Una settimana di storie fra treni, memorie di volo, tecnologia e qualche sorpresa: è uscito Mostly Weekly 349. Buona lettura

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/349/

Letture per la domenica

"Con-fliggere". La complicità dei litiganti. Il conflitto personale come discorso.

Money quote: "The shape of the conflict this article explores is the one which normally takes place in the realm of language, when two or more individuals face one another in what is commonly identified as a “quarrel”. Redefining quarrel as personal conflict, and distinguishing it from differring opinions is the premise on which my article rests, so that personal conflict may be conceptualized as a discourse, i.e., a reality that is not to be found behind or beyond the words of the conflicting parties, and not in their “real motives” or “real interests”, but rather in their discursive coming together (inter-esse). We will not start from asking “why” two or more individuals come into conflict, but “what” they do with words while they quarrel. Taking as its background the Weberian sociology of the sense of action, my article tries to answer this question by taking cues from Austin’s speech act theory, Barthes’s semiotics, Bakhtin’s polyphonic theory, and Wittgenstein’s philosophical grammar, as well as some recent contributions made by analysts and professional “mediators”’ of personal conflicts."

https://journals.openedition.org/qds/350

Tra le altre cose che ci sono in questo sito, Doom 64 che va (anche in emulazione) su Mac.

Money quote: "A source port project called Doom64 EX came out, whose goal was to recreate the game using the N64 ROM image for data. In the runup to DOOM Eternal, id and Zenimax decided to resurrect the game and the creator of the source port worked with Nightdive Studios to make a version that ran on PC as well as consoles. In the years since, the Doom 64 EX+ project came out which enhances the original source port as well as gives it the ability to use the data from the PC port of the game. The commercial release did not come to the Mac, but working with the author we're able to offer a Mac release here.

So fire it up and pretend like you're playing on your big CRT having just rented it from Blockbuster Video. It's definitely a unique experience."

https://www.macsourceports.com/game/doom64

Ma c'è anche Carmageddon

https://github.com/dethrace-labs/dethrace

Gli anni passano. Ho appena compiuto dieci anni di Backblaze, il servizio di backup nel cloud che mi pago da un decennio. Toccando ferro, non l'ho mai dovuto usare. Il suo scopo è proprio quello: non averne bisogno, ma intanto tenerlo pronto.

Ci metto la faccia e ve lo consiglio. Questo è il mio referral, vuol dire più mesi di prova per voi e un mese gratuito per me. Per qualche giorno (fino al 13) gli omaggi sono raddoppiati.

Se poi vi abbonate al servizio, ovviamente costa uguale.

https://secure.backblaze.com/r/01ti3i

Allarmi allarmi, se gli dai delle fake news gli LLM vanno fuori di testa.

Money quote: "For the test, researchers fed AI a constant stream of posts from X. The posts were selected based on virality, high-engagement posts and posts that contained phrases that may be clickbait, such as “TODAY ONLY,” and “WOW.”

The researchers used existing benchmarks such as ARC and RULER to evaluate the results.

The results were shocking to say the least. On ARC, a benchmark for reasoning, there was a drop in the total score from 74.9 to 57.2. While on RULER, a long context understanding benchmark, the score fell from 84.4 to 52.3.

Researchers found that the LLMs were ‘thought skipping.’ The model would simply give inaccurate information without following proper steps to give results to the user."

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/ai-gets-brain-rot-too-study-finds-feeding-chatbots-junk-posts-makes-them-dumb-and-mean-2806199-2025-10-21

Una cosa molto americana ma sarebbe divertente da fare anche in Italia: i libri letti alle superiori che hanno modellato la nostra vita da adulti.

Money quote: "We're sharing your thoughts here. This list reflects a time when fewer female authors and writers of color were being published and assigned in high schools — and many of you expressed hope that today's syllabuses are more varied and diverse.

So, at the start of a new school year, with gratitude to English teachers past, present and future, here's what you told us about the books that shaped you.

Readers' responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity."

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/28/nx-s1-5468462/best-books-read-high-school

Uno studio di qualche settimana fa spiega chiaramente: ChatGPT è diventato il nuovo motore di ricerca.

Money quote: "Key Takeaways

Our earlier model (1.2–1.4B/day) slightly overestimated search-intent share. With new data, the refined base case is ~1.0B/day.

Even the conservative case (~0.45B/day) is massive, and comparable to Bing.

“Seeking Information” usage is growing fast, so ChatGPT’s role as a search engine is expanding."

https://www.seoclarity.net/research/how-many-searches-really-happen-on-chatgpt-new-data-refined-model

Un raro Uovo d’Inverno Fabergé del 1913, un tempo donato dall’ultimo imperatore russo Nicola II a sua madre, è pronto a infrangere i record d’asta quando andrà sotto il martello da Christie’s a Londra il 2 dicembre 2025. L’elegantissimo Uovo Imperiale di Pasqua, tempestato di 1.660 diamanti e scolpito in cristallo di rocca, ha una stima superiore a 20 milioni di sterline (22,7 milioni di euro), il che lo renderebbe l’opera Fabergé più costosa mai venduta all’asta.

Money quote: "Margo Oganesian, Christie's Head of Department, Fabergé and Russian Works of Art commented: “It is a privilege for Christie's to be entrusted with the sale of the exquisite 'Winter Egg' by Fabergé for the third time in its history. With only six other Imperial Easter Eggs remaining in private collections, this is an extraordinary chance for collectors to acquire what is arguably one of Fabergé's finest creations, both technically and artistically. It would undoubtedly enhance the most distinguished collection.”"

https://press.christies.com/a-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-the-winter-egg-and-important-works-by-faberge-from-a-princely-collection

Google e OpenAI si sfidano sul terreno dell’ecommerce con gli acquisti automatici gestiti dagli agenti. Cambia tutto: ricerca, pubblicità e abitudini. Il numero 350 di Mostly Weekly parte da qui e vi porta ancora più in là

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/350/

Letture per la domenica

Gli archeologi hanno scoperto straordinarie incisioni di cammelli a grandezza naturale scolpite sulle pareti delle scogliere nel deserto di Nefud, in Arabia Saudita, retrodatando la presenza umana nell’Arabia settentrionale di oltre 2.000 anni. Le monumentali opere rupestri, pubblicate martedì su Nature Communications, risalgono a un periodo compreso tra 12.800 e 11.400 anni fa e rivelano comunità di cacciatori-raccoglitori sofisticate che prosperavano in quello che gli esperti in precedenza ritenevano un deserto inabitabile.

Money quote: "Today, the international research team stationed there sees few signs of life, other than the odd passing bedouin herding livestock. But, the region once had grasslands and ponds of water, allowing life to thrive.

Professor Michael Petraglia from Australia’s Griffith University told Yahoo News Australia the engravings are still "absolutely spectacular" thousands of years after they were created."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/monumental-12000-year-old-creation-discovered-in-remote-desert-absolutely-spectacular-150059839.html

La Commissione europea viola le proprie linee guida sull'AI utilizzando ChatGPT in documenti pubblici

Money quote: "A recent response from the European Commission to our access to documents request not only revealed that the President of the Commission was repeating the words of tech CEOs, but it also accidentally divulged the Commission’s use of generative AI in public documents.

The Commission's response included four links, at least one of them was generated using OpenAI's ChatGPT. This link includes "utm_source=chatgpt.com" which reveals the website that generated the link (see below). It is unclear if other parts of the response replicate generative AI outputs and if it is common practice at the Commission to use generative AI outputs in public documents."

https://www.iccl.ie/news/european-commission-breaches-own-ai-guidelines-by-using-chatgpt-in-public-documents/

Come a San Gimignano: l'élite di Pompei costruiva torri come simboli di status. Secondo uno studio le famiglie facoltose di Pompei probabilmente costruirono imponenti torri come simboli del loro status e della loro influenza, mettendo in discussione ipotesi a lungo consolidate su come venissero utilizzati i piani superiori dell'antica città romana.

Money quote: "The research is part of an innovative digital archaeology project aimed at reconstructing the upper floors of Pompeii’s often-lost buildings. In particular, archaeologists led by Pompeii Archaeological Park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel and Susanne Muth, a professor in the Department of Classical Archaeology atBerlin’s Humboldt University (Winckelmann-Institut), in collaboration with the Park itself, focused on a monumental staircase in the House of Thiasus, which appears to rise to nowhere. From this element arose the hypothesis that the staircase led to a lookout tower, perhaps used to observe the city, the gulf, and, at night, the starry sky. This is a plausible idea, supported by numerous literary and iconographic references: just think of the tower of Maecenas, from which - according to tradition - Nero observed the burning of Rome, or of Pompeian paintings depicting towers as recurring elements in villas, which later became models for the urban dwellings of the elite."

https://www.finestresullarte.info/en/archaeology/perhaps-the-domus-in-pompeii-also-had-towers-new-digital-archaeology-research

Un ritratto dell'America degli ultimi vent'anni molto particolare: gli scambisti di provincia (secondo me si potrebbe fare la stessa cosa anche da noi, nella nostra di provincia). La fotografa Naomi Harris ha fatto bingo con questo libro.

Money quote: "“I’m like, ‘Why the fuck are people always going to all these parties and never inviting me?’” Harris says. The penny didn’t fully drop until a man named Ron asked her to accompany him as his “key”—single men weren’t allowed to the parties, so he needed a female partner to unlock the door. “I’m like, ‘OK, sure. I’ll do anything once,’” Harris says."

https://www.vice.com/en/article/surreal-photos-of-small-town-american-swingers-in-the-2000s/

L'FBI sta cercando di smascherare il gestore di Archive .is, noto anche come Archive .today, il sito web che salva istantanee di pagine web ed è comunemente usato per aggirare i paywall delle notizie.

Money quote: "“If you refuse to obey this subpoena, the United States Attorney General may invoke the aid of a United States District Court to compel compliance. Your failure to obey the resulting court order may be punished as contempt,” the document said. It gave a deadline of November 29."

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/fbi-subpoena-tries-to-unmask-mysterious-founder-of-archive-today/

"Mork e Mindy" era un esperimento sociale immaginato - il mio articolo per Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2025/11/mork-mindy-serie-tv-fantascienza/

A quanto pare la pigrizia è un male diffuso ovunque, anche nello staff della Commissione europea, che usa ChatGPT anche se non dovrebbe.

Money quote: "A recent response from the European Commission to our access to documents request not only revealed that the President of the Commission was repeating the words of tech CEOs, but it also accidentally divulged the Commission’s use of generative AI in public documents.

The Commission's response included four links, at least one of them was generated using OpenAI's ChatGPT. This link includes "utm_source=chatgpt.com" which reveals the website that generated the link (see below). It is unclear if other parts of the response replicate generative AI outputs and if it is common practice at the Commission to use generative AI outputs in public documents."

https://www.iccl.ie/news/european-commission-breaches-own-ai-guidelines-by-using-chatgpt-in-public-documents/

Avete presente quando gli investigatori mettono su una lavagna o un tabellone una serie di fotografie e post-it e foglietti vari e li collegano con dei fili colorati? Ecco, c'è uno che ha costruito tutta una Narrative String Theory (NST) raccogliendo tutti gli esempi di questo metodo per ragionare del quale peraltro nessuno ha chiaro come funzioni nella pratica.

Money quote: "An ongoing series by Shawn Gilmore, initially appearing on tumblr, collecting all known appearances of “narrative string theory” (string walls, walls and floors littered with paperwork by obsessives, etc.). For an initial definition, see “string theory” at tvtropes."

https://www.vaultofculture.com/nst

Si tratta di un'idea della tv, ovviamente.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StringTheory

Documenti nel telefono, studenti che protestano contro l’AI, libri che sfidano il tempo e un pezzo di Internet che si ferma. Mostly Weekly 351 parla di tecnologia, cultura e ancora altro, come sempre

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/351/

Letture per la domenica

Le interviste a Cory Doctorow sono sempre un piacere da leggere perché sembra caricato a molla: ne ha mille da dire e altre mille pronte per domani. Il problema è che spesso ci azzecca.

Money quote: "“Penso che l’ipotesi del capitalismo della sorveglianza sia profondamente sbagliata, perché rigetta il fatto che le aziende ci controllino attraverso il monopolio, e non attraverso la mente”, spiega Doctorow a Guerre di Rete. Il giornalista fa l’esempio di uno dei più famosi CEO delle Big Tech, Mark Zuckerberg: “A maggio, Zuckerberg ha rivelato agli investitori che intende recuperare le decine di miliardi che sta spendendo nell’AI usandola per creare pubblicità in grado di aggirare le nostre capacità critiche, e quindi convincere chiunque ad acquistare qualsiasi cosa. Una sorta di controllo mentale basato sull’AI e affittato agli inserzionisti”."

https://www.guerredirete.it/enshittification-il-progressivo-degrado-delle-piattaforme-digitali/

Sta finendo l'epoca nella quale postavamo tutto quanto online: pranzi, cene, tramonti, animali domestici, selfie e tutto il resto? Adesso stiamo lentamente rallentando? I Millennial si stanno dando una calmata? Chissà.

Money quote: "There is a generational element to this sea change: millennials who grew up on social media are moving into middle age and perhaps seeking more privacy in their lives; once you’ve settled down with a partner and children, perhaps there’s less obvious incentive to project your personality online. “I think people are more suspicious of oversharing, generally, some of which is probably a useful and healthy correction from how much we were all sharing a decade ago,” Emma Hulse, a thirtysomething lawyer acquaintance of mine, told me. But, during conversations with dozens of people about their current posting habits, many Zoomers and users even younger told me that they felt an aversion to putting their lives on social media. They, too, are suffering from posting ennui."

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/are-you-experiencing-posting-ennui

Archivio: https://archive.is/GHw7y

Intervista video a Satya Nadella (il ceo di Microsoft) che spiega la strategia di Microsoft per l'AGI, la fantomatica intelligenza artificiale più intelligente di noi.

Money quote 1: "As part of this interview, Satya Nadella gave Dylan Patel (founder of SemiAnalysis) and me an exclusive first-look at their brand-new Fairwater 2 datacenter.

Microsoft is building multiple Fairwaters, each of which has hundreds of thousands of GB200s & GB300s. Between all these interconnected buildings, they’ll have over 2 GW of total capacity. Just to give a frame of reference, even a single one of these Fairwater buildings is more powerful than any other AI datacenter that currently exists.

Satya then answered a bunch of questions about how Microsoft is preparing for AGI across all layers of the stack."

https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/satya-nadella-2

Qui sotto, invece, la strategia spiegata passo passo.

Money quote 2: "Now Microsoft’s investments in AI are back, and the AI giant has never had such high demand for Accelerated Computing. The Redmond titan has woken up to it going down the wrong path and has dramatically shifted course. With the newly announced OpenAI deal, Azure growth is set to Accelerate in the upcoming quarters as forecasted by our Tokenomics model."

https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/microsofts-ai-strategy-deconstructed