Feb. 3, 2026
The guy at the next table was explaining something to his girlfriend. I couldn’t hear all of it, but I caught enough. “It totally agreed with me,” he said, grinning. “It said my argument was really well-reasoned.”
He was talking about ChatGPT.
She smiled and nodded, the way you smile and nod when someone shows you a picture of their kid and the kid looks like every other kid. What are you supposed to say? No, your robot is wrong, you’re actually an idiot?
Feb. 2, 2026
My neighbor thinks the HOA is spying on him through his smart thermostat. He told me this at the mailbox last Tuesday, completely sober, eyes steady, voice calm. Said he’d done the research. Said the patterns were undeniable.
I nodded and took my electric bill inside and thought about how ten years ago I would have called him crazy. Now I just think he picked the wrong conspiracy.
The thermostats aren’t watching. But something else is — and it’s doing worse than spying. It’s agreeing with him.
Dec. 20, 2024
Originally posted on WastedWetware.com, December 20, 2024
I’m three fingers deep into a bottle of Wild Turkey, staring at my screen, trying to make sense of the latest academic breakthrough that’s supposed to revolutionize artificial intelligence. Some guy named Robert Johansson just got his PhD by combining psychology with AI, and he’s calling it “Machine Psychology.” Because apparently what AI really needed was a therapy session.
Let me take another sip before I dive into this mess.