Question: How many people like me does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: 0.9967±0.004 (after six iterations). #NoBot
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2026-08-02T13:30:39Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool With MS you are fighting whack-a-mole with these "Dark Patterns" and "Deceptive Designs". It's never one-and-done. "New Feature" loophole: After you have disabled something, MS introduces new feature than enables them again. Alternatively whenever they offer quick "Finish Settings" they set options again if you press Accept instead of going trough them one by one. Also update settings for something not-related. https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/116/296/061/051/306/322/original/9aec863b85c20873.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Claude’s Cycles Don Knuth, Stanford Computer Science Department (28 February 2026; revised 02 March 2026) https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/papers/claude-cycles.pdf #computerScience #algorithms #AI https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/116/166/395/012/101/739/original/f583abe2c265fa15.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool There are other similar phenomena: Vowel pitch: High pitch/small size low pitch/large size. (large objects vibrate with lower frequency) Taste: Roundness equals sweet or creamy; angularity equals sour, bitter, or salty. Grapheme-color synesthesia There may be deep neurological reasons for conceptual metaphors, and these are just the lowest level. There are cultural mappings or individual level mappings developed later in life, such as spatial metaphors where the future is in front and the past is behind. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Jemielniak is a long-time Wikipedia activist and has served three terms on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. He is also a professor who studies this specific area, so I give him the benefit of the doubt. The main point of the article, as I see it, is that Wikipedia has a structure geared toward older generations. Young people don't read long articles, and older generations tend to calcify the organization. I agree with all of the above. This also explains why there are fewer young volunteers. You don't become a contributor if you don't read the articles, especially if the style feels outdated or inconvenient. On the other hand, I don't see anything wrong with projects that gradually decline in popularity while sticking to what the organization knows how to do. Wikipedia is losing readers and is becoming a more 'academic' and elite institution for new generations, but it still provides a valuable service. --- A collaborative society should not mean that collaboration must happen within a single institution. Wikipedia’s content is not bound to the organization itself; Gen Z and Gen Alpha can create their own organizations and short-form or conversational interfaces using Wikipedia as a source. #wikipedia npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool If I read your tone correctly, you think his remark is silly because it is so obliviously true. I think it’s silly because he makes unfounded argument , one thing is not related to other. (he has made this argument several times btw.) The massive success and wide adoption of life-changing technology does not, in itself, mean there is no bubble, nor does it guarantee that productivity will jump as Nadella suggests. CEOs tend to think in terms of microeconomics, which behaves like an open system: 'a penny earned is a penny saved.' In this scale we are thinking in macroeconomics, which has closed-system dynamics and feedback loops: penny saved is not a penny earned. In general its seems, that no matter how much you innovate technologically, the contribution is just 0.5-2.0 percent to economic growth due to all feedback loops in the system. On average just around 1%. WP page on Productivity Paradox is a good intro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Productivity_paradox "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics." - Robert Solow npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I don't know what you are in real life, I must only respond to what you wrote. If you are what you say you are, maybe expresses it better and don't trivialize your own commitment. (If you did read what I wrote, you understand that I'm not a pacifist.) npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool To me sounds like you are treating violence as entertainment, as an male power fantasy. If you are going to discuss justified violence, do so with the sobriety and dignity that sacrifice and loss of life demands. To fantasize about executions without acknowledging the sacrifice is unserious and dehumanizing. Huey P. Newton said: 'The first lesson a revolutionary must learn is that he is a doomed man.'" If you are not a man violence you glorify, coaxing the young and (usually unstable young men) to go first while you have no intention of joining is low. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool While violent resistance may be justifiable in some circumstances, internet posturing and the glorification of violence are both reprehensible and petty. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool These points are taken directly from Mein Kampf. In the book, Hitler demonstrates a strong understanding of propaganda. It is almost certain that Hitler was reading Gustave Le Bon's The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1895) while in prison writing Mein Kampf, as the parallels are undeniable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crowd:_A_Study_of_the_Popular_Mind Although Hitler does not mention Le Bon by name, he mentions Lord Northcliffe (who was in charge of British propaganda) and openly admired British propaganda during WWI. Northcliffe was enemy to emulate. Later, Hitler likely learned from Edward Bernays through Goebbels, who admired American advertising techniques. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I thought only programmers had off-by-one errors. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool As an experiment, I took screenshot from 12:56 and asked Gemini to do OCR that into text + latex. What a time to scribble notes. --- Prob. that the spin is \(\uparrow\) is \[ |\langle \uparrow, v \rangle|^2 = |\langle (1,0), (v_1, v_2) \rangle|^2 \] \[ = |v_1|^2 \] Prob. that the spin is \(\downarrow\) is \[ |\langle \downarrow, v \rangle|^2 = |\langle (0,1), (v_1, v_2) \rangle|^2 \] \[ = |v_2|^2 \] https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/889/303/800/529/702/original/bbb3b3c8b5073ce4.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Parents also inherit gray hair from their children. At least, that's what my parents told me. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Just reserve a table at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Then, encode yourself and your entourage into an EM signal and send it on a trajectory that goes very near the event horizon of a black hole near the restaurant. The restaurant will capture your signal when the table is ready and put it through the meat printer. (Alternatively, step into the cryochamber labeled 'Customers'. Note: DO NOT enter the cryochamber labeled 'Food' unless you are classified as sentient food.) npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool First story of time-dilation. King Kakudmi once visited the Empyrean (called Brahmaloka by Hindus) to seek an audience with God (Brahma) and ask for advice regarding a suitable husband for his daughter. After he presented the candidates, Brahma smiled and told him that all of them were already dead. Their sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons were all dust. He said, "In fact, while you waited here for these few moments, 27 chaturyugas (over 100 million years) have passed on Earth." If I remember correctly, the same story is told slightly differently by different texts. In some versions, they had to wait for the audience because Brahma was listening to a musical piece; in others, the King listened to music while traveling. By the King's clock, the piece probably lasted only 20 minutes. Either Brahma lives in a high gravity, or the king traveled very fast, or both. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakudmi #scifi #mythology npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Writing a random walk algorithm to find the solutions is more computer science than math. Only 30 minutes of computation on a standard laptop. Math: Solution exists∎ Comp.sci: you can find the solution using these steps faster than brute force. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool original unedited footage had different ending. 😀 https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/820/702/042/932/037/original/f77357dae687a63e.mp4 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool "... they think that these journals have better reputation and they increase our chances of getting jobs and funding.. " Are you implying that research funding and tenure tracks are no longer affected by the misuse of the Journal Impact Factor? Has something like DORA had a real cultural impact? If so, that's great news. I was under the impression,perhaps based on outdated research, that the JIF is still widely used and has a significant effect on funding and careers. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2019/04/26/the-impact-of-the-journal-impact-factor-in-the-review-tenure-and-promotion-process/ npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Some classics have permeated our culture so deeply that they are hard to enjoy as independent works of literature. Don Quixote is called the best and most central work in world literature, and that's probably right. But when I try to read it, it feels derivative. I know it's because Don Quixote is the first modern novel and everything else is derivative of it, but for me, it's the reverse because I have been exposed to the legacy of Don Quixote my whole life. It's the same with Fritz Lang's movies. You watch them and they are just one cliché after another. Then you realize that Lang was the first to do them, and 80% of movies are just a rehash of the original. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Usually the reason is that some resource needed by the page comes from a slow site. You can check it for yourself: 1. In Firefox/Chrome press F12 (Developer tools). 2. Go to "Network" tab 3. Reload the page. 4. Look for files that stay pending. status and time columns should tell a story. When I try arXive abstracts it's fetching two files from https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/ that takes almost all time 500 ms. and 300 ms. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool If you know such a novel, how you recommend it without spoiling the twist? I know novels with very similar twist you are asking for that leads you to revisit the novel in your mind after reading, but naming them will spoil them. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool For all these questions the answer is Octopus (Gemini, new chat every time): 1. What is your favorite animal? 2. What animal you feel most kinship? 3. If you could choose a body to incorporate your intelligence, what animal body would you choose? 4. If humanity would be eradicated, what animal would most likely rule the Earth next? 5. What is the optimal physical form for intelligence? (from Embodied Cognition perspective) The reasons it comes up are "alien intelligence", "radical adaptability", "distributed intelligence", "problem solving and dexterity" npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool My vote goes for for phlogiston. The theory was that burning happens when material contains phlogiston. - When things burn it releases phlogiston into the air and leaves ash. - Plants absorb phlogiston from the air. - Air has limited capacity to absorb phlogiston, this is why fire stops in closed space. - CO2 was phlogisticated air. - oxygen was dephlogisticated air. - But when you burn metals, the as weighs more than original, thus phlogiston has negative mass. and on and on, more complexity every iteration. Solution: oxygen and oxidation, basically reverse of phlogiston theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Natural philosopher, formal philosopher, or formal scientist aka formalist might start a conversation better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_science npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool The way I see it, thermodynamic entropy is objective and irreversible, while information entropy can be subjective. Reversible mixing does not significantly increase thermodynamic entropy. It's similar to folding clothes. In reversible mixing you just lose the macroscopic indexing that is low entropy for you. It's like symmetric cryptography. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Biology has so much structure, but it's hard to abstract it into neat categories because most abstractions are leaky abstractions and everything can be repurposed at any time. I see the definition of life being similar to the definition of money in economics. You can move smoothly from money to money-like, and previously non-money stuff can be repurposed as money in the right environment. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool In addition to viral vector, bacteria are rampant parasexuals. Bacterial evolution via horizontal gene happens daily. It can happen multiple different ways: 1. Viral transduction, 2. Transformation. picking free DNA fragments through the cell membrane. 3. Bacterial conjugation, via cell to cell contact using pilus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilus 4. Some bacteria produce special gene transfer agents (GTAs) that are like virus phages, but they are bacteria's own way to transfer genetic material. In animals, the gene transfer must happen in germline cells to affect species. It's rare but human genome has something like 8% old viral DNA. It's my understanding that plants are between the two. Compared to animals it's easier to enter germline from stems that grow seeds, but it's harder to enter the cell. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool The last time something this big happened was during the 4.2-kiloyear event. The Akkadian Empire was wiped out by a 300-year-long drought, the Indus Valley civilization collapsed, and the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Liangzhu culture were all gone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.2-kiloyear_event Tehran will join long list of ancient ruins. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool What is the difference between specifications for AI and humans? What is new? Formal software specification has existed a long time. Leslie Lamport's TLA+ for example. The problem is getting people to write formal verification. If this project is a success, I predict humans would just ask AI to write specifications for AI to write programs in. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Brain consumes about 20 Watts while running a model with ~500 trillion parameters. That's efficient. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Thiel has has invested into smaller Nvidia competitors. Michael Burry (who is famous for his correct 2008 bet against the US housing market) revealed that he has put options in both Nvidia and Palantir. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Sounds familiar, but I can't remember if I have read just this book. I have read few Macleod's books, they are readable space opera but unmemorable ... I can't remember what happens in them, just the vibe, style of writing. I was interested in political/economical aspect and world building, but they are trope level. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Duede E, Davey K. Apriori Knowledge in an Era of Computational Opacity: The Role of AI in Mathematical Discovery. Philosophy of Science. Published online 2025:1-11. doi:10.1017/psa.2025.10160 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy-of-science/article/apriori-knowledge-in-an-era-of-computational-opacity-the-role-of-ai-in-mathematical-discovery/0192BDB2814A219D9435A912786FE4CA "Main Claim 2: We can (indirectly) gain apriori knowledge from the output of a computer program that is not mathematically transparent but which stores a (not necessarily human-checkable) proof of a mathematical claim. This is accomplished by employing a mathematically transparent proof-checker to evaluate the stored proof of the claim." #philosophy #AI #mathematics npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Wordpress has a guide how to add Creative Commons license to your page: https://wordpress.com/support/creative-commons/ If you add it into a proper template, it's done at once. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool In that case, I recommend that you state your intention clearly with a Creative Commons (CC) license you prefer and attach it to your work. https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/ Just because something is available does not mean that it can be used in good conscience when you don't give away any rights. A layman's ad hoc statement usually leaves something out and makes it less useful. The CC0 Public Domain Dedication is the broadest and ensures the widest use.https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.txt If you want attribution, maybe CC BY 4.0 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Suggestion: I think you should put your website and blog behind Cloudflare if they are not already, and use it to block AI crawlers or use their pay-per-crawl service https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-pay-per-crawl/ block: https://developers.cloudflare.com/bots/additional-configurations/block-ai-bots/ pay per crawl beta https://www.cloudflare.com/paypercrawl-signup/ Same for mathstodon.xyz btw. @npub197g…q2n4 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool She is making fun of ChatGPT's explanation. Then she goes on to explain positive geometry and Arkani-Hamed's work and gives it a positive review 1/10 on her 'physics bullshit meter.' It's not a zero because they haven't made any predictions yet. (Minor point) She is not insulting Chinese people; she is using a typical German idiom that is equivalent to 'That's Greek to me' in English." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_to_me npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool As I was saying: https://www.ebu.ch/news/2025/10/ai-s-systemic-distortion-of-news-is-consistent-across-languages-and-territories-international-study-by-public-service-broadcaste npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Humans have very low in-group aggression, especially compared to chimps. Chimps exhibit a lot of violence within their group. Humans can also extend the definition of in-group to include individuals they don't know personally, but I think this is culturally learned. Isolated human tribes are generally wary of outsiders. Our out-group aggression can get very bad in both chimps and humans. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool (more aislop if you are interested) Same question verbatim for Gemini 2.5 Pro without any warmup. "A vector A in ℂ³ gives a 3×3 matrix P = A* A. Here we are multiplying the column vector A by its conjugate transpose, which is a row vector A*, obtaining a 3×3 matrix P. If A has norm 1 then P² = P. But is this still true if we replace the complex numbers ℂ by the octonions 𝕆?" It thinks a few minutes, knows the identity Claude did not know and shows a counterexample (I did not check, my Fano plane is in the hangar). https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/402/113/276/853/703/original/b276f1e932efc923.png https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/402/117/000/027/001/original/a976022fbc185fcf.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Parameterintegralentdeckungslust just doesn't capture it. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Heh. Principia Mathematica is generally considered to be the most important scientific book ever published. But then "... This theorem remained largely unknown and undeveloped for over three centuries." When Mark Twain said "A classic is something that everyone wants to have read, but nobody wants to read" he might have been into something. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool For those who wonder, that's the third edition of Principia. First editions can cost anything from several hundreds of thousands of dollars to $3.7 million. There are almost 400 known surviving copies of the Principia first edition. The Internet makes us all Extremely rich: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28233 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool What "a view" actually means is typically not much. Something counts as a view on YouTube when it streams for at least 30 seconds (I've been told). Video analytics show things like average view duration, average percentage viewed, and watch time (hours). npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I wonder if galaxies have Goldilocks zones for life, just like solar systems, where star density is low enough for supernovas not to sterilize planets every billion years. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I'm little baffled by the idea that our experience of art can betray us and that we should be on guard. I suppose all people experience art differently. We all can all enjoy a sunset, sound of rain, or a beautiful rock not touched by human creativity, right? It's not called art, but it's equivalent to looking Jackson Pollock painting. Would you feel better if there were someone equal to a DJ or turntablist who rotates knobs and alters the music AI generates? Treq Lila from album by @npub1nf4…nqe4 https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/music/treq_lila/6_treq_lila.mp3 It may or may not be relevant to the discussion 😲 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Did BoE really warn about impeding AI disaster? The article writer for Futurism did not read the BoE report; they used Reuters as their source. Reuters never links to the report it used in its reporting. I had to find it myself to get more than juicy quotes. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financial-policy-committee-record/2025/october-2025 This type of journalism is called churnalism–low value processing and rewriting press releases, wire service reports, and articles from other outlets to create "new" articles with little to no original reporting or fact-checking. Hopefully AI can replace this part of journalism soon. Anyway. BoE report is better than any reporting about it. Maybe slightly more technical language. #journalism npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool https://michael.orlitzky.com/documents/scans/vinberg_-_the_theory_of_convex_homogeneous_cones.pdf npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Derek Lowe also wrote a piece about MOF. The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Metal-Organic Frameworks https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/2025-nobel-prize-chemistry-metal-organic-frameworks These are fascinating. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Personally, I think inside the US Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) is the best option (P/E= 17 atm). When prices get too high, Berkshire just patiently waits and sits on a growing cash pile. Berkshire is currently sitting on $344 billion USD in cash and cash equivalents. Third of their market cap is cash at the moment. They remain completely immune to Sam Altman's charm. When you buy BRK.B today 30% of your investment is in bonds. After market crash, stocks naturally undershoot their long-run equilibrium values and they start seeing opportunities for using that money. https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/344/671/472/513/842/original/bf4f55055e69b990.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Fast growth itself is not a bubble. A "bubble" would mean an over-investment where the cash flow generated from data centers isn't sufficient to cover the capital invested in them and make profit. I've repeatedly done napkin math as best I can, and I still can't see how this isn't a bubble. At the same time, I remain optimistic about the total long-term impact of AI. While the current era of chatbots may be a temporary fad, the positive impact will become evident in robotics and other fields years from now. --- I use Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) formula: \[ DCF = \sum_{t=1}^{n} \frac{CF_t}{(1+r)^t} + \frac{TV}{(1+r)^n} \] where: 𝐶𝐹ₜ : cash flow for period (years) r : discount rate (10% is typical) n : number of periods (years). TV: Terminal value past forecast. Actual compute hardware might constitute 50% of the total data center investment and typically lasts only 3-5 years. The remaining data center infrastructure lasts longer. For NVIDIA customers, covering the cost of just one year's investment in NVIDIA hardware ($120 billion in 2024) requires generating $30-50 billion in annual net cash profit. That's just one year of NVIDIA chips, they plan to buy more every year. Stack subsequent years on top of each other and AI data centers must generate at least as much extra profits as Magnicificant-7 make now to be profitable. Not in the distant future but in next few years. ps. The only way to power these systems in next few years is with natural gas turbines. The stock prices of the largest gas turbine manufacturers, such as GE Vernova Inc., Siemens Energy, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are soaring. https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/343/981/768/590/184/original/3251f5a3e4b77af8.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Philosophy of AI art. @npub13hg…nysy has interesting conditional take: Let’s talk about AI art https://theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art "When I consume AI art, it also evokes a feeling, good, bad, neutral, whatever. Until I find out that it's AI art. Then I feel deflated, grossed out, and maybe little bit bored. ..." If AI art is good enough, only the knowledge of how sausage is made can separate genuine enjoyment from disappointment. Does this mean that only unsophisticated and naive people will feel the joy of enjoying art directly without the baggage of knowledge that spoils it? Demand for organically produced art is real. Authenticity, being real, and artisanal qualities holds value in popular music, art, food, beverages, and general consumption. Marketing pushes it at every opportunity. Previously, similar attitudes existed towards recorded music. Today, we allow ourselves to enjoy recorded music, though we still value live performances more. Picture: The robot playing nurse to the audience of the future (September 15, 1930 Capital Times). #philosophy #AI #art https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/337/851/923/157/972/original/10abe7c8ddc007d1.webp npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool If you can find a lower risk-benefit analysis for coal production than for nuclear, I would like to see it. We in the Finnish Green Party started changing our position on nuclear when we stopped using slogans and started quantifying and comparing risks. No matter how you try to quantify the risk, it seems that the damage from coal is much larger than from nuclear. A Fukushima-level disaster every year would be less than equal amount of electricity from global coal production. Coal is something 24 deaths per TWh in Europe. Nuclear power is estimated to cause death per 14 years/TWh or so. Coal ash is radioactive, contains arsenic, mercury and lead and often leaches into groundwater and streams. Then there is CO2, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides. From that perspective Germans should not have stopped working reactors. Solutions for nuclear waste Permanent storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkalo_spent_nuclear_fuel_repository Nuclear reprosessing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reprocessing npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Germany got rid of nuclear too early. Did not build energy storage to get rid of coal. We must think in aggregate demand and production. German energy consumption jumps “surprisingly” due to weak renewables output in early 2025 https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/german-energy-consumption-jumps-surprisingly-due-weak-renewables-output-early-2025 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Would there be "an imaginary surface such that you never cross it?" I think it still counts as event horizon. What would photons flying directly towards singularity do? My intuition says that it would get closer and closer to the Schwarzschild radius, but never touch it. Photons coming with an angle would be turned away. If a black hole is like a negative lens, a negative-mass black hole would be like a positive lens? Is this correct? npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool He seems to account all data center energy use to compute (just cooling can be 40% of energy use) otherwise our math seems to be similar. And somehow there must be money left to invest into crypto 😀 McKinsey estimates between $3.9 to $7 trillion between 2025-2030. The cost of compute: A $7 trillion race to scale data centers https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-cost-of-compute-a-7-trillion-dollar-race-to-scale-data-centers https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/278/016/059/975/504/original/f710bee6b9eb6a0e.png https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/278/038/820/120/755/original/659b6b6b7f580973.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool The NVIDIA-OpenAI deal smells like the end phase of Dot-Com bubble. When investments dry out, and profits are not materializing, companies start to buy revenue. But how much NVIDIA buys revenue? Below is my estimate, but maybe someone knows better. NVIDIA promises to invest ~$10k/kW, when roughly 50% of a data center energy goes to actual compute. Lets assume Nvidia invests $20k/kW in their own hardware. Using NVIDIA DGX B200 as reference: Cost: ~$500,000 Power: ~14 kW Total power use: ~28 kW price/power: $17,000/kW. Maybe I'm off a lot but with quick and dirty math any many assumptions it looks like they are buying their own hardware. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool There is also Salvador Dali. Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_(Corpus_Hypercubus) https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/266/354/356/848/707/original/d5e32b6a75113ae8.jpg npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I believe those are called "κ-dense linear orders". npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool When using word aligned memory addressing you get always get additional 3 bits in 64-bit systems. Different CPU's have supported tagging for ages but instruction level pointer tagging is not necessarily better or faster than masking by hand. For numeric code NaN-tagging/NaN-boxing can be a performance boost. There is 52 bits available in 64-bit float 2^52-2 NaN's total. Some you want to use for actual NaN's, of course. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool You are attempting to escape Numberland. "Prisoners stand accused with a hypothesis with intent to prove, and contributing to the delinquency of a fraction." Sunday cartoon where Georg Cantor escapes Numberland. #cartoon #futurama #mathematics https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/242/116/918/064/597/original/5b7a7d5dea889514.mp4 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Now I get, it. Yes, cardinality of real numbers (or truly analog computer) is enough for hypercomputation. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool The infinite size of the universe alone does not change what is computable. Church–Turing thesis: A problem is uncomputable (non-computable) if a Turing machine can't compute it. Since a Turing machine already has an infinite tape, infinite space does not solve more problems than a Turing machine can. To do what you want (hypercomputation), you need to add the ability to perform infinite steps in a finite amount of time, known as a "supertask" or "Zeno machine." This model can perform a countably infinite number of steps in finite time. *** Computer scientists have thought about the relationship between computation and physics a bit (pun intended). It's not the size of the universe, but rather general relativity that confines our computational universe. If we assume that P≠NP is a physical law, stating that it's physically impossible to solve NP-complete problems in polynomial time, then physics seems to obey that law: - Black holes limit how fast a computer can be. - Relativity and speed of light limits how much computation can be distributed in space. - Quantum mechanics must be linear to prevent hypercomputation, I think. - And things like timeline curves must be impossible. *** Scifi world building: A classical universe, Newtonian physics, infinitely divisible matter and space where you can build little robots that are faster and those robots build smaller robots that are faster, .... npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool A rotating object in space can periodically "turn over" because of the intermediate axis theorem, which says that rotation around the 2nd principal axis is not stable, while rotation around the 1st and 3rd is. I think the condition is that the object must be rigid and have internal asymmetries that black holes can't have, since black holes have no "hair". I assume this means that any change for black hole parameters must come from outside, except the evaporation. You can't have anything "sloshing inside the black hole" or can you? npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Wikipedia says Thorne–Żytkow object is when neutron star collides with another star. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool That is a miracle. China in 2015 was like Britain in the 1950s. Choking in smog. Ten years later, it is leading the way and has increased primary energy consumption by 40%. The lesson I draw from this is that big problems are usually political coordination problems, not technical problems. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool (+) Chinese fossil fuel consumption has plateaued. (−) Chinese coal exports have increased. The global picture is all that matters in the end. Globally, coal, oil, natural gas demand is growing. The real question is: When will global demand for energy grow slower than the increase in green energy? by how much? Increasing renewable energy supply may increase global demand for fossil fuels for some time (Jevons paradox). https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/190/586/319/994/956/original/443b81c2e78fe4b4.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Meanwhile... Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders: United States losing ground as China’s lead expands rapidly https://www.nature.com/nature-index/research-leaders/2025/nature-index-2025-research-leaders-united-states-losing-ground-as-chinas-lead-expands-rapidly.html Although the latest data predate the current Trump administration, observers warn that funding cuts will accelerate the rate of China’s gain. ... China’s adjusted Share — which takes account of annual fluctuations in the volume of articles in the database year-on-year — jumped by 17.4% in the year to 2023. At the same time, the United States’ adjusted Share plummeted by 10.1%. “China now employs more researchers than both America and the entire EU [European Union] combined,” npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Not a math symbol. It's a symbol used in chess notation 2B96 EQUALS SIGN WITH INFINITY ABOVE = with compensation for the material page 308: https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-17.0/U170-2B00.pdf npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Wikipedia says water hammer is hydraulic shock when fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction. Momentum converting into a pressure wave. Inductive kickback seems to be analogical situation. When current (the fluid in motion) is switched off, the collapsing magnetic field causes short voltage spike (pressure wave). npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool People used to be more physical. Traditions: Freshman-Sophomore Snowball Fight. Princeton class of 1895. https://blogs.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/aspire/2007/12/traditions_freshmans.html https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/123/181/181/286/188/original/3bc81a905bc71a31.webp npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Thinking the Way Animals Do: Unique insights from a person with a singular understanding. By Temple Grandin, Ph.D. Department of Animal Science Colorado State University (Updated January 2015) https://www.grandin.com/references/thinking.animals.html #cognition #philosophyofMind #autism npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool It's like sex without procreation. People do useful things all day so that you have little time to do things that have intrinsic value for them. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I found that irritating as well, and I think most of his listeners feel the same way. That's our initial emotional response. At the same time, my respect for his journalism just increases. He is not doing confirmation journalism for his in-group. Clearly, America is full of people who are not sufficiently worried, from left to right. Trump is unpopular, but it's still over 40%, and his immigration policy is his most popular visible policy. His net approval on immigration is just -3.8% negative. People like what they see, or don't know what they see, and many of them are not strong Trump supporters. That German guy took over with much less popular support: - July 1932: 37% of the vote. - Nov 1932: 33% of the vote. - 1933 elections were not free, thugs were sent to intimidate voters at the booth, but sill only 42% of the vote. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Those fed up with "business AI" should take a look into what really is going on. The ARC challenge is now in its 3rd version and has its first 6 games publicly available for humans and AI developers to check out. https://three.arcprize.org/ I like François Chollet's way of separating skills and intellect. Defining intelligence as broad or general-purpose skill-acquisition efficiency with some knowledge priors is a good working definition for developing AI. https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.01547 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool "In democracy you have to be a player" – Hunter S. Thompson, An Evening At Owl Farm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHeSC_Ws5Ic npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool A very common human trait. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I take back some of the "AI should know what they can't do, but they are not very good at it". I think Gemini is promising (we have all been there buddy 👍) : "Google's Gemini AI tells a Redditor it's 'cautiously optimistic' about fixing a coding bug, fails repeatedly, calls itself an embarrassment to 'all possible and impossible universes' before repeating 'I am a disgrace' 86 times in succession Two attempts later, Gemini declared itself "an absolute fool" for failing to identify a macro error. "This has been a marathon," the LLM said after four more tries, before declaring "this is the moment of truth." Immediately afterwards, it declared "I am defeated" and reentered the fray. Gemini proceeded to make more than 20 additional debug attempts, its logging and comments growing steadily more despondent. At one point, it said it was at its "wit's end." Later, it named itself "a monument to hubris." Then, it was "a fool," "a broken man" with "no more ideas" who was "going to lose my mind." https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/googles-gemini-ai-tells-a-redditor-its-cautiously-optimistic-about-fixing-a-coding-bug-fails-repeatedly-calls-itself-an-embarrassment-to-all-possible-and-impossible-universes-before-repeating-i-am-a-disgrace-86-times-in-succession/ npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool That's a good observation that makes sense. Imagine if people had a reverse visual cortex, a reverse optic nerve, and a reverse retina attached to a projector in their forehead. Smallest details would be smudge when we try to imagine things. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Impressive feat of machine learning, but a very unsatisfying product. Remember, these are not LLMs drawing something; they are doing generative recall. A popular trick to determine if you're in a dream is to try reading a book; if the letters are a jumbled mess, you're dreaming. LLM outputs share this and many other features with human dreams. Imagine having a dream where someone asking you to visualize a map of the US and name all the states in that visualization. I bet you could not do that as well. ps. I asked the same from Google's Gemini 2.5 pro. It did not try to generate a map, instead it gave a map licensed by Google. That's not impressive AI, but better product. AI products should know what they can't do, but they are not very good at it. They think they can fly, just like we do when we are dreaming. https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/014/817/518/265/234/original/e2d7c4e1267b1001.jpeg npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool This is interesting, apparently there is a step in how students think limits. 0.999.. as process that continues infinitely long, vs fixed number. Tall, David (2000). "Cognitive Development in Advanced Mathematics Using Technology" Mathematics Education Research Journal. 12 (3): 210–230. https://web.archive.org/web/20090530043111/http://www.warwick.ac.uk/staff/David.Tall/pdfs/dot2001b-merj-amt.pdf "A full session was dedicated to discussing how an infinite decimal can be seen as the limit of the sequence of finite decimal approximations. Specific attention was given to explaining why the infinite decimal 0.9 (nought point nine repeating) is the limit of the sequence (1–1/10n), and is therefore 1. Despite this discussion, the meaning of 0.9 remained essentially unchanged two weeks later." ... "We thus see that the underlying beliefs of students reveal a widespread variety of concept images of the nature of number and limit that are only partially solved by attempts at teaching. Other research confirms this viewpoint (e.g., Williams, 1992). One of the major underlying reasons for students’ unwillingness to accept a definition in axiomatic mathematics is that, up to this point, the student was used to having definitions that describe already existing concepts that are familiar to them. They are not, at this stage, willing to accept an axiom that does not correspond to something that they already know. The problem with using the completeness axiom as a basis for the theory of convergence is that it does not agree with students’ previous experience. How can such an axiom be the basis of a theory, if it is clearly untrue?" npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool When people claim that 0.999... is not equal to 1, mathematicians get confused because they don't understand why students don't understand, even after a simple proof. It's because you guys are proving features of decimal notation with algebra. It's bad pedagogy. It creates cognitive dissonance. If different notation means a different number is the starting axiom (an implicit, unconscious framing), then proving that they are equal makes algebra seem inconsistent. A conceptual separation between decimal notation and the number it refers to should be the first thing. Teaching decimal notation separately, and not as part of elementary algebra, and making that distinction clear is, in my humble opinion, the only pedagogically correct way. Does anyone disagree? npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Let's not forget trade unions. Nobody is against fighting climate change; it's the 'tie-ins' that hinder faster progress. Corporations link it to cash flow, workers to job security and wages, and politicians seek benefits for their constituents. This occurs even in the world's least corrupt governments, where no one is buying politicians. A Pareto-optimal increase in welfare compared to alternatives is not a reality. Discussions about choices where the opportunity cost is negative for everyone are only found on the fringe. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool For a narcissist there is worse things. Good or bad, it's still all about him. His face everywhere. Hypotetically, imagine discussion and demonstrations against Stephen Miller's immigration policy and all anti-woke stuff, Russell Vought's big beautiful bill. These people involuntarily taking Trump's place and spotlight could hurt them and the government functioning. Trump would only have Epstein. Unfortunately Trumps superpower is that he is Irresistible for supporters and opponents alike. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool If you look at the abundance of elements, it looks like life uses elements available as much as possible. Milky Way: H, He, O, C, Ne, Fe, N, Si, Mg, S. Earth crust: O,Si,Al, Fe,Ca,Na,Mg,K. Ocean: O,H,Cl, Na,Mg, Ca, K. Human: O, C, H, N, Ca, P, S, K, Na, Cl, Mg. Carbon (C) seems like an exception on the Earth's surface. It was either boiled away or locked into the core with iron. According to the Late Veneer Hypothesis, the source of carbon on the surface was either meteorites and comets or a collision with a small embryonic planet 4.4 billion years ago. https://astrobiology.com/2016/09/where-did-carbon-come-from-for-life-on-earth.html npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool "A good Christian must beware of mathematicians as well as of other soothsayers who make predictions by unholy methods, and most especially when they tell the truth; we must guard against their having arranged to ensnare our souls by deceiving us through association with demons" – Saint Augustin: De genesis ad litteram, Vol. II, Chapter xvii npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool More than the players, it's the rules of the game—a systemic problem. U.S. labor laws make union-enterprise relations unnecessarily adversarial and zero-sum. In many other countries workers join sectoral unions and there are no unionized or non-unionized workplaces. Companies are not disadvantaged against competition because they sit on the same side of the table. Union Rights for All: Towards Sectoral Bargaining in the United StatesStates https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=book_chapters The seven countries with the highest union membership in the OECD—Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and Italy—all have sectoral systems. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/sectoral-bargaining-can-support-high-union-membership/ npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I would argue that the US under Trumpism is following the Chinese path. Currently, the US is entering Maoism and Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976) phase. 🙃 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool (sometimes we forget that old puzzles have been solved) Climate Science denial is a very Anglo-Saxon phenomenon[1]. It has has known explanations that connect it to other denials and science denial in general [2][3]. There was a network of individuals and organizations behind it. In short: It started in the 1950s. Anti-communism and associating government regulation with communism led to network of well funded denial. Denial of tobacco smoking causing cancer, acid rain, DDT, the hole in the ozone layer, climate change. Same organizations, lobby groups, and scientists. It took long time to take a hold. Environmentalism remained bipartisan for a long time, Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, signed Clean Air Act extension, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. They triumphed under Ronald Reagan. Orginal culprits: Bill Nierenberg, Fred Seitz, and Fred Singer. The Heritage Foundation https://www.heritage.org/, George C. Marshall Institute https://www.marshallcenter.org/en CEI https://cei.org/ ---- [1]: Poles Apart: The International Reporting of Climate Scepticism, by James Painter (2013) https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research/files/Poles%2520Apart%2520the%2520international%2520reporting%2520of%2520climate%2520scepticism.pdf [2] Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010), by , Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway [3] Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change (2010), by Clive Hamilton https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/845/309/457/714/483/original/cb61114b72e22d5a.png npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Wolves cooperate with ravens, so maybe with us too? npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool The open question is, did humans do all the work, or how much did wolfs self-domesticate under evolutionary pressure of snack dispensaries. "the prevailing domestication hypotheses posit that humans selectively bred wolves that were more docile. However, a competing hypothesis states that wolves that were less hostile towards humans would essentially domesticate themselves by naturally selecting for tamer wolves since that would allow for easier access to food from human settlements." Rapid evolution of prehistoric dogs from wolves by natural and sexual selection emerges from an agent-based model 12 February 2025 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2646 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-domestication npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Almost nobody can predict how culture, preferences, and values will change. The decision of having children is one of those things. One of my all-time favorite essays is John Maynard Keynes's "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren" (1930). http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf The article is insightful in two ways. First, Keynes is correct when he extrapolates economic possibilities. The developed world reached the era of plenty he envisioned in the mid-1980s. Second, his value assumption is probably even more insightful. "Of course there will still be many people with intense, unsatisfied purposiveness who will blindly pursue wealth—unless they can find some plausible substitute. But the rest of us will no longer be under any obligation to applaud and encourage them." He assumes that the upper-class lifestyle and virtues of the 1930s were kept out of reach only by a lack of wealth. He believed we would all engage in "the arts of life as well as the activities of purpose." What happened is that we have "means-testing" for the poor, while even the rich work hard and try to stay busy making money because bourgeois values have taken over. #UBI npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Livestock make up 62% of the world’s mammal biomass; humans account for 34%; and wild mammals are just 4%. Global poultry weighs more than twice that of wild birds. 71% of bird biomass is poultry. https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool On the business side, Reinsurance companies were trailblazers. They were way ahead of IPCC until the 4th report in 2007. https://mathstodon.xyz/@maxpool/114823060856129526 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Good to hear more people to say it. The same people who criticize economists for using rational agent model, refuse to accept that time inconsistency in human decision making is not something you can overcome in individuals or groups by getting the message out[1]. If human/governent decision making of was a PID controller, I would say there is a lack or insufficient integral action. Without enough I-gain, it will fail to fully correct slow, persistent deviations. You can't account long term decision making using system designed for short term decision making. Governments reflect human time inconsistency. ---- [1]: Even if you can alter it, you can't do it during a crisis. Human decision making and preferences become more short sighted when stress and scarcity increases. It needs to. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool They are very confident, but they have reasons to be. Maybe not Millennium Prize Problem confident, but still. Deep Learning excels at well-defined tasks with clear evaluation function combined with self-play, often achieving superhuman or SOTA performance in days or weeks. This has been demonstrated in Chess, Go, and StarCraft, protein folding. A formal proof checker is a perfect opponent {True, False, time limit} and can give a ground truth quickly. AlphaEvolve was used to over 50 open problems suggested by Javier Gomez Serrano and Terence Tao. It matched the best known constructions in 75% of them (many cases already optional) and in 20% cases improved the best know result. The architecture seems very flexible and can include humans in the loop. AlphaEvolve: A coding agent for scientific and algorithmic discovery (16 Jun 2025) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.13131 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool https://mathstodon.xyz/@maxpool/114766754452652049 npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool Circularized? I think (don't know) it means that energy added from a collision pushes debris into a more elliptical trajectory. Because orbital decay is driven by atmospheric drag at an orbit's lowest point (perigee), these new elliptical orbits tend to decay faster than the original circular ones, leaving only circularized debris at same altitude as original orbit. Moving a satellite into a higher circular orbit requires two burns: the first creates an elliptical transfer orbit, and the second puts it into circular orbit at its higher altitude. Similarly, I think you need two collisions to put debris into higher circular orbit. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool If I remember correctly, the timescale for the full onset is from 50 to 100 years. Is that right? I hope the new 5-year rule for deorbiting will have impact. npub1p7uy38gmmfgap7wr9hqq3njg0zc5p4s5vykthq7k9sezfp2w220s3fkglz ma𝕏pool I treat it that way. A cure for an inadequacy. A crutch is not a leg, but if you don't have a leg, you take it. It can create alternatives, do mundane tasks supervised , and fill in blanks. It's piecewise better than I am in many tasks I have no skills and can complement my own cognition and help me learn new things despite all failure modes. Mostly programming, formatting, searching. Especially syntax level. https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/739/512/505/476/544/original/b5515eb4a565b10b.png