Maggie Appleton
@Mappletons
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Design engineer at @GithubNext. Making hacky AI prototypes. Writes about design, code, & anthropology. I'm mostly on Bluesky these days 🦋 @maggieappleton.com
London, England
Joined April 2013
Spending a lot more time on Bluesky from now on. Handle is @maggieappleton.com Might still x-post occasionally, but most of the people I enjoy interacting with have moved over, which is all I needed. Come join us!
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I cannot emphasize enough how much I prefer this "tutorial doc + build-it-yourself" coding workflow to the typical "ugh" feeling of reviewing huge agent PRs. You can try it right now and see for yourself: 1) Instead of having Claude Code make a PR, ask it to output a Markdown
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Lenders can more easily work with state and local agencies to find grants and programs that may help borrowers afford a home thanks to our streamlined resources. Learn how.
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It's the first week of my new life @GitHubNext 🎉 I've been following this team's work for a long time and it feels like the perfect moment to join. So far, ✨ people. Described by @idangazit as "camelot for nerds"
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Didn't mean to write a whole essay, but got on a roll. Started by responding to this NYT op-ed: https://t.co/PLkNanBRBk Good, but it was missing a technical understanding of why models are like this – namely, RLHF. Humans want approval and rate complimentary responses better.
nytimes.com
A historian sees the dangerous parallels between artificial intelligence and the Enlightenment.
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I've been trying to articulate why the fawning, complimentary responses from AI chatbots feel so insidious to me. I've figured out how to explain it. Wrote a piece on how current model training and design choices threaten our critical thinking skills: https://t.co/3Z4E2BDreu
maggieappleton.com
On chatbot sycophancy, passivity, and the case for more intellectually challenging companions
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Postponed until mid/late-April but will still do this at some point!
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Building a research aggregator with Steve on the ValTown livestream on Friday. Come hang out if you're free. 10am EST / 2pm GMT
Pumped for this livestream with the brilliant @Mappletons this Friday, 10am ET Maggie is a pioneer in the Future of Coding. So excited to show her the new Val Town Projects. Come join! https://t.co/opcuN368dW
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Posted some March updates to my now page: Normally shut down, baby is imminent, I've bought a giant pile of books, and I'm working on some new prototypes exploring critical thinking x language models. https://t.co/T8EfLMnk1s
maggieappleton.com
Maggie's digital garden filled with visual essays on programming, design, and anthropology
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People often ask me what’s so special about Future of Coding London. “The people” is one obvious answer. “The demos” is where it’s really at. @Mappletons and @TodePond most of all created this atmosphere where people feel free to share everything from scrappy fiddles to things
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AI is reshaping energy demand, and we’re ready. Our Chairman & CEO Mike Wirth shares how we’re powering the future.
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This is the announcement announcement The next Future of Coding London will be on Friday, February 28th (18:00) Register below! 👇 Submit demos further below!
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If you want to demo at the next event (in Feb / March), here's the signup link: https://t.co/bL4mQboZjo Can be anything you like. The weirder the better.
foc-london.notion.site
Hosted by Notion Sites — The easiest way to get a website up and running.
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Pleased to announce @anselm_io and @TodePond are taking over running the London Future of Coding meetup while I'm out on mat leave this year 🎉 They've both been committed community members since the beginning and the perfect people to take over. Join the Luma calendar for
luma.com
View and subscribe to events from Future of Coding London on Luma. This London branch of the Future of Coding community. FoC is a community with a welcoming, cooperative, and revolutionary spirit. We...
This is a pre-announcement announcement: @TodePond and I will temporarily take over hosting Future of Coding London from the legendary @Mappletons (for reasons outlined in her latest blog post) We’re still finding a first date in Feb/Mar, but you can already submit demos👇
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A few months ago I started writing a short note about my experience of pregnancy so far… somehow turned into 6000+ words I had a lot of thoughts on fruit babies, naturalness narratives, wild bananas, and the existential quality of growing someone new https://t.co/YSGnTZ24Dr
maggieappleton.com
Reflections on the strange experience of growing a human from scratch, without any conscious understanding of how you are doing it
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Five seconds. ⏱️ One name. Make it unforgettable. Find your unforgettable name on Atom.
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New creation in the works. Should be fully baked by March. Most impressive thing I’ve ever done without having any clue what I’m doing.
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Solved! Sponsorship secured. (Though if you want to sponsor future ones, do get in touch)
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I'm still actively looking for sponsors for this edition. If you work for a company that wants to present to a willing audience of creative developers (mix of web, backend, ML) – get in touch! Costs £400-500 and you get a 15-20min demo slot to say anything you like.
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Just put up the next London Future of Coding meetup: https://t.co/IEA2llxkzb Friday, November 22nd at @nwspk Festive edition! 🎄 Doing a pub quiz on computing history instead of our usual demos. Come for silly games, mince pies, and obscure programming references.
luma.com
Welcome to the lucky thirteenth edition of our London FoC meetup! 🎄 Festive Pub Quiz Edition ☃️ This is a chance for folks who are part of the Future of…
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OMG - I need this for my son.We live on a second floor. He would LOVEEEEEEE.
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Episode #16 is out. Anselm Eickhoff (@anselm_io) on building Jazz and embracing a local-first web.
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Losing a hyper-social place to put crappy, half-baked sketches and ideas, and get real reactions to them, is one of the larger losses at stake. Idea-development space requires more than a Twitter-shaped platform. Also needs a lively culture of generous replies, yes-and-ing, and
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