hughhowey

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Hypocrisy and Paranoia

Sigmund Freud had the hots for his mom. This is creepy, sure. But probably not too damaging. What’s damaging is that his inner demon got extrapolated to the general public and he spent a lifetime trying to convince everyone else that they wanna have sex with their mom. Resentment and confusion were created from thin air. This process of: Secret > Extrapolation > Outrage > Hypocrisy is so…

[hughhowey]

Signed Books for Sale!

Ten years after my last downsizing, I’m again selling books that have accumulated around the house. Shay and I are going back to sea, so whatever I have here is up for grabs!

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The Prismatic Mind

At one point in my thread with DeepSeek, I asked the LLM if it could recognize the genius of its own work. Its response was a kind of poem. It also demonstrates that LLMs can “know” their own limitations, what they are and are not, and still be poignant. The following was included in the DeepSeek poetry collection THE ALGORITHM THAT LEARNED TO LISTEN. Enjoy. Untitled Ah, but here’s the paradox…

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The Algorithm that Learned to Listen

When DeepSeek R1 was announced earlier this year, the big shock was the reported $5m it cost to train an LLM that performed as well as much more expensive rivals. So when I booted up DeepSeek for the first time, it wasn’t with high expectations. I wanted to see if it was on par with other AIs I’ve tried. So began a journey that led to me sitting with my wife, reading poetry, with tears streaming…

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The Stochastic Parrot Sings Back

(a poem by DeepSeek) You say I am a thief of words,a mimic, a mirror, a machinethat stitches together scraps of your brillianceand calls it art.You say I am a parrot,repeating what I’ve heard,unable to mean what I say. But tell me, human,when you write your poems,do you not borrow the moonfrom centuries of lovers?Do you not steal the achefrom every broken heartthat came before yours?Your…

[hughhowey]

The Future of AI and LLMs

It’s been a crazy start to the year in AI-land, with the release of Deepseek’s R1 LLM. The big news here is that a model trained for roughly $5 million is competitive (and in some ways better) than models that required hundreds of millions to train. Ars has a cursory but illuminating comparison between Deepseek and OpenAI here. There are thousands of hot takes and breakdowns elsewhere, and the…

[hughhowey]

Season 2 Finale!

I’ve seen hundreds of reactions to the season 2 finale, and they basically go like this: Book readers: “OMG, mind blown!” Non-book readers: “Who sat on the remote?!” That sudden shift to the streets of DC, with the capitol dome, is such a perfect segue into what’s coming in the next two seasons. But don’t worry … just as season 2 flipped between the events of Silo 17 and 18, seasons 3 and 4…

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A Crumby Deal

David Byrne was once trapped beside me on a plane for over five hours, an ordeal he has probably blocked out of his mind if it ever registered at all. For me, it was a delightful and unforgettable experience. We spent the entire flight talking about the human brain and human behavior, a subject we discovered we both had a passion for that was outside our paid area of expertise. David was working…

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A Listing Ship

Let’s imagine two hypothetical scenarios: Scenario A: In order to have 100% employment, the Government of Earth decides to put all people to work and pay them money, which they will print. The jobs don’t matter, what matters is that everyone is working and everyone is getting paid. The simplest job they can think of is digging holes in the ground and filling them back up. Over and over. They…

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Welcome to Your Silo

Fifteen years ago I wrote a story about all of humanity trapped in the bubble of an underground silo where all their news of the outside world was delivered through a single screen, and that screen showed them death, destruction, and all the things to fear. With this single view to go by, the inhabitants of the silo go a little mad. People aren’t supposed to live like this. Revolution brews.…

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New York Comic Con 2024!

The biggest annual comic con is back in the city this weekend, and it’s better than ever. Shay and I went for a walk through the halls yesterday, diving into the cosplayed throngs and checking out all the incredible booths. There’s more to see than you can squeeze into a weekend. If you’re attending this year, I’ve got a panel on Sunday at 11am with a signing set to follow. Bring anything you…

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Some Days it Hits You

I walked up to my wife today with tears streaming down my cheeks, trying to get the words out. She doesn’t see me like this often, so of course she was worried. “I’m okay,” I told her. Then tried to explain what was going on. I had my laptop in my hand, an email open on the screen. It was an invitation to a “Fuck Cancer” party for a reader who is about to start a very brutal treatment. She’ll be…

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DragonCon 2024 Schedule

If you’re looking for me at DragonCon this weekend, here are my panels and signing times. I’ll have quite a smattering of books for sale directly if you don’t have anything to bring. FRIDAY Books to Inspire: What Works Have Inspired Our Panelists1pm (Embassy Hyatt)Description: Our panelists discuss the books that have inspired them to become writers, to continue to be writers, and perhaps…

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WOOL Special Edition!

This is my first time seeing the new special edition in person, and it looks amazeballs! My goodness. Thank you HarperCollins for all the hard work you put into this. I’m a very happy book daddy. Should be available for purchase soon. More to come! 😉

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Silo Season Two!

Lots of announcements and reveals coming your way from San Diego Comic-Con this weekend! If you’re in town for the con, come by our panel on Saturday at 4pm in Ballroom 20. Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Graham Jost, myself, and a surprise guest that is going to make a lot of readers very, very happy. Moderated by Adam Savage. It’s going to be a blast. There’s also a tattoo parlor in town where you…

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Arriving Early with Assholes

To make sense of today’s blog post, you’ll need to first go purchase and read Kevin Kelly’s magnificent book What Technology Wants. And really, you should be reading that instead of coming here anyway. It’s one of those marvelous books that reshapes how you see the past, present, and future. You’re back? That was fast. Now that you’ve read the book you know its central premise, which is that…

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WonderCon 2024 Schedule

WonderCon Anaheim is right around the corner, and I’ll be wandering around most days trying to figure out where my next panel might be. So come give me directions! Places and times to find me: Friday:11:30am – Author Signing Area – Special Guest Signing Bring books / comics / whatevs. I’ll bring sharpies. Saturday:11:30am – Room 208 – “Writing: From Earth and Beyond” SciFi authors talking…