Links for 2022-09-09
“Why was progress so slow in the past? What explains the hockey-stick shape of world GDP over time, with seemingly no progress for thousands of years, followed by soaring growth?” https://rootsofprogress.org/why-progress-was-so-slow
800 policy ideas from across the literature on existential and global catastrophic risk. https://www.gcrpolicy.com/ideas
AI alignment defined as "the technical problem of figuring out how to design, train, inspect, and test highly capable AI systems such that they produce all and only the outcomes their creators want" https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.02950
Reverse-Engineering Insect Brains to Make Robots https://www.eetimes.com/reverse-engineering-insect-brains-to-make-robots/
Researchers have developed analog “neurons” that can build analog neural networks programmed similarly to digital neural networks. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-hardware-faster-artificial-intelligence-energy.html
Aerial Dragon Robot Reconfigures Itself Into a Flying Manipulator — Why not just build a drone that can be, and do, anything you want? https://spectrum.ieee.org/dragon-robot-flying-manipulator
Support for student debt cancellation turns to opposition once respondents are made aware of even *one* of the tradeoffs https://reason.com/2022/09/02/most-americans-support-student-debt-forgiveness-until-they-think-about-it/
Hedging with Humility: Reassessing China’s Power Projection Capabilities Against Taiwan https://warontherocks.com/2022/09/hedging-with-humility-reassessing-chinas-power-projection-capabilities-against-taiwan/
Prospects for running a military campaign in 2023: Ukraine’s perspective https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3566404-prospects-for-running-a-military-campaign-in-2023-ukraines-perspective.html
A group of more than 50 nations is looking to intensify the momentum for aiding Ukraine: "We'll work together to train Ukraine's forces for the long haul," he said. "We'll work together to help integrate Ukraine's capabilities and bolster its joint operations for the long haul. We'll work together to upgrade our defense industrial bases to meet Ukraine's requirements for the long haul. And we'll work together for production and innovation to meet Ukraine's self-defense needs for the long haul." https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3151901/contact-group-aids-ukraines-current-battle-looks-to-long-term-assistance/