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MrToadMan

147 karma · joined March 10, 2025

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MrToadMan··on Redesigning source control at Anthropic
Was it a first version in TypeScript then rewrite to rust situation?
MrToadMan··on “Math 2.0” will need to value mathematical progress more holistically
Apart from the fact that elite sports are funded probably at least 10x more than pure mathematics research.
MrToadMan··on To grieve, or not to grieve?
Why should we all need to agree that 'ai can replace us' when 'us' can mean such different things to different people: someone pushing out content on TikTok has a lower bar for accuracy than someone signing off on documents to be submitted for review by a court. I think that's the origin of a lot of discrepancy between viewpoints on AI that gets in the way of talking about the benefits and harms that we can each identify and framing the discussion around how those are changing when these tools are used. There is no inevitability about AI everywhere - we have the agency to decide when it's right to use it and when it's wrong.
MrToadMan··on AI needs $6T in annual revenue to justify data centre boom
To add to that, I don’t think many employers will be happy about their legal exposure to inadequate training and supervision when things go wrong if this is the sort of training people are resorting to. Especially if insurers are excluding coverage for losses arising from the use of generative AI, as seems to be happening.
MrToadMan··on Meta Blocks President Lula's Facebook Page, Campaign Ads 2 Weeks from Election
A more accurate headline would be 'temporarily blocked' given the first line below the heading is 'The page is now back online' and it seems to have been brought back online the same day.
MrToadMan··on The Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem
Didn't they say that they launched an effort to evaluate their model on all open Millennium Prize problems, and then narrowed down to Navier-Stokes as the most promising after seeing results on simplified versions of the problems?
MrToadMan··on OpenAI: GPT 5.6 Sol price reduction (until at least Nov 21)
Google also spent heavily setting up deals with other platform owners, invested in Chrome and Android to establish Google search as the default option which most users accepted. If integrations of good enough AI features are made within existing platforms most users will probably accept using those and not think too much about whose model is powering it.
MrToadMan··on AI boosted homework scores, then exam scores dropped: study
People can also ask questions that it is unreasonable to expect people to know on the spot too and after a while the role of the questioner in the meeting can be questioned. :)
MrToadMan··on Woman Pulled over at Gunpoint Twice After Flock Camera Glitch
Also worth watching John Oliver’s segment on this topic on Last Week Tonight (https://youtube.com/shorts/BAEjOAe948k?si=Lfkw6prZxHk2R-I2)

Includes an example of a Flock camera flagging a number plate that the police pulled over, a family car SUV believing it to be stolen, but the stolen vehicle was actually a motorcycle with the same plate number but a different state!

MrToadMan··on New Amazon Data Center Is Set to Have the Most Polluting Power Plant in the U.S.
In some cases, aren’t the permits not even being sought?

Eg https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pollution-musks-unper...

MrToadMan··on Jurassic Park computers in excruciating detail
Much like his earlier work Westworld which was also scarily prescient for modern times.

> These are highly complicated pieces of equipment. Almost as complicated as living organisms. In some cases, they have been designed by other computers. We don't know exactly how they work.

MrToadMan··on YC CEO says he ships 37K LoC AI code per day. A developer looked under the hood
The competence threshold can vary according to the model's complexity and cost to run, but the broader point remains that having a human operator of greater competence that can evaluate the output and understand potential harms that might result seems to be a valid one. Depending on domain, it can be irresponsible to deploy systems you don't fully understand that could harm others. Responsibly overseeing 37k lines of code a day sounds exhausting.
MrToadMan··on Leanstral 1.5
If only they had access to a world class translation system, they could auto translate between languages effortlessly :)
MrToadMan··on Autoresearch for SAT Solvers
I guess my point was that I don't see many algo changes in the commit history, which is a shame if this has been lost; library/* files are largely unchanged from the initial commits. But each time the agent runs, it has access to the best solutions found so far and can start from there, often using randomisation, which the agent claims helps it escape local minima e.g. 'simulated annealing as a universal improver'. It would be nice to see how its learnt knowledge performs when applied to unseen problems in a restricted timeframe.
MrToadMan··on Autoresearch for SAT Solvers
Not as many changes to the files under library as I expected to see. Most changes seemed to be under a single ‘add stuff’ commit. If some of the solvers are randomised, then repeatedly running and recording best solution found will continually improve over time and give the illusion of the agent making algorithmic advancements, won’t it?
MrToadMan··on TikTok will not introduce end-to-end encryption, saying it makes users less safe
Locking down children’s devices doesn’t stop adults sharing illegal content with other adults though, so there would still be pressure to monitor communications between adults.
MrToadMan··on Binance fired employees who found $1.7B in crypto was sent to Iran
Conversely, buying pizza with MELANIA has left me with zero regrets.
MrToadMan··on TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin
What if while you were eating a cheeseburger, McDonald’s was magically replenishing that burger so that no matter how much you kept eating there was still some left. Moreover you had little control over the ratios of fat and sugar used to replenish it and they earned more the longer you spent eating it. Would you consider them harming you if they were prioritising stuffing it with ingredients that maximised the amount you ate and ignored sensible limits on sugar and fat?
MrToadMan··on France passes bill to ban social media use by under-15s
Isn’t the information flow being controlled by the few major social media players another form of centralisation where their algorithms decide which decentralised voices are heard?
MrToadMan··on Facebook enables gender discrimination in job ads: European human rights body
Worth mentioning the case brought by the DOJ against Meta with regards housing ads discriminating on protected characteristics in 2022.

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-s...

MrToadMan··on Trump pardons convicted Binance founder
Or if they took my deposit and commingled it with company funds and bought some illiquid luxury real estate in the Bahamas for their staff to live in totalling $240m. If they’re upfront about that, probably nobody deposits with them.
MrToadMan··on Trump pardons convicted Binance founder
The swamp is now a protected wetland.
MrToadMan··on Gemini 2.5 Computer Use model
And even funnier in that context: it’s called ‘roundabout technologies’.
MrToadMan··on Gemini 2.5 Computer Use model
Is this as impressive as it initially seems though? A Bing search for the text shows up some Web results for Dvorak to QWERTY conversion, I think because the word ‘t.fxrape’ (keyboard) hits. So there’s a lot of good luck happening there.
MrToadMan··on UK Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards
Although PA was bundled in with two other organisations in the vote, the vote did pass 385 votes to 26, so it seems there was broad support across MPs, not just the cabinet.
MrToadMan··on Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers
From what I've read, about 1/3 of all asylum seekers over the last 7 years arrived via small boat crossings.

Looking forward though, about 90% of those arriving in small boat crossings are currently going on to seek asylum and the average annual cost of supporting an asylum seeker during their claim has risen to an estimated £41k, so for ~30k arrivals this year, the financial cost of not processing these claims promptly could increase that overall annual bill further still.

Also, in the first year of processing, costs may be drawn from the overseas aid budget (which was recently shrunk). This results in possibly 1/5 of the overseas aid budget being used for costs associated with processing asylum claims, which perhaps doesn't match most people's expectations as to what overseas aid should be used for.

I think that's why even though the number of people involved in these crossings is small compared to net migration, it has a big financial impact.

MrToadMan··on Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers
The UK did have compulsory ID cards, which needed to be carried at all times, during both World Wars.
MrToadMan··on Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers
Depends on if you are looking at this in terms of numbers of people or cost. The Home Office annual spend on processing asylum seekers has ballooned from just under £1 billion to near £5 billion in the space of 5 years, which is 1/3 of the estimated £14 billion raised from the unpopular National Insurance increase.
MrToadMan··on Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups
Seems intuitive: the group passengers are likely to have to cough up another 5-10% more at the time of check-in, in order to sit together, so it all evens out.
MrToadMan··on Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell Ecosia (2018)
You can explore the amount paid out to projects by month, region and partner projects in those regions here: https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-financial-reports-tree-planti...
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