Month: November 2023

Igor Komorny. Elon Musk persuades water bears to terraform Mars. 49×65. Paper (cartridge), watercolor, colored pencils. The second drawing – his as well, “Erwin Schrödinger persuades the cat to participate in the experiment”

Two photos from the phone, with and without zoom

The checkout at Uniqlo is so cool! You just toss the jackets into the basket and pay with Apple Pay. The whole process takes like 30 seconds. No beeping scanners

STOP TELLING WOMEN TO SMILE 😐😑😕🫢This Chicago art, promoting the rights of stern-looking women, was created by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. Surprisingly, Tatyana’s parents are an African-American mother and an Iranian father.

Please message me privately about options for transferring sums with two zeros to Russia via bank account transfers within the USA? Ultimately, I need the money on a Sberbank card. I can transfer via PayPal or Zelle. Regularly would be better, but a one-time transfer works too. This is usually relevant for those needing a reverse transfer, from rubles to dollars. I have some urgency here.

I thought it might be interesting for my acquaintances who are not from the USA. We are currently driving from Washington to Chicago for a couple of days, which is an 11-hour drive one way. We usually stop at service areas like this along the way. There are ten in Ohio and four in Indiana just along our route. They are usually quite crowded, but now it’s not only Thanksgiving but also nine in the evening, so it was convenient to make a short video. I’m not much of a vlogger, so don’t be too hard on me;)

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I’ve figured out how to explain the situation with OpenAI and why some are stressed about the uncontrollable improvement in AI quality and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

Imagine a scenario where a startup releases an anti-aging drug tomorrow. I don’t know, something like Altos Labs, or Agex. And then it becomes secretive – not sharing key parts of this discovery with the scientific community, showing astounding results on small mammals, and even though testing on humans might take a century, initial results already demonstrate that the organism rejuvenates.

Of course, this pleasure isn’t available to everyone because the demand is astronomical while production is expensive and complex. And here the company works on producing this super-drug on a larger scale.

All simulations indicate that such progress eventually leads to the end of civilization. We can of course argue that simulations are dumb and incorrect, while people are rational and conscious, but history shows that no large group has ever acted in a truly conscious manner. Roughly one percent pushes forward, and the rest either endure, do not interfere, or assist, though rationally, they should only be helping. Second, all simulations show that as a result of this anti-aging drug, nothing disastrous will happen in the lifetime of anyone currently living. So, we need to think at least about our children and grandchildren, although again, the issue involves belief, as some think that our grandchildren’s grandchildren will migrate to live on Mars. What should an intelligent society do to ensure that people don’t kill each other 200 years from now?

There are two options – either ensure the anti-aging drug never comes into existence (consciously refuse progress) or formulate principles for its rational and fair application. How long will such principles last? How to explain to some that it’s just as fair for them to die tomorrow as it is for that millionaire scientist not to die because he deserves the drug. If an agreement is not reached, they will take up pitchforks in sheer numbers, and ultimately, humanity will regress hundreds of years.

The same is true with OpenAI and AGI. Nobody knows what to do with it, but many think that if we don’t reflect on it, the problem is inevitable, and if we do ponder, it might not be.

Sitting, working. Suddenly something crows loudly throughout the apartment. I yell to Nadya – what’s that? She says: I don’t know what is crowing over there. I almost felt like getting back to work; after all, who knows what’s crowing in our three-story house. I was about to give up guessing, although it was indeed weirdly loud. Then I remembered.

About two years ago, I bought a doorbell. And I plugged it into a socket (imagine how that would have sounded 20 years ago!). The button, powered by a battery, was stuck on the door with double-sided tape. Bought it, installed it in a minute, and forgot about it. And finally, someone rang it!

A girl at the door was asking how we feel about the Virginia VCEA law, stating that part of the money we pay for electricity would go towards building all sorts of windmills and demolishing thermal power plants. I say hmm well great, why not. She goes – but the bills are insane. Basically, she was leading up to the topic of whether to install solar panels on my roof using their services, and in case of surplus, they would even pay us for generation. I’m somewhat familiar with this topic, but sorry, not this time. It’s actually a solid topic, just that the return on investment takes 10-15 years at best and then the profits start trickling in very slowly. I wasn’t taught to plan that far ahead, but Americans often go for it. Good for them, really.

Update: The overly proactive OpenAI board of directors has been disbanded. New people, new rules, a new sign on the basement door. Sam is back