Links for 2024-01-13
AI:
“Are Ai Chatbots Behaviorally Similar to Humans? Their behaviors are often distinct from average and modal human behaviors, in which case they tend to behave on the more altruistic and cooperative end of the distribution. We estimate that they act as if they are maximizing an average of their own and partner’s payoffs. Chatbots also modify their behavior based on previous experience and contexts “as if” they were learning from the interactions...” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4637354
Amazon presents Bootstrapping LLM-based Task-Oriented Dialogue Agents via Self-Talk https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.05033
A New Olympics Event: Algorithmic Video Surveillance https://spectrum.ieee.org/paris-olympics-2024
“CrewAI allows you to create incredible AI agent teams, similar to AutoGen. It is simple and intuitive, allowing you to accomplish tasks like research, writing, stock analysis, and trip planning. Plus, it can run entirely locally with open-source models. Here is a step-by-step guide to use it.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnejrr-0a94
AMIE: A research AI system for diagnostic medical reasoning and conversations https://blog.research.google/2024/01/amie-research-ai-system-for-diagnostic_12.html
Amazon’s Alexa gets new generative AI-powered experiences https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/09/amazons-alexa-gets-new-generative-ai-powered-experiences/
AI film: "Sister of Battle" by Brett Stuart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCpvSVCWe1M
Science and Technology:
The Early Universe Was Bananas: Images from the Webb telescope suggest that newborn galaxies look weirder than expected. Exactly how screwy was physics at the dawn of time? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/science/space/astronomy-galaxies-bananas.html [https://archive.is/z9JWm]
Iceland will tunnel into a volcano to tap into virtually unlimited geothermal power https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/iceland-geothermal-magma-chamber/
Pigs With Human Brain Cells and Biological Chips: How Lab-Grown Hybrid Life Forms Are Bamboozling Scientific Ethics https://singularityhub.com/2024/01/05/pigs-with-human-brain-cells-and-biological-chips-how-lab-grown-hybrid-life-forms-are-bamboozling-scientific-ethics/
Psychology:
10 Things Software Developers Should Learn about Learning https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2024/1/278891-10-things-software-developers-should-learn-about-learning/fulltext
New study out: Systemic Racism Does Not Explain Variation in Race Gaps on Cognitive Tests https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/new-study-out-systemic-racism-does
What good is G-factor if you're dumped in the woods? A field report from a camp counselor. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pK3eKhBwBiLffqtrk/what-good-is-g-factor-if-you-re-dumped-in-the-woods-a-field
Politics:
FLASHBACK: February 4, 2021: President Biden announces he is ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia for their war against the Houthis, says it will "end the war in Yemen". https://twitter.com/GLNoronha/status/1745593972104347714 [Many of today's conflicts directly result from the appeasement policies of Obama or Biden. What the world needs now is a war hawk like Nikki Haley. Otherwise, things are only going to get worse. Peace through strength. That's the only language the Axis of Evil understands.]
Myanmar’s ‘White Flag Military’ in Chaos in Northern Shan State: When resistance troops attacked an outpost in Shan State, they found that the commander & many of his troops had no combat experience. Staff had been sent from medical services, communications, electrical & engineering units—even from the fire department. https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/commentary/myanmars-white-flag-military-in-chaos-in-northern-shan-state.html
Ukraine:
“Russians tried to assault a Spartan's brigade positions in the southern Ukraine... Here is how it went for them. Ukrainian defenders from 3rd National Guard brigade "Spartan" shared this short video and said that you helped save their lives.” https://twitter.com/Teoyaomiquu/status/1745871681824968958
Avdiivka killing fields. The area is littered with Russian corpses. https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1746074856867737858
“Jesus christ. A Russian T-90M couldnt even hold its own in 1 on 1 combat witha. bradley when it had the first shot and knew the bradley was there. This tank got fucking ganked. Russian tech and training such a shit show they can’t even win a tank versus ifv 1 v 1 w/first shot adv” https://twitter.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1745945349187854737 (full video: https://t.me/WarArchive_ua/9564)
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence: “Moreover, the Russian prisoners of war tell us how surprised they are not to have met any NATO soldiers. In their minds, they have come to wage war against them, and Ukraine is only the first step.” / “On both sides, the very intensive use of drones has made both Russian and Ukrainian offensives impossible. Drones have been the novelty of recent years.” https://www.lemonde.fr/article-offert/inaqgixkgbuk-6210277/kyrylo-boudanov-chef-du-renseignement-militaire-ukrainien-les-prisonniers-russes-nous-disent-qu-ils-viennent-faire-la-guerre-contre-l-otan [https://archive.is/pooM8]
How did Russian defence industry perform in 2023? https://wavellroom.com/2024/01/10/how-did-russian-defence-industry-perform-in-2023/
“Sunak will visit Kyiv today and confirm £2.5bn in British military aid to Ukraine next financial year (up £200mn)...At least £200mn of package will go on drones, incl surveillance, long-range strike & sea UAVs…” https://twitter.com/LOS_Fisher/status/1745708636708438416
"why, when it comes to Ukraine, does the White House consult experts who have been proven wrong by events and who are not well respected by their peers, while ignoring experts who made correct predictions and also garner more respect among their peers?" https://twitter.com/EHunterChristie/status/1744285920294031588