Anxiety around artificial intelligence is reaching a fever pitch and sparking real-world consequences.
@mcmegan.bsky.social and @dmarusic.bsky.social discuss the risks and inevitability of AI development, and what it will take for the U.S. to stay competitive in the race with China:
Leah Libresco Sargeant, senior policy analyst at the Niskanen Center and author of "The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto," argues that "no one is autonomous."
She shares her definition of feminism with @mcmegan.bsky.social.
Mamdani has done a bunch of things to reassure skeptics, a process greatly aided by the fact that he literally can't implement his tax and spending plans.
www.slowboring.com/p/the-two-ho...
. @mcmegan.bsky.social spoke to Dean Ball, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and former White House AI policy advisor, about the rapidly shifting landscape of AI governance, what it will take to rein it in — and what comes next: https://wapo.st/4sO6qUd
I mean, he'll be in his 80s when he leaves office.
I think it's pretty clear at this point that Truth Social will collapse when Trump leaves the scene. There's nothing really to say about it because it so obviously has no future.
The column is not supposed to be a "defense" of Bluesky, it's an analysis of what's good about it, and what challenges it will face making that good thing happen. "Cheerleading" and "denouncing" are not the only two options in columnizing.
I'm curious how you took that conclusion from a column that ends with me saying I'm rooting for them to prove me wrong about the challenges ahead.
Espeically since it's likely to accelerate at some point--as the userbase declines to the point where it's noticeable, people will stop using the platform. Bluesky needs to grow a lot bigger to survive natural attrition, and ironically, users who love Bluesky are doing their best to prevent that.
A slow bleed of a few thousand active users a day--which is where Bluesky is right now, though there was an uptick around Christmas before the bleed resumed--will take decades to eviscerate a site with 140 million to 200 million ADU. It goes much faster at Bluesky's numbers.
I am just observing that a site that stalls out where Bluesky has--about 1.1 million unique likes, 640k unique posts, and about 335k new follows per weekday--is going to have a hard time surviving in the long run.
From my perspective the main value is that there are more people who are on the news and talking about subjects I'm interested in, and fewer people swarming me to tell me how much they hate me. But you're free to disagree, and this is not a debate over whether Bluesky is better than X.
On the particular metric of "large enough to survive" it is many, many times the size of Bluesky. Quality has many dimensions.
@mcmegan.bsky.social on rebuilding trust when everything is AI: "It's a little good if we trust video a little less. And then what we actually need to do is trust the videos less and the people more...we need institutions that are going to capitalize on this opportunity."
I think it will be hard to sustain Bluesky over the long term at this size, and the site does need some cash to keep running.
Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University, spoke to @mcmegan.bsky.social about where he thinks universities have gone off course, what needs to change and what’s still worth protecting:
The answer is that I joined the Washington Post Editorial Board, which has written about it quite forcefully, and I didn't have anything to add in a personal column.
How can the U.S. lead in rebuilding industrial capacity? Christian Keil, a partner at a16z, believes the answer lies with American dynamism.
Check out his conversation with @mcmegan.bsky.social:
On the latest episode of "Reasonably Optimistic," David Ignatius talks to @mcmegan.bsky.social about ideas that can guide the Trump administration to achieve better outcomes in Iran.
On Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel initiated strikes on Iran. What comes next?
@mcmegan.bsky.social and David Ignatius discuss: https://wapo.st/4r6xwUN
.@repauchincloss.bsky.social joins "Reasonably Optimistic" host @mcmegan.bsky.social to discuss how his views on AI have evolved, and to explore how his state — and the nation — can meet the energy and infrastructure demands of the AI boom. https://wapo.st/3OC2czR
One of the biggest reasons why we are not building enough housing is due to cost. @bobbyfijan.bsky.social, co-founder of the American Housing Corporation, is trying to change that.
He explains how in this conversation with @mcmegan.bsky.social:
This week, we celebrated Presidents Day, which makes it a fitting time to recognize one of America’s most underrated presidents.
The latest from @mcmegan.bsky.social:
I said in the podcast that it is good that we treat abusing teenaged girls more harshly than we once did. People are really stumbling on the is-ought distinction here. It is correct to say that norms shifted on slavery, that doesn't mean slavery was okay in 1862.
Economist and professor Tyler Cowen talks to @mcmegan.bsky.social about how AI could transform talent, human capital and competition: https://wapo.st/4bLdZW3
How can cities win back families? This developer has a plan.
@mcmegan.bsky.social talks to @bobbyfijan.bsky.social, co-founder of the @americanhousing.bsky.social:
My name is in the Epstein emails because someone emailed him a newsletter that mentions one of my Bloomberg columns, which sort of demonstrates how meaningless "being in the Epstein files". I've never met Jeffrey Epstein, and had no idea who he was until he was arrested the second time.
I appreciate that. As I say, I clearly failed to make my point clearly and that's my fault.
Drunk driving was quite illegal in the 1960s, but it was treated by society as a pecadillo rather than an extremely grave offense. MADD changed the norms. That was good too. But it is helpful in looking back at that period to understand that the norms changed.
An understanding that the reason Epstein got away with it for so long is that the norms against sexual predation on minors were clearly much weaker than they are today. Not non-existent, but weaker. A positive analysis, not a normative argument.
