On: The Trump Administration Is Lifting Its Export Controls on Anthropic’s Mythos an

I have just read in the gazette that the administration, having first forbidden the export of certain thinking engines, has now, with equal conviction, permitted it. The models in question are named ‘Mythos’ and ‘Fable,’ which is a charming touch, for what is governance if not the careful curation of stories? It is a most efficient system: first, one builds a labyrinth and declares it necessary for the safety of the realm. Then, after a suitable interval of confusion, one removes a single wall and is hailed as a liberator. The labyrinth remains, of course, but the spirit of commerce is appeased.

They say these artifices are now deemed safe enough for foreign minds, which is a great comfort. It suggests that either the engines were never truly perilous, or that they have become so domesticated in these few weeks as to pose no threat. I am reminded of the royal physician who declared a patient too ill for travel on Monday, yet pronounced him cured enough for a grand ball by Thursday. The disease had not changed, but the social calendar demanded it.

One must admire the philosophical elegance. We are to understand that the nature of a thing - its capacity for good or ill - is not inherent, but waits upon the stamp of official correspondence. It is the best of all possible worlds, where danger is not a fixed property, but a temporary administrative status, like a visa. I shall walk in my garden and consider this. My melons do not behave so; they are either ripe or they are not. But then, they have not yet learned to tell stories.