@stevemullis.net
Roving news editor based in Seattle; D&D DM // Former: NPR's Morning Edition & Up First, NPR digital, MPR News, Orlando Sentinel. Other: Big fan of dogs, TTRPGs and nerdy stuff. Reading: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Our database paints a detailed financial picture for President Donald Trump and hundreds of his political appointees, some of whom have ties to the industries they regulate.
The disclosures include their recent employers, assets and debts.
Spent the day not reading the news and walking around Emerald City Comic Con #ECCC. It was great. Too much to see. During these times, it is nice to see people have a space to let their nerd/geek/fan/identity flag fly free and without judgment (other than the contests). I may go back tomorrow.
Not defending Amodei or Anthropic, just noting that folks should go read shit for themselves. I, personally, think it creates a lot of confusion and misunderstanding when Amodei/Anthropic to use brain science terms like "neurons" to describe their AI model.
Here's the full interview:
A screenshot of an X post by @Polymarket. Text: "BREAKING: Anthropic CEO says Claude may or may not have gained consciousness, as the model has begun showing symptoms of anxiety."
Amodei: We’re putting a lot of work into this field called interpretability, which is looking inside the brains of the models to try to understand what they’re thinking. And you find things that are evocative, where there are activations that light up in the models that we see as being associated with the concept of anxiety or something like that. When characters experience anxiety in the text, and then when the model itself is in a situation that a human might associate with anxiety, that same anxiety neuron shows up. Now, does that mean the model is experiencing anxiety? That doesn’t prove that at all, but —— Douthat: But it does indicate it, I think, to the user, right? Amodei: Yes.
Seeing a lot of people sharing this, but
1) Polymarket is not a news site, so ... why?
2) No link. No story. So again, why?
3) It appears to be a twisting of what Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said to Ross Douthat in an interview last month
This has nothing to do with the specific content here, but Polymarket adopting the language of news, here with BREAKING, and with Texas election results earlier this week, is BAD. Polymarket is not and will never be a news org or break news. It's a betting app. It's Draft Kings for sociopaths.
An image of American actor, comedian, juggler and writer WC Fields, with prominent red nose of the drunkard
Why does the congressman look like he was in the middle of getting ready for a WC Fields bit?
Amodei: We’re putting a lot of work into this field called interpretability, which is looking inside the brains of the models to try to understand what they’re thinking. And you find things that are evocative, where there are activations that light up in the models that we see as being associated with the concept of anxiety or something like that. When characters experience anxiety in the text, and then when the model itself is in a situation that a human might associate with anxiety, that same anxiety neuron shows up. Now, does that mean the model is experiencing anxiety? That doesn’t prove that at all, but —— Douthat: But it does indicate it, I think, to the user, right? Amodei: Yes.
I see some aggregation sites reporting this in the last two days, and it traces back to Amodei's exchange with Ross Douthat last month. And it's not really what he says.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
Headlines on the front page of the New York Times: U.S. Lost 92,000 Jobs in February, an Unexpected Decline LIVE March 6, 2026, 10:51 a.m. ET4m ago Unemployment Rate Rose in Sign of Shakier Economy Job growth fizzled last month and the rate of unemployment rose to 4.4 percent, the Labor Department reported. See more updates › Stocks Drop as Weak Jobs Report Adds to Uncertain Outlook Stock movements this week has been choppy as investors weighed the inflationary impact of the war in the Middle East. The jobs report has complicated matters. 2 min read Big Revisions Are a Reason to Question Jobs Numbers, Not Dismiss Them 6 min read Health Care Has Become the Lifeblood of the Labor Market
A reminder that if someone boasts that the economy is "booming," they're either rich or lying.
Why is this “Breaking” from Polymarket? Is there an actual story here? Is there a link to where Amodei or Anthropic made this claim?
At the center of the prediction markets boom is a bitter rivalry between two 20-something billionaire fintech bros vying for their companies to be distinct, despite everyone constantly lumping them together
"For them, it's existential," a former Kalshi employee told me
www.npr.org/2026/03/06/n...
Does he have to dress like a chef all the time everywhere he goes, like the Mandalorian of gastronomy
This quote comes from a Time story by Eric Cortellessa. Here is the full context and quote.
time.com/7382697/trum...
maybe turn if off and turn it on again?
Commercial data centers are well equipped to handle cyber attacks, but drone strikes are another story.
We, the Attorneys General for the States of New York, New Jersey, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin (the States) write to object to the Census Bureau Notice entitled “Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; 2026 Operational Test in Support of the 2030 Census” (the Notice), which was issued by the Census Bureau (the Bureau) and published in the Federal Register on February 3, 2026.
NEW: 21 Democratic state attorneys general call on the Trump administration to reverse its planned changes to this year's field test of the #2030Census, including using an unrelated survey form that includes a U.S. citizenship question and reducing six test sites to two
oag.ca.gov/system/files...
OpenAI’s latest Pentagon deal divided employees. While CEO Sam Altman said publicly he supported certain red lines—to not allow its AI to be used for legal mass surveillance or the development of autonomous weapons—the company’s agreement appeared to leave room for those very activities.
It's all just a fun game to him. People are being killed.
Not the point, but this post from @kissphoria.bsky.social remains 100% accurate
Oh, damn. I'll be coming for some of those stickers tomorrow. Got a 2026 journal that needs decorating.
Hilariously, OnMeth.com now redirects to a Thai casino/restaurant or something. Great job, Noem.
Really hung up on the chief Washington correspondent for ABC News, a supposed journalist, having no shame about telling the president, "nobody questions the success of the military operation."
Uh, yeah, there are questions. You're a journalist. Question it, man.
Hell yeah. This museum rules. If you ever get the chance, go check it out in Florida.
Whoa, Bluesky finally hired a head of comms. I applied for and interviewed for this role last year. Seems like a challenging job to take on. Good luck to Josh. I hope this helps Bluesky thrive and grow in a positive direction.
Mullin was on TV a lot over the weekend. There's a high probability that, more than anything else, this is what got him the job.
