Saturday 29th April, 2023 - Cauldron of Synchronicities
Another week of great javascript, tech and web development links
Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
Another season 2 instalment…
Once more unto the breach. It’s Tuesday. Things are already getting weird. I’m going to put this thing together early again just in case.
First, some beats for accompaniment:
Eddie Fowlkes RA877
Ok, let’s go.
It’s a cauldron of synchronicities at the minute, so many things are swirling and swooshing around and passing by including, in no particularly particular order:
AR/VR, AI impersonations, black jackets, scottish miserliness, ginger hair, the terminator, punk rock, bands, trains, impermanence, charles, man, son, guy, your, mines, Rex, radio, wales, football, generative advertising, data, end of an era
And so much more, it’s proper mental mate.
Ok time for the list of titles that didn’t make it. If you are wondering what that is, here’s a blog post about that:
The list of titles that didn't make it https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2023/01/07/the-list-of-titles-that-didnt-make-it
Here’s the list:
De-escalating a 1 = infiniti mismatch is counter intuitive especially initially
Yep it’s a very short list this week.
I wrote 3 blog posts that I was quite happy with, especially the materials science one, maybe you’ll like them too:
Materials Science is pretty cool actually - I make the case that we are entering a new era where materials science and engineering is going to be very very cool on both a cultural and technological level https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2023/04/24/materials-science-is-pretty-cool-actually
What’s ActivityPub like really? - Everyone has been banging on about ActivityPub being the future of social media, especially since Elon bought Twitter. What's behind the hype? I attempt to go for a dip in the decentralised social media waters of the future. https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2023/04/26/whats-activitypub-like-really
OAuth shows open protocols often get messy - Open protocols are a wonderful idea, but in practice things often get really complicated. Case in point: OAuth. https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2023/04/27/oauth-shows-open-protocols-often-get-messy
On the menu this week, we have a quintet of podcasts for your enjoyment:
Story: JSON vs XML (Corecursive Podcast) https://corecursive.com/json-vs-xml-douglas-crockford
AI Drake, AI Friends, AI Everything (Vergecast Podcast) https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vdmVyZ2VjYXN0/episode/NzU3OWZlMDgtMzUwZS0xMWVkLWFjNmUtNWZhYWExZTBkNWUw?sa=X&ved=0CAYQkfYCahcKEwi4_OWg18T-AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBQ
David Nichtern (Duncan Trussell Podcast) https://www.duncantrussell.com/episodes/2023/4/23/david-nichtern
And More Twitter Stuff - Mon 04/24 (Techmeme Podcast) https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYXJ0MTkuY29tL3RlY2htZW1lLXJpZGVob21l/episode/Z2lkOi8vYXJ0MTktZXBpc29kZS1sb2NhdG9yL1YwL3AwcXYwZWxONXVpSjcycndVXzlwUy1pVWd1aTlYV1I1dnBmaVh5aUQ1R0U?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwi4_OWg18T-AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQDg
Podcast Apps, Zaras, Future CSS Thoughts and Arc Ep#562 (Shop Talk Show Podcast) https://shoptalkshow.com/562/
For desert I recommend the set yoghurt on mixed berry jam. I had one a few days ago, it was tremendous.
Ok for those that are still listening to the RA mix, here’s a pretty great article by AI connoisseur swyx about the exciting developments in ChatGPT based automation. There’s a lot going on, and I don’t understand all of it, but the category breakdown is really well done, you get a good sense of the entire space as it’s unfolding.
The Anatomy of Autonomy: Why Agents are the next AI Killer App after ChatGPT
Seriously though try the set yoghurt, it’s amazing.
Update: It’s Saturday morning now, and things just got weirder and weirder throughout the week. It’s almost impossible to describe. It’s like we are all trapped in a giant one of those ChatGPT3 multi-stage agent workflows., and it’s optimising itself as we progress through it. It feels very much like a battle between good and evil, whatever that means, and it seems to manifest, for me at least, by the world helping me then immediately tsunami punishing me for the micro help I just accepted, then trying to blame me for literally everything. This escalates until total destruction of the multiverse, and I usually get mutilated in one way or another. It happens over and over like clockwork. Literally everything feels like some sort of trap. Maybe this bench I’m sitting on is a trap. Maybe writing this update is a trap. I just want everyone to be free as in freedom and happy as in happydom and not starving or thirsty, and healthy.
Another Update: I just listened to the latest ATP podcast this morning, while the crazy world did it’s thing all around me, and it has a fascinating bit about the history of multi-tasking. It sort of feels like linking to it here is a trap, but it also feels like not linking to it is a trap, so I’m just going to link to it, because maybe at least there’s a chance then that my entire life won’t turn into an AI prison version of this era of computing again, which is what things feel like to me atm. I already lived through a lot of what they describe in the episode. I just want to get on with building websites.
The Meat Part of Multitasking Ep#532 (Accidental Tech Podcast) https://atp.fm/532
Another Another Update: I sure would love and could do with a new laptop in case anyone is listening and cares.
That’s all from me…
Best reguards,
Mark
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Have a great weekend and a fantastic next week!