vannevar

12 ms·

151.
by vannevar 11mo ago
>...but out in the official data, and less so but still true in the real world, things are still bobbing along. I don't know that the official data shows things "still bobbing along." The graph of monthly employment number
152.
by vannevar 11mo ago
Not necessarily. Average income can be up substantially at the same time that median income remains flat or even declines. This means that it is possible for spending by wealthier Americans to make up for sales lost from the unemployed midd
153.
by vannevar 11mo ago
I'm sure there are bad regulations. But the reason that there is reliance on simple one-size-fits-all rules is that we are unwilling to pay the cost of investigating each special case and having someone make an expert judgment. Taking
154.
by vannevar 11mo ago
Others have pointed out how PE has degraded the medical system. The debt crisis I referred to is the private credit crisis, though no doubt private equity has played a key lobbying role in creating our national debt crisis as well. Regardin
155.
by vannevar 11mo ago
"Private Equity's next victim..." From the people who brought you America's medical system, and looming debt crisis.
156.
by vannevar 11mo ago
Agreed. But these kinds of models almost always start in academia, that's one of the big reasons we have academia, to explore ideas that may (or may not) be useful. My point was that you can't prejudge the usefulness of a model si
157.
by vannevar 11mo ago
"All models are wrong; but some are useful." - George Box Even particles aren't actually particles, nor spin states actually spin states. The map is not the territory. Physics models are only useful (and "correct")
158.
by vannevar 11mo ago
Nonsensical for the US, but not necessarily nonsensical for Donald Trump and his family, depending on what Altman can offer him. Maybe not a 747, but he could certainly arrange to purchase Trumpcoin, like the UAE did to invest in Binance. W
159.
by vannevar 1y ago
And even this assumes the LLMs themselves remain neutral, which is dubious given that they are almost exclusively in the hands of private capital.
160.
by vannevar 1y ago
It does until Donald Trump leaves office with it and makes it part of his "library".
161.
by vannevar 1y ago
In this administration, government agencies are not expected to have any independence and cannot express doubts about administration goals without risking being fired. In addition, the administration has a taste for extortion and this may s
162.
by vannevar 1y ago
Definition and description do not necessarily include purpose. You could define a hammer very precisely without ever mentioning that its purpose is to drive nails. And since it's in the best interest of capital to minimize the original
163.
by vannevar 1y ago
>Believe it or not, businesses don't exist to provide you a "good service" they exist to make money. This is a common misconception. Businesses actually exist to serve the public interest, which is why some kinds of busine
164.
by vannevar 1y ago
>Are they really, though? Yes, if you look beyond progress within a specific model line. For instance, there is a marked difference between the range and towing capacity of a 2023 Chevrolet Silverado EV and the Ford Lightning. The Kia EV
165.
by vannevar 1y ago
Your tiny indirect share of the PE firm's profits will not match your direct loss of service as a customer and/or loss of compensation as an employee. Contrary to popular myth, wealth does not trickle down in any meaningful way. I
166.
by vannevar 1y ago
>I don't like PE firms but there's no doubt that they force businesses to operate better, and ultimately that benefits people like you and me... They do not force businesses to "operate better." They force businesses
167.
by vannevar 1y ago
As goes capital, so goes the web. Capital is becoming more concentrated, and so power over the internet becomes more concentrated. Because at the end of the day, the web serves capital, not individuals. And AI represents the ultimate centra
168.
by vannevar 1y ago
Yes, the money flows uphill. Having more wealth means being able to make more wealth, faster. It's a feedback loop. True, some of that comes from printing money. But value is actually being created all the time (which means some new
169.
by vannevar 1y ago
You're describing regulatory capture, which is true in unregulated capitalism. When I say "unregulated capitalism", I'm not talking about business regulation---I'm talking about regulating capital itself. In a healt
170.
by vannevar 1y ago
"Free market" is an oxymoron. Without regulation, there is no market. Market rules were among the earliest types of law. The chief problem with our current system is that capital is largely unregulated. In capitalism, wealth flows
171.
by vannevar 1y ago
I think what pops is the Ponzi-like financial structure underlying the huge investments. The projected profits simply don't come fast enough to justify incremental investment, and the pyramid runs out of incoming money. Yes, AI is huge
172.
by vannevar 1y ago
NHTSA crash ratings for the Bolt are slightly better than the Leaf. I don't know about the HEPA air filters.
173.
by vannevar 1y ago
I drove both before I bought the Bolt. The Leaf does have a nicer interior. While I wouldn't say it's a huge gap, it was noticeable. But the Leaf also felt heavier and more sluggish. In the end, the extra range, the CCS charge por
174.
by vannevar 1y ago
You are 100% right. In nature, the fitness landscape is not fixed, it is dependent on the co-evolution of other organisms at every scale. So the computational model is too simple to be a reliable guide. But in this case, if you assume const
175.
by vannevar 1y ago
Could also have bought a used Chevy Bolt in this price range, with CCS, ~250mi range, and CarPlay.
176.
by vannevar 1y ago
In evolutionary algorithms, fitness climbs rapidly from a random start, then tends to level off over generations. The "split-and-hit-the gas" dynamic makes sense if you think of a given phenotype occupying a certain phase space. I
177.
by vannevar 1y ago
Say, if you're blacklisted by a fascist government, for example. Tim Cook's pledge of loyalty was disturbing on many levels.
178.
by vannevar 1y ago
Capital doesn't want you to own anything, it wants you to rent everything. In the absence of any pressure to the contrary, it will continue to turn everything into a rental or a license. Because it's a feedback loop, the more capi
179.
by vannevar 1y ago
Bots and trolls not particularly interested in science, study finds.
180.
by vannevar 1y ago
A very gentile way to describe capitalism under a fascist system, where corporate leaders come to fear state retribution, arrest, or worse, for failing to play along with the regime.

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