What would the writing of superintelligent AI sound like? You might expect it to have the characteristics of good human writing — figurative language, high information density, coining new terms, and punchiness — but dialed up to 11. Well, that’s what Claude did, until Anthropic dialed it back recently because of user complaints. It didn’t sound superintelligent to most of us. Instead, the neuralese writing style sounds like a “stupid person’s idea of a smart person”. Our response to information density and metaphor-laden writing looks something like the cartoon graph I've drawn. Beyond a point, it completely backfires. The reason human writers don’t overdo it isn’t because they aren’t capable, but because they are aware of the reader’s cognitive burden. One of the hardest skills to learn as a writer is to simulate the reader’s experience. It’s easy to train AI to mimic mediocre human writing. But optimizing it to be (perceived as) good is really hard, and made much harder by the fact that when everyone uses the same few AI models we get tired of their tics very quickly. Most Claudeisms are individually pretty good. I hate that I can’t use “load bearing” in my writing any more. If it weren’t for AI overuse it would be a neat metaphor. A broader question is whether most tasks in the economy are like chess, where there is a clear performance metric that can be optimized, or whether they’re like writing, where quality is a multidimensional balancing act without clear training signals beyond human mimicry.

One of the best features of South Africa - compared to every other place I've lived & traveled in & probably almost any other place I know - is its religiosity & religious tolerance.

This is going to backfire so badly on those "refugees" and the communities from where they come. Guaranteed.

fuck me - this is her best speech yet #imho

Woody Harrelson has done an ad for Exxon. New Exxon El Nino Commercial Written by Adam McKay @mr.ghostpanther Voiced by Woody Harrelson @woodyharrelson Produced by Yellow Dot Studios Edited by Max Koepke of @lostplanetpost Stock Footage licensing by Stalkr Music licensing APM

I wanted to say something....uncharitable about the Australian cricket team earlier on today. I didn't get around to getting it done. Just as well.

Having lived in Norway for 6 years, I can reliably report that there are not enough shithouses - whether public or private.

What is the general consensus? Is mathematics invented or discovered?

You are legally required to carry liability insurance to operate a nuclear power plant, fly a plane, or even to drive a car. But to build one of the most powerful technologies in human history that has already gone rogue & whose creators say poses catastrophic risks? Nah.

New from me: The US has faced a higher cost than any other country from the global Hormuz oil shock, with the crisis adding $160 billion to its fuel bill — or $471 per person on average — despite being the world’s largest oil producer.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Behind the meter gas power has become a common path for data centers to get power faster. But it turns out operating a city-scale utility is no joke (turbine shafts breaking, low uptimes). It's hell for social licenes (if you think communities hate data centers, try data centers with 40 jet engines running non-stop!). And it leaves these facilities quite exposed to future gas price risk, as Aniruddh illustrates below.

Jesus, look at this.

Oh dear...

Only Sweden is allowed to mock Norway. But when other countries do, we Swedes will stand up for our dear neighbours. Because we are siblings, and you stand up for your family. So stfu trump. Heia Norge! ❤️🇳🇴🇸🇪

Solar has overtaken nuclear. A decade ago it supplied 1% of the world's power. In 2025 it met three quarters of global demand growth. Almost nobody saw it coming. I spoke to Jocelyn Timperley at BBC Future about why. bbc.co.uk/future/article/202…

Can't fault this.

Is mathematics discovered or invented? A basic starting position on the use of AI in mathematics & how useful AI is.

Link: Effective Altruism Is a Dangerous Cult — Here's Why Understanding the "Scientology of Silicon Valley." realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/…