Many conversations are ongoing around image-generating machine learning “AI” such as Midjourney and StableDiffusion. Many of those conversations raise valid viewpoints and objections, and are worth careful deliberation. One of the more popular arguments I’ve seen lately centers around need. “We don’t need AI to make art,” one popular tweet opines. “We need AI to…
Author: Ian
It’s been a little quiet here…
So, yeah. I haven’t done great at writing here for a while, but that’s fixing to change this year. However, I *have* been busy elsewhere and it’s probably worth collecting some of that! I moved from Twitter to Mastodon, and you can find me here. Twitter’s also shuttered its newsletter app, Revue, where “The Cybers…
The Cybers are Weird, Issue 2: Hidden Until It’s Not
Below is the intro to the second issue of my short-form newsletter on weird stuff in cybersecurity; you can read the rest of it and subscribe if you like here. “When a storm is at its peak, and the world outside seems on the verge of tearing itself apart, a kind of radical openness comes…
New Newsletter: The Cybers Are Weird
Been a little empty here, I know. Quite a lot’s been going on in the background but I haven’t had much time or brain for writing. That ice seems to be thawing a bit now from a few directions, one of which is: I have a new newsletter through Revue (owned by Twitter) called “The…
On Switching To Mac
Editor’s note/conflict of interest: this post was originally published on June 30, 2021. As of March 20, 2022, I am an Apple shareholder, particularly because I believe in the company (this is not investment advice). Even though it didn’t apply at writing, I want to make an after-the-fact conflict clear. Having read over the content…
The Cybers are Weird, Issue 1
Below is the intro to the first issue of my short-form newsletter on weird stuff in cybersecurity; you can read the rest of it and subscribe if you like here. Notional spaces have always been weird. Artist Juliette Aristides described a notional space as “the rectangle formed around an object when you find its height…
Past Newsletter: Cutting My Teeth
In migrating my newsletter away from Substack, I’m tossing up a previous example here. This is from December 2019. —– Kenning knew from the start that the sawzall wouldn’t be enough. That’s not to say that it had failed its current purpose. The reciprocating sawblade chewed hungrily along the steel pole’s diameter and the pole…
A note on content
This blog is pretty neglected at the moment, but I wanted to mention something. There are a number of references to the writer Warren Ellis here. Recently, a number of women have relayed accounts of how he groomed and manipulated them, especially when they were younger. I believe these women. And have a hell of…
A Short List of Heartening Things
Here’s a short, ongoing list of heartening responses and initiatives around COVID-19 that I’ve seen so far, in no particular order: Techies in NYC and elsewhere working hard and combining resources to put together mesh networks allowing families without internet at home to access it, as long as they have a device capable. Yo-Yo Ma…
An Election Thought
I’ve been thinking about the election in terms of a student council race. Now, I’ve been out of school for exactly 20 years so things may have changed. -Joe is the average, sporty but not jock type whose parents are making him run to improve his transcripts. He’s not as smart as Liz and Bernie,…