My little space in the interwebs.
(A follow up to this post. ) The development of AI tools for performing statistical analysis and training machine learning models is concerning to me. Will the tools hit a point where a user can simply state an analysis (like a prompt in a LLM), provide some data, and the AI will take over? Can…
I was sent a mathematical formula for the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by a colleague (the medical/biological details and background of the formula are unnecessary). He copied the formula from an AI summary from a search engine (Google I think). A screen shot is below. The formula he sent is related to a formula…
Now on Bluesky.
This paper made the news a few years ago, suggesting that purchasing experiences provides greater in the moment happiness over purchasing a material possession. I found papers on this topic going back many years. Here is one (the link to the pdf is here) from 2009 supporting this hypothesis. As with many things in human…
In the summer of 2005 I became the owner of black lab mix from a coworker. Or she took ownership of me. Either way the dog was free. Her name was Lucy and she was a great dog. A very good girl. The kind of dog that makes it hard to get another, since no…
I’m currently reading the book On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. As someone who is remediating his writing after a lifetime of neglect it is an amazing book. Even if you just read the first few chapters you’ll learn much. To start: strive for simplicity. I am a wordy…
My latest favorite podcast is Navel Gazing by John Dickerson. I would recommend listening from the beginning, but I found this episode about todo lists like I was connecting with a long lost twin. I never thought I would hear a reference to the AlphaSmart word processor in a podcast, let alone 43 folders and…
With the recent explosion of generative AI, what will be the role of expertise in this new world? For example, in coding, can anybody with no expertise write quality computer programs using AI, or is there still a need for computer science expertise? Will photographers be needed, when high-quality images can be created by a…
PJ Vogt has launched a new podcast last year, Search Engine. As with his other work (Reply All and Crypto Island) it is worth adding to your playlist. His episode with Ezra Klein on how to use the internet is a solid introduction. Klein reminds us that we “vote” for the content we get on…