Links for 2022-01-18
We're not doomed! But doom is definitely an actual possibility, and we need to act like it.
France wanted to have 25 unicorns (private scale-up valued at +1 billion dollar) by 2025 — the goal is already reached today. — “France triumphantly announced the country’s 25th unicorn on Monday, after the industrial company Exotec revealed that it had raised $335 million in funding to give it a valuation of $2 billion.” https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.france24.com/en/europe/20220117-france-celebrates-25th-unicorn-in-strong-start-to-2022-for-tech-sector
After six years, researchers produce the first snapshots of memory in a living animal: USC team shows how memories are stored in the brain, with potential impact on conditions like PTSD https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/3613/how-memories-are-stored/
A two-part series about whether morality falls out of instrumental rationality, if you do the game theory right. The author's overall answer is: not the morality we wanted (though sometimes, the morality we need). https://handsandcities.com/2022/01/10/morality-and-constrained-maximization-part-2/
Understanding the two-head strategy for teaching ML to answer questions honestly https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Ntmbm79zQakr29XLw/understanding-the-two-head-strategy-for-teaching-ml-to
Reality is Very Weird and You Need to be Prepared for That — “This means don’t give up easily. It suggests that there is lots of low-hanging fruit, because even simple explanations are easily missed.” https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2022/01/11/reality-is-very-weird-and-you-need-to-be-prepared-for-that/
“Using long read whole genome sequencing, we have broken the record for making the fastest genetic diagnosis-Multiple times” https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2112090?query=main_nav_lg
Jolting the brain’s circuits with electricity is moving from radical to almost mainstream therapy. Some crucial hurdles remain https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/brain-stimulation-jolting-brain-circuits-with-electricity-moving-from-radical-to-almost-mainstream/
French philosopher Gaspard Koenig is running for président de la république on a platform of simplicity and freedom. — “Our lives are over-regulated, over-administered, over-controlled. France is locked in a bureaucratic prison.” https://www.gaspardkoenig.com/
"It’s not difficult to gin up outrage these days, yet you will not find celebrities or sports stars or influencers making #colleyville or #antisemitism go viral. Meanwhile, members of our so-called intelligentsia are claiming the real victims are not those innocent Jews held hostage, but Muslims who could face Islamophobia-inspired violence..." https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/being-jewish-in-an-unraveling-america