Some people reflect on their mortality on their birthday. For me, it's the semi-annual reminder that if I don't log in to my Gmail for six months, my wife gets access

If anything, it's worrying that Claude didn't flag it as entirely AI generated

It's part of a mass effort to generate public policy evaluation using autonomous AI. I think the consensus so far is that the research largely lags behind that of real published work, but the sheer quantity makes it hard to judge (I haven't read the above yet)

ape.socialcatalystlab.org

Opinion Editorial Board America’s income tax is progressive The rich already pay more than their fair share

Unbelievable stuff from the Washington Post on behalf of Jeff Bezos today.

Claude research has started citing research papers autonomously generated by Claude, which is bad

ape.socialcatalystlab.org/papers/apep_...

Have these people been around babies?

Looks like a great conference, but really they could should have worked harder to squeeze most of the sessions into the first day

Bring on the Red Team The benefits of subsidizing subterfuge

In my latest post on Through Data Darkly, I argue the fight against financial crime, money laundering and illicit finance needs more red team thinking, and more experiments aimed at exposing the weak points in the system

datadarkly.substack.com/p/bring-on-t...

Hey, I realize you're all busy with other stuff right now but I wanted to just take a minute to make it very clear that I am not and have never been close friends with the Boston Strangler

Last day to apply!

Cover image for a book called "What We Owe the Larva: Why Helping Baby Insects Is the Key Moral Priority of Our Time" by Jonathan Birch.

Thrilled to announce my new book, coming Fall 2026.

My new essay for @aeon.co explores the little understood world of underground banking.

Despite intense state pressure, these ancient networks have retained their independence. It is a story that holds critical lessons for our fracturing global financial order.

#polisky

aeon.co/essays/the-u...

In which investigators can't investigate someone unless they are already being investigated, and must alert the person that they will be investigated

This is the BVI's kafkaesque approach to beneficial ownership access, designed on purpose to protect the interests of illicit actors

In the future the spoils will go to those that can design unique but efficient data visualization. I wonder though how well people can get there just through vibe coding.

Each by itself looks totally rad: dark backgrounds and easy on the eyes colours, like TRON if redesigned for people prone to migraines. I love it. But every website looks exactly the same, and I have a hard time concentrating on yet another dashboard that my brain tells me it has already seen before

I have a theory that there is no optimal visual presentation of information, because visual diversity is necessary to attract human attention

I worry about a new form of "AI slop" in that lots of very smart people are vibe coding data dashboards using Claude.... and they all look exactly the same

I know the striking down of the rule is bad, but it is also a warning for governments and civil society: if you are going to protect anti-money laundering policy X, you had better have high quality evidence to bring to the legal fight

www.forbes.com/sites/kellyp...

Next up at the #LunchSeminar: Jeanne Bomare (LSE)

“Death and Taxes: Inheritance Tax Planning and Unexpected Mortality”

🗓️ April 3 | 12:00
📍 @pse.bsky.social or via Zoom

More info about the seminar ⤵️
taxobservatory.eu/event/eu-tax...

I'm somewhat biased as a coauthor, but @jeannebomare.bsky.social is a stellar researcher in the space of tax evasion and avoidance - this shouldn't be missed!

Oh snap, another Aidan Toner-Rodgers related retraction

almost makes up for the multi-part tantrum she has had throughout our ENTIRE JOURNEY

It won't last very long, but nothing is quite as satisfying as having my 15 month old daughter sleeping against me

People who use AI want it to answer a question in an unbiased fashion. This is the same reason people turn to Wikipedia, which is why it has an incentive to be as unbiased as possible. But the presence of Wikipedia didn't stop people from becoming polarized - different tools with different impacts

I'm not sure this article made me that hopeful: while there is evidence of AI uptake in work, do we have any evidence that AI is replacing social media use in any meaningful way? Perhaps more content will be AI written, but I suspect the net impact on polarization will be very small

In classes now, the jury is still out

Per company?!?!

Robert E. Lee was one of the greatest traitors America ever produced.

He freely chose to join a group of treasonous, slave-owning oligarchs bent on slaughtering Americans and decimating the US.

Interesting, having completed a year streak while living in France, I can say it really wasn't a ton of help (that is, keeping to the bare minimum of maintain the streak). But no French speakers at home as complementary inputs!

Hmmmmmmmmm. www.ft.com/content/1171...