mathewi

mathewi

@mathewingram.com

I write about technology and culture from my kayak somewhere in Canada

8.7K followers771 following1.2K posts

mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Underground passages in the UK are lined with millions of seashells Halfway up a steep street in Margate, in a residential area a short walk from the town centre, is a nondescript building. Walk in, pay a small fee, and head down. You’ll find yourself in a labyrinthine passage, dimly lit. It…

mathewingram.comUnderground passages in the UK are lined with millions of seashellsHalfway up a steep street in Margate, in a residential area a short walk from the town centre, is a nondescript building. Walk in, pay a small fee, and head down. You’ll find yourself in a labyrinthine passage, dimly lit. It covers over 2,000 square feet. And around you - all around you, covering every inch of wall and ceiling - are shells.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Is Anthropic's S-1 the first IPO filing to mention that the company's technology might trigger a catastrophic calamity that ends the human race as we know it? Just curious

mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Ukraine used a drone to rescue a wounded soldier from the front Ukraine’s unprecedented drone rescue of a wounded soldier from the battlefield has shown once again how battlefield necessity can spur innovation. The operation was revealed just days after separate Ukrainian drones designed for…

mathewingram.comUkraine used a drone to rescue a wounded soldier from the frontUkraine’s unprecedented drone rescue of a wounded soldier from the battlefield has shown once again how battlefield necessity can spur innovation. The operation was revealed just days after separate Ukrainian drones designed for casualty evacuation were deployed for frontline testing — taking a step beyond the US military’s decades of experimentation with similar concepts. The drone evacuation of the injured soldier took place at an undisclosed time and place on the frontline where the presence of Russian drones and landmines made it impractical to send in a wheeled ground robot, according to The Kyiv Independent.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Regulating AI is hard because we don’t really know how it works (Note: I'm currently travelling in Canada's lovely Rocky Mountains, so I don't really have the bandwidth – mentally or in telecom terms – to come up with a brand-new Torment Nexus this week. My apologies! In its stead, please accept…

mathewingram.comRegulating AI is hard because we don’t really know how it works(Note: I'm currently travelling in Canada's lovely Rocky Mountains, so I don't really have the bandwidth – mentally or in telecom terms – to come up with a brand-new Torment Nexus this week. My apologies! In its stead, please accept this republication of an earlier column that I think is especially relevant now. An AI researcher recently said that he thinks AI models…
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

The story behind the birth of the world’s first hot-dog cannon On Sept. 30, 1996, Marc Roode was at home in Fairbury watching his Dallas Cowboys battle the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football when he noticed some strange, decidedly non-pigskin-related commotion on the Veterans Stadium…

mathewingram.comThe story behind the birth of the world’s first hot-dog cannonOn Sept. 30, 1996, Marc Roode was at home in Fairbury watching his Dallas Cowboys battle the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football when he noticed some strange, decidedly non-pigskin-related commotion on the Veterans Stadium sideline. The Phillie Phanatic — the taxonomically cryptic mascot of the city’s baseball team — was firing into the stands what looked like hot dogs out of some contraption rigged to a four-wheeler.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Did the Vatican steal the foreskin of Jesus as part of a secret plot? In 1983, as the residents of Calcata, a small town 30 miles north of Rome, prepared for their annual procession honoring a holy relic, a shocking announcement from the parish priest put a damper on festivities. “This year, the…

mathewingram.comDid the Vatican steal the foreskin of Jesus as part of a secret plot?In 1983, as the residents of Calcata, a small town 30 miles north of Rome, prepared for their annual procession honoring a holy relic, a shocking announcement from the parish priest put a damper on festivities. “This year, the holy relic will not be exposed to the devotion of the faithful. It has vanished. Sacrilegious thieves have taken it from my home.” Not since the Middle Ages, when lopped-off body parts of divine do-gooders were bought, sold, and traded, has relic theft been big news.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

He got home from his around-the-world trip 28 years later Adventurer Karl Bushby completed a multi-day swim of the English Channel, stepping foot on UK soil after a 28-year journey. Bushby, 57, left Chile, South America, on 1 November 1998, following two self-imposed rules – not to use transport…

mathewingram.comHe got home from his around-the-world trip 28 years laterAdventurer Karl Bushby completed a multi-day swim of the English Channel, stepping foot on UK soil after a 28-year journey. Bushby, 57, left Chile, South America, on 1 November 1998, following two self-imposed rules – not to use transport to advance and not to return home until the journey is complete. On Tuesday, he announced that he had swum from France to the UK – the final, major hurdle of his journey back to his childhood home in Hull.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Not a great analogy but I take your point. However, I go to bars that are owned by people I don't like and there are those in the bar whose views I don't share but many who have interesting and worthwhile things to say. And I think it's okay to do that

Aaron Zamost@zamosta.bsky.social

If there was a big AI conference in SF, and the organizer on stage ranted about trans people and immigrants, gave a Nazi salute, and demoed an antisemitic chatbot that allowed you to nudify minors, would you really stay because "that's where the AI conversation is happening?" I just don't get it.

mathewi reposted

Julia Carrie Wong
@joolia.bsky.social

I don’t have any idea what the solution to the bigger problem for literature is, but it strikes me as completely outrageous that the Atlantic would level such a serious charge against an author without an iota of actual evidence. And no, a black box analysis by another AI program is not evidence.

theguardian.comZimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza denies using AI to write prize-winning storyArticle in Atlantic claims The Blue Fighter was artificially generated, days after it won Caine prize for African writers
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Why some people (including me) are spending more time on Twitter Momentum seems to be shifting back to Twitter/X, and I have been feeling it too. I don't love it for all the obvious reasons, but it is the best place to keep track of what is happening in AI

mathewingram.comWhy some people (including me) are spending more time on TwitterMomentum seems to be shifting back to Twitter/X, and I have been feeling it too. I don't love it for all the obvious reasons, but it is the best place to keep track of what is happening in AI
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

How the weather in space caused a 16-minute train delay in 1848 Detective work by a team of space-weather experts has discovered the truth about a historical event that had been thought to be the first-ever case of technological disruption by geomagnetic activity from the sun, but has now been…

mathewingram.comHow the weather in space caused a 16-minute train delay in 1848Detective work by a team of space-weather experts has discovered the truth about a historical event that had been thought to be the first-ever case of technological disruption by geomagnetic activity from the sun, but has now been shown to have taken place seven years later. From it being too hot or too wet to leaves on the track or cows on the line, there's a fine tradition of what the British public consider to be flimsy excuses for delays on the trains.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

A death and an obsession with revenge: the bizarre tale of Otto Z On a balmy, quiet evening in June 2020, Otto’s elderly mother, Doria, was fading in her Munich apartment. As she lay with her eyes closed, her pale face, framed by her white hair, was calm. Otto, masked, gloved and draped in a…

mathewingram.comA death and an obsession with revenge: the bizarre tale of Otto ZOn a balmy, quiet evening in June 2020, Otto’s elderly mother, Doria, was fading in her Munich apartment. As she lay with her eyes closed, her pale face, framed by her white hair, was calm. Otto, masked, gloved and draped in a sterile apron, dozed in a chair beside her. Otto, who sometimes goes by the name Rainer, and whose last name is only known as “Z” because of Germany’s strict privacy laws, was a doctor who had cared for his mother for years, ever since she had suffered a stroke and moved in with him.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

A top drone pilot in the Ukrainian Army describes his job I joined the army on the day of the Russian invasion. I’d studied computer science and only recently landed a great internship at a game company. But I saw the news and knew my options were to sit and wait for them to come and kill me or go…

mathewingram.comA top drone pilot in the Ukrainian Army describes his jobI joined the army on the day of the Russian invasion. I’d studied computer science and only recently landed a great internship at a game company. But I saw the news and knew my options were to sit and wait for them to come and kill me or go running into the fight. On the front line, we spend 90 per cent of our time underground in bunkers because of the threat of enemy drones.

mathewi reposted

mathewi
@mathewingram.com

What makes our minds different and where does it come from? It’s easy to dismiss talk of AI models becoming conscious as science fiction or delusion, but the reality is that we don’t even understand what consciousness is or how it works on any kind of fundamental level, or who has it — or where it…

mathewingram.comWhat makes our minds different and where does it come from?It’s easy to dismiss talk of AI models becoming conscious as science fiction or delusion, but the reality is that we don’t even understand what consciousness is or how it works on any kind of fundamental level, or who has it — or where it comes from
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

What makes our minds different and where does it come from? It’s easy to dismiss talk of AI models becoming conscious as science fiction or delusion, but the reality is that we don’t even understand what consciousness is or how it works on any kind of fundamental level, or who has it — or where it…

mathewingram.comWhat makes our minds different and where does it come from?It’s easy to dismiss talk of AI models becoming conscious as science fiction or delusion, but the reality is that we don’t even understand what consciousness is or how it works on any kind of fundamental level, or who has it — or where it comes from
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Pittsburgh has an annual Parallel Parking Championship For six years, the Parallel Parking Championship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has (for some of us) been motorsport’s crown jewel, a thrilling contest pitting man and machine against time and a 20 foot parking space. The event was first…

mathewingram.comPittsburgh has an annual Parallel Parking ChampionshipFor six years, the Parallel Parking Championship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has (for some of us) been motorsport’s crown jewel, a thrilling contest pitting man and machine against time and a 20 foot parking space. The event was first organized by a young couple named Dan and Jenna, just to settle a long-standing family debate about who was the best parallel parker.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

This top litigator had a secret life playing ultra high-stakes poker Thomas Goldstein did not look at his cards. He shoved his chips forward — all of them — and told the table, “Let’s find out together.” This was the Bellagio poker room in July 2008, then the closest thing the gambling world had…

mathewingram.comThis top litigator had a secret life playing ultra high-stakes pokerThomas Goldstein did not look at his cards. He shoved his chips forward — all of them — and told the table, “Let’s find out together.” This was the Bellagio poker room in July 2008, then the closest thing the gambling world had to a capital. Goldstein looked like easy prey. He was slight, pale, bald and bookish. He had the round face of a character actor Hollywood would typecast as an accountant.

mathewi reposted

mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Everyone agrees we need to find ways to keep AIs from going "rogue," but we already can't plumb the depths of what these models are doing (without assistance from AI), and their "thinking" is getting even more opaque torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/how-do-we-re...

torment-nexus.mathewingram.comHow do we regulate something we can't even understand?Every week there seem to be new revelations about "rogue" AI agents (although the anti-anthropomorphism crowd don't like to call them that). First there was a report that a couple of OpenAI models hac...
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Everyone agrees we need to find ways to keep AIs from going "rogue," but we already can't plumb the depths of what these models are doing (without assistance from AI), and their "thinking" is getting even more opaque torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/how-do-we-re...

torment-nexus.mathewingram.comHow do we regulate something we can't even understand?Every week there seem to be new revelations about "rogue" AI agents (although the anti-anthropomorphism crowd don't like to call them that). First there was a report that a couple of OpenAI models hac...
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Japanese monks mummified themselves while still alive Hidden in remote mountain temples across Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures, you’ll find Japan’s mysterious Sokushinbutsu — self-mummified monks who underwent an extreme ritual to achieve enlightenment. Sokushinbutsu is the ancient practice of…

mathewingram.comJapanese monks mummified themselves while still aliveHidden in remote mountain temples across Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures, you’ll find Japan’s mysterious Sokushinbutsu — self-mummified monks who underwent an extreme ritual to achieve enlightenment. Sokushinbutsu is the ancient practice of self-mummification followed by Shugen-do Buddhist monks in Japan’s mountainous regions. This extreme ritual involved a strict diet, intense physical training, and ultimately, sealing oneself in a tomb while still alive.

mathewi reposted

mathewi
@mathewingram.com

How do we regulate something we can’t even understand? Everyone agrees we need to find ways to keep AIs from going "rogue," but we already can't plumb the depths of what these models are doing, and their "thinking" is getting even more opaque

mathewingram.comHow do we regulate something we can’t even understand?Everyone agrees we need to find ways to keep AIs from going "rogue," but we already can't plumb the depths of what these models are doing, and their "thinking" is getting even more opaque
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Letters written by medieval students mostly ask for money As one medieval Italian father puts its: “a student’s first song is a demand for money, and there will never be a letter which does not ask for cash.” Here is a typical example from the 1220s: "B. to his venerable master A., greeting This…

mathewingram.comLetters written by medieval students mostly ask for moneyAs one medieval Italian father puts its: “a student’s first song is a demand for money, and there will never be a letter which does not ask for cash.” Here is a typical example from the 1220s: "B. to his venerable master A., greeting This is to inform you that I am studying at Oxford with the greatest diligence, but the matter of money stands greatly in the way of my promotion, as it is now two months since I spent the last of what you sent me.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

How do we regulate something we can’t even understand? Everyone agrees we need to find ways to keep AIs from going "rogue," but we already can't plumb the depths of what these models are doing, and their "thinking" is getting even more opaque

mathewingram.comHow do we regulate something we can’t even understand?Everyone agrees we need to find ways to keep AIs from going "rogue," but we already can't plumb the depths of what these models are doing, and their "thinking" is getting even more opaque
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

The true story of the actual first shot ever fired in the Civil War It was the autumn of 1865 — a quiet, bitter autumn after four hollowing years of war — when James Gilmore received a manuscript from a ghost. Well, not a ghost exactly. There’d been rumors, of course, about what had become of…

mathewingram.comThe true story of the actual first shot ever fired in the Civil WarIt was the autumn of 1865 — a quiet, bitter autumn after four hollowing years of war — when James Gilmore received a manuscript from a ghost. Well, not a ghost exactly. There’d been rumors, of course, about what had become of William Parker. Some had him lynched in a dark woods. Others had him hacked to pieces in New York City.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

He was an art forger but he became a national hero In July of 1945, Han van Meegeren picked up his badger-hair brush and began to paint his last forgery. Over a decade, the wiry Dutchman had surreptitiously become Europe’s premier conman — a disgruntled artist-turned-forger who’d sold his works…

mathewingram.comHe was an art forger but he became a national heroIn July of 1945, Han van Meegeren picked up his badger-hair brush and began to paint his last forgery. Over a decade, the wiry Dutchman had surreptitiously become Europe’s premier conman — a disgruntled artist-turned-forger who’d sold his works for tens of millions of dollars. He had duped leading critics, wealthy collectors, and even a high-ranking Nazi official into believing his works were real.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

How Lady Gaga’s biggest fan wound up in prison On Tuesday, Kirill Nguyen shared a rare personal dispatch from the @GagaDaily X account: “Sorry about the lack of updates, I was literally in prison 😭”. The profile, an outgrowth of the eminent Lady Gaga fan site Nguyen, now 32, founded nearly two…

mathewingram.comHow Lady Gaga’s biggest fan wound up in prisonOn Tuesday, Kirill Nguyen shared a rare personal dispatch from the @GagaDaily X account: “Sorry about the lack of updates, I was literally in prison 😭”. The profile, an outgrowth of the eminent Lady Gaga fan site Nguyen, now 32, founded nearly two decades ago, had gone dark for a year beginning in February 2024. His return was met with an overwhelmingly effusive response.

mathewi reposted

mathewi
@mathewingram.com

AI doomers may be wrong but the skeptics seem even wronger The argument that repeated statements of concern about AI from multiple experts -- some of whom have quit their jobs over it -- is just marketing hype or regulatory capture appears increasingly deluded

mathewingram.comAI doomers may be wrong but the skeptics seem even wrongerThe argument that repeated statements of concern about AI from multiple experts -- some of whom have quit their jobs over it -- is just marketing hype or regulatory capture appears increasingly deluded
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

TV host Bob Barker was a member of the Sioux nation Robert William Barker was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. Barker also hosted…

mathewingram.comTV host Bob Barker was a member of the Sioux nationRobert William Barker was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. Barker also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975. Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

AI doomers may be wrong but the skeptics seem even wronger The argument that repeated statements of concern about AI from multiple experts -- some of whom have quit their jobs over it -- is just marketing hype or regulatory capture appears increasingly deluded

mathewingram.comAI doomers may be wrong but the skeptics seem even wrongerThe argument that repeated statements of concern about AI from multiple experts -- some of whom have quit their jobs over it -- is just marketing hype or regulatory capture appears increasingly deluded
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

He hiked the entire 2,193-mile Appalachian Trail at 91 More than 14 million older adults fall every year in the U.S., perhaps none so often as 91-year-old Dale Sanders. By his count, Sanders fell 71 times while reclaiming his record as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail. Six were…

mathewingram.comHe hiked the entire 2,193-mile Appalachian Trail at 91More than 14 million older adults fall every year in the U.S., perhaps none so often as 91-year-old Dale Sanders. By his count, Sanders fell 71 times while reclaiming his record as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail. Six were what he calls hard falls, including one that led to a brief hospitalization and another just 200 yards from the finish.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

Why did this trainer at a riding academy shoot a student? Until 2019, when he attempted to kill one of his students, Michael Barisone was a leading rider and trainer in the horse-handling sport of dressage. Today, he still owns a dressage farm in Loxahatchee, Florida, twenty miles inland from Palm…

mathewingram.comWhy did this trainer at a riding academy shoot a student?Until 2019, when he attempted to kill one of his students, Michael Barisone was a leading rider and trainer in the horse-handling sport of dressage. Today, he still owns a dressage farm in Loxahatchee, Florida, twenty miles inland from Palm Beach. On five acres, he has a stucco house that’s connected to a barn; white-fenced paddocks shaded by palms; and an outdoor riding ring.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

This forgotten pioneer was the Jackie Robinson of golf How good a golfer was Ted Rhodes? At the 1948 US Open, he finished the first round just three shots behind the leader – and eventual winner – Ben Hogan. But there’s more to the story: Rhodes was the first Black competitor in the tournament in…

mathewingram.comThis forgotten pioneer was the Jackie Robinson of golfHow good a golfer was Ted Rhodes? At the 1948 US Open, he finished the first round just three shots behind the leader – and eventual winner – Ben Hogan. But there’s more to the story: Rhodes was the first Black competitor in the tournament in its modern era, during a time of widespread segregation in American sport. In addition to reintegrating the US Open, Rhodes was part of a 1948 lawsuit against the PGA, which had restricted membership to white people.
mathewi
@mathewingram.com

I don’t like it but the Trump DoJ is right on AI and fair use I don’t like to agree with a Trump-related entity but the DoJ’s brief in the NYT-OpenAI case is correct on the facts IMO — indexing of content for AI training should be considered fair use, since it is clearly transformative

mathewingram.comI don’t like it but the Trump DoJ is right on AI and fair useI don’t like to agree with a Trump-related entity but the DoJ’s brief in the NYT-OpenAI case is correct on the facts IMO — indexing of content for AI training should be considered fair use, since it is clearly transformative

mathewi reposted

Clara Jeffery
@clarajeffery.bsky.social

“An 80-year-old president is spending a ridiculous amount of time consuming and reposting endless A.I. fan fiction portraying him as the biggest, strongest and most important person alive. It feels like we’re genuinely watching his brain rot in real time.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/u...

nytimes.com60 Posts in 10 Hours: How Trump’s Social Media Reflects His Version of Reality (Gift Article)With an assist from A.I., President Trump offers a window into how he wants to be seen — and, critics say, a barometer of his mental state.