[FRIAM] My new substack (self-promotion)

[Russ Abbott]

Hi all,

Apologies for this self-promotion--I hope you are not offended--but I'm
posting this to introduce and to invite you to look at my new Substack
<https://russabbott.substack.com/archive?sort=new>. For the past three
months, I've been writing posts to a personal Substack, i.e., what used to
be called a blog. I'm enjoying doing it and have now produced what is
probably a representative "body of work."

Like Friam, I write about things I find interesting--which covers a fairly
wide range of topics. Most of my posts have been about the election. (I
support Harris.) But I try not to write things you can find elsewhere.
(A recent
post <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/abortion-laws>, including
the comments, has discussed some legal/philosophical issues related to
abortion laws.)

I also write about AI:

   - AI weather forecasting
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/ai-weather-forecasting>
   - A Socratic dialog in which Clause becomes convinced it is not
   intelligent <http://I convince an LLM that it is not intelligent>
   - Stuart Rusell on Safe AI
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/stuart-russell-on-safe-ai>
   - A discussion with Claude about how it is similar to Searle's Chinese
   room
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/symbol-processing-vs-subjective-experienceunders>
   - How Claude <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/wolf-goat-and-cabbage>,
   ChatGPT
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/wolf-goat-cabbage-with-chatgpt>, and
   Gemini
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/wolf-goat-and-cabbage-with-gemini>
   get very confused when asked to solve a variant of the Wolf, Goat, Cabbage
   problem.

I've also posted on other topics such as

   - Oscar Levant
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/were-any-of-you-alive-when-oscar> (are
   any of you old enough to remember him on the Tonight Show?),
   - Aphantasia, the inability of some people to form mental images
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/aphantasia-the-inability-to-form>
   - Women's Break Dancing at the Olympics
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/womens-break-dancing> -- because I
   was amazed that it was an Olympic sport
   - Bess Kalb, the comedy writer, and why I subscribed to her Substack
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/todays-post-from-bess-kalb>
   - Mysterious Brain Diseases in New Brunswick Canada
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/they-all-got-mysterious-brain-diseases>
   - Desi Lydic of the Daily Show
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/desi-lydic>
   - Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/alex-carp>
   - A link to a discussion of consciousness with Brian Green, David
   Chalmers, and Anil Seth
   <https://russabbott.substack.com/p/what-creates-consciousness>

Unlike most substacks, mine is completely free. I'd be honored for you to
check it out.

Thanks.

-- Russ Abbott
Professor Emeritus, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles
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