Links for 2024-03-03
AI:
And All the Shoggoths Merely Players — “…your AI ends up having to model a nice person, which is useful for predicting what a nice person would say, which is useful for figuring out what output will manipulate—steer—humans into pressing the thumbs-up button. But there's no reason to expect that model to end up in control of the whole AI! That would be like ... your beliefs about what your boss wants you to do taking control of your brain.” https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8yCXeafJo67tYe5L4/and-all-the-shoggoths-merely-players
“I've put a complex codebase into a single 120K-token prompt, and asked 7 questions GPT-4 and Gemini 1.5. Here are the results!” https://old.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1atjz9v/ive_put_a_complex_codebase_into_a_single/
Gemini turns screen captures into replicable code. https://x.com/DynamicWebPaige/status/1760537379369304309
“I Spent a Week With Gemini Pro 1.5—It’s Fantastic” https://every.to/chain-of-thought/i-spent-a-week-with-gemini-pro-1-5-it-s-fantastic
Top AIs still fail IQ tests https://www.maximumtruth.org/p/top-ais-still-fail-iq-tests
If you believe that artificial superintelligence will soon exist, should you stop learning new skills?
No, because understanding expands the range of things you can enjoy and allows you to better convey and communicate your goals and desires. Learning math and computer science opens up new worlds to explore and allows you to better express the things that are important to you.
Understanding how the world works is worthwhile, even from a purely hedonistic point of view.
Miscellaneous:
Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including with significant drops in IQ scores https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-shows-that-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-with-significant-drops-in-iq-scores-224216
A new advance by Stanford engineers could lead to particle accelerators being widely available in science, medicine, and industry. https://news.stanford.edu/2024/02/26/accelerator-chip-advance/
“These past two decades in human population genetics have been dizzyingly interesting to me, rife with plot twists, unforeseen reversals and extreme course corrections, the way forward strewn with the corpses of mercilessly dethroned theories. I can only look back over this young century in my field with awe and an enormous dose of humility.” https://www.razibkhan.com/p/the-longer-i-live-the-wronger-i-get
How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin https://www.wired.com/story/how-pentagon-learned-targeted-ads-to-find-targets-and-vladimir-putin/ [no paywall: https://archive.is/pBIaS]
"Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) predicts that moral behaviour reflects at least five foundational traits... Here, we report two independent twin studies... [that show] moral foundations have significant genetic bases." https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08902070221103957
NASA’s New Horizons Detects Dusty Hints of Extended Kuiper Belt https://www.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/nasas-new-horizons-detects-dusty-hints-of-extended-kuiper-belt/
Mathematics, geometry, witchcraft, and the structure of reality. (A plug gets caught under a table.) https://x.com/pickover/status/1763964656626946369
Politics:
'Milley is interested in technology, so I ask about the impact of artificial intelligence on the military. He thinks AI, combined with robotics, will play a “fundamental and perhaps even decisive role” in a future armed conflict between nations.' https://www.ft.com/content/3a8ab059-4710-4e56-ad04-87eb623d79ac [no paywall: https://archive.is/HgHAW]
“Since 1981 Saudi Arabian education spending has been its 2nd largest government outlay and as a % of GDP has averaged 6.27%, far higher than many OECD countries, yet after more than 40 years of spending the results are dismal.” https://x.com/Y_Contributor/status/1764039611788222495
Ukraine:
One of the most grisly videos of this war. Russia is suffering insane losses every day. https://x.com/OAlexanderDK/status/1763982435660779785
A new type of FPV drone with a 'coaxial two-rotor scheme' with more maneuverability and quicker stabilization? https://x.com/Danspiun/status/1764077415200899326
“One FPV drone slamming into a Russian BMP with entire platoon onboard. That’s what one call a juicy target for a 500 USD drone.” https://x.com/Tendar/status/1764266599391822041
“Overnight, occupied Crimea was attacked by 38 drones.” https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1764195229417066683
“Sparse, rudimentary trench lines populate the area west of Avdiivka that Ukraine is trying to defend, according to…imagery by Planet Labs, a…satellite company. These … lack many of the additional fortifications that could help slow Russian tanks…U.S. officials said privately that it was concerning that Ukraine did not shore up its defensive lines early or well enough, and that it may now face the consequences as Russian units advance slowly but steadily beyond Avdiivka.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/world/europe/ukraine-defenses-avdiivka.html [no paywall: https://archive.is/d9rg0]
Ukraine is now using escorts for its larger drones. Here from the perspective of the Ukrainian escort drone: At the bottom you can see the Ukrainian drone Baba Yaga. The smaller Ukrainian escort drone attacks the Russian attack drone in the middle from above. https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/1763909659927162966
Ground-based Ukrainian kamikaze drone destroys a Russian position https://x.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1763501000172703764