Digital friends, do you like music? If so, tune in today from 10-noon EDT at WUTC.org to stream or 88.1 FM in the Tennessee Valley as I will be live in the studio spinning some sweet, sweet tunes mostly as I feel it #wutc881 #chorddrift #crumb #pinkfloyd #spoon #kingcrimson #rem
Seattle Worldcon 2025: Robots, Rights, and More!
I’m thrilled to be going to Seattle tomorrow to attend the 2025 Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention)! Worldcon will take place at the Seattle Convention Center Aug. 13-17, 2025.
I will be on one panel Wednesday evening and giving one talk on Saturday afternoon, both in part through my role as President of the Science Fiction and Philosophy Society. Both are also in honor of my late friend and colleague Anand Vaidya, especially his work on artificial intelligence and moral standing.
Go see my friend Ethan!
On the Particular Joys of Etymological Detective Work ‹ Literary Hub
Mellifluous comes from Latin mel, meaning “honey,” making it a linguistic relative of molasses, marmalade, and the name Melissa. The ancient Greek word melissa means “bee,” and may be a combination of two older words that literally mean “honey-licker.” The last part of mellifluous derives from Latin flu-ere, meaning “to flow,” from the same family of other “flowing” words, such as fluid and fluent. Something mellifluous, then, in its most literal sense, is “flowing with honey.”
The key difference is that human reasoners can, at least in principle, revise their assumptions, adopt new principles, and rethink the framework itself. AI, by contrast, remains bound by the formal structures it is given, or operates within those it can modify only under predefined constraints. In this way, Gödel’s theorems place a logical boundary on what AI, if built on formal systems, can ever fully prove or validate about morality from within those systems.
Constantly bound by craving and fear to a future full of uncertainties, we strip each present moment of its calm, its intrinsic import, which we are unable to enjoy. And so, the future destroys the present.
― Hannah Arendt (h/t Take on Rules)
“No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or emotional appeal.”| Marilyn Ferguson
This is a beautiful visual – guarding a gate or change. It brought me right back to the Adlerian idea of “separation of tasks.”
Change happens only at that intersection of willingness and ability.
The teacher we seek will appear… when we’re ready.
Live in the studio! WUTC.org right now and 88.1 fm Chattanooga
Live in the studio while the satellite feed gets fixed, I’m hosting All Things Considered on WUTC 88.1 FM in Chattanooga!!! Go on line and listen
Walking is a keystone habit that powers many good things.
— Rebekah Toh
The authors observe that our technologies quickly turn into cognitive prostheses: as soon as we can externalize some function of our thinking into a technology, we do.
—Cory Doctorow
Tune in to 88.1 FM #Chattanooga or WUTC.org to listen to my hosting the Richard Winham Show from 10-12 EDT. It’s a great way to start your week! #wutc #supportpublicradio
Meet LetterFeed, a self-hosted application for converting e-mail newsletters into RSS feeds. Unlike existing alternatives like Kill-the-Newsletter, LetterFeed configures itself to scan existing e-mail accounts for new mail based on user-defined rules and provides a corresponding RSS feed for each configuration (a single feed can contain any number of e-mail senders).
Yay!!! The other options don’t work well for me. After I finish work and homework, this is getting a spin #selfhost
We Must End the Scourge of Tech Pants Nobody has ever looked good in “performance chinos.” It’s time for the sloppy, synthetic simulacrum of trousers to go the way of the dodo.
Well said, GQ. Co-sign. I also avoid anything with “stretch” (spandex, elastcene (sp?), etc.) or any synthetic blend, especially if it will be against the skin. Undies are the only exception as it’s cost prohibitive/doesn’t wear well. Trying some Muji boxer briefs that might do the job.
Thrifting and hand-me-downs are great sources of clothes that are 100% natural fibers, maybe also without any additional processing
How does the Delta app give me a seat but the gate agent says that doesn’t matter?
Legroom
Heading back to #CHA early to help keep #WUTC on the air while we fix the national feed. Keep listening to WUTC.org
Tonight! In 30 minutes! Chord Drift on 88.1 FM Chattanooga and on WUTC.org. String Cheese Incident! Tedeschi Trucks Band! Billy Strings! North Mississippi Allstars!
Finished reading: Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston 📚💙 Fascinating. If you like typography and symbols and arcane histories, this is the book for you. Lighthearted, well composed, and funny. Strong recommend
Finished reading: How We Got Here by David Shields 💙📚 Not a light beach read. Thoughtful wander amongst the philosophers to connect dots to the current political climate in U.S.
I need to write my Philosophy midterm, but first …
Reading The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichigo Kishimi and Fumitage Koga was a revelatory experience…that we get to choose the meaning we give our experiences and traumas. It is along the lines of Viktor Frankl’s reflection on human freedoms – which, in turn, is a big part of Stephen Covey’s first habit – be proactive. Once we accept the stimulus, we get to choose the meaning we give it and thus the response.
In effect, suffering is real and so is agency. And meaning is chosen, not inherited
Hard agree＆recommend the audio
Not smart is a passive act, remedied with learning, experience and thought.
Stupid is active, the work of someone who should have or could have known better and decided to do something selfish, impulsive or dangerous anyway.
The more experience, assets and privilege we have, the less excusable it is to do stupid things. And at the same time, the more useful it is to announce that we’re not smart (yet).
— Seth Godin, Not smart vs. stupid
Rings true
TIL emacs-mac will switch to dark mode with the system … but won’t if one has a custom theme loaded, as far as I can tell. Here’s my attempt at a solution. #emacs #macos #emacsmac #emacsplus
Why did no one tell me Clem Fandango is in Star Trek: Discovery? I might have stuck with it past 3 eps had I but known!
I for one look forward to the inevitable class action lawsuit against Syncrony Loans when their phone number + last 4 of Social authentication mechanism, regardless of what KYC & other tools they employ, fail spectacularly.
Finished reading: Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks 💙📚 Adventure! Romance! Intrigue! Androids! Ancient tombs and weapons and space wars and chained monks. Fun!
Finished reading: Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod 💙📚 Moving. Heartbreaking. A quick slow read. Beautiful photos and scenes