Origins

The Industrial Revolution begins.

Coalbrookdale by Night, Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1801

The painting depicts the Madeley Wood (or Bedlam) furnaces, which belonged to the Coalbrookdale Company from 1776 to 1796. It’s come to symbolize the birth of the Revolution in the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire.

Quote of the Day

”Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.”

• John Updike

Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news

Little Feat | Easy to Slip

Link

Long Read of the Day

 A masterpiece of Ryder Cup drama with a truth Donald Trump could never understand

Even if you hate golf this fine report by George Simms about the circus in New York State last weekend might cheer you up.

In his endless benevolence, Donald Trump arrived just before midday, a futile attempt to avoid inconveniencing fans, with one calling it “the most disorganised event I’ve ever been to”. And in a way he was always here, an endless shadow cast by not only the lingering prospect of his arrival but by an event seemingly designed for him, taking time out from his busy schedule of curing autism and failing to end whichever conflict has grabbed his eye this week.

In his home state, in a county which voted for him last year, playing a sport with largely right-leaning fans and overwhelmingly conservative players, this was Trump Day of the Trump Ryder Cup. As both Bryson DeChambeau and the White House Press Secretary have claimed, it would not be happening without him, having averted a minor rail strike. Even European fans now do jingoism through a Trump lens with “Make Europe Great Again” caps and T-shirts depicting Luke Donald in the Oval Office reading: “There’s a new Donald in town.”

(Note for non-golfers: Luke Donald was the captain of the European team that won the cup.)

Books, etc.

Tim Wu’s new book comes out on November 6. It’s about the way tech platforms have become the greatest machines for ‘wealth extraction’ that humanity has ever seen. He thinks that we are heading into a ‘two-class age’ where many industries become divided into two groups: the extractors and their agents on the one side; dependent businesses, consumers and employees on the other. And it’s also about the question that is rarely asked: just what happened to the broad spread of prosperity and democracy many expected to follow the Internet revolution. Instead we’ve wound up with intolerable levels of inequality and rising autocracy.

I’ve read nearly everything Wu has written. His book The Master Switch changed the way I think about digital technology.

My commonplace booklet

I have to give a talk about AI to a non-specialist audience later in the month, so I’ve been collecting examples of what LLMs can (and cannot) do. Here’s one I took from Simon Willison’s terrific blog. He gave Claude Sonnet 4.5 this picture and asked it to describe it:

The machine’s response:

This image shows a large gathering of pelicans crowded together along what appears to be a waterfront or shoreline. The birds are densely packed, creating a chaotic scene with dozens of brown pelicans visible. Their distinctive long bills and pouches are clearly visible among the mass of feathered bodies. In the background, there’s calm water and a dark tree line or forested area. The lighting suggests this was taken during early morning or late afternoon, giving the scene a golden, warm tone. The pelicans appear to be resting or congregating together, which is typical behavior for these colonial seabirds.

Not bad, eh?

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