're not very good at blocking capabilities, which is why computer security is such a fraught area even without AI

Perhaps all AI chatbots should be compelled to write in the voice of Uriah Heep - just to remind us all how they are treating our requests

I am convinced that SW design (mainly consumer facing apps) has been becoming steadily worse for the last decade, maybe longer This goes beyond basic enshittification which is more design driven by perverse incentives, this is just... negligent shittiness and lazy product management

I have a sneaking suspicion that AI adoption is tripping over an 80/20 rule. For many jobs 80% of the work can be done by AI The remaining 20% of the work always took 80% of the time

I think it might be important that the places most plagued with AI Slop were previously plagued with what you might call Human Slop

Not being an academic I admit I have no standing on what "academic freedom" means in practice. However I don't think it's that likely that "being racist in an incredibly stupid and obvious way" is likely to land inside the concept

People are down on selling peerages, but maybe we should sell titles (without the right to sit in HoL) as a wealth tax. Do it the way tech markets things: Your Baronetcy expires in 4 weeks, renew for £5m per month or upgrade to Viscount for only £1m a month more (renews at £10m a month)

"If it bleeds it leads" - first media selection algorithm?

A more practical approach to AI watermarking, while far from the preferable approach, is probably voluntary marking of everything that isn't AI output The equivalent of signing your work and taking responsibility for asserting it is your work It has other chain-of-trust benefits as well

Thinking some more, 'Incrimination as a Service' is probably something that will become more evident now it is vastly easier and straightforward to automate

I think we could solve a good chunk of the vocational/academic qualification debate by designating MBAs as vocational