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The Wellington agency is more than three times the size of the Productivity Commission it replaced, hiring 91 staff. That’s despite ACT, and coalition partner National, campaigning to reduce the public sector wage bill, make 15,000 public servants redundant and slash “wasteful spending” in the sector. The anti-red tape ministry was a flagship policy for [David] Seymour…
Thanks in part to the IRA, US greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 will likely be between 32% and 34% lower than they were in 2005, according to the REPEAT project, which is led by Princeton University’s ZERO Lab. By 2035, the reduction will have reached 40%-43%. https://theprogressplaybook.com/2024/08/20/how-the-inflation-reduction-act-is-transforming-america-and-the-world/ One of the things I love about how…
After teasing the electric supercar’s sleek design, dance moves, and other fun features, BYD launched the Yangwang U9 in February. Starting at around $233,000 (1,680,000 yuan), the U9 is priced at a hefty premium compared to most low-cost BYD models starting at around $10,000 to $25,000. https://electrek.co/2024/08/19/byd-chinas-supercars-get-serious-new-1200-hp-ev/
Intelligence is a multiplier for judgment, but if you have bad judgment, intelligence makes you more likely to get the wrong answer. Intelligence is jet fuel for foolishness.
In the first seven months of 2024, the US got more electricity from wind and solar than from coal — a historic inflection point in the world’s largest economy. https://theprogressplaybook.com/2024/08/19/wind-and-solar-overtake-coal-power-in-the-us-for-good/
One way to explain this is to realise that LLMs don’t learn about relationships between facts, but between tokens, the linguistic forms that Bender described. The tokens “Tom Cruise’s mother” are linked to the tokens “Mary Lee Pfeiffer”, but the reverse is not necessarily true. The model isn’t reasoning, it’s playing with words, and the fact…
The nature of liberty and power…
I knew it was good… but I had no idea: How much antimatter is needed to heat 1 T of H2 from cryogenic liquid to 4000 K? About 300 micrograms. 1200 T of H2 requires 360 milligrams of antimatter. If that antimatter is cryogenically frozen solid antihydrogen, it occupies about 4 mL. Somewhat less than…
… and I thought I hated the guy. I’m way too polite. He. Gets. Dragged. Holy hell the Devil himself. This is a man who gives zero fucks about people. Doesn’t care for democracy. Really believes the ultra rich should rule society to how they see fit. The word fascist is thrown around a lot…
There’s little doubt Musk is a narcissist and a sociopath, but his ramped up use of NPC makes me suspect he’s a solipsist, too. He’s the protagonist in a world where others are simply programmed responses, not thinking, feeling individuals. This fits neatly with his belief that our universe is a computer simulation. Musk happens to…
Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. https://kottke.org/24/08/hopefulness-is-the-warrior-emotion
OceanX is one of the wind turbines that has been making a lot of noise lately as it is now the world’s largest single-capacity floating wind platform. It has finally started its voyage from Guangzhou, China and is expected to reach its final destination of the Qingzhou IV Offshore Wind Farm in Yangjiang, Gangdong by…
A parking lot just outside his condo full of driverless Waymo cars has had multiple incidents where suddenly the vehicles seemingly become confused and start honking all at each other. White says he heard it the first time about two weeks ago — he was woken up around 4 a.m. https://abc7news.com/post/waymo-cars-honk-each-other-night-disturbing-san-francisco-neighbors/15179709/
As someone who has been around this world of technology, startups and venture capital (in many different roles), let me tell you that there isn’t a new trend venture capitalists don’t love. New trends mean new companies to back and hope that there is a winner or two in those bets. It’s a good way…
This is the best description of how race is weaponised via ‘racecraft’ This is really important in NZ at present. We have virulently racist minority partner in our current government. They are tearing up many equity initiatives because they discriminate via skin colour, they are therefore “racist” and socially divisive. When, in fact, they discriminate…
Americans are beginning to demand more than just Trumpism. Trump. His endless stream of Big Lies, his unhinged rants, his vitriol. They are starting to sense it doesn’t go anywhere, lead to anything, that it’s just a dead end for them, in the soul, and for their society. This is why Trump’s schtick now feels old. Isn’t even met…
Like I said… Thiel is looking really incompetent when it comes to politics. There are four faces featured here: Trump, Musk, Thiel and Epstein. Thiel has now become the visual shorthand for evil – along side Epstein.
They are both places to hide. All my worst experiences are with people who take too long to ship or too long to make a decision.
Dave5 