Links for 2022-01-22
New Filter Doubles Nuclear Fuel Extractable from Seawater -> It pulls uranium out at record rates—but real-world tests are still to come [the future of nuclearpower is fully renewable] https://spectrum.ieee.org/uranium-from-seawater
A huge deal on the explainable AI front, which is a huge deal for science: “Understanding how neural networks reach decisions can be challenging, but is also valuable for uses from image analysis to scientific discovery. A new approach, called StylEx, discovers and visualizes how disentangled attributes affect a classifier.” https://ai.googleblog.com/2022/01/introducing-stylex-new-approach-for.html
In a First, an ‘Atomic Fountain’ Has Measured the Curvature of Spacetime https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-a-first-an-atomic-fountain-has-measured-the-curvature-of-spacetime/
How Britain Stopped the Japanese Invasion of India in World War Two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhvSVWLJCcQ&t=3s
How to win at Wordle using linguistic theory https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/secret-winning-wordle-word-game
Men tend to value males friends with muscles, status, wealth, & game. Women tend to value female friends who offer intimacy, emotional support, & useful gossip. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S109051382100074X
Changes in parental income and occupation are unrelated to student achievement. No causal link per these Australian data. https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1041608016300619
“…we could be in for several weeks or even years of major volcanic unrest from the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano.” https://theconversation.com/why-the-volcanic-eruption-in-tonga-was-so-violent-and-what-to-expect-next-175035
“More capable agents often exploit reward misspecifications, achieving higher proxy reward and lower true reward than less capable agents.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.03544
A new fusion-based rocket engine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKI73vadPCQ
Robin Hanson: “Wow, there have been BIG advances in designing starship engines. Looking far less crazy to have them in a century.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M85Dc3lQBwI
12 Rules For Life
Keep a notebook and immediately write everything important down.
Debate specific issues using well-defined terminology.
It is better to knowingly act irrationally than to engage in rationalization.
Consider what you expect your future self to regret doing, not doing, or wish to have done differently.
Do not let imaginary obstacles impede your actions. Just try it!
If the odds that you would or could do something are small enough, ignore it. Re-evaluate this periodically.
It is generally better to achieve little than nothing.
Consider what an impartial alien observer might think about it.
When you get stuck solving a problem or task, force yourself to engage in distraction or sleep on it.
Ask people how they became to believe what they believe.
Acquire effective and efficient information filtering heuristics.
Maintain situational awareness.