davidad

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permalink Credit for the figures goes to an academic paper entitled “Japan’s Phillips Curve Looks Like Japan.”

Credit for the figures goes to an academic paper entitled “Japan’s Phillips Curve Looks Like Japan.”

permalink The problem with AGI

The problem with AGI

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It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
— Sherlock Holmes
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We believe convenient technology will overcome a feeling of fear.
Emi Tamaki, inventor of a device that can control a human hand with surface electrodes
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Why is Yellow Bright?

I was recently asked, upon informing someone that I’m about to start a Ph.D. program in biophysics, why humans perceive yellow as “brighter” than white - specifically, why it’s harder to read yellow text than equally bright magenta text (on a white background).

I said that’s an excellent question but I needed a couple minutes to think about it. Conversation moved on; but a couple minutes later, I announced that I had an answer. Not necessarily the answer, but something that at least sounds plausible. I’ve been unable to find verification, so let me know if you think I’m off-base.

We all know human color perception is powered by cone cells: photoreceptors in the retina that are sensitive to specific swaths of the visible light spectrum. The L cones are the most sensitive to red, the M cones the most sensitive to green, and the S cones the most sensitive to blue.

It just so happens that the blue-sensitive cones are by far the least common in the retina, and the difference between yellow and white is a matter of blue light (white is made up of red, green and blue; while yellow is made up of red and green). So it shouldn’t be surprising that we have a harder time telling the difference!

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Everything is possible—and expensive.
— Joe Johnston
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Orders of magnitude

On a server I bought in 2004 and have been maintaining by buying new components:

/dev/sda 1907729 MiB (1863 GiB)
/dev/sdb 117000 MiB (115 GiB)
/dev/sdg 35304 MiB (34 GiB)
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Lime-Chipotle Aioli

The more specific a food manufacturer or a chef is about their product, the better it sounds. I don’t care if it’s expeller pressed or impeller pressed or cold pressed or first pressed, if you think it’s important enough to tell me right on the packaging, it must be good, right? Come to think of it, this applies to other things too. Cold-forged carbon steel is obviously better than just “steel.” Something has to get a *super* bad reputation in order for this to fail (like high-fructose corn syrup…which sounded awesomely delicious 25 years ago).

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Google…Science Fair?…

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If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer—you’re the product.