Ryan McGreal

Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, sitting alone on the surface of Mars.

It is 1991. I am 15 years old. The US has gone to war in the Middle East.

It is 2003. I am 27 years old. The US has gone to war in the Middle East.

It is 2026. I'm too old for this shit. The US has gone to war in the Middle East.

I guess Trump got bored of peace.

Not to worry, everyone: AI will either:

- end scarcity;
- wipe out humanity; or
- boost annual GDP growth by 0.2%

“We have this narrative that explicit misogyny is something from the ’50s and ’60s, and what we have now is like implicit bias and microaggressions. I think this made clear that explicit misogyny is still out there in science and in academia, it’s just perhaps behind closed doors.”

Not for nothing, but Republicans are cruelly politicizing people’s identities at the same time they’re promoting a deliberately obstructionist voter ID law that is calibrated to disenfranchise legitimate voters rather than ensure they have the right to vote.

YouTube video by Ryan McGreal - Topic I'm Not OK (And How Are You Doing)

New single just dropped: “I’m Not OK (And How Are You Doing)”, now available on all music streaming platforms

If you’re doing a PhD in Ancient Greek history, do you need a Theseus advisor?

Today’s reminder that every right-wing accusation is a confession.

This state’s power prices are plummeting as it nears 100% renewables South Australia is proving to the world that relying largely on wind and solar energy with battery back-up is incredibly cheap, with electricity prices tumbling by 30 per cent in a year and sometimes ...

Trump’s corrupt fossil fuel stooges pretend clean energy is expensive, but reality keeps intruding. Fossil fuel paid good money for those lies, so they’ll keep at it. www.newscientist.com/article/2514...

♫ Serif don’t like it
Rock the Comic Sans
Rock the Comic Sans ♫

I raised this story because the question posed to LLMs reminds me a lot of Kahneman’s question: it seems specifically designed to reveal a disconnect between fast, intuitive thinking vs. slow, deliberative thinking.

Maybe LLMs prefer heuristics to reasoning in a manner analogous to humans.

Most people know or at least suspect the answer is wrong, but as Kahneman wanted us to understand, it’s really hard to engage System 2 when System 1 is chirping in your ear with an easy, emotionally satisfying answer. Once they hear the correct answer, most people groan and agree with it.

It’s designed to trick your intuitive System 1 into the snap conclusion that the prices are $1.00 and 10¢, respectfully, which feels right but violates the second constraint. Kahneman designed it to illustrate that our brains prefer fast heuristics to slow, expensive, brute-force System 2 reasoning.

The models seem to be engaging in heuristics that superficially mimic reasoning. It reminds me of Daniel Kahneman’s question: “If a bat and a ball cost $1.10 together and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does each item cost?” The overwhelming majority of humans get it wrong.

Imagine the #HamOnt media coverage if downtown councillors moved a callous budget amendment to defer the safety measures recommended in the RHVP commissioner’s report? @chchnews.bsky.social @thespec1846.bsky.social @joeycoleman.ca

ATTN: Ward 3 & Main St neighbours. Councillors who live no where near you are trying to stop Main St safety & complete streets interventions this budget. I know families who lost loved one or experienced critical injuries and will continue to fight for you. Pls email ward3@hamilton.ca to connect.

We're aligning our fuel efficiency standards with the Europeans, which could open a bunch of doors around additional supply options/models. And we're bringing back the rebates.

Perfection, as ever, is the enemy of good.

Fatalism and nihilism are two of fascism’s best friends. Do not succumb to them.

People often disparage the press — and we often get it wrong — but almost everything you know about this administration is not because pundits go on tv or social media and pontificate but because of relentless reporting from real journalists at institutions that give them resources to do so.

We are seeing the convergence of all of these tactics across media, and the absolute purge at the @washingtonpost.com of some 300 staff and entire news divisions at one of this nation’s greatest newspapers while an open ideologue has been handed CBS’s reins are signs of a democracy in deep decline.

Lessons from other eroded democracies show there’re multiple ways to destroy the free press.Yes, you can arrest/intimidate journalists like last week.You can also buy news organizations, destroy their credibility and gut their newsrooms. You can sue frivolously until newsrooms can’t afford to fight.

If you deny something often, angrily and shamelessly enough, people accept your denial, like Trump’s “Russia Russia Russia” line. But the Mueller Report, the Senate Intelligence Committee Report and the Intelligence Community assessment all exist. His abasement to Russia should not surprise anyone.

Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."

This passed unnoticed: New Pew poll finds 64% oppose mass detention of migrants while their cases are decided.

That directly repudiates MAGA. Trumpism treats the release of migrants awaiting hearings as a mortal blow to the nation. The broader public does not. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/2060...

YouTube video by Ryan McGreal - Topic Iridescent Flashes

I have just released my new single, "Iridescent Flashes", in which I shamelessly indulge my maximalist tendencies in a nostalgic homage to my fuzzy memories of the early 1990s.

It’s now available on all major streaming services.

I keep saying to people in my life that the problem with writing in these days is that you sound absolutely off your nut for simply saying what is happening.

Article published on The Interim on January 20, 2026, titled, “Alberta Conservatives pass pro-life, pro-family motions”. The text reads: “Paul Tuns: Delegates at the Alberta United Conservative Party (UCP) annual general meeting Nov. 28-30, held in Edmonton, passed several pro-life and pro-family motions including a call to defund late-term abortions, restricting, and upholding parental rights. Campaign Life Coalition endorsed 12 of the 36 policy resolutions and all 12 passed, most with large majorities of the more than 4000 delegates attending the…”

Article published in the Globe and Mail on February 3, 2026, titled, “Death of premature Alberta baby with measles was not made public for months, documents show”. The text of the article, not pictured, reads in part: “Alberta has the highest rate of cases per capita of any province or territory, and has been under scrutiny for its measles response and approach to public transparency. Canada’s measles outbreak began in November, 2024, and continues to simmer, resulting in the country losing its long-held measles elimination status last November. The Globe previously reported that Alberta rejected expert advice to include probable measles cases in public reporting and has delayed efforts by public-health officials to stifle the transmission of measles.”

NO. You don’t get to be pro-life and anti-vaccine.

Stephen Miller out here just straight-up explaining why apartheid is normal and traditional and why should America be any different than any other empire?

The Grand Old Party has come a long way from Reagan’s shining city on a hill, let alone Lincoln’s new birth of freedom.

The Court that so recently un-wrote the plain text of section 3 of the 14th amendment is capable of whipping itself into just about any position vis-a-vis the US constitution.

Trump is not omnipotent and his urge to steal the midterms is not unstoppable. Between normal thermostatic politics, specific revulsion at his policies, organizing and campaigning by his opponents, his ongoing failure to improve people’s economic prospects…
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