AI:
Agile But Safe: Learning Collision-Free High-Speed Legged Locomotion https://agile-but-safe.github.io/
Reinforcement Learning for Versatile, Dynamic, and Robust Bipedal Locomotion Control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQEnDbET75g
New research report from RAND finds that currently available AI tools ***do not*** meaningfully increase the risk of a biological weapons attack. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KcKDJKHSrBakr2Ju4/rand-report-finds-no-effect-of-current-llms-on-viability-of
OpenAI report also finds no effect of current LLMs on viability of bioterrorism attacks https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/x2qHRae88v82muW4J/openai-report-also-finds-no-effect-of-current-llms-on
“Sam Altman says AI will make it possible for one person to build a billion dollar company very soon.” https://twitter.com/andrewmichaelio/status/1752909423826067776
pix2gestalt: synthesizes whole objects from only partially visible ones, enabling amodal segmentation, recognition, and 3D reconstruction of occluded objects https://gestalt.cs.columbia.edu/
BlockFusion: Expandable 3D Scene Generation using Latent Tri-plane Extrapolation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxIBtd6G0mA
WebVoyager is a LLM-powered web agent that can complete user instructions end-to-end by interacting with real-world websites https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.13919
AI today doesn't have deep world models. Learning deep world models is arguably the next (and maybe last) frontier. How will it happen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbzNb6a6_SQ
Miscellaneous:
“I Spent 24 Hours Wearing Apple’s Vision Pro Headset” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xI10SFgzQ8
A Simple Answer to the Complexity of Spaceflight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhYqflvJMXc
Churchill had an amazing (and underappreciated) track record as a futurist https://rootsofprogress.org/winston-churchill-futurist
This thread summarizes the state of knowledge on fertility differences between people of high and low intelligence in many countries. https://twitter.com/sebjenseb/status/1752360665451298946
“Current estimates suggest we will have more than one hundred thousand satellites in low Earth orbit and beyond before the end of the decade. The Earth is already anomalously bright in the radio part of the spectrum; if the trend continues, we could become readily detectable by any advanced civilization with the right technology.” https://www.seti.org/press-release/can-et-detect-us
Ukraine:
Another major Russian ship has been sunk. This successful campaign against Russia's Black Sea Fleet has allowed Ukraine to export almost as much grain as before the war. https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1753011305466740859
“It appears that the strikes against Russian energy terminals such as those in Ust-Luga or Tuapse are yielding first results. Russian gasoline exports have dropped sharply by 37% in January.” https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1753113532324106241
“FPV Strike Company of the 47th Mechanized Brigade captures the moment a Russian infantry group gets pinned down with both M2A2 Bradley 25-mm cannon IFV fire and cluster munitions. They are finished off with several FPV strikes. Destroyed and bogged down pieces of heavy equipment are also visible.” https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1753340692116709744
Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi argues that the lack of appropriate policy to effectively mobilize Ukraine’s population and defense industry as well as provide for efficient resource allocation are crippling the war effort. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/01/opinions/ukraine-army-chief-war-strategy-russia-valerii-zaluzhnyi
“Ukraine's increasing difficulty in effectively countering Russian artillery is becoming more evident. While the situation isn't described as catastrophic, it does provide Russians with an opportunity to inflict substantial damage on Ukraine and undermine external support.” https://frontelligence.substack.com/p/counter-battery-fire-challenges-an
The West must ensure that Russia is defeated in Ukraine or risk being attacked by dictatorships such as China, British Minister of Defense Grant Shapps said. "Regimes who do not believe in democracy are watching the war in Ukraine and could launch attacks on Western states if they think they have run out of puff," he added. https://telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/01/west-must-ensure-russia-loses-face-attacks-dictatorships/ [https://archive.is/ATl9r]
Analytical thread on drones in the Russo-Ukrainian War by a Russian General. https://twitter.com/sambendett/status/1752733604537393600
Iris-T decoy https://twitter.com/GloOouD/status/1752773179955618242
The far-right Bundestag aide and his rapping FSB case officer https://theins.press/en/politics/268805
Politics:
"FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Wednesday that the bureau had disrupted a major Chinese government-backed effort to hack into U.S. water, communications, transportation and energy facilities" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/31/china-volt-typhoon-hack-fbi/ [https://archive.is/UMPqo]
US + UK air strikes aren't slowing Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea - one of the world's major trade lanes. In recent weeks, maritime traffic in the area has plummeted 29%. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68159939
"Faced with tightening national budgets, [EU] member states have reduced a common fund designed to spur innovation in the bloc from €10bn to €1.5bn — and have ensured that it can only be used for defence-related projects" https://www.ft.com/content/c777a195-ccd5-43a3-95c4-18b05e1ef643 [https://archive.is/7MB6q]
Why can't be have leaders like Churchill today?