markjgsmith

2024/06/03 #

• As tech gets better as we head into infinity, how do we educate people to the fact that they can be tricked, and bigly? And keep doing it generation after generation? When people only really learn these things by experience. #

• With AI we are modelling the way the brain works. But the brain is essentially analogue, neurons aren’t either on or off, they can be a little bit on. How will digital models ever really recreate an analogue process? Maybe that will, in the end be the difference between human and artificial intelligence. #

• cat << EOF > Lex Fridman on human memory

  The human brain and mind is something we are intimately aware of yet we take it for granted since they mediate our every action in the world. It's important to be aware of thought dynamics that arise, but without getting too caught up in it. It's especially relevant when you make a living primarily using your brain.

  I previously wrote about some memory and perception issues I had while reading. That was a kind of difficult piece to write about, but it helped me understand more fully how my mind works. It's possible that it improved the situation somewhat, but to be honest it's not something I've thought about much since writing the piece.

  With that in mind, I really enjoyed Lex Fridman's recent podcast interview with memory researcher and expert Charan Ranganath. There's so much to learn from their discussion to help demistify the grey matter in between your ears, in that skull we all carry around everywhere.

  Memory weirdnesses are just part of being human, even if they can be a bit embarrassing and confusing. The way we think about the brain and mind has changed dramatically, even since I was young. These are no longer taboo topics. I think that's great, and this progress has been possible in part by people freely sharing their experiences.

  I thought these two stories from Lex were particulatly interesting and fun. I have similar things that have happened to me.

  The first is all about how our brains remember things in very strange ways sometimes. It's not like a button you press, like with electronics or a computer, it's more like our brains have a mind of their own, and actually, they do!

  I remember, a good friend of mine Joe Rogan. I was on his podcast, we were randomly talking about soccer…football…somebody I grew up watching, Diego Armando Maradona, one of the greatest soccer players of all time, and we were talking about him and his career and so on, and Joe asked me if he was still around, and I said ‘yeah’. I don’t know why I thought yeah.

  That was a perfect example of memories. He passed away, I tweeted about it, how heart broken I was, all this kind of stuff, like a year before. I know this, but in my mind, I went back to the thing I’ve done many times in my head, visualising some of the epic runs he had on goal, and so on, so for me he’s alive. And also, part of the conversation when you are talking with Joe, there’s stress, and the focus is allocated, the attention is allocated in a particular way. But when I walked away, I was like, "in which world was Diego Maradona still alive?

  Because I was sure, in my head that he was still alive. It’s a moment that sticks with me. I’ve had a few like that in my life. Obvious things…like, disappear from mind. And it’s cool. It shows the power of the mind in a positive sense, to erase memories you want erased, maybe. But I don’t know, I don’t know if that’s a good explanation for that. (01:01:44)

  The second story is a reminder that our life situation, and that of others has a big impact on how our brains work. That's to be expected, we are shaped by the things we do day in day out:

  There’s a good percentage of time I personally live in the imagined world. I do thought experiments a lot […] sometimes it’s rigorous thought experiments, sometimes it’s fun ones. I imagine that has an effect on how I remember things. And I suppose I have to be a little bit careful to make sure stuff happened vs stuff that I just imagined happened.

  And also, some of my best friends are characters inside books, that never even existed. There’s some degree to which they actually exist in my mind. (01:09:37)

  Both these stories cheered me up a bit, so I figured I'd share them here. It's a great conversation, worth spending the time to listen to the whole episode.

  EOF

• Another fascinating factoid from Lex's podcast with memory researcher and expert Charan Ranganath:

  The act of recalling memories can strengthen or distort the memory depending on environment conditions at the time, but also can have an effect on memories that you didn’t even recall! Memory is more like an ecosystem.

  That's so frigging strange. How did we ever get this far with such a weird thinking apparatus! #

Today’s links:

• Napster Sparked a File-Sharing Revolution 25 Years Ago - That era of the internet really was kind of wild. I don't remember being into Napster specifically but Bit torrent and NZBs were really awesome. Great post download automation features. I miss those days, you could really vicerally sense how the web was going to change literally everything. torrentfreak.com #

• War, AI and more war: the 2024 Bilderberg agenda is sure to set off alarm bells - Haven't herd this lot mentioned in quite a few years. It was Bilderberg this and illuminatti that about a decade ago. Interesting they are trying to re-inventing themselves. Perhaps they should try being more 'open' and less secretive, have the attendees do some blogging. I'm struck today about the 'builder' root in the name that I hadn't noticed before. This year it's a who's who of heads Big AI tech apparently, oh and Big pharma, and Big warfare. So nothing to be worried about then. Probably just like Davos. www.theguardian.com #

• U.S tech giants are building dozens of huge data centers in Chile. Locals are fighting back - These data centers are massive and use huge amounts of water extracted from the ground to cool their servers. That's a big problem in areas that already have droubts since many years. I like that these environmental organisations are springing up to both highlight the issue but also to facilitate projects where the very rich Big Tech companies can offset their environmental footprint. I just hope there is transparency, I could imagine such efforts could easily fall victim to corruption. restofworld.org #

• Computer makers unveil Nvidia Blackwell systems for AI rollouts - Two big new things in this article. First, 25-30X improvements in power comsumption, and second, the idea of "AI factories" that produce a new type of commodity: artificial intelligence. AI ETF anyone? venturebeat.com #

• Young French leader's rise and Belgium's future existence: What to watch in EU elections - Pretty good article that briefly samples the pulse in various countries accross the EU. I didn't realise that Belgium was in danger of disapearing, I suspect it's a bit of an alarmist view. Lots of focus on the rise of far right groups. It would be good to find a few similar articles by different news orgs to compare and contrast. Certainly interesting times politically in the EU at the minute. www.bbc.com #

• I’m a brown, Muslim European. For people like me, these EU elections are terrifying - Shada Islam piece about how the EU elections affect people like her. Every country has it's own slightly different flavour of disfunction when it comes to immigration, racism etc. I think also each place has it's own particulars where it's working well and producing net benefits for those involved. I wish we could spend some time unearthing those stories too. Interesting article nonetheless, both positive and negative aspects need to be written about and shared. www.theguardian.com #

• ‘I cannot take it lightly’: young voters urged to take part in EU elections - The view from young voters, also very interesting, they face quite different pressures and influences. And across the EU this group is massive. Some varied beliefs in ex-autocratic and russian states. Lots of concern for environmental issues. www.theguardian.com #

• New Post: Lex Fridman on human memory markjgsmith.com #