Slowed ageing, Google's (lack of) moat, AI reads brains, & more
Discover more from bits that stick
Slowed ageing, Google's (lack of) moat, AI reads brains, & more
Biology links, AI links, learning links, and a song about birds.
Hi, hope you're having a nice May so far. Here are 10 interesting things, and why they matter.
Scientists Dramatically Extend Cell Lifespan in Anti-Ageing Breakthrough
Scientists increased yeast cell lifespan by 82%. They did this by making cells switch between ageing pathways as opposed to committing to one.
Why?
The study's senior author said “I don’t see why it cannot be applied to more complex organisms,”
Grimes monetizes her voice with AI
Why?
The future of art and entrainment is multimodal thanks to AI. You don't just write a book, you also put out a soundtrack, an AR/VR experience, a chat interface where readers can talk with the characters, anything you can think of.
Google "We Have No Moat, And Neither Does OpenAI"
Leaked internal document shows Google AI researchers intimidated by the pace of improvement on the open source side, think company should embrace open source instead of compete with it and lose.
Why?
AI is changing how we live and work, and this trend will only intensity. Who owns the models, and how they are monetized, touches everyone.
Your brain on Stable Diffusion
Why?
With Neuralink and other Brain Machine Interfaces looming in the horizon, it's great to know we're capable of reading at least this level of complexity from brains, enables countless use cases. Worth noting that they used an unmodified SD model! Just a simple linear model that translated from fMRI data to SD activations.
A mouse had kids without a father
Why?
The Pandora’s Box of epigenome magic has been opened.
AI is here to help you learn.
Why?
As the rate of progress increases, your learning speed and quality determine how well you can keep up.
Mike Boyd, learning YouTuber
Mike makes great videos documenting his progress learning various skills, some more useful than others. See for example how to make fire, how to find water in the forest on the useful side; how to break a glass with your voice and how to throw cards on the not so useful side.
Why?
Learning can also just be a joyful experience. Mike embodies this concept very well.
Kevin Kelly on finding your niche
A few quick highlights on finding your niche/passion/calling from the great Tim Ferriss Show episode with Kevin Kelly:
Don't be the one be the only
What was your "weird thing" as a kid? Can you leverage it?
What do your friends think you're better at then others? Sometimes you're so close you can't see it
If you had to give a TED talk on something people don't typically know your for, what would it be?
Why?
As technology improves, individual capability goes up. Finding your point of maximum competitive advantage is therefore easier and has higher returns.
Less (axioms) is more
Why?
It's become common to talk about mental models, frameworks, "updating your world model". This is useful, but if you're too rigid with your acquired beliefs/axioms, it can also hurt you.
It's nesting season
Great 2 minute song on self inflicted suffering, or, finding life lessons in a bird banging on your window.
Why?
Why not?
That's it! If you want more interesting content, follow me on Twitter for RTs and such. See you again on the 19th of May.