The Extra Mile

Greetings from Maine where Kin, Poppy, and I are visiting family for a few days. As such – as summer – today's missive is a little shorter than usual. And, quite unlike recent emails, today's newsletter opens with some very good news: Zohran Mamdani's win in
Several weeks ago, a commenter suggested the word "howlround" to describe the dangerous tendency of LLMs to "glaze" their users – to provide responses that are self-reinforcing in both substance and style, that are overly agreeable ideologically and psychologically. A "howlround" is what one hears
While I was pleased to see millions of Americans turn out for last weekend's protests, I have to say I've spent this week more depressed and more worried than ever about the road ahead. Perhaps it was the arrest of NYC Comptroller Brad Lander – the latest