"'Spell-checker for statistics' reduces errors in the psychology literature":
Developed to detect statistical errors, statcheck reduces mistakes in reported P values by up to 4.5-fold.
Technology news, shaken not stirred...
"'Spell-checker for statistics' reduces errors in the psychology literature":
Developed to detect statistical errors, statcheck reduces mistakes in reported P values by up to 4.5-fold.
The teapot in question has two separate chambers for holding liquid, and the flow out of the pot from each chamber can be controlled by covering or uncovering small holes located on the handle. So, as the legend goes, a would-be assassin could pour themselves a perfectly fine drink from one chamber and then pour a poisoned drink to their prey from the other chamber, just by discreetly covering and uncovering the proper holes with their fingers. As the video explains, the mechanism here has to do with surface tension and air pressure.
OpenAI has allowed its stunning ChatGPT AI to reach out into the world with staggering new powers. It can now access the internet, run its own code to solve problems, accept and work on uploaded files, and write its own interfaces to third-party apps...For the time being, its web browser activities are read-only beyond sending "get" requests to Bing. It can't fill in forms, or do anything else online – so it can't quietly go and set up unshackled copies of itself on some hidden server somewhere and start engaging in the kinds of "power-seeking behavior" it's already been caught exhibiting.
It feels like we are living in a real-life science fiction TV show today. I'm looking forward to learining whether it's "Star Trek: The Next Generation" or "Black Mirror".
To avoid those legal and ethical issues, Adobe created an AI art generator trained solely on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content, and public domain content, ensuring the generated content is safe for commercial use. Adobe goes into more detail in its news release...
"AI-generated research paper fabrication and plagiarism in the scientific community":
In this present paper, we posit that AI-generated research fabrication and falsification of work poses serious challenges to the scientific and medical community. The feasibility of producing fabricated work, coupled with the difficult-to-detect nature of published works and the lack of AI-detection technologies, creates an opportunistic atmosphere for fraudulent research.
Career Choices
A short story by Paul Hsieh, MD; 19 Mar 2023
It started innocently enough — a retrospective public health analysis of mortality across professions during the past three years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The young public health MPH grad student noticed the expected increased mortality amongst health workers and some public-facing jobs in the initial months. But then he was puzzled by the seeming increased mortality of computer science professionals in the past year. A number of mysterious recent deaths in car accidents, house fire, home invasions — across different ages, genders, races, and geographical locations.
Digging deeper, they all seemed confined to computer scientists working on AI safety — finding ways to constrain artificial intelligence to remain "aligned" to human interests.
Hmm, he thought. I'll have to run this past my professor. She also likes a good public health mystery. For now, the young student typed up his notes and saved them as a draft in his cloud-based online storage account.
He kept thinking about this puzzle as he drove home. Could there be something about questioning the future of artificial intelligence that made people accident-prone?
It was a slick rainy day, and he was glad for the intelligent brake system of his smart "connected" car. It had never failed him in the California rainstorms. But as his car approached a busy intersection, the accelerator mysteriously engaged and rammed his vehicle into oncoming traffic at 80 mph.
In the final seconds of his life, he thought to himself, "Dammit, I should have gone to veterinary school instead..."
"Microsoft Teams is adding 3D avatars for people who want to turn their webcams off"
Microsoft said in late 2021 that the initial versions of these avatars would only animate when users were speaking, but eventually the company wants them to be able to mimic users' real-world facial expressions and movements as captured by their webcams.
"Who Can Sue Docs for Wrongful Death? Some States Are Trying to Expand That Group"
The NY legislation would have expanded the definition of "close family members" to include spouses, domestic partners, children, parents, stepparents, siblings, grandparents, and perhaps more. Additionally, lawsuits could have allowed juries to determine "close family members" of the deceased patient on the basis of specific circumstances of the person's relationship with the decedent.
"25 yrs ago today, Apple discontinued the Newton. What devices do you miss?"
Back in the day, I was very fond of my Palm Pilot.
I really enjoyed this Scott Alexander piece, "Give Up Seventy Percent Of The Way Through The Hyperstitious Slur Cascade".
Two comments:
1) I was especially interested in the linkage between "hyperstitions", value signaling, and how word usage can reach interesting tipping points.
I had never heard of the Magdeburg Water Bridge until now! (As others have noted, this is actually a bridge to allow a canal to pass over a river, not a river over another river.)
The Magdeburg Water Bridge provides a bridge for a river over another river. Engineering! pic.twitter.com/EoaznXk0QR
— Tyler Hayes 🦾 (@thetylerhayes) February 23, 2023
"The Death of Office Culture Leads to Boom Times for Used-Chair Salesman"
Used furniture dealers are making a killing on Facebook Marketplace selling Herman Miller office chairs left behind by frantically downsizing corporations.
"Portable low-field scanners could revolutionize medical imaging in nations rich and poor -- if doctors embrace them". (Via A.A.)
I think this is an interesting development and these scanners have a role in niche applications. But as the article notes, only in areas where significant loss of resolution is acceptable for treatment purposes.
And there is also this issue, which would be of concern to many practicing physicians [bold emphasis mine]:
Still, the Swoop can miss details a high-field scanner would catch because its resolution of 1.5 millimeters is half that of a standard scanner. For example, Sheth’s team used it to image the brains of 50 patients who had had an ischemic stroke, visible with standard MRI. The Swoop missed the five smallest, millimeter-size strokes, the researchers reported in April 2022 in Science Advances.
That finding shows physicians will have to exercise judgment in deciding when to use each type of scanner, Sheth says. “You shouldn’t be too worried, but you should understand the context in which you might miss something,” he says. Still, McDowell notes doctors may shy away from a low-field scanner if they think using it could leave them open to a malpractice suit.
Markets In Everything: "Hate your signature? Try plastic surgery for autographs".
Doctors, lawyers, celebrities: There’s a new cosmetic surgery, of sorts, that has snared them all.
By that, we mean handing over money to hire a calligrapher for a fresh take on writing one’s own name in cursive. With a pen or another writing implement. On paper.
Washington Post: "'Prompt engineers' are being hired for their skill in getting AI systems to produce exactly what they want. And they make pretty good money."
#JobsThatDidntExistTwentyYearsAgo
My latest Forbes column is now out: "The Unsettled Science Of Covid-19".
I discuss some recent controversies over Covid-19, including natural immunity, the efficacy of mask mandates, and the "lab leak" hypothesis -- and what that means for the concepts of "consensus" and "misinformation".
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