Recent Readings, 5
This is a fun online comic (from Google) which explains the idea of “federated learning” — part of a solution for privacy. It’s way to share the advantages of aggregated data without aggregating the data, only aggregating the results. Cool.
This is true for me: Walking is the key to productivity. Link.
Backing up civilization on Earth by making copies of important texts and sending them into space, or depositing them on the Moon. It seems trivial, but if done iteratively, might be useful. Here is the account of putting the current “back up”on the Moon. What gets backed up, is a question worth asking, and working on. Link.
This long book review of 3 books about vaccines and the culture around them helped me understand the current unsettling avoidance of vaccines by some.
Introducing risk-aversion (sometimes called fear) into AIs who are learning how to drive can accelerate their learning. Link.
Number of births in the US is the lowest in 32 years, and the US fertility rate is near a historic low for the US of 1.763. Link.
“Cardboard is the gateway drug to making,” says Adam Savage. It’s versatile, free. Well, here is some massive art-making with tons of cardboard. Link.
The always insightful AI expert Rodney Brooks, inventor of the Roomba, says general artificial intelligence is probably a century away, and autonomous cars at least 30-50 years away. Link.
Most flying car prototypes to date have used multiple horizontal spinning blades — like a larger drone. Lilium is a new design, with wings, but without the other controlling surfaces on a plane. Novel 5-person taxi. Link.
