Good article on the fake personality of chatbots—in part because of lack of persistence through time. (Via @ayjay) As I’ve been using Claude more, I’m finding that it’s best at amplifying my own ideas and spinning them in new directions, not generating anything new or even factual.

Good episode of The Emerald podcast: “Reimagining our Ancestors.

Adam Kotsko on how the post-literate AI world will kill God

We’ll see how committed to the truth the Democrats are when Bill Clinton gets implicated in the Epstein affair.

Really good essay from @jaheppler on 19th century Americans bringing bison near to extinction.

John Michael Greer is never boring. In this interview, the (eventual) focus is on Trump and American politics. It’s good to hear a political commentator that takes seriously the idea of time as a cycle rather than a straight line. That idea opens up new possibilities, and maybe tames some anxieties.

The prime directive of localism as a political and religious commitment is the tending and feeding of one’s own home and the life in which it is situated.

The free version of The Morning Dispatch gives me about all of the news I want in a day. I hardly ever click the links because I’d hit a paywall anyway. But their summaries make me aware of what’s going on, and I can follow up if something piques my interest.

“This is a love letter to generous neighbor Corn.”

Talking head says “apocalyptic beliefs based on biblical prophecy should have no bearing on Middle East policy” and, well, sure, okay, but everyone has an apocalyptic belief nowadays. This is the problem with the supposed “view from nowhere”: it can’t see the nose in front of its face.