Links for 2023-02-10
Astral Codex Ten Links For February 2023 https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/links-for-february-2023
A wave of research improves reinforcement learning algorithms by pre-training them as if they were human. https://www.quantamagazine.org/machines-learn-better-if-we-teach-them-the-basics-20230201/
The Transformer Family Version 2.0 https://lilianweng.github.io/posts/2023-01-27-the-transformer-family-v2/
Language Models Secretly Perform Gradient Descent as Meta-Optimizers https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.10559v2
David Chalmers: Could a Large Language Model be Conscious? https://philpapers.org/rec/CHACAL-3
“It turns out that [using JTEC on] just 20% of the abandoned oil wells in the country could meet all of the U.S.’ power requirements.” https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/fun-stuff/this-billion-dollar-selling-toy-was-inspired-by-heat-pumps
“Some 50,000 Boeing employees — construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators — worked on the project, making the largest jet in the world in less than 28 months. Just constructing the Everett factory, the largest building in the world by volume, required moving as much earth as digging the Panama Canal.” [Financial Times] https://archive.is/eBEe4
The Night Hydrogen Bombs Fell over North Carolina https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash
“Different ethnic groups are associated with varying levels of trust. Places with more East Asians tend to have more trust, whilst areas with more Blacks tend to have lower trust.” https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1622345754193891331.html
“Over the past 15 years or so, there's been a small cottage industry in a few Asian countries looking at large numbers of MRIs to find differences in brain size & structure between Asians and westerners.” https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1622614739841867776.html
“I think I've uncovered an error in Eliezer Yudkowsky's book Inadequate Equilibria that undermines a key point in the book.” https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/woCPxs8GxE7H35zzK/noting-an-error-in-inadequate-equilibria
China to offer free IVF fertility treatment in bid to boost record low birth rate https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/china/china-ivf-fertility-treatment-national-healthcare-intl-hnk/index.html