Links for 2024-09-10
AI:
Robot Utility Models (RUMs) enable basic tasks – door opening, drawer opening, object reorientation, etc. – at ~90% accuracy without ANY finetuning (i.e. zero-shot) in unseen new environments. https://robotutilitymodels.com/
Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI and Tesla hints at the idea of a "cognitive core" formed from very high quality reasoning traces, only dedicated to thinking, being relatively small (<1B) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM_h0UA7upI
On understanding the usefulness of incorporating data that consists of erroneous solution steps immediately followed by their corrections: “Preparing retry data like "A=>B, oh I made a mistake, actually A=>C" significantly boosts reasoning accuracy without encouraging mistakes.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.16293
Planning In Natural Language Improves LLM Search For Code Generation https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.03733
Efficient and scalable reinforcement learning for large-scale network control https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-024-00879-7
Apple dropped an optimizer strictly better than AdamW by a factor of 2x that also helps minimize catastrophic forgetting https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.03137
OneGen: Efficient One-Pass Unified Generation and Retrieval for LLMs https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05152
“These results imply further frontier model scaling -- which is currently estimated at 4x increase per year -- may have significant economic implications.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02391
“Automating AI research is exciting! But can LLMs actually produce novel, expert-level research ideas? After a year-long study, we obtained the first statistically significant conclusion: LLM-generated ideas are more novel than ideas written by expert human researchers.” https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/09/llms-are-creative-reasoners.html
Paper Copilot: A Self-Evolving and Efficient LLM System for Personalized Academic Assistance https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04593
“Hyperpolation: a way of generalising from a limited set of data points that is a peer to the more familiar concepts of interpolation and extrapolation. Interpolation asks what lies between the examples we’ve already seen. Extrapolation asks what lies beyond them. Hyperpolation asks what lies in directions that can’t be defined in terms of the existing examples.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05513
The Zero-Day Flaw in AI Companies https://yellow-apartment-148.notion.site/The-Zero-Day-Flaw-in-AI-Companies-b164d5eb97324a6d80252ee6b726d3eb
Sutskever strikes AI gold with billion-dollar backing for superintelligent AI https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/sutskever-strikes-ai-gold-with-billion-dollar-backing-for-superintelligent-ai/
New AI tool can diagnose cancer, guide treatment, predict patient survival https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/09/new-ai-tool-can-diagnose-cancer-guide-treatment-predict-patient-survival/
An automated forecasting tool: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4kuXNhPf9FBwok7tK/ai-forecasting-bots-incoming (It’s not superhuman despite claims but you can try it yourself here: https://forecast.safe.ai/)
Biology:
An expert virologist prepares lab-grade virus preps (measles and VSV) and self-treats her recurrent breast cancer. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/12/9/958
Novel immunotherapy improves recovery from spinal cord injury https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/novel-immunotherapy-improves-recovery-from-spinal-cord-injury/
Vision 10,000 Times Better: Gene Therapy Delivers Life-Changing Results https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2024/september/improvement-in-sight-seen-after-gene-therapy-trial
Direct genetic evidence for ethnic differences in aggressiveness https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/direct-genetic-evidence-for-ethnic
Structural brain preservation: a potential bridge to future medical technologies https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medical-technology/articles/10.3389/fmedt.2024.1400615/full
Proteins not predicted by genetic code https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.26.609665v1
Inheritance without genes through amyloid protein https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-024-01494-9
Miscellaneous:
Proton-conducting materials could enable new green energy technologies https://news.mit.edu/2024/proton-conducting-materials-could-enable-new-green-energy-technologies-0723
This is great. The part about the Holocaust happening due to anthropic reasons really cracked me up. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/interview-day-at-thiel-capital
Cosmic Airburst May Have Sparked Global Cooling 12,800 Years Ago https://news.ucsb.edu/2024/021531/shocked-quartz-reveals-evidence-historical-cosmic-airburst
“Very interesting failed attempt at manipulation on Polymarket today” https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/09/06/very-interesting-failed-attempt-at-manipulation-on-polymarket-today/
Contrary to expectations, the genetic influence on musical expertise did not diminish with the extent of deliberate practice. "In relative terms, genetic factors become more important with increasing practice." https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/12/9/87
America:
The Tenet media scandal and the convergence of right-wing American punditry and Russian propaganda. https://quillette.com/2024/09/08/kremlin-cash-tim-pool-dave-rubin-tenet-media-lauren-chen/ [no paywall: https://archive.is/fE0rg]
Inside Russia's plan to sway the the US election for Trump https://www.wired.com/story/project-good-old-usa-russia-2024-election/ [no paywall: https://archive.is/gBnuT]
It should come as no surprise that they're now trying to paint Churchill as the chief villain of World War II. This kind of gaslighting is conducive to discrediting patriots fighting for their survival as a nation. https://x.com/SwannMarcus89/status/1831398723278270540
Former CIA Director John Brennan: “Putin is counting on Donald Trump getting elected so that U.S. support for Ukraine will not only be lessened…Trump has given indications he wants to cut off the support we give to Ukraine” https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1832596082297106610
Trump’s former National Security Advisor: "Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage if he's elected in a second term. He is not an existential threat to American democracy." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glqEaitbUpk
It's crazy how many people are convinced that Trump is a threat.
His own vice president refuses to endorse him. Several of his own generals and former advisors have publicly called him a danger to the country. Members of his own party are convinced he would be a disaster for the country. And Russia thinks it's worth spending millions to put him in office.
Who made America the undisputed economic and military world power it is today? Who won the Cold War? The people who Trump supporters hate the most: foreign policy hawks like Ronald Reagan.
Trump turned the Republican party into people going to Moscow grocery stores to make dumb propaganda about how American enemies are superior.
Ukraine:
The Bazilevich family, whom Russia killed in Lviv https://x.com/rshereme/status/1832290767647219927
Another 🇺🇦 city, recently liberated from life https://x.com/KateGoesTech/status/1832036524197629991
Another vile war crime by the Russian army with the execution of a captured Ukrainian soldier. https://x.com/GloOouD/status/1831982828286099488
Video footage appears to show Russians killing surrendering Ukrainian soldiers https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/06/europe/video-russia-surrendering-ukrainian-soldiers-killed-intl-cmd
Thread from a released Ukrainian POW about the torture he and others endured. https://x.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/1832802132241596505
Minister of Foreign Affairs: “The best way to ramp up military aid to Ukraine right now is to buy weapons for Ukrainian warriors from Ukrainian manufacturers. Our defense industry is growing at a rapid pace and can produce much more with additional investment. It is also faster and cheaper for our partners.” https://x.com/andrii_sybiha/status/1833062013582414014
Russian ammunition storage was targeted in Soldatskoe, Voronezh region during tonights Ukrainian drone attack. https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1832276164838056413 (satellite image: https://x.com/georgewbarros/status/1832432595369423276)
“The Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence “GUR” released a video showing operations far behind enemy lines. Their places are in Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine such as Sevastopol, but also deep inside Russia itself. Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Smolensk, Kaluga, Oryol, Belgorod etc.” https://x.com/Tendar/status/1832405519299908051
“Impressive footage of attacks on pontoon crossings over the Seim River in Kursk region to isolate Russians in the Glushkovsky district. Russians can still cross this fairly narrow river, but the risks are high.” https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1832329993193398344
Russian soldiers captured a strike on a river Seim crossing in Kursk Oblast live on camera. https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1833094410118025358
“Ukrainian units of the 2nd mechanized battalion of the 53rd mechanized brigade raised the Ukrainian flag over the centre of New-York as a result of recent counterattacks in the city that was mostly occupied by Russia just recently.” https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1832464360670683277
2 guys, 1 drone https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1833153542120501649
Video of Ukrainian FPV near misses on Russian soldiers from the 1486th Motorized Rifle Regiment who dismounted an ATV on the Kupiansk front. https://x.com/RALee85/status/1833182344347353553
Ukraine developed its own precision-guided bomb, which is expected to become a key weapon for strikes against Russia, The bomb, equipped with a rocket booster and wings, has a range of up to 65 km and is GPS-guided, resembling the French "Hammer" bomb. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/09/07/ukraine-has-invented-its-own-precision-glide-bomb-it-could-become-a-key-weapon-for-strikes-on-targets-in-russia/
“The number of bombs Russia is dropping in Kursk is insanity. You see a bomb fall. Drone zooms out, there are 5 more. Drone pans to the left, there are like 8 more. pans to the right, like 12 more.” https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1832854521124737122
“Unfortunately, situation in Donetsk region continues to deteriorate.” https://x.com/Teoyaomiquu/status/1832904282762584252
'Russia has now received shipments of ballistic missiles from Iran and will likely use them within weeks', says Antony Blinken. https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1833478146944802934