OrangePilled

> and the terms the US agrees to in treaties is US law.

Which according to your source the President is allowed to disregard within his "constitutional authority". A can of worms on its own.

My working thesis is that anxiety over AI-generated material is worry about having control over the 80–90% of human output that affords most of society with a comfortable, affirming life.

That computer and surveillance equipment was removed from Epstein's home and withheld from law enforcement throughout his Florida case has been public since 2020. That Riley Kiraly possessed the equipment was known to the lead prosecutor as well. [46;176]

You can CTRL-F "computer" and get 92 matches indicating their importance:

https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/do....

It seems that the only "news" is the bit that you mentioned about Indyke/Riley. Indyke apparently was not involved in the Florida case. At least he isn't mentioned in the linked DOJ report among Epstein's counsel.

I don't know what it would take for it to be deemed necessary to seize the equipment that the prosecution failed to get almost 20 years ago.

Taken to its extremes this rebuttal could qualify as "slop" according to the Lobste.rs comment I sourced that definition from. I'm not even trying to be snarky. This is almost an exact reiteration of a response to the linked comment.

20% of your response is just a reiteration of one that was made to the original comment that I linked to. As far as the remaining 80% goes, it's something to think about but I'm not sure what your own point is. Do you hold any of the things you named dear to you enough to not call them "slop"?

This attempt could be refined but it's a decent start:

> [...] having a polished appearance but lacking originality. None of the points it makes are novel and it doesn't connect them in novel ways either.

https://lobste.rs/c/qtolag

I don't think this post qualifies though. It's a press release, not an article from Quanta Magazine.

> [...] if the underlying thesis and argument provided by the article holds true who cares if it's written by a human or AI?

> [...] something being ghostwritten by AI or Humans makes no difference.

I don't think AI-generated writing is at that level yet. But it's getting close.

"Jimi Hendrix Was a Systems Engineer": https://spectrum.ieee.org/jimi-hendrix-systems-engineer

I'm probably the only person who thinks that this was written with an LLM (Claude). The code supporting it likely was too. The people who talk about "taste" being the last defense against AI aren't wrong and I think that that topic, along with a lot of others that are essentially of a philosophical import are beyond the ambit of what most people want to discuss when they criticize AI generated content. We can only wave them off for so long.

I think the second resource that you linked to is valuable. The first is useless unless you're a Wikipedia editor, the significance of verifying citations not withstanding.

The gap between LLM-generated writing and the composite style of the average Wikipedia page is more narrow than most people may believe.

This is a sound personal assessment.

The section about being "glazed" into action resonates. Hidden within this concept I think is something profound about human motivation, innuendo and all.

> AI generated prose is at best boring, and at worst genuinely unappealing. I’m continually tempted, because in theory it should work well. The AI has perfect spelling and grammar, has more than enough context to produce article-length content, and can do in seconds what takes me hours.

I have a thesis in mind...that there is something fundamental to the human spirit that relishes a sort of friction that LLMs cannot observe or reproduce on their own.

I saw this book at a local library and I set it back down. [0]

> Beyond the intrinsic difficulty of revivifying the top-hatted dead, Sorkin’s rendition is limited by his desire to frame 1929 as a story about people. His focus on individuals comes at the expense of analysis—particularly of the deeper economic forces that made the crash likely, if not inevitable. Sorkin is more interested in how the crisis felt than why it happened. He has little to say about why the government failed to take any meaningful steps to prevent it—or why, unlike in 2008, its responses failed so spectacularly.

Emphasis added.

The review here seems intent on filling in the gaps it finds the author to have left himself.

This one reads more critically:

"1929: Sorkin Rounds Up the Usual Suspects"

> [...] Sorkin stages morality play rather than history. He also helps set policymakers up for the kind of grand theatrical action they are inclined to take anyhow whenever markets turn down. In other words, another 1933- or 2008-style rescue: flooding the market with liquidity, and stringing up wrongdoers and even the better Wall Streeters, such as the Mitchells whom Sorkin seeks to rehab. The same subpar results are likely to follow.

[...]

> Were 1929 a documentary produced by Michael Moore, its suggestions would not matter. We are accustomed to illogic in television. But 1929 presents itself as the researched book Sorkin wants it to be. It therefore claims the authority that such books can carry.

> Sorkin quotes H. G. Wells, who called human history “a race between education and catastrophe.” Indeed, indeed. But for education to beat catastrophe, that education must be a little more thorough.

https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/1929-crash-sorkin

[0]: I was returning Stalin: The Glasnost Revelations by Walter Lacquer (1990). I found its research and ensuing narrative worth the effort.

When done right, I oddly find it immersive too. But know some people aren't fond of scrolling being tampered with.

The post here could really use it though. The main content is pushed to the bottom of the page!

Political posts appear to fare better at the beginning of the week.

Give people a break.

This page could use some "Practical CSS scroll snapping": https://css-tricks.com/practical-css-scroll-snapping/

The problem is that the language you're using—"propped up Hamas"—obscures the fact that for the bulk of the time when Israel was directly supporting Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's efforts, "Hamas" technically didn't exist. Yes, those early contributions obviously facilitated its emergence, but this is probably why people are disagreeing with you.

On the other hand, that doesn't belie the argument that Israel/Netanyahu's tactics since 1989 (e.g. leveraging Qatari aid) have ulterior motives assigned.

This CNN article touches well on the reasoning behind Netanyahu's approval for the Qatari aid: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/middleeast/qatar-hamas-funds-...

Your original point about Hamas being used as a proxy for Iran was solid. It's a pity that it's since descended into an argument about a secondary remark. But the support that Hamas gets from Iran versus the support than Hamas gets from Qatar (with Israeli/American approval) shouldn't be conflated.

https://jstribune.com/levitt-the-hamas-iran-relationship/

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-partner-and-...

It shows.

Your enthusiasm is remarkable.

I am less frustrated with Big Tech than I am with haphazard writing about it.

In a week there will be another screed like this, with another flurry of links and quotes for readers to work through (or not). And who gets wiser from it?

1. Anyone who's used Claude to generate fancy figures and other web artifacts can tell that it's been used for this article.

2. Today alone they (two people [0]) have published the following (from what I could find):

America Will Not Bleed for Saudi Arabia Forever

https://houseofsaud.com/america-will-not-bleed-saudi-arabia-...

Vance Rebukes Netanyahu for Overselling the Iran War

https://houseofsaud.com/vance-rebukes-netanyahu-iran-war-ove...

Who Broke International Law First in the Iran War?

https://houseofsaud.com/who-broke-international-law-iran-war...

China’s Ships Are the Only Ones Sailing Through Hormuz

https://houseofsaud.com/china-cosco-hormuz-blockade-iran-sel...

What Happens If Iran Strikes Saudi Arabias Desalination Plants

https://houseofsaud.com/saudi-arabia-desalination-plants-ira...

The 814 Kilometres That Could Lose Saudi Arabia the War

https://houseofsaud.com/iraq-814-kilometres-border-saudi-ara...

Stranded in Saudi Arabia With No Flight Home

https://houseofsaud.com/stranded-saudi-arabia-visa-extension...

Saudi Arabia Found Something Worth More Than Oil

https://houseofsaud.com/saudi-arabia-mining-maaden-mineral-w...

NEOM Terminates $6 Billion in Trojena Contracts as Ski Resort Unravels

https://houseofsaud.com/neom-trojena-contracts-cancelled-bil...

Rubio Sells the Iran War to G7 Allies Who Refuse to Fight

https://houseofsaud.com/g7-iran-war-rubio-allies-refuse-figh...

Twenty-Eight Days That Redrew the Map of the Middle East

https://houseofsaud.com/twenty-eight-days-redrew-middle-east...

NEOM Terminates $6 Billion in Trojena Contracts as Ski Resort Unravels

Beijing Lost the Iran War It Refused to Fight

https://houseofsaud.com/beijing-lost-iran-war-china-strategy...

[0]: https://houseofsaud.com/about-house-of-saud/

1. This gentleman appears to write with an optimism that befits a sliver of society.

2. Anthropic does not care about what models and hardware he is running under his desk.

3. When you look behind the cupboard—Anthropic is "rent seeking" on a level well above consumers.

4. I've got "AI safety" + "Capitalism" + "Military-industrial complex" bound together on my mental corkboard.

> None of those countries are using directed energy weapons

The USS Preble is equipped with HELIOS and is in Iran. [0] The US has also used "dazzlers" there too (as mentioned in the linked X thread). [1]

Israel's Iron Beam was used against Hezbollah's drones (Iranian tech), with apparently limited return for it, this could explain why it won't be seeing action in Iran. [3][4]

The only alleged case of Russia using DEWs was in August 2025. [5] Admittedly, it was a reach for me to even name them.

As cost-effective (and cool-sounding) as DEWs are meant to be, there's a reason the US and Gulf states are beckoning Ukraine for help. At the same time, the Pentagon want's to ramp up development with 3 years and the US military at large seems to be bullish on lasers...[6]

[0]: https://xcancel.com/sebastienroblin/status/20361510681621877...

[1]: https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2026/u-s-navy...

[3]: https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-889677

[4]: https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-889701

[5]: https://t.me/milinfolive/154597?single/

[6]: https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2026/03/18/th...

If you're looking for a job and are still squeamish about working in the defense industry...I'm sorry to hear about that.

Because, boy, do I think you'll be missing out.

Bearing in mind the three constraints quoted, which of these do you think a country's deployed directed-energy weapons (e.g., US, Israel, Russia) would be useful against:

https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/iran/

"Lessons US and Gulf could learn from Ukraine’s air defence warriors"

https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/us...

"Ukraine’s low-cost Shahed killers draw US and Gulf interest, but a wartime ban blocks sales"

https://apnews.com/article/iran-ukraine-shahed-russia-drone-...

"Ukraine Helps U.S. Bases in the Mideast With Stopping Drones"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/world/middleeast/ukraine-...

"Ukraine deploys units to five Middle East countries to intercept drones"

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-deploys-units-i...

The people who publicize this kind of stuff are not the sort to ruffle major feathers.

Previously:

"US to embed Palantir AI across military" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47471655

"The singularity".

How likely is it that Marco Rubio waltzes in to be handed the reins of the Cuban government with little resistance.