The dark forest theory of the internet In his sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem, author Liu Cixin presents the dark forest theory of the universe. When we look out into space, the theory goes, we’re struck by its silence. It seems lik...

thanks for reminding me to reread dark forest theory of the internet www.ystrickler.com/the-dark-for...

samo burja called this unwritten knowledge “intellectual dark matter”. his essays and talks on this are quite interesting

was she referring to any specific tool?

love the vibe of all the art you’ve posted so far! where are you finding them?

i’m less interested in what the machines say and more interested in what they get other people to say. they’re good at surfacing unknown knowns

i’m less interested in what the machines say and more interested in what they get other people to say. they’re good at surfacing unknown knowns

works the other way around too. tiktok updated their messaging in the app to highlight his involvement in the policy change. they’re essentially locking him in by setting public expectations that’ll make it hard to make a significant pivot without taking a hit to credibility

the dev community (well the vocal ones at least) seems ideologically homogeneous and that’s a bad thing in the long term

my worry is that the network’s vulnerable if a critical mass of devs ever stage a protest and take their tools hostage for an extended period of time when there’s a mod decision they disagree with.

reminds of all the subreddits going dark in 2023 to protest reddit’s changes to API pricing

might depend on the feed you primarily use, but it makes the entire place feel cozier?

bsky.app/profile/ifvi...

single-bit error by ken liu is a story about memory and how it shapes identity, relationships and faith. follows the protagonist who’s a database programmer. originally written in chinese, but was translated into english!

kenliu.name/stories/sing...

good observation about cartography. 2D vector maps make sense from a performance and cost standpoint, but that invitation to explore the world gets stripped away, and people end up being less curious by default.

i wonder how much impact switching the default to satellite imagery would have

is this hardcoded into the algos or just revealed user preferences?

people didn’t know what the simcluster algo was nor did they appreciate the work it did until elon removed it…

i think it’s downstream of custom feeds fostering a more fragmented userbase and limiting potential for hypervirality. the default Discover feed exists, but it’s not overarching in the way For You is on X

ended up pulling the trigger on it the other day—now we wait! in the meantime, know of any other writings on or adjacent to the topic that you’d recommend?

one or two well-placed cold emails can do a lot for many people’s lives, so it’s a bit disappointing to see such a negative visceral reaction towards them

i’ve found it very effective to get a helping hand from a friend to kickstart that momentum, really helps that they’re not weighed down by inertia

i would love to play around with custom filters for replies… bsky.app/profile/ifvi...

i read yancey, venkatesh, and maggie’s essays on their respective sites and enjoyed them. i’m considering getting the book now for the other essays—how did you like them?

yes, LLMs should be used to “sand down” your thinking bsky.app/profile/ifvi...

i visit around twice a week and find there’s always a lot of thoughtful discussion of tech and niche hobbies. very cozy vibes.

miss me with the political discussion though

in my experience i’ve found this to be true and it also applies to who ends up meeting irl

related:

obligatory

some replies i’d like to boost:
- from people i don’t follow yet who have replied to me that i liked/reposted
- insightful, novel
- contains a neologism

kinds of replies i’d like to hide:
- one emoji replies from people i don’t follow
- mean-spirited
- captain obvious, glaringly self-evident, nothing insightful

you should for its concurrency features alone, much better than dealing with JS promises

custom algos for feeds are a thing already, so why not custom algos for the replies section as well?

wip cozy is nice when i want something that’s a bit slower than following bsky.app/profile/did:...

it’s fine if you stay off the discover feed before you have a curated following list tbh