lambdasquirrel

Also worth noting that not all muscle mass is the same. Too many people read these things and lacking context, they get swindled one way and then another.

Volvo is complicated. Basically a lot of these smaller companies and countries realized there was no way they could make the economics work with the cost of electronics and software-related R&D being what they are. So they sold to larger players. But design and final assembly still happens in Gothenburg for high-end models that are typically destined for the EU market. The US now manufactures the SUVs.

I used to have aspirations to move to Canada and I know folks who have tried to hire SREs in Toronto. While that post may sound hyperbolic, it is for all intents and purposes accurate. You can’t build an SRE team in Toronto because the talent pool is too shallow. It really is that bad. The story repeats over and over. The degree to which the US captured the Western countries through its dollar system is actually quite astounding and should terrify people.

In my first job we worked in a room full of 4Us and it was always refreshing when we powered them all down for the weekend. So quiet. It’s almost like there was a reason why consumer-grade hardware existed.

I don't think this is even just an AI denoiser problem. Rain effectively looks like haze for the parts of the scene that are at sufficiently long distances. Therefore it's difficult to use dehaze with rainy scenes. The harder the rain is falling, the more limited your ability to dehaze. It's much the same with denoise. You won't be denoising at 100% in Topaz if it's dark and raining hard.

One day smartphone cameras might get there, but right now, the sensor technology isn't there yet. The problem isn't merely noise. It's that rain and snow are moving about in the scene, which means that the camera can't just do its usual trick of taking multiple exposures.

AI denoisers are nice, but they aren't strictly necessary for ILCs. Even those full-frame cameras without IBIS are able to take pictures of nighttime snow just fine.

There are still processes that we haven’t replaced petroleum for, like Haber-Bosch. China has already banned the export of fertilizer for this reason.

I wouldn't be that cynical. From the interactions I've had with people from mainland China, particularly those in the educated classes, I can say for certain that it was soft power that drew them towards the West and the US in particular. China already beat back the West in the Korean War.

Would that necessarily be a bad thing? I remember how that would drive short-termism on the part of regular employees. Since stock comp was a major part of many companies' salaries, people would hope for a bump in the earnings report. We complain about short-termism in the markets, but you can't say one thing and then do something else.

Depends on how you look at it. In terms of overcoming fundamental limitations, I would argue it has indeed hit a wall. ChatGPT is how old, but LLMs still can't actually count?

But then, to your point, what does it matter, if they're still as useful as they are? Even at this stage, Claude Code makes Jira halfway bearable.

Of course, we have to consider the devil's advocate as well. Most CEOs don't seem to be reporting great ROI on their "AI" investments.

Yup, if you haven’t heard first-hand (i.e. from the source) at least one story where some exec was at least using AI to intimidate his employees, or outright terminating them in some triumphant way (whether or not this was a sound business decision), then you’ve gotta be living in a bubble. AI might not be the problem but the way it’s being used is.

That only means that the UK government doesn’t have access to the backdoor.

Do you want to go up against whatever patent portfolio AMZN has?

People in China know. Believe me they know.