Sebastian Farquhar
@sebfar.bsky.social
Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind. AGI Alignment researcher. Views my dog's.
Reducing unnecessary action *does* drive growth. We are all more productive when we achieve the same things with fewer inputs, wasting citizens' time makes the whole country less productive. Create slack in people's lives and watch what they create with it!
January 21, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reducing unnecessary action *does* drive growth. We are all more productive when we achieve the same things with fewer inputs, wasting citizens' time makes the whole country less productive. Create slack in people's lives and watch what they create with it!
Interesting analogy, because of course the Dreadnoughts were mostly militarily useless and were obsoleted by changing strategic considerations before they were ever deployed.
December 17, 2024 at 9:24 AM
Interesting analogy, because of course the Dreadnoughts were mostly militarily useless and were obsoleted by changing strategic considerations before they were ever deployed.
I desperately want to know what experience made you try out this prompt. Who hurt you?
December 10, 2024 at 5:48 PM
I desperately want to know what experience made you try out this prompt. Who hurt you?
Interesting. I guess I'm surprised that oil prices would have such a big effect on total fossil fuel CO2 emissions (presumably mostly coal over the period?). But maybe substitutability links them enough.
December 4, 2024 at 8:29 PM
Interesting. I guess I'm surprised that oil prices would have such a big effect on total fossil fuel CO2 emissions (presumably mostly coal over the period?). But maybe substitutability links them enough.
Actually just zoomed in on the data viewer. It does look like 1973 is the break point. Still curious about why the effect was so persistent.
December 4, 2024 at 12:46 PM
Actually just zoomed in on the data viewer. It does look like 1973 is the break point. Still curious about why the effect was so persistent.
Why did land use emissions shrink lots between 196-70 and then stop shrinking?
Why did the oil price shock lead to sustained flat per capita fossil fuel emissions? It was short. Also it started after the trend breaks.
Why did the oil price shock lead to sustained flat per capita fossil fuel emissions? It was short. Also it started after the trend breaks.
December 4, 2024 at 12:44 PM
Why did land use emissions shrink lots between 196-70 and then stop shrinking?
Why did the oil price shock lead to sustained flat per capita fossil fuel emissions? It was short. Also it started after the trend breaks.
Why did the oil price shock lead to sustained flat per capita fossil fuel emissions? It was short. Also it started after the trend breaks.
I'm surprised that the per capita global emissions look like they are trending pretty flat from 1950ish, much earlier than I would have guessed. Presumably many people greatly increased their energy consumption after then? Do you know what is driving this?
December 3, 2024 at 8:39 PM
I'm surprised that the per capita global emissions look like they are trending pretty flat from 1950ish, much earlier than I would have guessed. Presumably many people greatly increased their energy consumption after then? Do you know what is driving this?
@maosbot.bsky.social what do you think, do you belong on this list? I think most of your research isn't quite in this area but not sure how you self-identify on research focus at the moment.
November 25, 2024 at 6:27 PM
@maosbot.bsky.social what do you think, do you belong on this list? I think most of your research isn't quite in this area but not sure how you self-identify on research focus at the moment.
Weak signal perhaps, but you are one of two accounts on Twitter that I genuinely miss here. If you did make the leap that would be lovely :D
November 25, 2024 at 2:38 PM
Weak signal perhaps, but you are one of two accounts on Twitter that I genuinely miss here. If you did make the leap that would be lovely :D
Agreed. I basically don't believe the result at all. Seems like the memetic strength is it lets you feel well informed.
November 24, 2024 at 12:57 AM
Agreed. I basically don't believe the result at all. Seems like the memetic strength is it lets you feel well informed.
You too! Just DMed you :D
November 22, 2024 at 6:21 PM
You too! Just DMed you :D
Strongly agree. On a cold winter day they are basically a pure comfort upgrade. Also great for hayfever.
November 22, 2024 at 6:12 PM
Strongly agree. On a cold winter day they are basically a pure comfort upgrade. Also great for hayfever.
The fact that every field that has tried to have a reproducibility crisis has been able to suggests that the way journals have done it for decades underinvests in finding critical flaws in papers and that retractions are too rare and late to depend on.
November 21, 2024 at 10:36 AM
The fact that every field that has tried to have a reproducibility crisis has been able to suggests that the way journals have done it for decades underinvests in finding critical flaws in papers and that retractions are too rare and late to depend on.
I've seen at least a couple cases where a very high effort public review identified a significant flaw that the reviewers had missed. Losing that would be a real cost.
November 20, 2024 at 8:53 PM
I've seen at least a couple cases where a very high effort public review identified a significant flaw that the reviewers had missed. Losing that would be a real cost.
Little hat-tip to www.jakobfoerster.com/how-to-ml-pa... from Jakob Foerster and jsteinhardt.stat.berkeley.edu/blog/advice-... from Jacob Steinhardt who have excellent advice as well.
Jakob N. Foerster - How To ML Paper
www.jakobfoerster.com
November 18, 2024 at 8:09 PM
Little hat-tip to www.jakobfoerster.com/how-to-ml-pa... from Jakob Foerster and jsteinhardt.stat.berkeley.edu/blog/advice-... from Jacob Steinhardt who have excellent advice as well.
And for readers! Twitter has been getting gradually more boring. Turns out this whole hyperlink thing is a big deal for the internet.
November 13, 2024 at 4:02 PM
And for readers! Twitter has been getting gradually more boring. Turns out this whole hyperlink thing is a big deal for the internet.