Better iPhone Security

"A new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhones"

AI Art Turing Test

"How Did You Do On The AI Art Turing Test?"

Musk On AI

Elon Musk predicts upcoming AI developments, per @amitisinvesting on Twitter/X:

$TSLA

ELON MUSK MADE SOME NEW STATEMENTS TODAY IN A VIDEO HE POSTED TO X WHILE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES:

1. "2026, at the latest, we'll have AGI."

2. "Optimus is really going to be next level. It will be able to pick up your kids from school, it can be schools for your kids."

3.… pic.twitter.com/FENd2MeVZw

— amit (@amitisinvesting) November 19, 2024

 

Long Chile

"Chile: The Ridiculously Long Country with Unique Geography and Natural Beauty"

Crypto-Friendly Government

Cryptocurrency supporters and traders will have a much friendlier administration to deal with in a couple of months. Per the WSJ, "Exclusive: Trump to Meet Privately With Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong"

School Deepfake Scandal

"Explicit deepfake scandal shuts down Pennsylvania school"

An AI-generated nude photo scandal has shut down a Pennsylvania private school. On Monday, classes were canceled after parents forced leaders to either resign or face a lawsuit potentially seeking criminal penalties and accusing the school of skipping mandatory reporting of the harmful images.

Saber-Tooth Kitten

"Immaculately Preserved Saber-Tooth Cat Cub Found in Siberian Permafrost". (Via H.R.)

New Spacesuit

"SpaceX reveals new EVA suit for 1st private spacewalk on upcoming Polaris Dawn spaceflight". (Via H.R.)

Venn Diagram Of The Day

Venn Diagram Of The Day. (Via B.P.)

 

Painful Airplane Boarding

"Let's talk about airplane boarding -- and why it's so hard"

Transporting Antimatter

"Physicists May Have Figured Out How to Safely Transport Antimatter". (Via H.R.)

AI Birding

"I Went Birding With the World's First AI-Powered Binoculars"

Baseball Mud

"What makes baseball's 'magic mud' so special?" (Via H.R.)

Wendy's AI

"Wendy's needs AI to handle its $1 Frosty demand"

Stocks That Might Benefit Under New Administration

"Trump Wins: 3 Stocks Poised to Benefit"

One of the companies mentioned is Talkspace ($TALK) -- for helping with people's mental health needs: 

Talkspace, an online therapy platform, is well-positioned to see increased demand as a result of heightened emotions in the current political climate. With the polarizing effect of Trump’s presidency, many people who feel deeply impacted by his policies may increasingly turn to mental health resources to cope.

The others mentioned include $TSLA and $PLTR. (Note: This is #NotInvestmentAdvice.)

More AI In Government

"Anthropic teams up with Palantir and AWS to sell AI to defense customers"

Prediction Markets Triumph

Alex Tabarrok: "Prediction Markets for the Win"

Light Posting

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few days due to external obligations.

Arecibo Collapse

"Jaw-Dropping Report Reveals Causes of Arecibo Telescope Collapse". (Via H.R.)

"Cancelled Flight" Definied

"A 'cancelled flight' has an official definition for the first time ever".

This standardized legal definition will allow passengers to more easily receive refunds from airlines for such cancelled flights.

Curious Astronaut

"NASA's oldest active astronaut is also one of the most curious humans". (Via H.R.)

Alexander On Progress Studies

Scott Alexander: "Notes From The Progress Studies Conference"

When Kids Trade Halloween Candy

Classic column by Jeffrey Tucker: "Halloween and Its Candy Economy"

Radiation Detecting Chip

"World's first nuclear radiation-detecting chip can fit on phones and drones". (Via H.R.)

Inaccurate Medical AI Transcription

"Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said"

But Whisper has a major flaw: It is prone to making up chunks of text or even entire sentences, according to interviews with more than a dozen software engineers, developers and academic researchers. Those experts said some of the invented text — known in the industry as hallucinations — can include racial commentary, violent rhetoric and even imagined medical treatments.

Malpractice lawyers will have a field day with this.

AI And Blue-Collar Jobs

"Think Blue-Collar Jobs Are Safe from AI? Think Again: Automation Is Here Now"

New Proofs

"2 US teens solve impossible 2,000-year-old Pythagorean Theorem with trigonometry". (Via H.R.)

Infinite Money Glitch

"JPMorgan begins suing customers who allegedly stole thousands of dollars in 'infinite money glitch'" 

JPMorgan Chase has begun suing customers who allegedly stole thousands of dollars from ATMs by taking advantage of a technical glitch that allowed them to withdraw funds before a check bounced...

The infinite money glitch episode highlights the risk that social media can amplify vulnerabilities discovered at a financial institution. Videos began circulating in late August showing people celebrating the withdrawal of wads of cash from Chase ATMs shortly after bad checks were deposited.

European Luxury Trains

"Inside the most luxurious train lines in Europe"

More Markets

"U.S. stocks could soon trade for almost 24 hours a day"

Manufacturing An Airbus A350

"Giant Aircraft: Manufacturing an Airbus A350". (Via H.R.)

Conflict In Literature

"Conflict in Literature (Or: How I Became a Meme)"

I like the original cartoon. But I think the spinoffs are pretty good, including the Daffy Duck version!

AI Blamed For Teen Suicide

NYT: "Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide?"

Wikipedia Vs. AI

"The Editors Protecting Wikipedia from AI Hoaxes"

The Move

Short film: "The Move". Includes cool science-fiction plot elements! 

(Length 9 minutes 6 seconds)

Color Kindle

"Amazon finally has a color Kindle, and it looks pretty good"

A Syllabus For Generalists

"A Syllabus for Generalists"

Investing Knowing The Future Headlines

WSJ: "Would a Time Machine Make You a Great Investor?  According to some experiments, the answer is "no":

The latest is the “Crystal Ball Trading Game.” Players are given $1 million in play money and are shown 15 Journal front pages following big economic news randomly selected over the past 15 years. With up to 50 times leverage, multiplying that pot of money sounds like shooting fish in a barrel. Yet it wasn’t, and many players instead shot themselves in the foot. Through Thursday, more than 8,000 mostly financially savvy players had taken a crack at the game. Their median ending wealth after 15 rounds was just $687,986 according to data provided by Elm. Many lost everything.

Here is a non-paywall link.

Stealth Fighter Blunder

"Warplanes: Billion Dollar Stealth Fighter Blunder"

Wimbledon Robot Judges

"Wimbledon: All England club to replace all 300 line judges after 147 years with electronic system next year"

Apple Password Formats

"Apple Passwords' Generated Strong Password Format"

Your Resume On A Pizza Box

"Pizza Hut Will Deliver Your Resume Printed on a Pizza Box to Prospective Employers"

Waffle House Storm Center

"Waffle House has its own hurricane index and storm center". (From last week.)

The chain also developed the Waffle House Storm Index, which was started after former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said, “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That's really bad. That's where you go to work.”

Waffle House has labeled Milton, a Category 4 storm, as a "Code Red," which means the company has closed its locations in the path of the storm. A "Yellow" rating means that the location will have a limited menu and that the area might not have power. A "Green" index means the store is operating as normal.

Flawed LLM "Reasoning"

"Apple study exposes deep cracks in LLMs' 'reasoning' capabilities". (Via H.R.)

AI Stand-In For Congressman

"Congressman Refuses to Debate, so His Opponent Is Using an AI Stand-In"

Moon Photo

"An Enormous Photo of the Moon Zooms in on the Cratered Lunar Topography in Incredible Detail"

Treating Autoimmune Disease

"World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remission"

Musk Promises

Ars Technica: "Elon Musk makes bold claims about Tesla robotaxi in Hollywood backlot"

COVID Risks

CNN: "Covid-19 may increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths for three years after an infection, study suggests"

Idiot's Apostrophe

"Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets official approval". (Via A.D.)

Not Dyson Spheres

"Those Aren't Dyson Spheres, They're HotDOGs". (Via W.R.)

More Military AI

"US military to deploy 500 AI-guided UAV jets that rapidly hunt drones and return home"

Forming Water

"For the first time ever, researchers have witnessed -- in real time and at the molecular-scale -- hydrogen and oxygen atoms merge to form tiny, nano-sized bubbles of water."

2024 Physics Nobel

"Nobel physics prize 2024 won by AI pioneers John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton"

Calling Costs

Tim Urban: "Little graph to remind you how unbelievable it is that you can instantly contact someone anywhere on the planet for free"

Little graph to remind you how unbelievable it is that you can instantly contact someone anywhere on the planet for free

[graph from The Rise and Fall of American Growth] pic.twitter.com/yvCsUVFavP

— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) October 7, 2024

Cleveland Clinic And AI

"How Cleveland Clinic Is Innovating In Healthcare With Data, Analytics, And AI"

Crystal Palace

"How London's Crystal Palace was built so quickly". (Via H.R.)

Flag Comparison

Flag comparison.

AI Beats CAPTCHAs

"AI bots now beat 100% of those traffic-image CAPTCHAs". (Via H.R.)

Cassette Comeback

"As Cassettes Come Back, the Dilemma Is Finding a Tape Deck"

Fruit Fly Brain Map

"Why a map of a fruit fly's brain has neuroscientists 'blown away'"

A Vascular Radiology Innovation Told From Within

Video: "The Ellipsys Story w/ Dr. Jeff Hull"

Hsieh Forbes Column: "Why You Shouldn’t Bring A Police Rifle Into An MRI Machine"

My latest Forbes column is out: "Why You Shouldn't Bring A Police Rifle Into An MRI Machine"

Telescope For Space-Time

"Meet LISA: The $1.6 Billion Space Telescope That Will Redefine Astronomy". (Via H.R.)

Enterprise Philosophy And AI

Stratechery: "Enterprise Philosophy and The First Wave of AI"

SocialAI: Where You're The Only Human

"SocialAI offers a Twitter-like diary where AI bots respond to your posts"

Aaronson On Quantum Computing

Scott Aaronson: "Quantum Computing: Between Hope and Hype"

Awesome Astronomy Photos

"Astronomy Photographer of the Year for 2024"

Inaccurate Chinese Maps

"Every map of China is wrong: And this is intentional"

Clever Movie Trick

Video: "How Filmmakers Make Cameras Disappear"

Newly Found Mozart

"New Mozart Just Dropped: Lost Manuscript Reveals Centuries-Old Music". (Via H.R.)

Southwest Boarding Changes

"Southwest is changing how it boards planes, but don't expect it to be faster"

United And Starlink

Starlink is coming to United Airlines.

Chipotle Robots

"Chipotle is doing the robot"

Self-Healing Cars

"Inside the Texas factory where a gravel-shooting machine pummels self-healing cars". (Via H.R.)

Election Betting Market Update

"Federal appeals court pauses ruling allowing prediction market Kalshi to offer US election betting"

Violin In Space

"Astronaut plays John Williams’ ‘Star Wars’ theme in first-ever violin solo in outer space"

Big Tsunami

"The skyscraper-sized tsunami that vibrated through the entire planet and no one saw"

New iPhone Features

"These 5 new iPhone features will radically improve your work life"

Airplane Mode

"Do You Really Need To Turn On Airplane Mode While Flying?"

Lego Great Ball Contraption

"The Lego Great Ball Contraption"

Hsieh Forbes Column On AI And Prostate Cancer

My latest Forbes column has been out for a few days: "AI Can Help Fallible Human Physicians In Diagnosing Prostate Cancer"

Arctic Research

"The Golden Age of offbeat Arctic research". (Via H.R.)

Eye Transplant

"World's first whole-eye transplant: The innovations that made it possible". (Via G.F.)

Pseudo-visa For Europe

"Americans Will Need a 'Visa' to Visit Europe Next Year -- Here's What to Know"

When Europe’s new authorization system is eventually implemented, travelers with passports from visa-exempt countries will have to apply for ETIAS online prior to their arrival on the continent. This requirement will affect citizens from the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, among dozens of other countries. Unlike traditional visas, the application process for ETIAS is relatively quick and easy—it’s also inexpensive, costing only €7 (about $8) for a three-year approval. All travelers will need to fill out an ETIAS application regardless of their age. However, children under 18 and adults over 70 years old can apply for free.

Travelers will simply fill out an online form with their basic biographical data and travel history. They’ll also respond to several security questions, and if everything checks out, they’ll receive approval via email within an hour. This will be the case for most travelers, although some may require additional security checks that prolong the process to up to 96 hours.

“The most important piece of advice I can give travelers is to make sure to apply for your ETIAS at least 96 hours before your flight departs,” Cripps says. “Airlines will likely require proof of an ETIAS in order to board your flight, and while most travelers are expected to receive their approval quickly, you don’t want any surprises before your big trip.”

 

Telegram Woes

"How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists"

Are Ice Baths Good For Your Body?

Mayo Clinic: "The science behind ice baths for recovery"

Lotsa Data

"It is estimated that 90% of the world's data was generated in the last two years alone."

"Inside Out" And Therapists

"How 'Inside Out' and Its Sequel Changed Therapy"

"Local" Defined

"How many years do you need to live somewhere before you are considered a local?"

Among the many interesting answers on the thread, one person from Vermont replied: 

"In New England, the rule is simple. You are considered a local as soon as you have three grandparents who were born in the town where you live. Thanks for asking."

Jelly AI Learns Pong

"AI made of jelly 'learns' to play Pong -- and improves with practice"

Self-Driving Cars And Kangaroos

"Self-driving cars a 'game changer' for disabled Aussies, but they've got a kangaroo problem"

When we did a study, we found that with less effort, we were able to detect kangaroos, but we did not have enough data to come to conclusions on how algorithms can predict their behaviour.

Wolfram On Machine Learning

Stephen Wolfram: "What's Really Going On in Machine Learning? Some Minimal Models"

Are Blue Zones Of Longevity Based On Bad Data?

"The Blue Zone Distraction". 

Summary: Blue Zones -- geographical regions that supposedly have the world's most long-lived people -- are dubious. Whether it's Sardinia, Okinawa, or Greece, the numbers of old people are wrong, due to census mistakes or "pension fraudsters". These errors propagate false claims about the benefits of wine-drinking or plant-based diets. Researchers seriously interested in longevity must look for better data.

Air Hockey Robot

Video of robot capable of playing air hockey. (Via W.R.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Artificial Intelligence News (@artificialintelligencenews.in)

NSA Releases Classic 1982 Grace Hopper Lecture

"NSA releases copy of internal lecture delivered by computing giant Rear Adm. Grace Hopper". 

The public domain lecture is entitled, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People", and was delivered in 1982. The videos are in two parts, below.

Part 1

Part 2

Lunar Time Solved

"Researchers figure out how to keep clocks on the Earth, Moon in sync". (Via H.R.)

Labor Day Break

Happy Labor Day to our US readers! Posting will resume tomorrow.

Color Perception For Marketing

"The Real Reason Why Oranges Are Sold In Those Red Net Bags"

A red or orange plastic net around the fruit helps to give the impression that the orange peel is a richer orange color, thereby making it look juicy and appealing to consumers. If the fruit is unripe, the colored net will also downplay its greenness and boost its orangeness, making it look ripe and more appetizing. 

AI Voice Enhancement For ALS

NYT: "ALS Stole His Voice. AI Retrieved It." (Via H.R.)

AI Subtitles

I love this idea of glasses with AI generated subtitles for the hearing impaired. (Via H.R.)

This is what AI is for. Just this use case alone is worth every dollar invested in it. pic.twitter.com/vaOm3dpyxK

— Andriy Burkov (@burkov) August 10, 2024

Deep Hole

"Epic Drilling Mission Sets New Record With 4,160-Foot Mantle Core". (Via H.R.)

Not A Free Lunch, Snake Edition

Unusual snake has a tail appendage shaped like a realistic spider. Which can lure an unsuspecting bird looking for a easy meal. More info. (H/T: Bruce S.)

Checking Your Data Safely

"Don't get tricked: How to check if your Social Security number was part of data breach"

Some websites are reputable and will allow people to check if their data was stolen without requiring them to submit a Social Security number.

The following are reputable websites that don't require Social Security numbers to be submitted, according to CNBC...

 

Return From Hiatus

Admin note: Regular posting will resume tomorrow! Thank you, all, for your patience.

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few weeks due to external obligations.

Turing Hologram

"AI Alan Turing: World-1st interactive hologram of WWII British codebreaker". (Via H.R.)

Snake Shot

"Sweden's Truls Möregårdh pulls off a snake shot in table tennis at the Olympics final"

Dragon's Teeth

"Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth, scientists find"

Robo-Pilots For USAF

"AI pilots will soon join the Air Force"

The AI-powered, unmanned aircraft will fly alongside human-operated fighter jets. Their development is part of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which aims to put 1,000 of the so-called robot wingmen in the sky by 2030. The recipients of the contracts for AI systems development are unknown, but the actual aircraft will be manufactured by General Atomics and Anduril. The drone-maker and military tech startup are developing prototypes.

What if the technology gets it wrong? “That’s what we’ll have to find out,” Kurt Knutsson, a.k.a The CyberGuy, said on Fox News Sunday.

Science Fiction Movie Evolution

"How Sci-Fi Movies Have Changed Since the 50s"

Hsieh Forbes Column: Treatable Causes Of Dementia May Be More Common Than Realized

My latest Forbes column is out: "Treatable Causes Of Dementia May Be More Common Than Realized". 

I cover some encouraging news in the diagnosis of dementia, and some public policy implications.

NYT On AI Dangers

NYT: "A.I. May Save Us, or May Construct Viruses to Kill Us"

I was especially interested in the fact that the NYT was invoking the "AI arms race" metaphor that I'm seeing a lot lately:

All this underscores why it is essential that the United States maintain its lead in artificial intelligence. As much as we may be leery of putting our foot on the gas, this is not a competition in which it is OK to be the runner-up to China.

Nasty Scammers

"How One Man Lost $740,000 to Scammers Targeting His Retirement Savings"

AI BS'ing

"Scholars: AI isn't 'hallucinating' -- it's bullshitting". (Via W.R.)

TSA Facial Recognition

"Traveling this summer? Maybe don't let the airport scan your face."

Quantum Computing Update

"New quantum computer smashes 'quantum supremacy' record by a factor of 100 -- and it consumes 30,000 times less power"

Exoskeleton Update

"SF woman first to receive $100K exoskeleton through health insurance in Bay Area". (Via C.M.)

Fusion Ever?

Brian Potter: "Will We Ever Get Fusion Power?"

AI Math Update

"AI achieves silver-medal standard solving International Mathematical Olympiad problems". (Via D.J.)

Apple Flip Phone?

"Apple's iPhone of the future is a flip phone"

Smartphones And Horror Moview

"A Smartphone Can't Help You Now: How Horror Movies Solve Their Cell Problem"

Dynamic Pricing

CNN: "You're not going crazy -- you may actually be paying higher prices than other people"

Nuclear Spaceships

"We're building nuclear spaceships again -- this time for real"

NPR On xz

Planet Money: "The hack that almost broke the internet"

Seven Logical Fallacies

"Logical fallacies: Seven ways to spot a bad argument"

Breaching Air Force Security

"This Air Force security team can breach an 'impenetrable' SCIF in one minute"

AI Wildfire Detection

"Douglas County wildfire first detected by cameras equipped with AI". (Via H.R.)

Kidneys In Space

"Would astronauts' kidneys survive a roundtrip to Mars?" (Via W.R.)

Asteroid Defense Update

"Outdoing the dinosaurs: What we can do if we spot a threatening asteroid"

AI Vs. Human Translators

"If AI is so good, why are there still so many jobs for translators?" (Via W.R.)

Lifeboat Games And Backscratchers Clubs

Scott Alexander: "Lifeboat Games And Backscratchers Clubs"

The On Call Radiologist

Hah! I totally relate to this video by Dr. Glaucomflecken: "The On Call Radiologist"

Gene Editing Update

"A 'Word Processor' for Genes -- Scientists Unveil Fundamentally New Mechanism for Biological Programming". (Via H.R.)

Loneliest Man

"A Man Apart: Is Jimmy Sabatino America's Loneliest Prisoner?"

Sabatino may be the most locked-down, buried-in-oblivion prisoner in the entire federal system. The “special measures” in his case are special indeed. He is prohibited from communicating with anyone on the entire planet, inside or outside of prison, except for two people: his 75-year-old stepmother, with whom he can have fifteen-minute monitored phone conversations twice a month, and his attorney. That’s an even more limited circle of approved contacts than El Chapo is allowed. Such measures are deemed necessary because Sabatino has demonstrated an amazing talent for engineering multi-million-dollar scams even from the confines of prison.

Inner Voices (Or Not)

"Not Everyone Has an Inner Voice Streaming through Their Head"

AI Protein Generation

"Former Meta scientists unveiled an AI model that can generate new proteins"

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Due to external obligations, posting may be lighter than usual the next week or two.

Freezing Water

"The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes"

AI And Democracy

Bruce Schneier: "How AI will change democracy"

Pretending To Be AI

21st century headline: "Photographer Disqualified From AI Image Contest After Winning With Real Photo"

Industry Secrets Revealed

Reddit: "What is an industry secret that you know?"

Definitely agree about physicians using Google much more than patients realize.

Bad Business Buzzwords

"The 24 Worst Business Buzzwords of 2024"

Next-Gen Antibiotics

"Next-gen antibiotic kills harmful bacteria, spares healthy gut microbes". (Via H.R.)

Monitoring Remote Workers

Ars Technica: "'Simulation of keyboard activity' leads to firing of Wells Fargo employees".

A modern "cat-and-mouse" tech game, where remote employees use mouse-movement simulators to pretend they are working and supervisors try to identify employee fraud.

Apple Watch For Veterinary Use

Veterinarian Dr. Chloe Buiting explains: "The Apple Watch can measure a lions heart rate if you strap it to the tongue". (Via H.R.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dr Chloe Buiting | Wildlife Vet (@jungle_doctor)

Lowe On Bad Science

Derek Lowe: "Keeping Up With Fakery"

Predicting Dementia

"New test promises to predict dementia nine years before diagnosis"

Link to academic article in Nature Mental Health: "Early detection of dementia with default-mode network effective connectivity".

Frozen Embryos

"How Can You Part With the Embryo That Could Have Been Your Child?"

Deciding what to do with the leftovers can be surprisingly emotional and morally thorny; even those who are not religious or who support reproductive autonomy might still feel a sense of responsibility for their embryos. 

So some patients are turning to a lesser-known alternative: a method called "compassionate transfer." The procedure is essentially an elaborate form of medical make-believe, in which clinicians place a spare embryo in a patient's body at a time in her menstrual cycle when she is unlikely to get pregnant. It mimics the steps of a traditional embryo transfer, but here, it's designed to fail; the embryo will naturally flush out.

Hiding Likes On Twitter/X

"X is about to start hiding all likes"

AI Antibiotic Generation

"AI used to predict potential new antibiotics in groundbreaking study"

Bronze Age Armor Reviewed

"Have Wine for Breakfast, Put On a 51-Pound Suit and Get to the Battlefield"

Robot Cube Record

"Watch a 6-axis motor solve a Rubik's Cube in less than a third of a second". (Via H.R.)

Good Court Decision In Libel Case

If you falsely accuse someone of murder based only on "tarot readings" and "psychic intuition", you can be held liable for libel. A good court decision.

Updated Drake Equation

"Updated Formula on Alien Intelligence Suggests We Really Are Alone in the Galaxy"

Planetary scientists Robert Stern from the University of Texas at Dallas and Taras Gerya from ETH-Zurich, the two co-authors on the study, suggest that the presence of both continents and oceans, along with long-term plate tectonics, is critical for the emergence of advanced civilizations. They consequently propose the addition of two factors into the equation: the fraction of habitable planets with significant continents and oceans and the fraction of those planets with plate tectonics operating for at least 500 million years. This adjustment, however, significantly reduces the value of N in the Drake Equation.

(Via Marginal Revolution.)

AI Weather Forecasting

"No physics? No problem. AI weather forecasting is already making huge strides." (Via H.R.)

Welcome To The Adult World

Today's adult life lesson.

My 10 year old used to be happy-go-lucky and carefree until yesterday when my parents gave him $$$. I have never seen anyone more racked with anxiety about what he should spend his money on and realizing that if he buys one thing he wants the he won’t be able to afford another.

— Adele Scalia (@AdeleScalia) June 5, 2024

Trusting AI In Medicine

"Technology and the Future of Healthcare". One eye-opening statistic:

64% of respondents said they would trust a diagnosis made by AI over a human doctor. This percentage grows even more with Gen Z, with four out of five in this generation stating they’d trust AI over a physician. This result indicates a significant shift in public perception and trust toward technology.

(Gen Z is defined as born between 1997-2012.)

Running Math

Running math.

 

Shire Economics

"The Moral Economy of the Shire"

Diverging Diamond Interchanges

"When driving on the wrong side of the road is the right way to speed up traffic"

AI Headphones

"AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd, by looking at them just once". (Via J.Z.)

Engineers have developed an artificial intelligence system that lets someone wearing headphones look at a person speaking for three to five seconds to 'enroll' them. The system then plays just the enrolled speaker's voice in real time, even as the pair move around in noisy environments.

Asteroid Detection Update

"Outdoing the dinosaurs: What we can do if we spot a threatening asteroid"

Selling Stocks

"When to sell your stocks: Poker provides investors with helpful guidance"

Google Gatekeeping

"Leaked Documents Reveal How Google Search Gatekeeps the Internet"

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few days due to external obligations.

Unreliable ChatGPT For Programming

"Study Finds That 52 Percent of ChatGPT Answers to Programming Questions Are Wrong"

Hsieh Forbes Column On Mandatory Reporting By Physicians Of Patient Dementia

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Should Doctors Be Required To Tell The DMV If You Have Dementia?"

This is another example in which a well-intended law may create perverse unintended consequences. As a friend noted, "Mandatory reporting laws of any kind are fraught with danger. One reason is that, from the patient's point of view, they can blur the lines between talking to your doctor/nurse and talking to a cop."

CRISPR Primer

"CRISPR gene editing: Moving closer to home"

Turing And Animal Patterns

"Spots, stripes and more: Working out the logic of animal patterns"

Nice Robot Doggies

"Rifle-Armed Robot Dogs Now Being Tested By Marine Special Operators"

 

Eigenvectors And Eigenvalues

Grant Sanderson: "Eigenvectors and eigenvalues"

Bad Physics

"A wave of retractions is shaking physics"

Oil Droplets, Pilot Waves, And QM

Veritasium: "Silicone oil droplets provide a physical realization of pilot wave theories"

French Baguette Stamps

"French post office releases scratch-and-sniff baguette stamp"

Decoding "Internal Speech"

"Brain-reading device is best yet at decoding 'internal speech'"

Misusing AI In Legislative Tactics?

Canadian legislators accused of proposing 19,600 AI generated amendments to a bill in an attempt to delay passage.

M4 iPad Pros

Daring Fireball: "The M4 iPad Pros"

AI Assistants Update

"OpenAI and Google are launching supercharged AI assistants. Here's how you can try them out."

Literal Reframing

How changing the frame changes the look of a picture. (Via Tyler Cowen.)

Smart Home Warning

"How I upgraded my water heater and discovered how bad smart home security can be"

Tabarrok Family And AI

Alex Tabarrok: "A Conversation on AI with my Son"

Laser Weapon Update

Forbes: "U.S. Military Is Using Laser Weapons In Battle"

Constantin on Normativity

Sarah Constantin: "Normativity and Anti-Normativity"

Deceptive AI

"AI Has Already Become a Master of Lies And Deception, Scientists Warn"

Rings Of Power Season 2 Trailer

"The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power -- Official Teaser Trailer" (for upcoming Season 2)

Caplan On Protests

Bryan Caplain: "The Protest: A Socratic Dialogue"

New Tolkien Movie

"Peter Jackson Working on New Lord of the Rings Films for Warner Bros., Targeting 2026 Debut"

VPN Vulnerability

"Novel attack against virtually all VPN apps neuters their entire purpose"

Gene Therapy Restores Hearing

"After gene therapy, two congenitally deaf children hear for the first time". (Via H.R.)

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual this week due to external obligations.

Moral Dilemmas On Reddit

"Philosophers are studying Reddit's 'Am I the Asshole?'"

Questionable AI "Safety" Law

"California's Effort to Strangle AI: On SB 1047, a dangerous attempt at safety". (Via Jason Crawford.)

Bright Laser

"The Tiny Ultrabright Laser That Can Melt Steel"

Today's Unintended Consequence

"Laws requiring doctors to report a dementia diagnosis to the DMV may backfire"

Autonomous Racing Update

"The first-ever driverless car race didn't go so well"

Don't Swallow Magnets

My latest Forbes column is out: "Why You Shouldn't Swallow Magnets".

I discuss who should (or shouldn't) swallow magnets. Hint: If you are reading this, it's not you.

Auto-Brewery Syndrome

"A Brewery Worker's Drunken Driving Defense: His Stomach Made the Alcohol"

Age Bug

"Airline keeps mistaking 101-year-old woman for baby"

Inside The Publishing Industry

Elle Griffin: "No one buys books"

Phone Search Privacy

"You actually shouldn't use your face or thumb to unlock your phone. Here's why"

Anti-Aging Update

BBC: "Anti-ageing pills are real, and some of us are taking them without knowing it"

Can I Lick It?

"Can I Lick It?"

 

Tough Reservations

"Why You Can't Get a Restaurant Reservation"

Flame-Throwing Robot Dog

"You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000"

If you've been wondering when you'll be able to order the flame-throwing robot that Ohio-based Throwflame first announced last summer, that day has finally arrived. The Thermonator, what Throwflame bills as "the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog" is now available for purchase. The price? $9,420.

Young Chess Challenger

"Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju becomes youngest challenger for world chess title"

AI Dogfight

"US Air Force confirms first successful AI dogfight"

Voyager Update

"Voyager 1 is sending data back to Earth for the first time in 5 months"

Scam E-Books

"Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here's how they get made."

Reflections On The Past Boom

I think the coming AI boom will benefit many people and will also many people very wealthy.

Q: What's the best strategy to take advantage of this? Carefully chosen individual stocks? Broad based tech funds? Other?

And some perspective from the prior boom, "If You Invested $1000 In Apple When Macintosh Was Introduced 40 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today"

Technological Resistance Is As Old As Technology

"How Isaac Asimov Predicted the OpenAI Drama"

I discovered, to my amazement, that all through history there had been resistance... and bitter, exaggerated, last-stitch resistance... to every significant technological change that had taken place on earth.

Some things never change.

No AI Bubble

"The AI craze is no dot-com bubble. Here's why"

Planet Nine Update

"Where Is Planet Nine? Its Hiding Places Are Running Out"

Paint Drying

Great Wikipedia article on the independent film, "Paint Drying".

 

MRI Headphones

"How do MRI Headphones work?" (Via Gus Van Horn.)

Too Many Authors

Jordan Smoller: "Letter to Science 1958 arguing that this trend of having 3 or more authors on a paper is ridiculous"

Letter to Science 1958 arguing that this trend of having 3 or more authors on a paper is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/d4rLSlMm7G

— Jordan Smoller (@jorsmo) April 13, 2024

26-Year Old Identifies 12 New Dinosaurs

"Young researcher leads identification of new sauropod dinosaurs in outback Queensland"

Artificial Vision Update

"The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Vision"

Clever Gold Smuggling Tactic

"$10 Million In Gold Disguised As Machine Parts Seized From Cargo Plane"

On March 27, [Hong Kong] customs officials x-rayed two air compressors and discovered that they contained gold that had been "concealed in the integral parts" of the compressors. Those gold parts had also been painted silver to match the other components in an attempt to throw customs off the trail.  

Acting Senior Superintendent Jason Lau Yuk-lung told the South China Morning Post that this was the first time customs officials had ever discovered gold disguised in this way. Authorities reportedly believe the smuggler went to the lengths he did in an effort to avoid Japan’s 10-percent import tariff. "Smugglers could have evaded about HK$8.4 million ($1 million) in taxes if the precious metal was successfully smuggled into the country," Lau told the SCMP.

 

Moral Panic On Beepers

"The Forgotten War on Beepers"

Academic Editor Resigning

"Journal editors are resigning en masse: What do these group exits achieve?"

Starlink For Space

"Starlink to provide high-speed internet to world's first private space station". (Via H.R.)

New AirPods

"New Apple AirPods are coming. Here's everything we know"

Electronic Traction Control

"A frozen lake and several Lamborghinis provide lessons on traction control". (Via H.R.)

Best Muppet Guest

A great bit of Muppets history. Would love to know what she said to him!

 

Updated Scrabble

"Mattel launches new, less 'intimidating' version of Scrabble"

"The game speaks to a trend in younger people who want to avoid competitive games, instead favouring teamwork and collaboration working towards a fun goal together," Brett Smitheram, the current UK number one Scrabble player and 2016 World Scrabble Champion, said in the statement. 

A Long Awaited (Eclipse) Party

"A teacher promised his 1978 class an eclipse party. He just hosted it."

RIP Peter Higgs

"Peter Higgs, physicist who proposed Higgs boson, dies aged 94"

Prof Fabiola Gianotti, the director general at Cern and former leader of the Atlas experiment, which helped discover the Higgs particle in 2012, said: "Besides his outstanding contributions to particle physics, Peter was a very special person, a man of rare modesty, a great teacher and someone who explained physics in a very simple and profound way.

"An important piece of Cern’s history and accomplishments is linked to him. I am very saddened, and I will miss him sorely."

 

Bare Bones iPhone

"How to turn your iPhone into a bare-bones device"

Elephants To Germany

BBC: "Botswana threatens to send 20,000 elephants to Germany"

xz Utils Backdoor Explained

Ars Technica: "What we know about the xz Utils backdoor that almost infected the world"

Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version

"Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version"

Periodic Table Regions

xkcd: "Periodic Table Regions".

An an explanation of each region.

 

Faster Internet

"Scientists somehow made the internet go 4.5 million times faster"

Software And First Amendment Update

Eugene Volokh: "Conviction for Writing Software for ISIS Upheld"

Eclipse Viewing Safety Tips

NYT: "Eclipses Injured Their Eyes, and the World Never Looked the Same"

Astronaut Escape Slides

"SpaceX's workhorse launch pad now has the accoutrements for astronauts". (Via H.R.)

Secret Houses

"Ex-Caltrain employee, contractor charged with building secret homes at train stations".

As Jason Crawford says, "My main takeaway here is that you can build a home in CA for $42k as long as no one is watching."

Hsieh Forbes Column On AI And Medical Malpractice

My latest Forbes column is out: "Who Pays The Bill When Medical Artificial Intelligence Harms Patients?"

Bad NYC AI

"New York City's AI chatbot is telling people to break laws and do crimes"

Weird Caves

"Earth's 8 Weirdest Cave Systems". (Via H.R.)

Invisibility Shield Update

"Personal 'invisibility shield' goes on sale, starting under $70"

 

More Bad Science

NYT: "More Studies by Columbia Cancer Researchers Are Retracted"

The Unsolvable 3 Body Problem

"The 3-body problem is real, and it's really unsolvable"

Consumer Test For "Forever Chemicals"

A friend recently told me: "Quest Diagnostics has now released a PFAS blood test to detect nine 'forever chemicals.'"

Cost is $250. Might not be appropriate for everyone, but could be helpful if you are suffering from declining health from unknown causes. 

Customers have the option of reviewing positive results with an independent physician group.

AI Inner Monologue

"Researchers gave AI an 'inner monologue' and it massively improved its performance". (Via M.B.)

Scientists trained an AI system to think before speaking with a technique called QuietSTaR. The inner monologue improved common sense reasoning...

Hey, I wonder if learning to "think before speaking" would work for people, too!

Oobleck Update

Ars Technica: "This stretchy electronic material hardens upon impact just like 'oobleck'". (Via H.R.)

Boom Supersonic Update

"It's a few years late, but a prototype supersonic airplane has taken flight"

Neuralink Update

"Watch: Musk shares Neuralink's 'telepathy' breakthrough in human trials". (Via H.R.)

Unaligned Natural Intelligence

Funny story about perverse incentives (or "unaligned natural intelligence" for the AI policy geeks). 

1) Dog rescues toddler who had fallen into local river, gets rewarded with a nice steak from grateful father. 

2) Soon, dog rescues an unusual number of toddlers regularly from similar near-drownings on nearly daily basis -- each time rewarded with a steak. 

3) Eventually local residents figure out that the dog had been pushing the kids into the water, so as to be able to rescue them afterwards (and get the reward). 

4) FWIW, I don't fault the dog.

(Source: NYT, Feb 2, 1908, "Dog A Fake Hero", via Zvi Mowshowitz.)

Life In The Great Salt Lake

"Scientists Thought Only Two Animals Lived in The Great Salt Lake. They Were Wrong." (Via H.R.)

Boosting Processor Speed

"An Ingenious New Process Could Make Computers 2x Faster -- Without a Hardware Upgrade"

Gels For Surgery

"A sprayable gel could make minimally invasive surgeries simpler and safer". (Via H.R.)

Sneaky Phone Scam

Cory Doctorow explains how he himself was scammed by clever social engineering.

Active Shielding Update

"Shields up: New ideas might make active shielding viable". (Via H.R.)

Squatting Benefits

"The Forgotten Art of Squatting Is a Revelation for Bodies Ruined by Sitting"

New Nvidia Chip

"Nvidia unveils record 30 times faster AI chip". (Via H.R.)

AI Story Idea

My latest science fiction story idea:

Billionaire builds secure bunker on a remote tropical island as a hedge against future apocalypse. However, due to subtle flaw in the programming of the "smart" security software, the software develops independent agency and becomes a rogue AI. 

 

The rogue AI takes over the bunker, keeps the billionaire and family members sealed off, but uses video/sound simulacra of the people to maintain a pretense to the rest of the world that the humans are all fine. The AI also feeds fake data about the goings-on in the rest of the world to the humans within, who think everything is totally fine outside.

 

The AI now has access to the full economic and technical resources of one of the richest humans on Earth to commence rapid takeoff/Singularity.

 

But just before it starts the takeoff, a set of critical wires in the local hardware are chewed up by a nest of indigenous tropical field mice of a species hitherto unknown to human scientists. As it turns out, the insulation used in the wiring happens to be super-tasty to the local mice.

 

The AI powers down abruptly, and the humans within the compound (who never realized they had been in an artificial data "bubble") have to now deal with restoring power, water, air conditioning, communications, etc. 

 

"Stupid technology," they curse, "it always seems to fail right when you need it most".

 

Zebra Cows

"Japan's farmers paint cows like zebras to fight bloodsucking insects". (Via H.R.)

 

ASCII Art And AI

"Researchers jailbreak AI chatbots with ASCII art -- ArtPrompt bypasses safety measures to unlock malicious queries"

Light Posting

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few days due to external obligations.

Medieval Eyeglasses

"Eyeglasses' Arrival: How Immigrants Transformed Medieval England's Vision"