Favorites March 2nd 2023

Filoli Gardens, December 2022

Ethan Mollick @emollick

👀Two early papers find the effects of generative AI on knowledge work are completely unprecedented in modern history Separate studies of both writers and programmers find 50% increases in productivity with AI, and higher performance and satisfaction. And this is just the start.

One other thing he notes: "For reference, the productivity gains of adding steam power in the mid-1800s was about 25% for a small factory."

Alec Stapp @AlecStapp

For the first time ever we have a miraculous weight loss drug that actually works and isn't a scam

Kind of a bummer that you have to take it indefinitely, but I can see why people prefer it to surgery.

Smoke-away @SmokeAwayyy

Stable Diffusion with Brain Activity "We reconstructed visual images from functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) signals using a latent diffusion model named Stable Diffusion." sites.google.com/view/stabledif…

I think there have been previous papers like this, but it seems like huge progress in the field.

Colin McCarthy @US_Stormwatch

Magnificent view from space today of California. A deep snowpack stretches all the way from the Oregon border to Baja California.

Threads

• Apparently there are numerous mass timber buildings in progress in Oakland.

• I had never heard of Engels' Pause, the name given to the period of low wage growth despite massive gdp growth in England in the early industrial revolution. Here's a thread arguing that it can be explained entirely by England's high population growth. This may mean that a new period of technological progress may lead to more direct benefits for most people as modern population growth is much lower.