Links for 2022-01-27
Researchers Build AI That Builds AI: Given a new, untrained deep neural network designed for some task, the hypernetwork predicts the parameters for the new network in fractions of a second, and in theory could make training unnecessary. https://www.quantamagazine.org/researchers-build-ai-that-builds-ai-20220125/
Google reveals its GPT-3 competitor: “LaMDA is a step closer to practical and safe open-ended dialog systems, which can in turn unlock a wide range of useful applications. We hope that this work encourages further research in this area” https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.08239 [“We’re a few years away from everyone having access to vast, planet-scale AI models that tell them truthful things in natural ways – the proverbial angel (or devil) on everyone’s shoulder. The cultural impacts will be vast and destabilizing.” — Jack Clark]
Huge Step Forward in Legged Robotics from ETH: "We present a perceptive locomotion controller for quadrupedal robots that combines fast locomotion and exceptional robustness on challenging terrain."
AI and Compute': How Much Longer Can Computing Power Drive Artificial Intelligence Progress? https://cset.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/AI-and-Compute-How-Much-Longer-Can-Computing-Power-Drive-Artificial-Intelligence-Progress.pdf [see also: https://www.gwern.net/docs/economics/experience-curve/index]
Mysterious object unlike anything astronomers have seen before: “Somehow it’s converting magnetic energy to radio waves much more effectively than anything we’ve seen before.” https://www.icrar.org/repeating-transient/
More evidence for an underground ocean on Encedalus? https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/20/22893041/saturn-death-star-underground-ocean-nasa-moon
Did volcanic eruptions turn Venus into a hothouse? https://www.essoar.org/doi/10.1002/essoar.10506641.1
Andrey Kurenkov: “This paper is a welcome reality check for the field of AI. The simple truth is that rapid progress with Transformers may have been due to the collective effort of the community to optimize that particular architecture, rather than anything inherent in it. It may well be that such careful analysis and improvement of RNNs could vastly improve their performance. Hopefully the field will take note of this result going into the future.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.03545
Logarithmic Scales of Pleasure and Pain https://www.qualiaresearchinstitute.org/blog/log-scales
Scientists Discover How To Halt and Control Cellular Death Process – Previously Thought To Be Irreversible https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-how-to-halt-and-control-cellular-death-process-previously-thought-to-be-irreversible/
The higher cooperativeness of high-IQ groups: Smarter people (IQ 102-127) have a "substantially higher cooperation rate" than persons of lower intelligence (IQ 76-106) in this study. http://users.econ.umn.edu/~rusti001/Research/DiscussionPapers/Learning_RPD.pdf
Woman says she has cough, pink eye after contact with lab monkeys in truck crash: “Photos taken at the site of the Pennsylvania monkey crash reveal a worrying lack of biosecurity—people dragging boxes barehanded, motorists sticking their faces into crates, and of course, the escaped, likely terrified and disoriented monkeys who were thrown out into freezing cold weather…” https://nationalpost.com/news/woman-says-she-has-cough-pink-eye-after-contact-with-lab-monkeys-in-truck-crash
There are 100 passengers lined up to board an airplane with 100 seats (with each seat assigned to one of the passengers). The first passenger in line crazily decides to sit in a randomly chosen seat (with all seats equally likely). Each subsequent passenger takes his or her assigned seat if available, and otherwise sits in a random available seat. What is the probability that the last passenger in line gets to sit in his or her assigned seat?
From 'Introduction to Probability’ by Jessica Hwang and Joseph K. Blitzstein
[Hint]
[Solution]