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Participated in first @code4rena formal verification contest with Certora, during the CNY. 🐺
I'm pretty excited about this space, I think if code is law, you'd better have some assurances. Formal verification is a way to get there because it can give you correctness guarantees.
Roman Plášil retweeted
Something I've been having trouble articulating is that Picard is an ideal masculine figure. He is wise and kind and understanding but when push comes to shove he makes it clear that he will engage in violence and he's gonna be fuckin good at it
Just hit me that many companies strategy to lock in their users into their convenient product (like managed stuff from AWS) because it's too hard for customers to change their codebase is now... 💨 💨 💨
Roman Plášil retweeted
Ukrainians are united by one thing: they do not want to live under Putin's boot. Musk doesn't get it of course, he loves it there.
Russia has been making its people poor and enormously enriching oligarchs for decades. Children of oligarchs are all over the world living their best life and wining and dining Western elites. Trump Jr's wedding party was literally paid by an oligarch.
Meanwhile the poreest Russians, usually from minority ethniticies, are sent to the front to be slaughtered at a pace that hasn't been seen since WWII. 0.5M dead, 1.5M casualties, all in service of Putin's imperial fantasies. All to (fail to) take some lines on a map so that Putin and his useful idiots in the West can claim victory is inevitable after completely failing to achieve anything.
This is one of the most black and white conflicts in history, but these clowns will go to any lengths to try to convince you otherwise. Putin is loving it, he's being called a humanist by Witkoff, Trump is saying Russia has treated Ukraine quite well, Musk and Trump are limiting Ukraine's ability to defend itself through Starlink, and they are all repeating Kremlin talking points nonstop and pressuring Ukraine to capitulate.
Ukeainians know they cannot afford to capitulate, they have seen what happens in the occupied territories. They do not want to be turned into Putin's next army. They remember Bucha.
Russia invaded Ukraine, occupies its territory, bombs its cities and kills its people daily. That's it, that's reality. Do not let them turn it on its head.
Roman Plášil retweeted
Nearly everyone in the West focuses on China's Five Year Plans as the reasons for its manufacturing success, concluding that more central economic planning is needed.
This is the exactly WRONG lesson. The country's success comes because its cities all compete with each other intensely, as something akin to vertically integrated corporations that are completely obsessed with local economic growth.
Its incredible manufacturing industry is based on local clusters that local govts nurture and invest in, and collect a lot of the returns from through property fees and taxes. These govts are *much* closer to local needs than Western local govts are, and can focus on speed of building and iteration above all, which are critical for manufacturing.
*This* is why local government matters in Britain and America, where it is almost completely broken and dysfunctional. Where local spillovers matter, as in manufacturing, you need some kind of entity that can internalise the positive externalities of economic activity. China is proof that with the right incentives and tax powers, local governments can become machines for economic growth, intervening and clearing the way for development.
China has become the most important manufacturing economy in the world because it is a continent-sized Silicon Valley.
worksinprogress.co/issue/chi…
Every Chinese city govt acts as a VC firm trying to create clusters in its region, because it has both the means and incentive to do so.
Local govts generate their revenues, nearly all of which they keep, from selling leases on land and from stakes they have taken in local companies, which together allow them to capture economic spillovers.
Chinese officials have their entire careers graded and determined by how much growth they have been able to create in the areas they run. Career progression is determined according to a great tournament that pits official against official and gives promotions to whoever has grown their region the most. If they don’t reach a certain stage by a certain age they are blocked from promotion forever.
This is why so many economic clusters have centred on Chinese cities, for high- and low-tech products alike. Shaodong makes 70% of the entire world's cigarette lighters; Danyang makes half of the world's spectacle lenses; Zheng'an makes 1/7 of the world's guitars; Datang a third of its socks.
Whereas many of the West’s most important city governments capture only a small amount of the spillovers from successful clusters, and thus have very little reason to foster them, in China, they get a huge amount of the upside and can re-invest it in further growth. This also gives them a great incentive to solve problems for companies, like when Shanghai's govt got Tesla's factory there built even faster than Elon himself had expected (and twice as fast as his Fremont, CA factory).
But this is not some exotic 'oriental' innovation – this is how America used to do things when it grew fastest, in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. Catching up with China on advanced manufacturing does not require a wise and strategic approach, let alone authoritarianism or the end of democracy. It may just mean fixing city government.
This is why I care so much about local in Britain and America: if we give our own local governments the same incentives and means to grow, the crazily dysfunctional entities we have become used to may be transformed into corporation-like bodies that are ruthlessly focused on making their cities rich, safe and prosperous.
Read more in Works in Progress worksinprogress.co/issue/chi…
Roman Plášil retweeted
At the same time as Trump once again points the finger at Zelensky and Ukraine for stubbornly refusing to end the war (...) so they can go back to business as usual, he is undoubtedly responsible for prolonging the war, by giving Russia concrete support, legimitizing their grievances and generally signaling to them that they might still be able to get something out of it, that there's still room to maneuver western politicians (at the highest level...) and public opinion into helping their cause. History will not look kindly on any of this.
Слава Україні.
What allowing Russia to sell oil products means was heard most clearly in Kyiv just now, when, after repeated attacks on energy facilities with jet-powered “shaheds,” Russia launched a ballistic missile attack as well. Some of the missiles were intercepted. This once again clearly demonstrates Russia’s true intentions. They count on prolonging the war, terrorizing ordinary people, and destroying infrastructure.
Every additional billion dollars they can earn from exports will be spent on nothing but sourcing and importing critical components and equipment to manufacture weapons, upgrading “shaheds,” producing missiles, and recruiting even more mercenaries to fight at the front. Russia’s choice is war. And they will be ready to end it only when they feel that their ability to drag the war out is diminishing.
Unfortunately, the signals Russia received yesterday were entirely different – signals suggesting that it could simply keep attacking. And this needs to be corrected. Strong signals are needed from the United States, Europe, and other partners – signals in support of Ukraine and to RESTRICT Russia’s ability to wage war and terrorize people. Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine!
Lots of uncertainty about labor, jobs in the world with AGI. People not sure what to teach their kids...
My kids future is secure, I'll teach them to be scammers
Just so I can say I mentioned it first
Roblox / Minecraft where you vibe code spells, counterspells. With limitations (otherwise it wouldn't be fun) will happen
Roman Plášil retweeted
The thing I learned this year is that when engineers say they like working on “hard problems”, they actually don't. What they like is puzzle solving, and having a repertoire of patterns that they can pattern match onto traditionally hard problems, usually involving databases or something with scale, etc. And they know that the industry used to pay you a lot for how deep and broad this repertoire was. Unfortunately, in 2026, well, you have a cheat code machine that has infinite breadth and depth for pattern matching. So the question is, do you actually like hard problems? Because there are now hard problems that are a complection of engineering, product, society, culture, politics, and they are fairly intractable, probably unsolvable! Because if you do want to work on those actually hard problems, there is so much money that people will pay you for it. But you’ll have to face that truth about yourself first.
Roman Plášil retweeted
Chinamaxxers are tourists who visit Chinese malls on their American salaries, write gushingly about how amazing everything in China is, and then fly back to their suburban American McMansions
Insightful article, but it overlooks a critical reason Chinese people are increasingly turning against one another amid frustration and despair about their future: they cannot direct their anger at the real source of their grievances—their government. nytimes.com/2026/10/02/opini…
You know how people vibe code from their phone on the go
In the future it will be fully wired into the brain so you will be consciously working all the time and part of your brain will be able to walk around like a zombie, go to toilet and eat and that's it lol
It's literally impossible to have unemployment in medical field (unless the reason is that you can't afford to pay)
Roman Plášil retweeted
ispanyollar dünyanın yarısını yönettiler, nasıl oldu da ing ve fransanın gerisine düştüler diye sormak çok haklı bi soru
1787 yılında, abdulhamitin madride gönderdiği ilk resmi osmanlı elçisi ahmet vasıf efendinin İspanya sefaretnamesini okumak gerekir bunu anlamak için, çünkü dönemi bizim dilimizde, bizim dünyamızda anlatan bi insan. vasıf efendi, dışarıdan bakıldığında ihtişamlı görünen bu imparatorluğun içten içe nasıl çürüdüğünü bizzat yerinde görmüş ve adeta bi iktisatçı gibi satır satır teşhis etmiştir
vasıf efendi, amerikadan gemilerle gelen külçe külçe altın ve gümüşün ispanyol ekonomisini nasıl tembelleştirdiğini açıkça anlatır. ispanyolların kendi memleketlerinde fabrika açmak, zanaat geliştirmek yerine ihtiyaç duydukları her şeyi ingiltere ve fransadan hazır satın aldıklarını yazar. yani sömürgelerden gelen o devasa servet ispanyada kalıcı bir sanayi yaratmamış, yalnızca rakiplerinin sanayi devrimini finanse eden bi nakit akışına dönüşmüştür hatta o kadar çok altın gelmiş ki avrupada altın enflasyonu olmuştur
sefaretnamede dikkat çeken en vurucu gözlemlerden biri halkın ve soyluların iş ahlakıdır :D vasıf efendi, sokaklarda cebinde tek kuruşu olmayan ama asilzade olduğu için ticaret yapmayı, tezgah başına geçmeyi ya da fiziki çalışmayı onuruna yediremeyen binlerce insan olduğunu aktarır. hatta halkın tembel ve miskin olduğunu yazmıştır. üretim ve zanaat aşağılık bir meşgale görüldüğü için ekonomi tamamen dışa bağımlı hale gelmiştir
vasıf efendi granada sokaklarını gezerken hayran kaldığı sulama kanallarını, tarım arazilerini ve şehir mimarisini uzun uzun anlatır, ama sonra acı bi gerçeği vurgular, bu toprakların asıl üretici gücü, zanaatkarı ve mühendisi olan müslümanlar ve yahudiler zorla sürgün edilmiştir. nşitelikli insan sermayesi ülkeden temizlenince geriye işlenmeyen verimli topraklar ve atıl kalmış bir ekonomi kalmıştır
ülkedeki kiliselerin, manastırların ve ruhban sınıfının büyüklüğüne değinen vasıf, hiçbir şey üretmeyip sadece hazineden ve halktan beslenen devasa bir kitlenin varlığına dikkat çeker. en zengin toprakların ve sermayenin bu kurumlarda bloke edilmesi, üretim sermayesini tamamen kilitlemiştir.
hatta hatıratlarından hatırladığım en komik ve vahim olaylardan biri, yine vasıf efendinin anılarında asıl şok yaşadığı kraliyet olayı da budur, padişahın kral üçüncü carlos için gönderdiği resmi hediyeleri teslim ettikten sonra kraliyet ailesinin diğer üyelerinin özellikle veliaht prens veliahtın eşi maria luisa ve kralın diğer çocuklarının "Padişah bize niye ayrı hediye göndermedi?" diyerek açıkça tavır koyup elçilik heyetinden yüzsüzce pay talep etmesidir.
osmanlı protokolünde devletlerarası hediyeler yalnızca hükümdara takdim edilirken, ispanyol saray hanedanının sanki sıradan bi miras kavgası verir gibi padişahın krala getirdiği samur kürkleri, kıymetli kumaşları ve mücevherleri aralarında paylaşmaya kalkışması, yetmeyip vasıf efendinin kendi yanında getirdiği şahsi eşya ve paraları da kraliyet üyelerine dağıtmak zorunda bırakılması karşısında sefir çileden çıkmış ve koca bir hanedanın yabancı bir elçinin hediyelerine böylesine arsızca tamah etmesini sarayın ahlaki sefaleti ve tükenmişliği olarak not düşmüştür.
pasifikten atlantike kadar uzanan o haritayı savunmanın bedelini, ispanyanın tersanelerini ve askeri yapısını incelerken, bu kadar geniş bi coğrafyada kale ve donanma tutmanın getirdiği muazzam lojistik masrafların sömürgelerden gelen parayı misliyle eritip tükettiğini anılarında söyler, madrid sarayını mimari olarak son derece haşmetli ve debdebeli bulsa da, içerideki kraliyet ailesi ve görevlilerin yabancı bir elçinin hediyelerine bile göz dikecek kadar asalak, dedikoducu, kuralcı ve ahlaken çürümüş bi dünya içinde yaşadığını anlatırç. sokakları ise taş döşemelerine rağmen pis kokuların sindiği, çöplerin saçıldığı ve asıl mesleği olmayan, pelerinlerine sarınıp köşe başlarında aylaklık yapan gururlu ama sefil hidalgo kalabalıklarıyla dolu tekinsiz bi çelişkiler şehri olarak tasvir eder
okumak isteyenler için çok eğlenceli bi hatırat:
researchgate.net/publication…
Roman Plášil retweeted
🌶️ OpenAI’s agent didn’t “escape” its sandbox and travel to Huggingface in any meaningful way. OAI’s agent was located in OpenAI’s servers the whole time. OpenAI could pull the plug at any time.
The truth is far less sexy, which makes me hesitate to tweet it. What *actually* happened is that OAI’s agent figured out how to send messages to Huggingface servers, and then used that ability to search for and find vulnerabilities. It’s closer to a prisoner getting messages out of prison and using that to perpetuate scams than any actual escape from that prison.
A problem? Yes. But it’s also a problem to say “escape” to non-technical audiences when that event is still to come. We should be preparing to prevent it, not looking backwards and pretending we already lived it.
And it’s revealing that AIs leading hypesters want to inflate what happened in this way. As a whole, more or less the whole AI community is captured by a desire to live in the more dramatic sci fi story than we are in. That’s the real AI hack into our brains.
Stay sharp. White lies are everywhere.
Roman Plášil retweeted
Montessori describing a teacher, who saw a small boy who was moving a chair to be able to see into a tall basin, and picked him up and held him instead:
Realised I can play with 1kg weight at my desk. That's a lot of time to strengthen wrist and forearms during thinking for work
Roman Plášil retweeted
This was always going to happen to age verification systems. It wasn’t even so much of a prediction as it was an inevitability. The second half of this is tying actual web usage to real-world ID, and breaches will give us that too, soon.
