Links for 2022-02-06
The Google Research next-generation AI architecture is called Pathways. It will enable a single model to learn millions of things instead of just one thing. This will be a massive phase change and up leveling of neural network and AI capabilities. https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2022/02/174523.html
Instances of (non-log) capability spikes or emergent behaviors in artificial neural networks https://www.reddit.com/r/mlscaling/comments/sjzvl0/d_instances_of_nonlog_capability_spikes_or/
New lightweight material is stronger than steel: The new substance is the result of a feat thought to be impossible: polymerizing a material in two dimensions. https://news.mit.edu/2022/polymer-lightweight-material-2d-0202
Genetic risk factors have a substantial impact on healthy life years https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/01/genetic-risk-factors-have-substantial.html
Cosmogenic radionuclides reveal an extreme solar particle storm near a solar minimum 9125 years BP https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27891-4
“Antico is a tetrachromat, which means she has a fourth colour receptor in her retina compared with the standard three which most people have. While those of us with three of these receptors – called cone cells – have the ability to distinguish around one million different colours, tetrachromats see an estimated 100 million.” https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/30/im-really-just-high-on-life-and-beauty-the-woman-who-can-see-100-million-colours
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Implant Technology Is Outdated, Says BCI Expert — “Elon got us a lot of publicity and awareness. That’s great for this space,” Gerhardt said, adding, “He just has to come to terms with the fact that he’s not No.1. I’m sure he’ll manage it. He’s already got two great companies out there.” https://observer.com/2022/01/elon-musks-neuralink-brain-implant-tech-outdated-bci-expert/
Robin Hanson: The Conformity Bias Against Cryonics https://youtu.be/V0srHfsq8_Q
What is life like in a 1024 dimensional universe? Most materials are floppy semi-liquids without interiors, and it seems very hard to learn relative locations and orientations. https://www.overcomingbias.com/2022/01/life-in-1kd.html
Does the Mafia hire good accountants? — “We find that firms serviced by accountants with organized crime groups (OCG) connections have higher quality audited financial statements compared to a control group of firms serviced by accountants with no OCG connections.” https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/01/does-the-mafia-hire-good-accountants.html
Pretrained Transformers as Universal Computation Engines https://bair.berkeley.edu/blog/2021/03/23/universal-computation/
“Thus, a covert compulsory moral bioenhancement program is morally preferable to an overt moral bioenhancement program.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30157295/
The BBC Quietly Censors Its Own Archives https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/01/the-bbc-quietly-censors-its-own-archives/