Links for 2024-09-03
AI:
Project Sid: The first simulation of 1000+ truly autonomous agents collaborating in a virtual world, with an emergent economy, culture, religion, and government. https://x.com/GuangyuRobert/status/1831006762184646829
Survey: How Do Elite Chinese Students Feel About the Risks of AI? https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gxCGKHpX8G8D8aWy5/survey-how-do-elite-chinese-students-feel-about-the-risks-of
Can Meta clean up its data centers with geothermal energy? https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/29/24231301/meta-facebook-geothermal-energy-sage-data-center-partnership
"ChatGPT’s weekly users have doubled in less than a year" ("API use has doubled following...GPT-4o-mini") https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/29/24231685/openai-chatgpt-200-million-weekly-users
Feds to get early access to OpenAI, Anthropic AI to test for doomsday scenarios https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/feds-to-get-early-access-to-openai-anthropic-ai-to-test-for-doomsday-scenarios/
Companies like JPMorgan and Walmart are shifting from restricting generative AI tools like ChatGPT to developing their own internal AI assistants. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/28/why-jpmorgan-and-walmart-are-opting-for-internal-gen-ai-assistants.html
Crypto is the Money for AIs https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/09/crypto-is-the-money-for-ais.html
Neuroscience:
Nervous System’s Master Matchmaker Sparks Breakthrough in Computer Science https://www.cshl.edu/the-nervous-systems-matchmaker/
Researchers give adult zebra finches back their ability to learn new songs https://www.mpg.de/23351337/zebra-finches-learn-songs-in-old-age
“The information throughput of a human being is about 10 bits/s. In comparison, our sensory systems gather data at an enormous rate, no less than 1 gigabits/s. The stark contrast between these numbers remains unexplained.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10234
UK researchers find Alzheimer’s-like brain changes in long COVID patients https://uknow.uky.edu/research/uk-researchers-find-alzheimer-s-brain-changes-long-covid-patients
Technology:
Robot Metalsmiths Are Resurrecting Toroidal Tanks for NASA: Now bots can form sheet metal in complex geometries https://spectrum.ieee.org/metal-forming-robot
Researchers discover a surprising way to jump-start battery performance: Charging lithium-ion batteries at high currents just before they leave the factory is 30 times faster and increases battery lifespans by 50%, according to a study at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1056171
Scientists at Peking University have developed a highly efficient tensor processing unit (TPU) based on carbon nanotubes. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-08-tensor-processor-chip-based-carbon.html
If you don’t understand why things don’t always add up when you use floating point numbers—and in particular, if you don’t understand why you should never use floating point when working with money—you should read the Floating Point Guide. https://floating-point-gui.de/
You really can just make a fake sky with a reflector and an LED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bqBsHSwPgw
A reusable ramming drone from Poland. The drone has a reinforced structure, destroys enemy drones with kinetic force, and will theoretically survive such an attack and return to the "base". https://x.com/wolski_jaros/status/1830995429313650912
Astronomy:
Astronomers puzzled by little red galaxies that seem impossibly dense https://www.newscientist.com/article/2445967-astronomers-puzzled-by-little-red-galaxies-that-seem-impossibly-dense/ [no paywall: https://archive.is/NhWAs]
A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240902.html
Miscellaneous:
Earthworms have ‘completely scrambled’ genomes. Did that enable their ancestors to leave the sea? https://www.science.org/content/article/earthworms-have-completely-scrambled-genomes-did-help-their-ancestors-leave-sea [no paywall: https://archive.is/2qzx5]
Ukraine:
Another major attack on Russia's energy infrastructure. Over 200 drones targeted power plants and refineries in the Moscow region and elsewhere. This comes as major oil depots are still burning from previous attacks. This is just the beginning, as Ukraine has now developed its own ballistic missiles and continues to ramp up the mass production of other long-range weapons. The war will become much more costly for Russia, which will soon lose most of its energy infrastructure. https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1830143287417541082
The Moscow Oil Refinery has halted half of its operations after a Ukrainian drone strike. The refinery, which supplies a third of Moscow's gasoline and is the largest kerosene supplier for its airports, had to shut down its Euro+ oil processing unit. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/gazpromneft-moscow-refinery-suspended-operations-euro-unit-after-sept-1-fire-2024-09-02/
A new type of Ukrainian drone with a thermite warhead is destroying Russian positions. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2024/09/02/dragonfire-flamethrowing-drone-burns-up-russian-positions/
The Ukrainian interceptor drones are really fast. https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1830674497541742949
SBU Special Operations Centre "A" of Ukraine has taken delivery of a batch of "Gray Widow 1" FPV Strike Drones. The drones have a claimed range of 52km through the use of a signal repeater drone. Armament wise they hold a PG-7 warhead. https://mil.in.ua/en/news/a-batch-of-grey-widow-1-kamikaze-drones-was-produced-for-the-ssu/
Just to give you an idea of the huge losses Russia is willing to suffer in order to make progress, this list shows the visually confirmed Russian (red) and Ukrainian (blue) losses for September 1st. In other words, these are the losses based on evidence released during a single day. https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1830823551638622672
A Russian missile strike on a Military Institute of Communications building and a nearby hospital in Poltava. At least 41 dead, over 180 injured. https://x.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1830944444406796645
Watch as Russia conducts a double tap strike on a subway in Kharkiv using Iskander missiles. https://x.com/AggregateOsint/status/1830264410595590340
Damaged/destroyed civilian trucks, reportedly used for harvesting soy near Verkhnya Syrovatka, Sumy Oblast. The aftermath of a Russian strike, claimed to target a military convoy. https://x.com/GeoConfirmed/status/1831016892422857148
Ukraine Allies Expect Iran to Ship Missiles to Russia Imminently https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-02/ukraine-allies-expect-iran-to-ship-missiles-to-russia-imminently [no paywall: https://archive.is/fhQox]
U.S. long-range JASSM missiles will be included in an aid package for Ukraine this fall, according to Reuters. The integration of these missiles into the Ukrainian military is currently underway. Additionally, there is consideration of allowing their use against targets within Russia. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-close-agreeing-long-range-missiles-ukraine-delivery-take-months-2024-09-03/ [no paywall: https://archive.is/ZTm0H]
Heavy fighting is ongoing in Vuhledar and its surroundings. Russians have stepped up offensive actions in this area. https://t.me/ukrbavovna/16884
“Russia is currently bombing Kurakhove into nothingness. They are systematically bombing the entire place into dust. Dropping every weapon they have on it. Glide bombs, tactical cruise missiles, artillery, rockets. They are trying to turn it to dust, to completely erase it.” https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1830242558112325965
“Recent developments on the eastern front are indicating serious issues in the Ukrainian ability to control the Russian offensive. The Pokrovsk front has the potential to turn into a larger crisis.” https://x.com/emilkastehelmi/status/1830251231358718238
Ukrainian tank fires at Russian BTR-82 and group of infantry. Immediately after the first shot, the tank approached closer to finish off the remains of the Russian assault group. https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1830329065431007605
“In the Kharkiv region, the Third Assault Brigade successfully destroyed a Russian Tor anti-aircraft missile system and a TOS-1A Solntsepyok flamethrower. They also attacked a 2A36 Hyacinth-B towed 152 mm field gun, Russian trucks, and several antennas using drones.” https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1830195143334302161
“Video of a large amount of destroyed Russian equipment near Pokrovsk from the 109th TRO brigade. According to them, the Russians are suffering huge losses as they approach the front line, but there are so many of them that the Ukrainian soldiers cannot keep up with the flow.” https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1830511609476796461
Footage of the 3rd Assaults Brigade's counter-offensive in Kharkiv this summer. https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1829972998712967434
After months of attacks, and completely destroying the town, Russians still fail to gain fire control over Chasiv Yar. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/38339
“In August, Russia expanded its control in Ukraine by approximately 350 km², marking the largest monthly gain for Russia since August 2022. However, Ukraine crossed into Russia, seizing control of approximately 770 km²— an area equivalent to all Russian advances since the end of April.” https://x.com/War_Mapper/status/1830691518551564730
“It’s embarrassing to be capable to produce, meanwhile not having funds...next year the capabilities are three times higher than funding, it's even more important to get enough financial support from our partners” https://x.com/amanpour/status/1830660718611345473
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