Cute Beats Smart is an excellent curative to this horror.
Recent Bluessky Posts- The decision below was radioactive. No wonder they want to bury it. February 10, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- I'm old enough to recall Google's old motto, "Don't be evil." Guess that's long, long gone now. February 10, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- One of every thousand American residents has been taken into custody by ICE in the last year. February 10, 2026 Angus Johnston
- Need advice: how best to respond to this (pig butchering scam?) text from nameless 437 area code "I came across your name and thought I'd ask, how did we meet again?" Obviously the best reply is none, but I was really tempted to reply either "in jail?" Or maybe "at FBI training?" Suggestions welcome February 10, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- We need an answer to why the US in the 21st century elected one of the most evil men alive to be President. I think it must have a lot to do with the collapse of crucial vetting institutions, including the Republican Party and the media. But no doubt there is also an important cultural story. February 10, 2026 David Froomkin
Not for those of us who are smart but not cute it doesn’t. I’d want, at least, buzzsaws and laser beams on my robot.
Oh please, professor. It’s obvious that the little, innocent-looking robot is using its cuteness to manipulate others into doing the work for it – and then, of course, it gets the credit at the end, not the 20-30 faceless people it duped into doing its navigation for it. It fooled everyone and came out on top.
Shoot, it probably WROTE the 48 laws!
Ha great comments all. I vote for at least one buzzsaw, just on principle. But buzzsaws tend to work against the cuteness factor…
Niccolo Machiavelli had better and more useful advice in the Prince than can be found in the 48 laws.
I got bored reading them (and I’m an avid reader with a pretty good attention-span); it seems like a lot of mental effort to be a scheming, lying, manipulating parasite. And there’s no guarantee that other people will be as dumb as you need them to be in order for the 48 laws to work for you.
Axelrod’s Evolution of Co-operation has a simpler strategy: Co-operate with others as your default strategy, retaliate against those who take advantage of your co-operation.
My own (derivative) theory is that there are two primary types of interaction possible, and two derivative types: The primary two are co-operating and competing, and the derivative two are competing-under the guise of co-operating and co-operating under the guise of competing. both derivative types of interactions can also be referred to as cheating. Cheating is almost impossible to avoid when trying to satisfy the needs of multiple parties, but the best strategy for happiness is to minimize the cheating.