Links for 2024-08-22

AI:

1. “How feasible is it to continue scaling up AI training at its current pace? Our analysis of power, chips, data, and latency constraints suggests it is through this decade. By 2030, models could likely exceed GPT-4 in scale to the same degree that GPT-4 exceeds GPT-2 in scale. We should expect a x24 gain in power efficiency over the next 5 years. That means that we could train a >10^29 FLOP model by 2030 with <10 GW.” https://epochai.org/blog/can-ai-scaling-continue-through-2030

2. “Can MPC rival and even surpass reinforcement learning in solving dexterous manipulation? Our answer is a resounding YES! PROUD to share: 🔥Complementarity-Free Multi-Contact Modeling and Optimization, our latest method that sets shattering benchmarks in various challenging dexterous manipulation tasks.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.07855

3. To Code, or Not To Code? Exploring Impact of Code in Pre-training — “Across settings, we find a consistent results that code is a critical building block for generalization far beyond coding tasks and improvements to code quality have an outsized impact across all tasks. In particular, compared to text-only pre-training, the addition of code results in up to relative increase of 8.2% in natural language (NL) reasoning, 4.2% in world knowledge, 6.6% improvement in generative win-rates, and a 12x boost in code performance respectively” https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10914

4. “Deep learning to accelerate the solution of partial differential equations and other simulations. We trained a neural network to be a fast and accurate field-level emulator for large-scale structure, capturing the cosmology and redshift dependence of structure formation in N-body simulations.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.07699

5. Gradient "entrapment" for LLMs - domain safeguards baked into pretrained models so hard that fine-tuning can't undo it. https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.12699

6. Meta presents Transfusion: Predict the Next Token and Diffuse Images with One Multi-Modal Model https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.11039

7. Reflex-Based Open-Vocabulary Navigation without Prior Knowledge Using Omnidirectional Camera and Multiple Vision-Language Models https://haraduka.github.io/omnidirectional-vlm/

8. “I Automated Leetcode using Claude’s 3.5 Sonnet API and Python. The script completed 633 problems in 24 hours, completely autonomously. It had a 86% success rate, and cost $9 in API credits.” https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/comments/1ex7a1k/i_automated_leetcode_using_claudes_35_sonnet_api/

9. What can an 8-year-old build in 45 minutes with the assistance of AI? https://x.com/rickyrobinett/status/1825581674870055189

10. Meet Boardwalk Robotics' Addition to the Humanoid Workforce https://spectrum.ieee.org/boardwalk-robotics-alex-humanoid

11. What might a truly benevolent AGI’s motivations look like? A meditation on motivation https://www.narrativeark.xyz/p/green-and-golden

Tech-Startups:

1. Against all odds, an asteroid mining company appears to be making headway https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/against-all-odds-an-asteroid-mining-company-appears-to-be-making-headway/

2. Kopra Bio makes stealthy viruses that teach your immune system to kill cancer. They're starting with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma. In preclinical models, their treatment improves survival from 0 to 90%. https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/LeF-kopra-bio-making-cancer-cures-using-viral-immunotherapy

3. Ares Industries: Building low-cost cruise missiles https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ares-industries

“Nanotech”:

1. Why some protein folds can have hundreds of enzyme functions (e.g. TIM Barrels) while others just a few (e.g. dihydrofolate reductase)? Polarity: a kind of modularity between the active site residues that are well-separated from the residues that forms the scaffold. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23542341/

2. A single-molecule nanopore sequencing platform https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.19.608720v1

3. Formalizing chemical physics using the Lean theorem prover https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/dd/d3dd00077j

4. Over a Hundred Times Smaller Than the Width of a Hair – Revolutionary Tiny Sensor Reveals Hidden Neuron Activity https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-engineers-probe-could-help-advance-treatment-spinal-cord-disease-injury

Miscellaneous:

1. “Primate brains have better scaling properties with size than other mammals, with neuron count increasing linearly with volume, unlike other mammals where larger brains have proportionately fewer neurons.” https://x.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1826282252117987512

2. An Argument for Physical Laws Too Small-Scale and Too Large-Scale for Us to Detect https://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2024/08/an-argument-for-physical-laws-too-small.html

Politics:

1. “Africans, violence and genetics: Evidence points to genetic causation, but it's not definitive” https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/africans-violence-and-genetics

2. Review of immigration and crime in Sweden https://inquisitivebird.xyz/p/immigration-and-crime-sweden

Ukraine:

1. Tonight, Ukraine carried out another successful attack on a Russian military airbase. Several large secondary explosions can be heard at Russia's Marinovka airbase hours after the attack. A satellite image from August 19 shows approximately 14 Su-24 and 15 Su-34 aircraft at the site. https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1826497173732684074

2. “There it is flying by, fuck. Fucking flying over again, fuck. It’s all fucking fucked up! Everything. It’s fucked as fuck. They’re fucking bombing it since 2.30 am, and they still are fucking it now. It’s a serious tragedy, folks. This is serious stuff. It’s all fucking on fire. And it’s fucking smoke. It’s all fucking exploding. That’s it. The Oktyabrsky airfield is fucking fucked as fuck. That’s really something else. And all the new hangars, it’s all blown up in the air, fuck.” https://x.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1826554097262068182

3. “Satellite images show the aftermath of today's strike on the "Marynivka" airfield. Several completely destroyed hangars and large areas of scorched grass are visible. Preliminary reports indicate that an aviation ammunition storage facility was also destroyed, and several fighter jets were damaged.” https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1826651599407636798

4. First footages from the ground, of the damage after todays drone attack on Russian Marinovka airbase https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1826656099527000115

5. Meanwhile, the Russian strategic oil depot at Proletarsk has been burning and exploding violently for several consecutive days. https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1826539802541388234

6. “Ukrainian SOF shares footage of strikes on the pontoon-building capacity of Russia in the Kursk region, targeting engineering vehicles with FPV drones and striking crossings with HIMARS missile systems.” https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1826165779978424719

7. Ukrainian aviation struck bridge and pontoon crossings in the Kursk region near Zvannoe and Glushkovo using guided bombs. https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1826595978545361314

8. Reports about an attack on a Russian train ferry with fuel tanks in the port "Kavkaz", Kerch strait. https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1826629753379639348

9. “Today, around 4:00 PM, the Ukrainian Air Force struck a platoon strongpoint in the Kursk region using high-precision American GBU-39 bombs. The attack targeted and destroyed a UAV control point, an electronic warfare unit, equipment, weapons, and up to 40 Russian servicemen.” https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1826696111169368529

10. “The 95th Brigade has just released this powerful video showcasing their operations in Kursk” https://x.com/TonyaLevchuk/status/1826490364766597359

11. “I don’t usually post PoW videos on principle, but this is moving, perhaps encouraging: A Russian PoW, meeting in person a Ukrainian musician he admires, opens up about the abuse he has suffered from growing up in fascist Russia - it’s like the Putin propaganda spell is broken.” https://x.com/Euan_MacDonald/status/1825676728594755896

12. “Around August 16th, a video circulated on Telegram, showing a Ukrainian soldier's severed head on a pole, reportedly filmed by a member of the 155th Brigade. This should be seen not just as an isolated act of cruelty but as part of a larger, systematic approach.” https://x.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1826283109077364834

13. “For the first time, Ukraine discloses real missile interception rates, moving beyond 'all intercepted' claims—average success stands at 43%…Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi, reported that from February 24, 2022, Russian missiles and drones struck 11,879 targets in Ukraine” https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/1826208201102036998

14. Over the summer, almost two thousand drones and missiles attacked Russian regions and Crimea, according to the opposition Russian publication. https://t.me/ukrbavovna/16681

Russia:

So what's Putin doing, the darling of many Western rightoids? He's in Chechnya, kissing a gold-encrusted Quran.[1]

Russia’s cultural and ethnic diversity...is Russia’s strength...Our state was built around values of multiethnic harmony.

– Vladimir Putin[2]

Did you know that Putin allowed a young Russian man to be tortured by Kadyrov’s thugs for burning the Quran?[3]

Did you know that one of Russia's most famous TV hosts, the Jewish Vladimir Solovyov, recently chanted Allahu Akbar in front of Russia's Islamist mercenaries?[4]

Did you know that Russia has a higher percentage of Muslims than, say, Germany?[5]

Did you know that Putin inaugurated the Moscow Cathedral Mosque,[6] in a city where tens of thousands of Muslims fill the streets for Eid prayers?[7]

[1] https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1826258162422608365

[2] http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71165

[3] https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/forb-victims-database/nikita-zhuravel

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx_PKIEwMlE

[5] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Russia

[6] https://youtu.be/w0m9E8wKPO8

[7] https://youtu.be/sx2Vl-gjK40