Things I consumed and liked in April '25
Link roundups are popular among poasters I admire. They also are easy to do — I am busy and imperfect, and am not above easy wins.
Beyond simple reading, I want to highlight things I really enjoyed consuming. Perhaps that means watching, visually digesting, smelling, tasting, touching, you get it. I’m a multimodal girl living in a multimodal world. That said, this is mostly talking about written stuff.
I’m reading Middlemarch for the second time: as an adult, as a part of a book club, and in ~150-page monthly increments, sorta as it was originally published in serial paperback form. Each volume is about the size of an Oxford University Press Very Short Introduction volume. I wish there were more editions like this — it feels much more plausible that this was once a form of mass entertainment, and I have a better appreciation for pacing and plot structure. I also think this would be an interesting format for a series of essays.
It’s come to my attention that a lot of people don’t know about IBM’s midcentury posters from their poster project. Which is a shame, given how popular mid-mod remains to this day — I expected they would be classics among a certain set, akin to the Eames chair. These also make for great ChatGPT prompt fodder (“in the style of <attached poster> with the slogan <xyz>”).
I’ve been working with Eleos (go like and subscribe to Eleos’ Substack!) on a few projects. It’s been exhilarating to work closely with them, especially since there’s still so much low-hanging fruit with regards to AI welfare/consciousness/sentience. If you’re curious about the subject and want to approach it from a practical, analytical angle, Taking AI Welfare Seriously is actually a really good place to start. I have a printed, binder-clipped copy of this paper in my bag, and it’s basically always open in my Zotero, so maybe I’m biased.
Anton Leicht has pretty consistently Good takes on AI policy that, stylistically, don’t have the mouthfeel of a regurgitated LessWrong post (a rare feat, and a pleasant change). Follow him now for that smug sense of being ahead of the curve!
Fueguia 1833’s Biblioteca de Babel. Perfume designed to smell like the library in Borges’ Biblioteca de Babel, 410-page book not included. A close-to-perfect arcane library fragrance. It skews very masculine, but layers very well with a single-note vanilla perfume. If you are reading this and we are friends, I will gladly make a tiny decant for you. For the Borgesians who don’t want to inspire a librarian cult following, Fueguia 1833 has a whole line of other Borges-inspired fragrances.
I’m really looking forward to reading more from the AGI Social Contract team as it evolves - legal personhood for nonhuman entities seems really underexplored and could be hugely beneficial.
Rosie recently asked my thoughts on cryo. I think my biggest worry with cryo is that companies just don’t last all that long (Kikkoman notwithstanding) - it seems unlikely that the company that threw me in the freezer in 20xx would be around in 20, 50, 100, 200 years to thaw me out. Much like 23andme, I’d be worried about the company that froze me going under, liquidating its assets (including me), and then I end up in a miserable situation (perhaps poorly-reconstituted, nerfed, and working in indentured servitude as a minimum viable human-in-the-loop in some industry that has hard-to-undo regulatory overhead, like childcare). If you think about cryo and the future of work, you might like Problemista; I think it’s great, though I’m a big Julio Torres fan generally.
New AI policy thinkpoasting website, new Miles Brundage thinkpoast1
Dispatches from the Brazilian Internet: We’re now calling Portugal Guiana Brasileira. There’s a flag and a national anthem. Yes, the Iberian power outage on the 28th probably helped spread the meme. Talks are now underway to formally colonize Frio de Janeiro, formerly known as Denmark.
Can’t recommend French seams enough, unless, of course, flat-felled seams are available. This shirt is basically completely reversible, customizable, floaty, easy to draft, comfortable, and versatile. I have worn my pirate shirt with flat-felled seams basically once a week for the last five years. It’s just a bunch of rectangles, so it’s very efficient to cut (you can use extremely expensive linen and end up with ~no scraps or cabbage). If you’ve ever wanted to sew something you use constantly, definitely try this, it’s amazing for summer (or Los Angeles).
Someone made Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter into a trance mixtape. It’s pretty good. And Jesus if you're there / why do I feel alone in this [big] room?
i have shared custody of four cats with miles brundage so please understand my recommendation has significant bias, and yet I can’t not recommend a fiancépoast