Duncan Macpherson retweeted
I've been in politics for a quarter century. It's hard to express how staggering it is to see a conversation like this on corporate US media. The Morning Joe panel gobsmacked by the directness of @AbdulElSayed's points.
(clip via @DropSiteNews)
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
Pressure and temperature don’t really exist, says my guest, mathematician and physicist @getjonwithit.
Look at water closely enough and there is just molecules bouncing around. We invented those properties because we can’t see individual molecules.
Other key moments from our conversation:
>A galaxy-sized intelligence wouldn’t know what we meant by “temperature.” It could track every particle. It would never need our equations. Jonathan thinks all of physics is like this, with space, time and particles dissolving at high enough resolution.
>Relativity and quantum mechanics both came from one realization: the observer is part of the universe, under the same limits as the thing being measured. Once you ask what a limited observer would actually see, both theories become unavoidable.
>Intelligence and consciousness may work against each other. Far more sensory data arrives than your brain can process one piece at a time. That’s why it batches that data (pain, pleasure, the color red etc). AI might become less sentient as it gets smarter, because it stops needing the shortcuts.
>Jonathan says his digestive system is probably conscious. It has enough neurons to model the world and has the same bottleneck as the brain. It just can’t speak (reminded me of Michael Levin).
>General anesthesia may not actually knock you out. As best we understand it, anesthesia makes you calm, paralyzed and unable to remember. It turns off the conscious part of you from the part that can report. This would explain why so many people have PTSD from surgery.
Full interview below
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
. @ZackPolanski speaking at the Greater London Assembly
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
Paying homage to the ball! A life long partner in crime that has a way of rewarding us with endless discovery!
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
Today’s Russell Brand’s conviction reminded me of one of the most powerful monologues by @SophyRidgeSky at politics hub. It was worth a watch then, and it’s definitely worth a watch now..
I don’t know what happened with Russell Brand. He denies criminality.
But I DO understand why women might not report rape to the police
My take on tonight’s #PoliticsHub 👇
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
🎧The EI Podcast: John Bew on British Realpolitik
John Bew on the ‘hard-headed lessons’ that today’s leaders can learn from studying the past.
engelsbergideas.com/podcast/…
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
I did an interview with Amol Rajan on AI and the UK amongst other things. Has been a while since I did one of these longer form interviews so let me know if you find it useful!
I believe Ian Hogarth - @soundboy - deserves much wider and deeper credit and recognition for voluntarily forfeiting shares in Anthropic so that he could set up and run the AI Security Institute (@AISecurityInst) - where he, and Britain, are generally acclaimed to be doing an outstanding job. (Something else he deserves greater credit for).
This noble decision was *very* expensive.
I also believe, and hope, that for our fast-growing audience this may be one of the most useful conversations they hear about Technology this year. We go deep on:
> What is AI?
> The real rate at which it is developing
> The race dynamic in global innovation
> Humanity’s fork in the road
> The significant chance of a huge market crash
> The exhilarating case Quantum Computing
> The exhilarating case for Fusion
> The exhilarating potential for Robotics
> Why outstanding British companies sometimes struggle to scale
> How Britain, and Europe, can lead
> The Future of jobs
> How Founders succeed
> His noble decision to do a public service role
> His fantasy for Battersea Power station
Ian is co-Founder and Partner at Plural, and co-Founder and Chair of the UK's AI Security Institute (@AISecurityInst).
This was a great, immensely useful conversation and I'd be honoured if you lent an ear to The Amol Rajan Connection.
Out now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.
Thanks for your time and attention to this matter.
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
I believe Ian Hogarth - @soundboy - deserves much wider and deeper credit and recognition for voluntarily forfeiting shares in Anthropic so that he could set up and run the AI Security Institute (@AISecurityInst) - where he, and Britain, are generally acclaimed to be doing an outstanding job. (Something else he deserves greater credit for).
This noble decision was *very* expensive.
I also believe, and hope, that for our fast-growing audience this may be one of the most useful conversations they hear about Technology this year. We go deep on:
> What is AI?
> The real rate at which it is developing
> The race dynamic in global innovation
> Humanity’s fork in the road
> The significant chance of a huge market crash
> The exhilarating case Quantum Computing
> The exhilarating case for Fusion
> The exhilarating potential for Robotics
> Why outstanding British companies sometimes struggle to scale
> How Britain, and Europe, can lead
> The Future of jobs
> How Founders succeed
> His noble decision to do a public service role
> His fantasy for Battersea Power station
Ian is co-Founder and Partner at Plural, and co-Founder and Chair of the UK's AI Security Institute (@AISecurityInst).
This was a great, immensely useful conversation and I'd be honoured if you lent an ear to The Amol Rajan Connection.
Out now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.
Thanks for your time and attention to this matter.
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
Hey Leo! Don't forget to tag me @LeoDiCaprio
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
I’ll tell you right now that with $1 trillion in commitments, the Anthropic IPO has been cancelled. Absolutely no bank, pension, or insurer can touch it.
The losses the firms are facing now are enormous and Anthropic is simply bankrupt on its contract terms with companies.
Bond market completely shuts off Anthropic ability to raise debt based on their extreme risk of default. All debt raises will require a parental co-signer for the company. It’s over for Ai.
Anthropic only needs to raise hundreds of billions of dollars a year on other people’s credit history.
TeraWulf signed a credit support agreement with Google $GOOG to support financing for its Justified data center campus in Hawesville, Kentucky, tied to an approximately $19 billion long-term lease commitment with Anthropic.
According to ChainCatcher, Google will provide contractual credit support for anticipated debt financing; Alphabet’s senior unsecured debt is rated AA+ by S&P and Aa2 by Moody’s. The data center is expected to begin phased delivery in late 2027 and continue through the second quarter of 2028. TeraWulf said the agreement strengthens the project’s financing framework and construction execution, helping convert long-term AI and high-performance computing leasing demand into recurring cash flow.
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
Now Russell Brand's been convicted of rape, we need to talk about Sylvie Berki. Because she can't speak for herself.
In 2014, Ms Berki said she'd been assaulted by Russell Brand.
But if she talks about it, even now, she risks jail.
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
NEW poll: A supermajority of Jewish Americans believe Israeli & AIPAC actions increase antisemitism.
80% say Israel’s actions in Gaza & the West Bank increase antisemitism in the US.
66% say AIPAC’s campaign spending against candidates critical of Israel increases antisemitism.
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
agents are going to cause a breakdown of human behavior assumptions underlying today's systems. i've started thinking about it as friction collapse. without friction, a number of norms will collapse.
consider selling tickets to a concert/event. today, you can post them at a certain time and it's first come first serve. soon everyone's agent will persistently monitor, and as soon as they are posted for sale, thousands of people will instantaneously be trying to buy the same ticket. how do you even resolve this? sell the ticket to the person whose agent gets there fractions of a second before?
we're seeing the same thing with job applications, restaurant reservations, but basically anything that relies on participation requiring effort is going to break down. sales emails/calls, participation in government benefits, apartment rentals, doctors appointments, RFP responses. customer support won't be able to handle the user who will not drop their point of dissatisfaction. with no friction, these systems just don't work anymore.
business models will break down:
- flights/hotels will be consistently cancelled and rebooked at the lowest price (great use case for your agent if you don't have this already set up)
- subscriptions will be cancelled
- retailers won't be able to arbitrage price differences as the agent will find the cheapest place to buy anything
- insurance denials (health/auto/home/etc.) will be fought tooth and nail
- bank interest rates will be optimized and avoidable charges will be avoided
a lot of what we perceive as stable social coordination is actually an equilibrium sustained by human inefficiency. rationing is a product of human slowness. signaling effort/interest/intent is a key part of our social infrastructure. inertia is a key to many business models. information asymmetry is everywhere. and attention is monetized thoroughly.
with agents, none of these things are true. humans will simply demand what they want and have their agents get it for them. there is going to be a fundamental renegotiation of how markets allocate resources, how people signal intent, and how businesses capture value.
Duncan Macpherson retweeted
An incredible interactive map by @theojaffee shows virtually every passenger rail line on the planet. From high-speed trains and suburban rail to trams, metros and even Disney monorails. Includes countries where mapping coverage is usually patchy. Source: buff.ly/Sfg62mm
