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FWIW, in the q&a after a talk, he claims that it was a GNN (graph neural network), not a GAN. (In this q&a, the audience does not really question the validity

FWIW, in the q&a after a talk, he claims that it was a GNN (graph neural network), not a GAN. (In this q&a, the audience does not really question the validity of the research.) https://doi.org/10.52843/cassyni.n74lq7 https://doi.org/10.52843/cassyni.n74lq7

mncharity 1y ago
Wayback of the Sloan School seminar page shows him doing one on February 24, 2025. I wonder how that went. I miss google search's Cache. As with the seminar, several other hits on MIT pages have been removed. I'm reminded of a PBS News Hour story, on free fusion energy from water in your basement (yes, really), which was memory holed shortly after. The next-ish night they seemed rather put out, protesting they had verified the story... with "a scientist". That cassyni talk link... I've seen a lot of MIT talks (a favorite mind candy), and though Sloan talks were underrepresented, that looked... more than a little odd. MIT Q&A norms are diverse, from the subtle question you won't appreciate if you haven't already spotted the fatal flaw, to bluntness leaving the speaker in tears. I wonder if there's a seminar tape.
- radicaldreamer 1y ago
  Here’s a podcast from Sloan where David Autor is talking about the work as if it is perfectly valid https://sloanreview.mit.edu/audio/feed-drop-how-ai-will-change-your-job-with-mits-david-autor/ https://sloanreview.mit.edu/audio/feed-drop-how-ai-will-chan...
  - mncharity 1y ago
    The feed drop appears to be this podcast[1], posted Feb 3. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giGrMKDc0O0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giGrMKDc0O0
rdtsc 1y ago
Oh interesting. I haven't talked to any recent graduates but I would expect an MIT PhD student to be more articulate and not say "like" every other word. There was a question at the end that made him a little uncomfortable: [1:00:20] Q: Did you use academic labs only or did you use private labs? A: (uncomfortable pause) Oh private, yeah, so like all corporate, yeah... Q: So, no academic labs? A: I think it's a good question (scratches head uncomfortably, seemingly trying to hide), what this would look like in an academic setting, cause like, ... the goals are driven by what product we're going make ... academia is all, like "we're looking around trying to create cool stuff"... My 8 year-old is more articulated than this person. Perhaps they are just nervous, I'll give them that I guess.
- gipp 1y ago
  I guess you haven't seen many academic talks then? I'd easily put this on the upper 50% of them as far as public speaking goes
- busyant 1y ago
  > I would expect an MIT PhD student to be more articulate and not say "like" every other word. Buddy, I've met MIT profs whose public speaking was so horrible, it would probably take them 30 minutes to order a glass of water.
  - rdtsc 1y ago
    We’re doomed :-)
  - dguest 1y ago
    That's an optimization. See I'm thirsty, but I can drink the water later. And my grant proposal is due at midnight tonight (12:01 on Sunday, technically), and my PhD student is texting me to say that he can't log into the cluster, and we also just got the proofs back from that paper but I guess that can wait. At some point I should fill out that reimbursement form for the conference last week but first I should get back to those undergrads who said they wanted a summer ... wait water? Oh yes sure water would be great.
- dguest 1y ago
  Don't confuse a polished TED talk from a practiced speaker with a seminar from any random person in academia. I'm sad to admit I've given talks (many recorded) that are much worse than this. These seminar-style talks in particular have a strong Goodheart bias: academic scientists judge each other on the papers they write, but the highest honors usually come in the form of invited talks. The result is that everyone is scrambling to have their students give talks. In larger scientific collaborations it can get a bit perverse: you want to get everyone together for discussions, but the institutes will only pay for travel if you give their students a 20 minute talk. You'll often have conferences where everyone crams into a room and listens to back-to-back 20 minute lectures for a week straight (sometimes split into multiple "parallel sessions"), and the only real questions are from a few senior people. It's a net positive, of course: there's still some time around the lectures and even in 2025 there's no good replacement for face-to-face interaction. But I often wish more people could just go to conferences to discuss their work rather than "giving a talk" on it.

mncharity 1y ago

Wayback of the Sloan School seminar page shows him doing one on February 24, 2025. I wonder how that went. I miss google search's Cache. As with the seminar, several other hits on MIT pages have been removed. I'm reminded of a PBS News Hour story, on free fusion energy from water in your basement (yes, really), which was memory holed shortly after. The next-ish night they seemed rather put out, protesting they had verified the story... with "a scientist". That cassyni talk link... I've seen a lot of MIT talks (a favorite mind candy), and though Sloan talks were underrepresented, that looked... more than a little odd. MIT Q&A norms are diverse, from the subtle question you won't appreciate if you haven't already spotted the fatal flaw, to bluntness leaving the speaker in tears. I wonder if there's a seminar tape.

radicaldreamer 1y ago
Here’s a podcast from Sloan where David Autor is talking about the work as if it is perfectly valid https://sloanreview.mit.edu/audio/feed-drop-how-ai-will-change-your-job-with-mits-david-autor/ https://sloanreview.mit.edu/audio/feed-drop-how-ai-will-chan...
- mncharity 1y ago
  The feed drop appears to be this podcast[1], posted Feb 3. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giGrMKDc0O0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giGrMKDc0O0

rdtsc 1y ago

Oh interesting. I haven't talked to any recent graduates but I would expect an MIT PhD student to be more articulate and not say "like" every other word. There was a question at the end that made him a little uncomfortable: [1:00:20] Q: Did you use academic labs only or did you use private labs? A: (uncomfortable pause) Oh private, yeah, so like all corporate, yeah... Q: So, no academic labs? A: I think it's a good question (scratches head uncomfortably, seemingly trying to hide), what this would look like in an academic setting, cause like, ... the goals are driven by what product we're going make ... academia is all, like "we're looking around trying to create cool stuff"... My 8 year-old is more articulated than this person. Perhaps they are just nervous, I'll give them that I guess.

gipp 1y ago
I guess you haven't seen many academic talks then? I'd easily put this on the upper 50% of them as far as public speaking goes
busyant 1y ago
> I would expect an MIT PhD student to be more articulate and not say "like" every other word. Buddy, I've met MIT profs whose public speaking was so horrible, it would probably take them 30 minutes to order a glass of water.
- rdtsc 1y ago
  We’re doomed :-)
- dguest 1y ago
  That's an optimization. See I'm thirsty, but I can drink the water later. And my grant proposal is due at midnight tonight (12:01 on Sunday, technically), and my PhD student is texting me to say that he can't log into the cluster, and we also just got the proofs back from that paper but I guess that can wait. At some point I should fill out that reimbursement form for the conference last week but first I should get back to those undergrads who said they wanted a summer ... wait water? Oh yes sure water would be great.
dguest 1y ago
Don't confuse a polished TED talk from a practiced speaker with a seminar from any random person in academia. I'm sad to admit I've given talks (many recorded) that are much worse than this. These seminar-style talks in particular have a strong Goodheart bias: academic scientists judge each other on the papers they write, but the highest honors usually come in the form of invited talks. The result is that everyone is scrambling to have their students give talks. In larger scientific collaborations it can get a bit perverse: you want to get everyone together for discussions, but the institutes will only pay for travel if you give their students a 20 minute talk. You'll often have conferences where everyone crams into a room and listens to back-to-back 20 minute lectures for a week straight (sometimes split into multiple "parallel sessions"), and the only real questions are from a few senior people. It's a net positive, of course: there's still some time around the lectures and even in 2025 there's no good replacement for face-to-face interaction. But I often wish more people could just go to conferences to discuss their work rather than "giving a talk" on it.