Uncertainty is a red herring. It's operant conditioning. Little mice in a Skinner box, pressing levers for cocaine, with a variable number of presses required for reward, but not so many that you give up. It only works if reward is certain, actually, just with unpredictably many presses.
Perhaps you've achieved a fixed ratio with a low response requirement, or maybe only slightly variable (or even continuous) with a very low average required response rate... It's still operant conditioning, is the point.
I mean, I think the gambling metaphor is pretty strictly about the variable ratio reinforcement of a slot machine. You've thrown in a lot of extraneous details to object to.
We've known that the proteins in the epigenome control DNA expression, but we thought they were just on-off switches.
They're not. They're more.
This is pretty remarkable.
🧪🔬🧬
news.ncsu.edu/2026/04/each...
The accidental sip of air and polished porcelain from an empty coffee cup.
Made rice pudding.*
*No, I didn't... I just stirred milk and maple syrup into cold rice in a mug.
(A line from my forthcoming book): the most important thing to understand about tech futurism is when Musk, Altman and their peers are wrong about the future of technology, they don’t have to give the money back.
Has someone collected all of the tech bro manifestos in one place?
Showing me beach vacation ads when I check the Vermont weather is just mean.
In the divorce proceedings, they will call this "evidence."
So, I was listening to the #RedSox game, and then we had to do a pharmacy run for my father, so we listened to the game on the car radio, and then I was inside the pharmacy for less than 15 minutes, and of course, MISSED MY GUY CEDDANNE'S GO-AHEAD HIT!
I love those! I had a shark one, when I was a kid, and his mouth was rubber-banded, and you pick sailor-themed plastic charms out of his mouth, with a hook, until the weight is not enough for the rubber band, and his jaws snap shut, and all the charms go flying! Wonder if they still make that one...
Idly contemplating that I might need to read a bunch of CEO manifestos in a fit of future-oriented self-defense.
Nail-biter games are more fun to listen to, but to be honest, I'd rather the #RedSox just hurry up and win this one, outright.
Minutecast® "Snow starting in 14 min"
I need to live closer to the beach.
I have a hard time imagining what it would feel like to lose sight of earth
My first thought was to imagine being on a cruise and hoping they found all the mines, but apparently the passengers all got sent home other ways, and these are just skeleton crew ships.
There was a thread on one of the social medias asking which is the most '90s song, and it's definitely Blind Melon - No Rain, it is, I'm sure of that, and yet, there are so many other songs it could be, and the '90s can be sliced other ways that are not at all represented by Blind Melon - No Rain.
Interesting "AI-run" retail store...
A 4-panel image depicting a conversation between Mayor Mamdani and Cardi B Mayor Mamdani: Universal 2-K deserves a universal jingle. Cardi B will pick the winner. Cardi B: Think you've got the song? Submit your jingle! Mayor Mamdani: Write the anthem for free childcare in New York City!
2-K JINGLE CONTEST RULES 1 Must be 15 seconds OR 30 seconds. 2 Must name "myschools.nyc" (2-K registration site). 3 Original music and lyrics. No remixes or Al! 4 Must be appropriate for all ages - this is for the kids! 5 Must be an NYC resident to win. 6 Bilingual jingles encouraged!
Submit your jingle by May 1st at nyc.gov/jingle!
I'm listening to #RedSox radio. We are currently losing to the Tigers.
I thought this baseball game would cheer me up.
What a fool I was.
"For three generations, there have been no major powers conflicts, and we, at Palantir, intend to end that."
I think the gist is: "DEI bad, war good, actually, AI war is inevitable, and Palantir is an AI war company, so... war up, and carry on."
Had to read way to the bottom to figure out these are excerpts from Alex Karp/Zamiska book. The writing style is dripping with pseudo-profound word salad.
This is so depressing.
Bluesky is looking for a design research contractor
big plus if you know Bluesky well
who's the best design researcher you know? nominate them (or yourself)
A twitter disagreement about the importance of knowing JAX.
What say you, on the subject of JAX?
