Computational Cosmetologist
@dferrer.bsky.social
ML Scientist (derogatory), Ex-Cosmologist, Post Large Scale Structuralist
I worked on the Great Problems in AI: Useless Facts about Dark Energy, the difference between a bed and a sofa, and now facilitating bank-on-bank violence. Frequentists DNI.
I worked on the Great Problems in AI: Useless Facts about Dark Energy, the difference between a bed and a sofa, and now facilitating bank-on-bank violence. Frequentists DNI.
I am generous—like Salk I won’t patent this idea. It belongs to the people
November 20, 2025 at 3:19 AM
I am generous—like Salk I won’t patent this idea. It belongs to the people
I would simply build transportation that *doesn’t* kill people. How hard could it be?
November 20, 2025 at 3:18 AM
I would simply build transportation that *doesn’t* kill people. How hard could it be?
Somehow this latter position is the aesthetically “moral” one. It’s like saying the solution to the trolley problem is to close your eyes and walk away.
November 20, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Somehow this latter position is the aesthetically “moral” one. It’s like saying the solution to the trolley problem is to close your eyes and walk away.
Any product that is widespread enough is going to kill someone who wouldn’t have died if *some* precaution had been taken. Some people like to ignore that, pretend nothing bad can happen, then make product and policy decisions that kill a lot more people
November 20, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Any product that is widespread enough is going to kill someone who wouldn’t have died if *some* precaution had been taken. Some people like to ignore that, pretend nothing bad can happen, then make product and policy decisions that kill a lot more people
People hate actuarial thinking for what they like to think are moral but are usually aesthetic reasons. It’s comfortable to recite the Folk Deontology of “You can’t put a price on human life” while ignoring the myriad ways we constantly do as individuals and society.
November 20, 2025 at 3:15 AM
People hate actuarial thinking for what they like to think are moral but are usually aesthetic reasons. It’s comfortable to recite the Folk Deontology of “You can’t put a price on human life” while ignoring the myriad ways we constantly do as individuals and society.
QC scaling being realized is only even like one of a dozen events that could blow up the crypto sector. Long term valuing crypto risk is pretty much Drake Equation levels of multiplying made up numbers.
November 20, 2025 at 12:25 AM
QC scaling being realized is only even like one of a dozen events that could blow up the crypto sector. Long term valuing crypto risk is pretty much Drake Equation levels of multiplying made up numbers.
The fact that I live in an area with a lot of non-believers but its still the liberal christians who run the shelters and soup kitchens is something I lack a comfortable explanation for.
November 18, 2025 at 9:39 PM
The fact that I live in an area with a lot of non-believers but its still the liberal christians who run the shelters and soup kitchens is something I lack a comfortable explanation for.
It's like a fun-house mirror of fundamentalists deciding *the antichrist would be a false peacemaker* meant that *promoting peace itself* was bad.
November 18, 2025 at 9:39 PM
It's like a fun-house mirror of fundamentalists deciding *the antichrist would be a false peacemaker* meant that *promoting peace itself* was bad.
The way the (I think sometimes warranted) push-back in the atheist community to the idea that *religion was a social good because of its good works* became a general disgust towards *religious good works* at all was frustrating to live through.
November 18, 2025 at 9:39 PM
The way the (I think sometimes warranted) push-back in the atheist community to the idea that *religion was a social good because of its good works* became a general disgust towards *religious good works* at all was frustrating to live through.
Adding enough scale can always produce new and unexpected phenomena. We *cannot* trust our instincts about what holds when you have a clerk do billions of mathematical calculations. It can’t happen and we can’t check. Appealing to it has no actual informational content.
November 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Adding enough scale can always produce new and unexpected phenomena. We *cannot* trust our instincts about what holds when you have a clerk do billions of mathematical calculations. It can’t happen and we can’t check. Appealing to it has no actual informational content.
Reposted by Computational Cosmetologist
“No way to prevent this” says only language where this regularly happens
November 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM
“No way to prevent this” says only language where this regularly happens
I grew up in the bluest part of NoVA and still had neighbors with traitor flags through the mid 2000s when I left. Not to mention the drive to my high-school via *4 separate roads* named after Robert E Lee. My wife was given conf. flag earrings on a trip to Manassas in 6th grade. It’s everywhere.
November 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I grew up in the bluest part of NoVA and still had neighbors with traitor flags through the mid 2000s when I left. Not to mention the drive to my high-school via *4 separate roads* named after Robert E Lee. My wife was given conf. flag earrings on a trip to Manassas in 6th grade. It’s everywhere.
No gods, no masters, no snitches, no bedtimes. Read theory (my livejournal from when I was grounded age 11).
November 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
No gods, no masters, no snitches, no bedtimes. Read theory (my livejournal from when I was grounded age 11).
Strange how the left-anarchists and the ancaps converge on this, except in the ancap system you pay the mob for justice instead of baking them brownies and hosting a drum circle. This is an important difference.
November 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Strange how the left-anarchists and the ancaps converge on this, except in the ancap system you pay the mob for justice instead of baking them brownies and hosting a drum circle. This is an important difference.
The most innocent possible situation here even if we are *absurdly* charitable is that they got duped out of the story of the century by one of their own reporters. That feels like something that requires a reckoning.
November 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The most innocent possible situation here even if we are *absurdly* charitable is that they got duped out of the story of the century by one of their own reporters. That feels like something that requires a reckoning.
Yeah, not saying he’s likely dead or anything. It’s just an unhinged statement to make.
November 13, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Yeah, not saying he’s likely dead or anything. It’s just an unhinged statement to make.
More seriously, agree with people who say this is probably someone misstating a-fib. Otherwise the only way I’d describe going to the ER for v-fib as an “abundance of caution” is if the other option was the morgue.
November 13, 2025 at 6:56 PM
More seriously, agree with people who say this is probably someone misstating a-fib. Otherwise the only way I’d describe going to the ER for v-fib as an “abundance of caution” is if the other option was the morgue.
A small, barely significant flare-up of seeing the light and hearing the demons cackling.
November 13, 2025 at 6:56 PM
A small, barely significant flare-up of seeing the light and hearing the demons cackling.
I have, yes? I’m not sure why this turned so hostile.
November 12, 2025 at 1:33 AM
I have, yes? I’m not sure why this turned so hostile.
In general spaces, yes. In spaces designed by bipeds for bipeds much less so
November 12, 2025 at 1:28 AM
In general spaces, yes. In spaces designed by bipeds for bipeds much less so
There are probably other good shapes in other settings. But human shapes fit in human scenes because we designed them for us.
November 12, 2025 at 1:21 AM
There are probably other good shapes in other settings. But human shapes fit in human scenes because we designed them for us.
This gets you to something with:
an arm
legs
able to extend to over a meter in height
Can fit through a few decimeter sized gap horizontally
Uses broad spectrum vision with multiple depth modalities
This converges towards humanoid quickly. More so the more capabilities you want
an arm
legs
able to extend to over a meter in height
Can fit through a few decimeter sized gap horizontally
Uses broad spectrum vision with multiple depth modalities
This converges towards humanoid quickly. More so the more capabilities you want
November 12, 2025 at 1:21 AM
This gets you to something with:
an arm
legs
able to extend to over a meter in height
Can fit through a few decimeter sized gap horizontally
Uses broad spectrum vision with multiple depth modalities
This converges towards humanoid quickly. More so the more capabilities you want
an arm
legs
able to extend to over a meter in height
Can fit through a few decimeter sized gap horizontally
Uses broad spectrum vision with multiple depth modalities
This converges towards humanoid quickly. More so the more capabilities you want
You also need to be able navigate dense, cluttered environments of complex obstacles that are radar transparent in both bright, high IR illumination and near darkness. Many of them are near perfect reflectors of visible light (meaning laser returns are multi-path). The home is SLAM hell.
November 12, 2025 at 1:21 AM
You also need to be able navigate dense, cluttered environments of complex obstacles that are radar transparent in both bright, high IR illumination and near darkness. Many of them are near perfect reflectors of visible light (meaning laser returns are multi-path). The home is SLAM hell.