Nice essay, good analysis of the Machavellian types that thrive around unlimited money, power and bullshit. Would a scene from another Russian novel about playing Russian roulette while partying would fit here? Sure you capture the spirit of that but nearly everyone has severe dopamine addiction while online these days. It has to be outrageous and over-the-top to get clicks and resharing!
The internet has become a circus and AI keeps us all on the freak show and hall of distorted mirror images.
that garden site is something I'll return to. I have a "baby" site at xeriscape.neocities.org and this kind of feature would be muy excellente to include
So stunning to see his "100 models of the world" and hints about superintelligence being interdisciplinary. Almost like he was anticipating powerful AIs.
I could not read some of his talks, but most of the text was very clearly thought out, and time-tested over decades of stunning success. He lived his advice of staying within the boundaries of what he understood well.
> what will happen to the trillions pouring into old-tech data centers?
Quantum compute is not a silver bullet and requires lots of auxiliary hardware. If it takes off, trillions will still be invested in classical computing.
Yes, the term "quantum computer" is rather misleading for most people, who do not know what a "quantum computer" is.
Quantum computers are not general-purpose computers, but special-purpose computers, which are able to outperform traditional computers (with a much greater cost) only for the solution of a small set of problems, most of which have little relevance in the applications where computers are currently used by the majority of people.
A quantum computer would be completely useless for reading and editing documents, computing spreadsheets, managing a database, browsing Internet, watching movies or playing games.
Thus it is very unlikely that anyone would ever desire to have a "personal" quantum computer (otherwise than for a learning experience), even if that would become possible with respect to cost. The same is true for most businesses, which are unlikely to have any needs satisfiable by quantum computers.
Quantum computers will never be competitors for traditional computers, but they could allow a few new applications, for which traditional computers are not good enough. One such promising application is the simulation of quantum systems in a manner similar to how analog computers had been used until 3 quarters of a century ago for the simulation of dynamical systems.
how about working with Weather Underground to validate predicted weather at ground level? Here in Southern CO would be a perfect place to try this. Weather Underground has thousands of volunteer backyard weather stations, including mine.
I understand that aviation safety is certainly a primary concern for NWS/NOAA but ground level forecasts are also very important for public safety.
/s