June 2026 Links

Anthropic warned that its AI models are entering the recursive self-improvement stage, with engineers seeing productivity gains and models rivaling top talent, suggesting humans may soon be out of the loop.

When AI builds itself https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement : Anthropic issuing a warning ? that their models are starting to enter the RSI stage of capabilities. This appears to be true given a the productivity increases their engineers are seeing lines of code isn’t a perfect metric, but probably isn’t terrible either , and b how capable the models are relative to the top Anthropic engineers, who are pretty freaking smart and capable themselves. It seems unlikely that progress stalls. It also seems unlikely that humans continue to be in the loop—maybe there’s a different version of “models today are the worst they’ll ever be” that reads “humans are as involved today as they’ll ever be”. Spooky times ahead. Ariel School UFO incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel School UFO incident : “Sixty-two pupils at the Ariel School aged between six and twelve 1 2 said that they saw one or more silver craft descend from the sky and land on a field near their school. 1 2 Some of the children claimed that one or more creatures dressed all in black then approached and telepathically communicated to them a message with an environmental theme, frightening them and causing them to cry.” Apparently the environmental part is false, or at least not entirely true, and was pushed by a reporter during an interview after the fact. Some of the children maintain their account to this day. Iran Enlisted “Senior Psychologists” to Help Craft Messages to Trump Ahead of Agreement https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/iran-trump-psychologists-ceasefire-negotiations : It’s a bit surprising that this isn’t heard about more or maybe it’s just publicized because it makes Trump look weak and manipulable . There’s probably insane alpha in doing this for business deals. Perhaps AI can help hurt? in this: feed the model your counterpart’s social media profiles, the business, etc. and it outputs the best approach based on the literature, previous case studies, and its intuition. Tracing the Emergence of Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography https://cset.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/CSET-Tracing-the-Emergence-of-Extreme-Ultraviolet-Lithography.pdf : Overview of how EUV came to where it’s at now. Consortiums, failed attempts, and one final company standing. I think it’d be cool to get in contact with some of the EUV Tech founding members and interview them to see what it was like and what it’s like now. A forecast of Chinese DUV and EUV photolithography progress https://www.the-substrate.net/p/a-forecast-of-chinese-duv-and-euv : The Substrate discusses exactly what the title says: when is China expected to match ASML capabilities; what the roadblocks and hindrances are; what the chances are that they’re much closer than we anticipate. Baghdad Battery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad Battery : “An artifact consisting of a ceramic pot, a tube of copper, and a rod of iron fixed together with bitumen”. Some think it is the sign of an electrical device, others believe it is for magic spells. Lost in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Lucid Dreaming Is About to Become Insane Alpha https://kevinzhu.ai/writing/lucid-dreaming.html US Tells ASML It’s Concerned China May Have Top Chip Tool https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/us-tells-asml-concerned-china-032918446.html : This feels like an accusation that will allow future action, similar to us declaring Venezuela as an offical bad guy so we could launch military action against them. Explosion in Monaco injures 3, including Ukrainian tycoon https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/g-s1-130990/explosion-monaco-ukrainian-tycoon : If this is a Ukrainian operation, it seems they are getting bolder by the day, especially after some of their behind-Russian-lines ops targeting oil infrastructure. Will Ukrainian “traitors” bend the knee or just up their security? I’d guess a mix of both. What do people interpret from fatness? - by Katja Grace https://worldspiritsockpuppet.substack.com/p/what-do-people-interpret-from-fatness : I used to interpret fatness as lack of self control, apathy, laziness, and lack of intelligence don’t they know that being overweight is really bad for you? . I now still have a foot in that camp, but my other foot is in the “bad genetics” camp for various reasons. Regardless, GLP-1s are becoming cheaper, more effective, and safer. At what point will being fat be a choice because the person doesn’t want to take GLP-1s? If it was $1 what would that say about the person? A lot, I think. Byte-sized engineering: Why ASML software is a core part of chipmaking https://www.asml.com/en/news/stories/2024/byte-sized-software-engineering : Very high-level overview of ASML software engineering. I’ve heard from HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941 that they have a terrible codebase structure-wise . Yonaguni Monument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonaguni Monument : Man-made-looking keyword “looking” underwater sandstone formations off the coast of a Japanese island. Sandstone’s structure can easily make these straight lines given enough erosive forces and time. gwern comments on If I wanted to spend WAY more on AI, what would I spend it on? https://gwern.net/doc/www/www.greaterwrong.com/cebe471f93e709de9837b68ffea7ba3dc26de5c3.html : I’ve actually found it much easier to develop workflows with AI once I discovered one and realized what a simple conversation with Opus 4.8 in CC can accomplish. A few examples: creating an automatic table of contents, light and dark mode, a python script to add links, etc. It also helps you learn about things you never knew about. Thermal grill illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal grill illusion : Place two hot and two cold objects in alternating order to feel a very hot sensation that’s completely safe. Baffling body illusions https://www.rigb.org/sites/default/files/attachments/proprioception infosheet v2 0.pdf : Found these during a LessOnline session https://nomagicpill.substack.com/experiences/lessonline2026.html . I did the body-through-floor and thermal grill ones and found them super fun. Novel qualia, indeed Pranking My Roommate With Eerily Targeted Facebook Ads https://mythos.one/me/brianswichkow/095f0d : I think this is probably the future of advertisements, unless privacy laws that I know very little about, so the next part of this sentence may be completely off catch up and become more robust. The suggestion algorithms are extremely strong, so combine that with generative AI and the advertisements may become superb in both persuasion and quality. Pebble Index 01 https://repebble.com/index : A single-use audio-recording ring. I would buy this instantly if it was rechargeable. Why isn’t it rechargeable you ask? It would make the ring too bulky. Alexus Grynkewich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexus Grynkewich : “Commander of United States European Command, a role that is dual-hatted as Supreme Allied Commander Europe.” Mojibake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojibake : “garbled or gibberish text that is the result of text being decoded using an unintended character encoding” Paul Buchheit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul Buchheit : 23rd Google employee, creator of Gmail, and co-creator of the now-defunct “don’t be evil” motto. Gmail revolutionized email 20 years ago. People thought it was Google’s April Fool’s Day joke https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/ap-gmail-revolutionized-email-20-years-ago-people-thought-it-was-googles-april-fools-day-joke-2/ I Shipped a Facebook Feature So Fast Sheryl Sandberg Called an Emergency Meeting to Stop Me https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/i-shipped-a-facebook-feature-so-fast if it talks like a therapist... https://taylor.town/talk-like-a-therapist Cash Back https://mdickens.me/2025/11/06/cash back/ : What cash back really is and how credit card companies make money. You cannot grow a pumpkin https://taylor.town/pumpkin The Curious Case of Flunking My Anthropic Interview Again https://taylor.town/flunking-anthropic : Taylor describes his Anthropic interview process. Can You Pass the Test That Strikes Fear Into China’s High-Schoolers? https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinese-gaokao-test-quiz-c38937db?st=n62WFC&reflink=desktopwebshare permalink : I think I got five correct, with not all of those being confident. Difficult Plan Recurring Vacations With Friends https://taylor.town/20260519 : Taylor suggests ways to make gathering with friends as easy and effective as possible. As one of the main instigators of my friend groups, I approve of his ideas. More gatherings in 2026 Affordability is Bullshit https://justismills.substack.com/p/affordability-is-bullshit : It feels like affordability is a vibe that can easily be tainted by being around enough inflation complainers. My first foray into complaining about affordability was when my normal box of oats increased from $5.99 to $7.99. Nobody clicks your share buttons https://derekhanson.blog/nobody-clicks-your-share-buttons/ : I also find it funny that porn sites also had have? share buttons. And not even to places like Reddit, which has a thriving NSFW ecosystem, but to other places like Facebook. Who is sharing Pornhub links on Facebook I guess you might as well put them there just in case, but still Men Invented X So They Could Y | Know Your Meme https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/men-invented-x-so-they-could-y : My friend has run into a rash of these on dating apps, especially the “arm wrestling so they could hold hands and stare into each other’s eyes” variant. Jeff Dean Facts https://github.com/LRitzdorf/TheJeffDeanFacts : The Chuck Norris of software engineering. Jane Street Interview Simulator https://janestreet.gg/ : Built after Twitter/X users shared their Jane Street interview experiences. Twitter https://what-if.xkcd.com/34/ : “140 characters may not seem like a lot, but we will never run out of things to say.” For years I’ve thought I will simply run out of things to write on my website. That ideas will just stop coming forth, slowly pfading out and becoming less and less frequent over time. Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet “Normal” people are fucking pathetic https://brackishwatersbarrensoil.substack.com/p/normal-people-are-fucking-pathetic : Pretty douchey, kind of accurate ? , pretty sad. In the Weights https://www.intheweights.com/p/nomagicpill : Look, ma I’m in the weights kind of . Can’t really tell it’s me, but I’ll take it. Discuss https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/cAFhF66YzTiXKqz3e/june-2026-links comments