Sev

Sev

@sevitz.com

A frood who really knows where his towel is. 🚶🏻

205 followers 282 following1K posts

Good thread this. See a lot of similarity in HS2 cost over runs and green electrification. It’s all about trade offs. And which ones your willing to accept. Where we’ve been weak politically is petting those trade offs dont exist. Being more open about this would result in better outcomes.

Alexander Clarkson@aphclarkson.bsky.social

If UK voters accept the foundations of European integration such as freedom of movement, trade and defence coordination as well as wider pooling of sovereignty then the EU will open up access to the Single Market Whether that happens in a year or a generation depends on the direction of UK politics

Perhaps that’s just me as an engineer speaking. Engineering is all about tradeoffs. It’s the art of trade offs

One of these is an African waterbuck and one of these is an English deer. One of these has horns and the other has antlers. The difference is where evolution decided they should spend calories. Business is no different. We spend money instead of calories. #SevThoughts

Up till recently it didn't make sense building a bunch of stuff. Streamlining a workflow. Reducing toil. It just wasn't worth the cost. That's no longer true.

I've written up a bit more on sevitz.com/thoughts-about/business-calories (including not spending £20k to help my kids with their spelling homework.) More stuff to noodle on

sevitz.comBusiness Calories | Adrian SevitzLike animals with calories, businesses only spend money growing what matters. AI has made a lot of what was never worth building nearly free.

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how all of these conversations would actually go

Philip Bump@pbump.com

Even if this were viable as a concept (that there's an afterlife; that it allows conversations with others; that enslavers are going the same place as you), who cares? Oh, are you mad at me, Ben Franklin? Tough shit.

Everyone who knows what they are talking about are busy actually fixing things ... (but yes this is a very low bar to not be able to cross)

John O’Donnell@jodami.bsky.social

Maybe the BBC should get someone who actually knows what he is talking about then.

Minority Report. It looks good. But had a fatal flaw in the plot (Tom Cruise does something that never should occur by the movies rules) which the book solves but the movie doesn’t. I’m doomed to be the only person to see this.

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I wrote about Elon Musk's fake flying car and its mid-air collision with lazy "CEO said a thing!" pseudo-journalism:

karlbode.comMusk's Fake Flying Car And 'CEO Said A Thing!' JournalismThe U.S. consolidated press once again demonstrates its dedication to lazy "CEO said a thing!" pseudo-journalism.

Couple of weeks ago did a half marathon, and went for a PB. Previously a 1:39. Managed a 1:34:29 this time. The day after hitting my goal, I was all like "so I guess that's it for running, I'm done forever". Often I have the same feeling after hitting a work deadline or project. #SevThoughts

Why? Not sure. Digging into this further on sevitz.com/thoughts-about/goals-today-what-now-tomorrow

sevitz.comGoals today, what now tomorrow? | Adrian SevitzHitting a big goal can leave one with an empty, what now feeling. How does one get back up again?

I just moved some of ISA into Asian stocks last week. I think I caused this as metric record of buying before fall is still batting close to “always”

Katie Martin@katie0martin.ft.com

Is this it? The Big One? Or all back to normal by lunch time? Global AI sell-off deepens as Asian markets tumble - as.ft.com/r/fd66cd03-b...

as.ft.comGlobal AI sell-off deepens as Asian markets tumbleSharp falls trigger trading halt on South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei 225 sinks 5%, following Wall Street lower

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You know, the thing is, I had drafted this piece a month ago, and then never published it, because I thought maybe it was too mean.

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Red Sky At Night / Joanne Sheppard

@redskyatnight.bsky.social

Lads, he’s not someone from a council estate who’s won Britain’s Got Talent

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@chadbourn.bsky.social

Traitor.

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Daniel Sugarman

@danielsugarman.bsky.social

After the Green Party's "Zionism is Racism" vote, the Leader of Haringey Council, controlled by the Greens, wrote to some Synagogues in the borough to "reassure" them. I want to show you Highgate Synagogue's reply. I believe it is worth reading in its entirety. www.jewishnews.co.uk/synagogue-re...

Open Tabs - 9 October 2026: 🔀 Introducing Jev 🎼 and also Clef 🗒️ gDocs get native .md support sevitz.com/thoughts-about/open-tabs-2026-10-09 #OpenTabs

sevitz.comOpen Tabs - 9 October 2026 | Adrian SevitzThings I've spotted of interest: two takes on decision models, and Google Docs getting native Markdown.

At the end of my last post I said there's a cognitive cost to managing workflows and agents. I've noodled on that a bit ... One of the risks with agents is the same problem I ran into with smart homes (aka IoT).

Sev@sevitz.com

People don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so "hey agent, sort my stuff out" doesn't solve much. Some thoughts after percolating on this bsky.app/profile/tres...

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Related, and another one to ponder: A slow ceding of agency by Adam Singer hottakes.space/p/a-slow-ceding-of-agency

I've written up a bit more on sevitz.com/thoughts-about/the-smart-home-problem Does it become a solved problem, or a whole new problem space? Stuff to noodle on

sevitz.comThe smart home problem | Adrian SevitzOne of the risks with agents is the same problem as the smart home: you end up with so many things to manage that it hasn't made your life easier.

At the end of my last post I said there's a cognitive cost to managing workflows and agents. I've noodled on that a bit ... One of the risks with agents is the same problem I ran into with smart homes (aka IoT).

Sev@sevitz.com

People don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so "hey agent, sort my stuff out" doesn't solve much. Some thoughts after percolating on this bsky.app/profile/tres...

You start off getting one light bulb and it's great. Then a couple more bulbs, maybe a robot vacuum, some switches, a couple of cams, the doorbell. Suddenly you're managing 10, 15 things with schedules, timers, software updates, and some things you've forgotten the passwords for.

It's not made your life easier and the smart home is a real mission. You start to get really fed up, really fast. I'm seeing the same thing with AI and agents. One process, one schedule, one agent running. Then two, then ten. Now you've got a problem managing the agents.

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@stephenkb.bsky.social

Great piece this:

everydayhate.substack.comThe Green Party descends into disgraceAs expected, the Green Party has today passed its motion declaring Zionism to be racism, and calling for Israel to be replaced by a single state of Palestine.

Having worked in a Data Center in Slough in mid 2000s I would not recommend and suggest you’ve overpaid.

Dan Kaszeta FRHistS@dankaszeta.bsky.social

It’s 2031 and I just bought a data centre in Slough for 8 quid at auction

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@jwsidders.bsky.social

The greatest service Keir Starmer did the Labour party was to drive the anti-Semitic left out of the Labour party. He deserves immense credit for that. The Greens welcoming them with open arms was absolutely always going to prove a disastrous decision

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There is a lot of circular money in tech right now. But also a lot of noise. Decent comment by @tpgroberts.bsky.social that cuts through a bit of “it’s all bad” which is the OG posters vibe and can wear thin at times.

Tom Roberts@tpgroberts.bsky.social

Not entirely sure this would even end up "off balance sheet?" Admittedly, been a while since I did US GAAP but this would probably be a finance lease and so they'd end up with an asset and liabilities for the lease payments.

Evergreen

Wearing a HR Monitor while taking a poo @thepenismightier4.bsky.social

What a fucking stupid time to be alive

People don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so "hey agent, sort my stuff out" doesn't solve much. Some thoughts after percolating on this bsky.app/profile/tres...

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social

I am talking about working with people to even conceive of their lives as a set of tasks — that isn’t exactly natural and isn’t something we train people to do and yet its a precondition for figuring out what an agent would even *do*.

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The models will get better sure, but these are products built for 1b people. Thats hard to get right. And As TCCM says people don't think like this. bsky.app/profile/tres... Can AI get this to the people that it's so good that people change how they work? I'm not so sure.

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social

In practice, AI literacy doesn’t start with building the tool for your personal use. It starts with understanding yourself as a collection of tasks who should subcontract those out to a machine. Almost no regular person’s life currently exists as such.

I've written up a bit more on sevitz.com/thoughts-abo... Stuff to noodle on

sevitz.comPeople as a collection of Tasks | Adrian SevitzPeople don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so AI agents as they are now don't actually solve a problem.

People don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so "hey agent, sort my stuff out" doesn't solve much. Some thoughts after percolating on this bsky.app/profile/tres...

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social

I am talking about working with people to even conceive of their lives as a set of tasks — that isn’t exactly natural and isn’t something we train people to do and yet its a precondition for figuring out what an agent would even *do*.

View full thread

I do think (1) will get easier but I'm not sold that (2) will change much. Telling Gmail that you want a filter is easier than setting up a filter, but knowing a filter will solve stuff? Not so much.

The question is can AI/Agents abstract even that away? (Not sure the promotions and multi-inboxes which exist already has done much generally for normies)

People don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so "hey agent, sort my stuff out" doesn't solve much. Some thoughts after percolating on this bsky.app/profile/tres...

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social

I am talking about working with people to even conceive of their lives as a set of tasks — that isn’t exactly natural and isn’t something we train people to do and yet its a precondition for figuring out what an agent would even *do*.

We've had workflows and task automation for forever. How many people even use Gmail or Outlook filters? People are messy, and being organised takes cognitive effort.

The current theory is agents are going to take the heavy lifting off you. The reality is : (1) it's not that easy to get an agent to do exactly what you want, (2) people just don't think like this.

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Daniel Sugarman

@danielsugarman.bsky.social

I need to write a thread about this. If you don't like it, feel free to block me. But I hope at least some of you will listen. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

thetimes.comJewish Greens face sanctions for belonging to ‘Zionist’ synagoguesThe Green Party rejected an amendment to protect Jewish members attending self-declared ‘Zionist’ organisations from reports of racism

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@adamcreme.bsky.social

I appreciate that we need the full details of the latest apparent attempt to murder as many Jews as possible using a plane but if it turns out airlines can’t ensure their pilots aren’t dangerous assassins it rather rubbishes me putting little pots of liquid in clear plastic bags before boarding.

John is very much right here. Also such an easy goal. (And applies to all areas of grift, right, left, medical)

John Bull@garius.eurosky.social

will say it again: the most effective way to curb far right agitators like Lowe, "Tommo" et. al. would be to stop their ability to earn money for it from social media or live streaming. So much of it is grifting for revenue, not attention.

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@ciaranm.bsky.social

My thoughts on how frontier AI’s claims and warnings seem prone to colliding with reality, whether that’s in economics, medicine or cyber security ciaranmartin.substack.com/p/on-ai-clai...

ciaranmartin.substack.comFrontier AI’s real world problemsMany of the claims and warnings about the impact of frontier AI seem to collide awkwardly with the realities of the specific subject in question

Yup this. And you can immigrate and be South African and British. Or South African and English. Or just English. Or just South Africa. That’s a good thing.

Dan Snow@thehistoryguy.bsky.social

To live in a world with minute, irrelevant distinctions of religion and nationality. What a dream.

Absolutely appalling. Costs have gone up 10-20x when I got mine. The government shouldn’t be a profit Center. These people (as / was I) pay taxes. But you know, immigrants. So acceptable to squeeze. For reasons.

Emiliano Mellino@mellino.bsky.social

The UK government is making upwards of £4.9bn in profit from visa fees, citizenship fees & the immigration health surcharge. Meanwhile, people are getting into thousands of pounds of debt or going without food just to afford to these immigration fees. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

thebureauinvestigates.comGovernment makes £5bn a year from immigration fees while applicants…Home Office’s fees are up to 10 times the processing cost – and rising every year

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@henrymance.ft.com

as.ft.com/r/f257abde-7... Morning all

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@jonnelledge.bsky.social

Thread.

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James is not wrong. And as a South African they’ve also massively misread that and what Mandela achieved (short answer: not bloodshed) Seems like they know very little about Israel/South Africa and from what I can tell from the thread Algeria.

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I’m not sure they know a lot about the environment either TBH