My Kicks

@hikemix.bsky.social

603 Followers 353 Following

Philosopher in Glasgow, working on laws of nature, physics, and artificial intelligence. Researching bullshit but not a bullshitter.

a screengrab of the first page of Harvey Lederman and Kyle Mahowald's "Are Language Models More Like Libraries or Like Librarians? Bibliotechnism, the Novel Reference Problem, and the Attitudes of LLMs".
a tiktok screenshot from the account "More Perfect Union" showing an interview captioned "Data analysts revealed a hidden group of bettors on polymarket with a 98% win rate on U.S. military actions."
The news agents podcast episode titles "Belfast Riots: Howard Elon Musk is stoking a new wave of British violence"
A screenshot of the article with 'And Jewish humanity was inextricably attached to the existence of Israel' highlighted
dj trump truth describing war crimes against Iranian infrastructure
A white pawn on D7 forks the black king and black rook, protected by a white rook on D1. Black has roughly even pieces with white, but the pawn move from D6 to D7 has opened up an attack on black's queen from the white queen on F6. The white queen on F6 blocks the black king on e8 from moving, meaning that the black king is checkmated. Meanwhile white is simultaneously threatening black's king, queen, and rook.
a scene from the "The Love Is Gone" song in A Muppet Christmas Carroll. This song is an ode to a marriage that never happened because Scrooge wouldn't get married until his career hit an arbitrary milestone.
a fake Christmas tree with a choir in the middle of a mall
A few years ago, I came to the conclusion that I was the best philosopher who ever lived [...] But I have come to think that I was wrong. [...] I now believe that I am the best philosopher ever *by far*.
a nytimes article which says "I photographed an Appalachian family for 15 years"
Mike and Chrissy dressed as Magnum and Higgins
my baldur's gate steam page with a note saying 'you've played 420 hours'.
my own tweet from 18 days ago: "oh they're starving *sick* kids. that's okay then thanks for clarifying.
An email with the Avanti West Coast heading which says: Dear Michael Hicks, Please accept our apologies for the delay in processing your claim that we received on Sun, 20 Jul 2025. We are currently experiencing high volumes of claims which is preventing us from assessing your claim as quickly as usual.
Beans
it's the Nathan Felder meme where he's like "I hope you're hungry.... FOR NOTHING" But it says "Great news ... FOR MEASLES!"
a Google AI overview which says that pound of feathers is heavier than a kilogram of gold, says some stuff about avoirdupois and Troy pounds, then says that a kilogram of gold is heavier than a pound of feathers... All in one paragraph!
A screenshot of Google maps with the places Workington, Whitehaven, Mayport, and Cockermouth.
Star Wars: Clone Wars battledrojds lined up
Fabio, his nose bloody from a goose encounter on the first hill of the Loch Ness Monster Rollercoaster circa 1999
two people watch a sun set over a beach with windy palms 🌴
it's hilary putnam
an image of Tobias Funke and Lindsay from Arrested development. Lindsay says "Lots of parties have tried to defeat fascism by moving farther right". Tobias asked "well did it work for those people?" Lindsay replies "No. It never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but..." and Tobias finishes her sandwich by saying "but it might work for us."
an image of Tobias Funke and Lindsay from Arrested development. Lindsay says "Lots of parties have tried to defeat fascism by moving farther right". Tobias asked "well did it work for those people?" Lindsay replies "No. It never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but..." and Tobias finishes her sandwich by saying "but it might work for us."
an image of Tobias Funke and Lindsay from Arrested development. Lindsay says "Lots of parties have tried to defeat fascism by moving farther right". Tobias asked "well did it work for those people?" Lindsay replies "No. It never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but..." and Tobias finishes her sandwich by saying "but it might work for us."
A beautiful calico cat sits staring at a computer, he face lightly illuminated by the laptop screen
The rapper and shoe magnate Kanye West, also known as (AKA) 'Ye'.
an expert from the linked Guardian article which says in part "Surely the best-titled academic paper of 2024 waht "ChatGPT is bullshit", from experts at the University of Glasgow.
a sunny blue sky with palm trees sits above a coffee and a laptop in a poolside deck cafe
an image from X which says "Sabine Hossenfelder reposted" a post from JK Rowling which says "this astounding paper reminds me of Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil" (something I doubt Joanne has read) and quotes the paper on question: 'The net effect of this language system was not to keep these people ignorant of what they wee doing, but to prevent them from equating it with their old, 'normal' knowledge." the post links to a paper in BMC Medical Ethics called "Gender-affirming treatment for adolescents..."
A selfie on the couch with a large black cat. I am grinning and the cat is getting his neck scritched.
Brenden Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler as a gun-toting metal band taking over the radio in the 1994 movie "airheads"
An excerpt from Hot Sky at Midnight that reads, in part, "He took her hand in his again. She has magnificent breasts, he thought, but she is really stupid. Perhaps there is a connection. She is a cow not just metaphorically, but a real one, a literal cow. She has been retrofitted with bovine genes to give her those splendid udders."
the cover of Hot Sky at Midnight by Robert Silverberg shows a scantily clad woman in a star studded cape in front of an eyeless man and a swirling space station like building.
A giant pile of trash, with boards, cans, a refrigerator, and other assorted refuse covers the entrance to a building with the sign "The Barber Shop: Now Open" boldly displayed in front of it. A Surly Travellers Check bicycle outfitted for touring rests against the sign.
an advertisement in The Wall Street Journal which says 'All of the AI. None of the BS.' A subtle nod perhaps to Hicks, Humphries, and Slater's seminal article 'ChatGPT is Bullshit' in Ethics and Information Technology?
The cover of Saul A. Kripke's book 'Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language', which espouses the view colloquially known as 'Kripkenstein.'