Links for 2023-07-09
CodeVQA: A framework for few-shot visual question answering that relies on code generation to perform multi-step visual reasoning. https://ai.googleblog.com/2023/07/modular-visual-question-answering-via.html
“We borrowed CFG from vision and run it with LLMs. We get increased control, and benchmarks increases similar to a model twice the size. Ready for all your models (incl. chatbots!) : no special training or fine tuning required.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.17806
“Dive into the fascinating world of Transformer models! Luis Serrano breaks down the architecture & functionality of these ML marvels in this blog. You'll learn how they maintain context, generate coherent text, & much more!” https://txt.cohere.com/what-are-transformer-models/
Building Blocks of Memory in the Brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5trRLX7PQY
Preserving extracellular space for high-quality optical and ultrastructural studies of whole mammalian brains https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-methods/fulltext/S2667-2375(23)00149-2
Researchers Create Highly Conductive Metallic Gel for 3D Printing https://news.ncsu.edu/2023/07/metallic-gel-for-3d-printing/
One Shot of a Kidney Protein Gave Monkeys a Brain Boost https://www.wired.com/story/one-shot-of-a-kidney-protein-gave-monkeys-a-brain-boost/ [https://archive.is/EzaPy]
“Be one of the first people in 40+ years to see this freshly-scanned film (in 4K) about the PM-1 military microreactor that provided a remote radar station near Sundance, WY with heat and 1 MWe of electricity in 1962.” https://whatisnuclear.com/news/2023-07-03-film-about-pm1-microreactor-in-wyoming.html
American mink regrow their brains in a rare reversal of the domestication process https://www.mpg.de/20584072/0705-ornr-feral-genius-987453-x
“Ontario has announced that they are going to build ~20% more clean (nuclear) power than all of California solar power last year. I am shocked that I haven’t seen any coverage on this beyond niche Canadian sources…” https://twitter.com/GBruhaug/status/1677518485948100611
Moriori genocide: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriori_genocide
Younger members argued that the Moriori could fight back as they outnumbered Māori two-to-one. Elders, however, argued Nunuku's Law should not be broken. Despite knowing Māori were not pacifist, Moriori ultimately decided to stay pacifist against the invaders, describing Nunuku's Law as "a moral imperative"...The invaders killed around 10% of the population in a ritual that included staking out women and children on the beach and leaving them to die in great pain over several days...the Māori invaders forbade the speaking of the Moriori language. They forced Moriori to desecrate sacred sites by urinating and defecating on them. Moriori were forbidden to marry Moriori or Māori or to have children.
See also: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1677336670776229889
Once, the way to get ahead among India's Konyak warriors was by chopping off an enemy's skull. Today, the last survivors of a past age mourn the changing times and a new generation they see as soft.
More: These stats from Papua New Guinea remind us that civilization is a thin veneer over barbarism https://twitter.com/XiXiDu/status/1671077579254640642
Source: The Sounds Of Invisible Worlds https://www.noemamag.com/the-sounds-of-invisible-worlds/
See also: Hindsight Devalues Science https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WnheMGAka4fL99eae/hindsight-devalues-science