omnee

The relevant part: "The ALICE analysis shows that, during Run 2 of the LHC (2015–2018), about 86 billion gold nuclei were created at the four major experiments. In terms of mass, this corresponds to just 29 picograms (2.9 ×10-11 g)."

Just need to scale it by trillions to make 1 ounce, but transmutation of lead to gold - the dream of many alchemists - is now just a by product of particle accelerators.

I can't emphasize this strongly enough. Recently, I had the pleasure of eating at a fine dining restaurant that grows a number of vegetables and herbs, and they presented an amuse bouche with a number of raw vegetables and herbs for us to taste. Their flavours were so elevated compared to the usual counterparts that I get from supermarkets, that I questioned whether any artificial addititives were used - obviously not. The difference is like going from being short sighted but able to complete daily activites with some difficulty, to wearing glasses that makes everything crystal clear and easy.

A real life Manchurian candidate, whether by intention or not.

The US can use internal policies to support the industries and skills you mentioned. Tariffs as implemented, and greatly damaging longstanding relationships with allies, will have the opposite effect. The existing lead in services will be lost, consumption will drop, and the increase in production of goods due to tariffs won't offset it. I would recommend you read the outcome of the Smoot Hawley tariffs.

The Trump admin wants to devalue the dollar substantially, enact protectionism and maintain its reserve status. I can see them succeed with the latter two, but with these actions, the world has no choice but to move away from the USD as the reserve currency. It will take many years, but whatever replaces it certainly won't be to the US's advantage.

I agree that any system claiming general intelligence must be able to form and modify a model of the world. A fundamental part of this is being able to ask counterfactual questions on its own understanding or knowledge of the world. The history of science is full of countless such examples. As of right now I'm not aware of any LLMs or indeed any AI system being able to do so.

The status quo in western countries of giving absolute primacy to the needs/demands of capital above all else has indeed failed. The share of national income going to the middle and working classses makes this obvious. Yet, this is not being resolved. Instead, the very same groups that have benefitted from the status quo have managed to acquire power on the back of a disaffected populous, and they hold a fundamental belief that multi-lateral institutions/geopolitics do not act in the US's (or their) economic interest.

The world, including the US, will be poorer and less safe if the US moves to zero sum geopolitics and mercantilism of 19th century. And the losses will be burdened on everyone else other than the very rich elites. Indeed, even a short review of America's own history would be proof of this.

I agree with you on how many different objects, such as seashells or even certain types of stones have been used as money by some cultures. However, the point of this article is about real returns, and the real return of Gold over centuries - for example - has been zero, and this is with it having aesthetic and intrinsic values. Hence, Gold is not an investment class that Vanguard supports. So, why would Bitcoin give a postive real return, whether as a wealth preserving asset or currency?

Bitcoin is commonly compared to Gold and I agree with BTC proponents who state that most of Gold's value is driven by speculative investment, however in the long term (over centuries and even millenia) it has a demonstrated real return of zero. So Gold has preserved wealth.

Bitcoin might do the same, but for this to occur it will always need new liquidity as it lacks intrinsic value. But this also implies that the real return will be zero over the long term, like with Gold. Moreover, as it's value comes entirely from its price, the door to the 'price value' of Bitcoin (or any other similar asset) reaching the Moon or zero will always be open.

However, Gold does have intrinsic value (10% annual use in industry) and has, over millenia and at present, an aesthetic value (40% in Jewellery). Which would probably classed under Sign Value in semiotics. So it has intrinsic, exchange, symbolic and sign values too.

Note that over the long term, most commodity real returns have been zero or even negative. Unsurprising, as we have gotten far more efficient at extracting them.

I couldn't agree more. Elite Olympic athletes are a representation of extreme talent, perseverance, physicality, creativity, luck, risk-taking, emotion, mentality and work ethic. Even if I find most of the disciplines boring, sometimes unintelligible and aren't 'economically' valuable, I still admire them for representing the positive aspects of humanity. Similar behaviours are necessary in other endeavours, be they of a intellectual or physical nature, where great achievements are made.

HN has, within a few years, become one of my primary sources of information for all things related to technology and many other intellectual topics. Not least because of the many knowledgable commentators. Happy (20+25)² to all!

So many beautiful stories. Merry Christmas Everyone!

This implies that a sustained crash will only happen if/when these two institutions are no longer capable of supporting the market. In effect, it's a bet against the US, which so far has been a losing one.

I've already had the pleasure of learning from his previous post on 'Sound', and this one on the Moon is equally informative and beautiful. In the age of slop and pop-ups, it fills me with joy that there still exists on the internet such a brilliantly crafted blog that informs and educates the curious mind.

Latency between the live TV signal for my neighbours and the BBC iPlayer app I was using to watch the Euro 2024 final literally ruined the main moments for me. It still remains an unsolved issue long into the advent of live streaming.

The rule of law is a key part of a nations success as argued by AJR. A very good exposition for the layman on the rule of law provided by Tom Bingham in the eponymous 'The Rule of Law):https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7734691-the-rule-of-law

While the above is informed by the UK's constitutional arrangement, the 8 principles are near universal when considering nations that have or aim for The Rule of Law.

The principles are:

(1) The law must be accessible and so far as possible intelligible, clear and predictable.

(2) Questions of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved by application of the law and not the exercise of discretion.

(3) The laws of the land should apply equally to all, save to the extent that objective differences justify differentiation.

(4) Ministers and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers conferred on them in good faith, fairly, for the purpose for which the powers were conferred, without exceeding the limits of such powers and not unreasonably.

(5) The law must afford adequate protection of fundamental human rights.

(6) Means must be provided for resolving, without prohibitive cost or inordinate delay, bona fide civil disputes which the parties themselves are unable to resolve.

(7) The adjudicative procedures provided by the state should be fair.

(8) The rule of law requires compliance by the state with its obligations in international law as in national law.

The cephalopods never fail to surprise and these observations demonstrate the complex intelligence of at least one octopus species.

Just to add to this point further. Russia has vastly more combat aircraft than Ukraine, but has only been able to achieve local air superiority in a few areas of the contact line. Ukraine, without having anywhere close to the number of anti-air systems of advanced modern armies have denied most of its airspace to the Russian Airforce, and have shot down many aircraft including the A-50.

The key assumption is that stealth would enable the USAF to operate at will within or close to air defence zones, but this has not been tested against a near peer foe.

Two parts stand out for me:

1. COVID: The explosion in revenues during 2020 is self explanatory.

2. Product market fit/Execution: The owners having previously created other, albeit, unsuccessful platforms certainly helped with creating Onlyfans. This is a very simple idea that thousands will have had, but creating it successfully necessarily requires a good understanding of a sector avoided by most major corporations.

If O1 did rickroll you deliberately, then it would indeed more impressive than solving ciphertexts, and I'd start preparing to bow down to our AGI overlords :)

We have come a long way from Descartes argument that animals are no more than automata. Which supported our unabashed exploitation of countless species.

It is now abundantly clear that animals have their own phenomenological experience of the world, and their intelligence is part of a continuum, shaped mostly to survive in their niches. And some species demonstrate a higher level of general intelligence - something in which we are quite easily the best.

Although, it's worth noting that some cultures (Buddhists or Jain's for example) did give animals their due with respect to their lives and intelligence.

Anandtech was one of my earliest sources of highly quality tech reporting. In particular their reliance on data and testing always stood out. Many hours were spent there during my formative years. And, while I did stop reading it regularly at University, it had already played an important part in informing, and so shaping me.

Thanks, and farewell!

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made it clear to the strategic planners the obvious; that peer or near peer warfare is one of industry and attrition (which it always has been).

So while we may all, and should dislike war, it is ever more important to have our defence fully prepared for modern warfare.

I just asked Google's Gemini the following question:

Q: How many N's are there in Normation?

A: There is one N in the word "Normation"

Note that the answer is the same when asked n's instead of N's.

And this is but one example of many simple cases demonstrating that these model are indeed not reasoning in a similar manner to humans. However, the outputs are useful enough that I myself use Claude and GPT-4o for some work, but with full awareness that I must review the outputs in cases where factual accuracy is required.

This net economic benefit of immigrants varies based on their background and skill sets. In Denmark for example, MENA immigrants are a net drain throughout their entire productive work lives.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240111003833/https://www.econo...

This event raises the question: What is the liability of Crowdstrike given its erroneous update caused the meltdown, and the impact certainly had negative personal or business outcomes globally.

See for example 6000 flights cancelled or the many statements posted here regarding it negatively impacting healthcare and other businesses.

Each Windows version has regressed from Windows 7 onwards. To the point that Windows 11 can almost be construed as malware. I'll be using Ubuntu henceforth.

I've assumed they are kilocalories, and both models appear to have used that too.

I've asked models from ChatGPT3.5 to many others including the latest ones to calculate the calories expended when running, and am still receiving mixed results. In this instance, Claude 3.5 Sonnet got it right and ChatGPT 4o was wrong.

Q: Calculate the energy in calories used by a person aged 30, weighing 80kg, of averge fitness, and running at 8 km/h for 10km

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Here's the step-by-step calculation:

MET value for running at 8 km/h (5 mph): Approximately 8.3 METs Formula for calorie burn: Calories = MET value × Weight in kg × Time in hours Calculate time in hours: Distance = 10 km Speed = 8 km/h Time = Distance / Speed = 10 km / 8 km/h = 1.25 hours Apply the formula: Calories = 8.3 × 80 kg × 1.25 hours Calories = 830 calories

GPT-4o: To calculate the energy expenditure for a person running, we can use the MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) value for running. MET is a unit used to estimate the amount of energy expended during physical activities. The MET value for running at 8 km/h (which is equivalent to 5 mph) is typically around 8.3 METs.

Calories burned per minute= 8.3 × 200/80 = 3.32 calories per minute

The total time in minutes is: 1.25 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 75 minutes 1.25 hours×60 minutes/hour=75 minutes

Total calories burned=3.32 calories per minute×75 minutes = 249 calories