We are rarely one step from disaster. Most really awful outcomes require at least two things to go wrong. Often, but not always those two things are ill-will and stupidity. Hanlon's razor says that you should never attribute to malice that which you can attribute to incompetence. It's not a bad way to think, but … Continue reading Try to always be kind because you never know when you’re incompetent

GPT-3 is a powerful (170 Billion parameter) language model that can be used to continue just about any piece of text. A version of it is avaliable through a program called AI dungeon. I applied it to numerous samples of Sufjan Stephen's lyrics, in a project I call "ComesWithASwordBOT". What follows is (what are in … Continue reading The best of ComesWithASwordBOT- AI generated continuations of Sufjan lyrics

The bits in italics are original Sufjan, the plain text is a computer generated continuation Written by GPT-3 through the Dungeon AI program Please let me know which of these verses you like and which you don't. Decatur   Sangamon River it overflowed It caused a mudslide on the banks of the operator Civil War … Continue reading ComesWithASword-BOT: GPT-3 continues the lyrics of Sufjan Stephens: First pass

How a bunch of songs that weren’t written by Sufjan Stevens would be interpreted if Sufjan wrote them (With apologies to JT, Kelis, DJ Alligator & Sufjan) SexyBack It’s significant that at the very beginning the narrator refers to his romantic competitors as boys (“them other boys don’t know how to act”). Sufjan has always … Continue reading How a bunch of songs that weren’t written by Sufjan Stevens would be interpreted if Sufjan wrote them

All things go, all things goTo recreate us -Chicago, Sufjan Stevens Biblographic note: I had (inexcusably) forgotten an email I'd received from Damian Tatum that mentioned computer simulation as a strategy for resurrection. Although I had forgotten the email because it came during a busy period, I can only assume it influenced my thinking on … Continue reading Oh, death where is the antidote for thy sting? Or: Prolegomena to a new philosophy of the common task

Sometimes you do crazy things, like getting the voice of Iago from Aladdin to read Futile Devices ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMAz4p-bg7M&ab_channel=dePonySum

“His father was a drinker And his mother cried in bed Folding John Wayne’s T-Shirt When the swing-set hit his head” -John Wayne Gacy Jr, Sufjan Stevens I’m still working on analysing the survey on justice & mercy. In the meantime I want to give some of my own thoughts on the topic. Regarding the … Continue reading Mercy for misfortune: Beyond free will & determinism

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMc4qmxr7o0lT-8s_WHneK3y_LZwsWC-e4rC1IE5aua6SNmA/viewform?usp=sf_link

The demon spoke: "I have seen all your outer and your inner life. I have counted your every mental twitch. Reading books in the winter sun. The heartache you felt when you realized he would not love you. Irritation at the sound of chewing. That teacher you were sure was a creep, though you never … Continue reading A very short horror story

Just for something different I wanted to share a selection of my favourite music. Ani DiFranco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGFgHZO_ueE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6JnQbQbzdo Ben Harper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfI4eqDYQHM Boney M. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYnVYJDxu2Q Bruce Springsteen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs Bjork+Anohni  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGZkR6q6l7w Dead Kennedy's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0W-Nxegn6A Editors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq4tyDRhU_4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2oSgaRb9Bg Embarrassing (but really good!) pop and other guilty pleasures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JCLY0Rlx6Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-WP6POdTgY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFlZXlfda6Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psuRGfAaju4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUbJQGqFoi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFzZ-xpyfoo Nine Inch Nails https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccY25Cb3im0 Pete … Continue reading My playlist