50 karma · joined August 2, 2023
The wrinkle that needs to be added is that there are no truly universal rules as to what counts for incidental vs ambiguous friction - the definitions are relative to individual/project goals. I am working with some scientific instruments to map out chemical data, and 3d modeling is needed. I don’t particularly care about 3d modeling - it is incidental to me. The chemistry is the focal point. So the STL files are vibe coded so I can keep my focus on chemistry. But if I were working for the latest marvel movie, the reverse would be true. The actual chemistry would need to fit the script and the visual effect intended. To a scientist the visualization just needs to be good enough. To the film director, the world building physics and chemistry instead become the supporting actor. The challenge introduced by AI is that in ruthlessly eliminating incidental friction, you are being deliberate about what you choose not to learn. This is fine at a task level - but how many of us “found” our current expertise through incidental friction in the first place? I never wanted to do chemistry, I went to school for something else. But incidental friction led to discovery. That is my biggest worry, particularly for students and early career folks.
This is vastly more preferable than our current approach of raising children as robots.
Translation: “We used a closed-source proprietary method by a manufacturer and validated it on a sample the manufacturer recommended.”
XRF generates spectra which represent atomic abundance (eg K-, L-, and M-line emissions). However, these are not international standard units. Laboratory units translate from spectra to mass fraction through meticulous preparation of standards. Handheld units often use a secret sauce algorithm to do this to keep analysis non destructive. I’m skeptical of the results - but what’s more important is that these results are not fully reproducible. If the company goes belly up, or less dramatically changes/updates the proprietary algorithms used to create mass fraction estimates, the reported results of this study won’t be replicable even with the same samples.
> Problem: > If $\det \mathbf{A} = 2$ and $\det \mathbf{B} = 12,$ then find $\det (\mathbf{A \mathbf{B}).$
> Solution: > We know that for a matrix \mathbf{M}, the determinant of its inverse is given by $\frac{1}{\det \mathbf{M}}.$ We also know that the determinant of a product of matrices is equal to the product of their respective determinants. Therefore, we have: \begin{align} \det (\mathbf{A}^{-1}\mathbf{B}) &= \frac{\det(\mathbf{AB})}{\det\mathbf{A}}\\ &= \frac{\det\mathbf{A}}{\det\mathbf{B}} \end{align} > Therefore, we have: > $\det(\mathbf{AB}) = 24
The f32 answer: > We have that $\det (\mathbf{A} \mathbf{B}) = (\det \mathbf{A})(\det \mathbf{B}) = (2)(12) = \boxed{24}.$ > Final Answer: The final answer is $24$. I hope it is correct.
Final answer is the same, which is encouraging for quantization to expand hardware options.
I think the failure here is to train the model on published results. I’ve worked with scientists who could write and infer a marvelous amount of information from shit data. And I’ve worked with scientists who poorly described ingenious methods with quality data. The current academic system incentivizes sensationalization of incremental advances which confirm previously published work. I’m not in the least surprised at the manuscript level that replication would fail.
The proper way to do this would be to log experimental parameters in a systematic reporting method specific to each field. With standardized presentation of parameters I suspect replicability would improve. But this would present an near impossible degree of coordination between different research groups. But it would be feasible for the NIH or NSF to demand such standardized logging as a condition of grant awards of a certain size.
On replication, it is a worthwhile goal but the career incentives need to be there. I think replicating studies should be a part of the curriculum in most programs - a step toward getting a PhD in lieu of one of the papers.