https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-announces-singularity

«Definitions vary, but the singularity is generally defined as the moment that the capabilities of thinking machines might start to accelerate [blah blah blah]

Hey, Futurism: No. That’s not the singularity. That’s the definition Altman would prefer you operate with.

The singularity is when the slope of the curve of general technological advancement, which is (supposedly) becoming steeper and steeper, becomes infinite, like when you plot the function 1/x.

When that happens (supposedly), there will be no time to generate a web post and an eye-catching headline.

It’ll be like the Rapture, actually. If you’re still around, you missed it; you got Left Behind.

Actually, I just realized something: the Singularity is the Rapture for tech-bros.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-destroying-rare-books

«“The optics problem is real,” ISBNdb’s site says. “‘AI company destroys two million books’ is not a headline that generates sympathy.”»

No, it does not.

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-07-24-save-act-proof-of-citizenship-july-poll

«This would not be the first time in the last year when voters turned against something they thought they wanted. That is, in several ways, the story of Donald Trump’s presidency so far.»

😆

https://meidasnews.com/news/man-who-killed-dem-lawmaker-and-her-husband-sentenced-to-two-life-terms-plus-40-years

https://www.slowboring.com/p/will-ai-take-your-job-mine-everyones

«lots of people are mediocre and half of them are below average.»

Median, Matt.

Yes, I’m being cranky, but c’mon. I’m pretty sure exactly zero of your readers are idiots.

Can we just normalize use of the median? Change starts where you are, right?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/opinion/china-ai-open-weight-us.html

«Two U.S. congressional committees have opened investigations into Airbnb and Cursor’s parent company….»

“Cursor’s parent company.” Nice, NYT. Why not just say who’s Cursor’s parent company?

It’s SpaceX.

That would have been a one-word insertion. Are you assuming your readers (who have to pay for a subscription) are idiots, and that we wouldn’t know? Or are you assuming that of course we all know? Why not just put the one word that’s the name of the parent company in the story? Or did an editor take it out?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/hitlers-birthplace-in-austria-reopens-as-police-station-to-deter-nazi-pilgrimages

«Debris from the construction was disposed at a secret location to ensure it would not become a new source for Nazi memorabilia, APA reported.»

🙄

Because Nazi fanchildren combing through remodelling debris is apparently a thing.

https://amp.newsobserver.com/news/business/article316616731.html

«M&F and Optus are also Community Development Financial Institutions that focus on lower-income and underserved communities. Last year, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget withheld grant money from CDFIs.

“Past awards may have made race a determinant of access to loan programs,” OMB noted in the White House’s 2026 discretionary budget proposals.»

(Link is paywalled with no gift option, sorry. If interest, I could probably rip it into markdown with Obsidian.)

https://futurism.com/future-society/flock-axon-alpr-surveillance-privacy

«Unfortunately for privacy activists and citizens concerned about police surveillance, that doesn’t necessarily mean ALPRs are going away — just that they’re increasingly being supplied by Flock’s competitor. [Axon]»

https://politifact.com/article/2026/jul/17/mullin-dhs-250000-noncitizen-voters-trump/

On the “problem” of noncitizens voting:

«In 2012, then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered state officials to clear the rolls of noncitizen voters ahead of the election.

Florida initially assembled a list of about 180,000 potential noncitizens. With more scrutiny, however, officials whittled the count to about 2,600 names, then 198, then 85. The initial list was rife with errors, even flagging a Brooklyn-born World War II veteran.»

(There’s more examples, for other states, not just Florida.)