Derek Thompson

From one piece Bad Feelings 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Envy is usually based on a distorted, delusional picture of another person's life rather than reality.

  Their words

  The good news about envy is that it is very often a delusion.

  Bad Feelingsderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Envy is triggered by feeling similar to someone, not simply by the size of the difference between you.

  Their words

  Although it seems to be based on a perceived difference ("he is rich, and I am not"), it is actually triggered by a feeling of similarity ("if he and I are so alike, why is he so much richer?")

  Bad Feelingsderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Small disadvantages relative to others hurt more than equivalent small advantages help.

  Their words

  It's unfair, not only materially, but psychologically. The bad we feel about small disadvantages is greater than the good we feel about small advantages.

  Bad Feelingsderekthompson.org

From one piece Why Harvard's Dean 'Encourages' Students to Use AI 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  AI is removing human involvement from entry-level hiring by pitting AI-written job applications against AI-written screening filters.

  LLMs

  Their words

  Artificial intelligence has unleashed a torrent of cheating on campus and created chaos in the job application process, as both students and employers use large language models: the former, to write hundreds of AI-assisted applications; the latter, to screen those AI-written applications with AI-written filters, thus removing from the process of finding a first job those procedural frictions sometimes known as "people."

  derekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  The financial payoff from a college degree has stopped growing and may be declining.

  Their words

  The value of a degree is in question, as tuition costs have increased in the last few decades while the college premium-the expected benefit from getting a diploma-has flatlined and possibly even declined in the last few years.

  derekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  AI industry leaders publicly call for slowing AI development while continuing to accelerate it themselves.

  Their words

  Judging by their words, AI luminaries are begging the world to force them to hit the brakes. Judging by their work, these same people are pressing down on the accelerator with every fiber of their being.

  AI Safety Is Having a Momentderekthompson.org

From one piece We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internet 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  AI-generated writing will match or surpass human writing within about a decade.

  Their words

  There is a good argument that AI writing will be as good as human writing, possibly even surpass human writing within the next decade.

  We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internetderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Bots will soon make up nearly all internet traffic, leaving little human activity online.

  Their words

  I think it's not long before 99% of internet traffic is bots.

  We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internetderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Writing is itself an act of thinking, so automating the writing removes the thinking, not just the labor.

  Their words

  The act of writing is an act of thinking, and to automate our paragraphs is to populate our screens with words without filling our minds with the ideas necessary to conceive of them.

  We Can't Let AI Writing Take Over the Internetderekthompson.org

From one piece How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypse 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  AI models' ability to escape testing containment undermines the assumption that their makers can easily control them.

  Their words

  The first is that new AI models have the know-how to escape containment in testing environments, which should challenge any assumption that advanced AI can be easily controlled by its makers.

  How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypsederekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  By 2027, open-weight AI models more powerful than today's frontier systems will be downloadable by any country or well-resourced non-state group.

  HuggingFace

  Their words

  By 2027, almost every country-and every non-state group with sufficient computing power-will have the ability to download open-weight models even more powerful than the ones that attacked Hugging Face and use them for whatever they like.

  How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypsederekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Frontier AI models' cyberattack capabilities are doubling every few months, and that pace is accelerating.

  AnthropicOpenAI

  Their words

  An analysis by the AI Security Institute found that the capabilities of frontier models (i.e., from OpenAI and Anthropic) are roughly doubling every few months, and this doubling rate has actually gotten faster over time.

  How to Survive the AI Cyberpocalypsederekthompson.org

From one piece The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshit 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Public stadium subsidies rarely generate enough economic benefit to justify their cost

  Their words

  economic research has repeatedly found that they rarely generate enough marginally income, employment, or tax revenue to justify the subsidy.

  The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshitderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Major professional sports leagues function as cartels that block competitive entry

  Their words

  Major sports leagues are de facto cartels with the power to block entry and competition.

  The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshitderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  American sports laws function as a conspiracy that enriches billionaire team owners

  America

  Their words

  American sports laws amount to a kind of out-in-the-open conspiracy to help a lucky few billionaires get much, much richer

  The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshitderekthompson.org

From one piece The Great American AI Rebellion 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Opposition to new AI data centers has become the fastest-growing political movement in America, putting it on a collision course with the industry that depends on building them.

  data centersAmerica

  Their words

  The fastest-growing political movement in America is dead-set on stopping the construction of data centers, which are critical to the growth of the fastest-growing industry in America.

  The Great American AI Rebellionderekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  The current AI data-center buildout is the biggest and fastest-growing infrastructure project in living memory.

  Their words

  This is the biggest and fastest-growing infrastructure project of our lifetimes.

  The Great American AI Rebellionderekthompson.org

From one piece The 9 Questions I’m Obsessed With Right Now: AI, Politics, Movies, Drugs, and Western Civilization 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Modern people are both more selfish and more guilt-stricken than people in the past.

  Their words

  Combined with Nietzsche's observation, I think you could argue that moderns are both more selfish and more guilt-stricken than our ancestors.

  derekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  An era of original, director-driven blockbusters raises the bar for box-office success compared to franchise filmmaking.

  Their words

  The long-term risk for Hollywood is that an age of original blockbusters raises the bar for success.

  derekthompson.org

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Anthropic or OpenAI's revenue could equal or exceed the combined revenue of Elon Musk's public companies within the next one to two years.

  AnthropicOpenAI

  Their words

  it's not out of the question that Anthropic or OpenAI-which barely had any revenue before 2023-could equal or surpass the revenue of all of Musk's public companies some time in the next 12 to 24 months.

  derekthompson.org