Favorite Rejects 2023-03-25

Sheel Mohnot @pitdesi

Whoa: @elonmusk tried to take over OpenAI in 2018, saying they had fallen behind Google. When rejected, he reneged on funding it. I did not realize @sama has no equity in the for-profit OpenAI- he said was already wealthy & didn't need it

semafor.comThe secret history of Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and OpenAI | SemaforIn 2018, Musk wanted to take charge of OpenAI to beat Google but others opposed the move, putting Altman at the helm.

James Medlock @jdcmedlock

@daniel_eth

Perry E. Metzger @perrymetzger

It’s tempting to think of humans as sentient, but their brains are just a bunch of nerve cells mechanically firing according to the laws of physics. There’s no there there. To really have a soul you need the purity and transcendence of matrix multiplication.

Stuart Ritchie 🇺🇦 @StuartJRitchie

Is there really "overwhelming" evidence that smartphones and social media are having a "catastrophic" effect on kids' mental health? I don't think so! Here's my long article where I read though the relevant studies and note some serious weaknesses:

inews.co.ukSocial media likely isn’t harming your child’s mental health, according to the evidenceWe’re told the internet destroys children’s mental health - but Stuart Ritchie read all the relevant studies and saw little to support the claim

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Seems bad! slowboring.com/p/good-schools…

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Everything @ENERGY is talking about here seems surmountable — WTI is below $70, it’s time to close the loop on Biden’s SPR releases through begin refilling with cheap oil so we can sell high again if needed in the future.

ft.comSubscribe to read | Financial TimesNews, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The ongoing US military activity in Syria which generates no controversy seems much more problematic to me than assisting Ukraine in its self-defense.

Simon Willison @simonw

@sidereal111 @ESYudkowsky There were some fascinating conversations last year about how a lot of people, when shown DALL-E or Stable Diffusion, were unimpressed because they assumed software like Photoshop had been able to do that kind of thing for years

Conor Sen @conorsen

“Thanks to the invention of spreadsheets, we’re going to throw so many bookkeepers out of work!” “Actually, thanks to spreadsheets we’re going to see the growth of a new cohort of annoying people know as ‘fleece vest bros.’”

Donald Shoup @DonaldShoup

The Largest Source of Stolen Guns? Parked Cars.

nytimes.comThe Largest Source of Stolen Guns? Parked Cars.The growing number of firearms kept in vehicles has become a new point of contention in the debates over regulating gun safety.