@cian@post.lurk.org

Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Jul 13, 2026

Replying to @Epic_Null@infosec.exchange

@Epic_Null@infosec.exchange @aral@mastodon.ar.al Oh is that what you thought you were doing. Strange, it seemed like you were just being unnecessarily unpleasant to someone who is trying to fix a real problem.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Jul 12, 2026

Replying to @kirk@social.coop

@kirk@social.coop If this was a British project, then it would have finally been cancelled in 2021 after somehow spending more than 10x what a wind farm should cost.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Jul 02, 2026

If I was to create a technology to exploit human's cognitive biases - it would probably look a lot like LLMs

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Jun 27, 2026

Air conditioning should always be a last resort - after a society has utilized all the more efficient ways of keeping things cool. A lot of buildings in the US wouldn't need A/C if they were simply built properly, surrounded by sensible city planning. Drive around the south and you'll see large developments with houses that are designed for a cool environment, but which are located in very hot locales. Beyond stupid.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · May 13, 2026

Replying to @sarahtaber@mastodon.online

@sarahtaber@mastodon.online Nothing makes you feel lonelier than hanging out with the weed guy...

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 28, 2026

Replying to @RadicalAnthro@c.im

@RadicalAnthro@c.im Fascinating. Raises interesting questions about the purpose of selflessness & modesty in modern societies, along with the role of politeness. Are these things that emerge from unequal societies, and if so, why?

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 28, 2026

Part of my problem with social media is FOMO. If I'm busy I don't want to spend much time on it - but I fear I'll miss something important if I don't.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @fasterandworse@hci.social

@fasterandworse@hci.social The main reason that corporate software development fails (which it mostly does) - is that developers lack empathy for their users, and don't even realize this. AIs not even addressing the problem.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @tante@tldr.nettime.org

@tante@tldr.nettime.org Oh I agree. But it also doesn't conform to people's model of intelligence. I find statistical/probabilistic thinking tends to be the best guide.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @cian@post.lurk.org

@tante@tldr.nettime.org My hot take is that the Software Industry is really bad at building software - and LLMs are just the latest (probably failed) attempt to avoid that fact.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @tante@tldr.nettime.org

@tante@tldr.nettime.org It's statistics.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @jefftk@mastodon.mit.edu

@jefftk@mastodon.mit.edu It's really just whether you have a lot of writing, with your name attached to it, that it has within it's training data. None of this is particularly new. ML tools have been able to do something akin to this for years. And before that people would use statistical methods to do something similar. But if you're a rando with a small online presence, it's pretty unlikely to be successful. Most likely it would pick someone who had a bigger presence with a similar writing style.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @inthehands@hachyderm.io

@inthehands There seems to be very little there. It's a weird promotional model. Make scary claims about how evil your AI is (which are total bullshit) ... profit?

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @jefftk@mastodon.mit.edu

@jefftk@mastodon.mit.edu Well yeah, she's a professional writer. The LLMs have lots of examples of her work, clearly identified, in their training data. They presumably have less to work with if you're trying to identify Bob Schmoo from Arkansas.

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Cian O'Connor @cian@post.lurk.org · Apr 22, 2026

Replying to @aral@mastodon.ar.al

@aral Evil and stupid is a combination you see a lot from Meta. How that company still exists escapes me. Massive fraud probably.

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