Links for 2024-04-30
AI:
A new model called gpt2-chatbot might be better than GPT-4 but nobody knows what it is or who made it. Possibly tuned for agentic capabilities or a test bed for q*? https://x.com/blader/status/1785199386173313086
Self-navigating car navigating traffic in India. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdJ1ETCC6fY
“Releasing StarCoder2 Instruct! 🚀 Achieves 72% HumanEval score using only self-generated content without any GPT-3.5/4 data. This work demonstrates that self-instruct works already well at the 15B scale without data from proprietary models!” https://x.com/BigCodeProject/status/1785030523007439015
OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT memory to carry over learnings between conversations https://openai.com/blog/memory-and-new-controls-for-chatgpt
Adobe's VideoGigaGAN uses AI to make blurry videos sharp and clear https://videogigagan.github.io/
California bill to regulate AI models. https://x.com/psychosort/status/1784663936513524074
“Yann LeCun says in 10 years we won’t have smartphones, we will have augmented reality glasses and bracelets to interact with our intelligent assistants” https://x.com/tsarnick/status/1784683944023347250
Miscellaneous:
The world’s largest 3D printer is at a university in Maine. It just unveiled an even bigger one https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx7d34nl5vwo
Expect a Wave of Waferscale Computers: TSMC tech allows for one version now, and a more advanced version in 2027 https://spectrum.ieee.org/tsmc-advanced-packaging
Plato’s final hours recounted in scroll found in Vesuvius ash https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/29/herculaneum-scroll-plato-final-hours-burial-site
Solution to yesterday’s math #1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinker_paradox
The difference between the best worker on computer hardware and the average may be 2 to 1, if you’re lucky. With automobiles, maybe 2 to 1. But in software, it’s at least 25 to 1. The difference between the average programmer and a great one is at least that. The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world. And when you’re in a field where the dynamic range is 25 to 1, boy, does it pay off.
— Steve Jobs in 1995
Politics:
“Every major currency in the world has fallen against the U.S. dollar this year, an unusually broad shift with the potential for serious consequences across the global economy.” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/business/a-strong-us-dollar-weighs-on-the-world.html [no paywall: https://archive.is/xOVVY]
This should give you a pause for thought if you believe we can solve much harder problems like the fertility crisis. Here's a super-safe ~zero-carbon energy technology at a time of unprecedented global energy demand coupled with climate change concerns, and it's not utilized. https://x.com/elidourado/status/1785145055474327870
Ukraine:
Ukrainian SSO units hit two BUK air defense systems in the area bordering the Sumy region. https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1785311193315319973
“Finnish flights are cancelled because of Russian electronic warfare against the west. The GPS jamming has been ongoing for month. The Russians are humiliating Europe, but our politicians decide to do nothing. Avoiding escalation, even when aggression is directed at us.” https://x.com/emilkastehelmi/status/1785188053553648119
Czechia confirmed that Russian military intelligence was directly involved in the explosions at ammunition depots in Vrbětice. https://www.rferl.org/a/czech-police-vrbetice-blasts-russia-gru-ammunition-depots/32925105.html
“Footage has been released regarding the attack in Odesa, yesterday. It confirms that Russia used cluster ammunition against a civilian center. One of many deliberate war crimes Russia has committed throughout this war.” https://x.com/Tendar/status/1785236083338273178
Moscow's second-most powerful man says the "Anglo-Saxon elites" are conspiring to steal Siberia to find refuge from the Yellowstone supervolcano. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/patrushev-putin-paranoia-propaganda/678220/ [no paywall: https://archive.is/8C5oY]
The effectiveness of Ukraine's Excalibur GPS-guided rounds decreased from 70% to 6% within six weeks as Russia adapted and employed various EW assets to counter them. [PDF] https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116957/witnesses/HHRG-118-AS35-Wstate-PattD-20240313.pdf
“the situation looks very bad and is not expected to improve in the coming weeks…Analyzing publicly available satellite photos of the areas where Russia is currently attacking…there are no visible fortified lines…We have reached the point where the situation on the front is the worst since March 2022. The numerical advantage of the Russians is constantly growing, as is the number of attacks. Ukraine did not survive the darkest hour. It's just about to start…To understand the shortage of artillery ammunition, it is enough to mention that on the Ukrainian side there are units whose expenditure has decreased by 70-90% compared to the summer of 2023. Artillery fire is limited to a minimum and often must be authorized by brigade commanders.” https://x.com/konrad_muzyka/status/1784875510805262538
“I think the coming few months are going to be the most critical period in over 2 years.” https://x.com/DefMon3/status/1784979086588117353