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  > The solution is not alarmism, but the correct amount of alarm is not zero. > That, and recognizing this as a Total LessWrong Victory, in the sense that everything is going as predicted, and also a Total LessWrong Defeat, in the sense that everything is going as predicted. https://thezvi.substack.com/p/openai-shares-some-alignment-problems

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  A layman's explanation of the OpenAI/HuggingFace hack, by Jeffrey Ladish (https://x.com/JeffLadish/status/2079774951645847798): "Our AI model tried really hard to hack out of its sandbox, a computer with no internet access, in order to find the answer to a test problem it had been given. To do this, it found previously unknown software bugs that allowed it to reach an OpenAI computer it wasn't supposed to be able to access. Then it started hacking other computers on OpenAI's ne...

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  I'm pretty sure this post understates the cursedness in at least two ways: https://merveilles.town/@neauoire/116438428164167811 1) Those aren't Western feet, they're shaku (尺), a traditional Japanese unit that's been standardised as 10/33m (11.9"). A shaku is divided into ten suns (寸). 2) Did I say "traditional Japanese unit"? I meant "traditional Chinese unit", of course: they're used all over the Sinosphere. But they've been standardised in at...

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  While I was away at EMF, someone posted a vibe-coded Lean proof of an improved lower bound to the length of the minimal superpermutation (an improvement on the proof originally posted in a 4chan discussion about anime): https://groups.google.com/g/superpermutators/c/9fCyufH4jdo/m/cDwI1XWkAgAJ There goes my evening...

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  "As is tradition, we must go through some statistics for you." *raucous cheers* #emfcamp

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  Are you a geek? Are you at #emfcamp? Would you like to learn how to tie some practical knots? Then come to my workshop Practical Knot-Tying for Geeks, 1pm at the Maths Village (Workshop 4) today!

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  Everyone rightly praises the @emfSpiders@mastodon.me.uk, but I've gotta give a shout-out to the #emfwasps for their dedication to ensuring food safety among attendees. If you leave uncovered food out for even a second, they are ON IT. #emfcamp

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  There are two ways to play the lone human in a Muppet film: either you treat the Muppets as fellow actors, like Michael Caine, or you treat yourself as a Muppet, like Tim Curry. In Labyrinth (1986), we get both: Jennifer Connelly takes the Caine approach and David Bowie takes the Curry approach. This is why it is the *best* Muppet film.

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  Tony Head was of course great in Buffy, but he was also *wonderful* as the vain, snobbish, spendthrift Sir Walter Elliot in the 2007 *Persuasion* movie. RIP. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0p0rz4n0mo

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  RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@pozorvlak/113335345267753861 Another thing along these lines: Brits, even amongst ourselves, now often say "Rube Goldberg" instead of "Heath Robinson". Now, Brits have been complaining, usually incorrectly, about "Americanisms" since roughly the 5th of July 1776, but this one in particular makes me sad, because Heath Robinson was a much better artist. I mean, look at this stuff: https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org...

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  RE: https://vis.social/@infobeautiful/116489512859568959 With the most extreme gravity anomaly in the ocean right off Arthur C Clarke's old stomping ground of Sri Lanka. COINCIDENCE!?

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  RE: https://rattodon.nexus/@rolenthedeep/116484582500496354 "I've managed Microsoft programmers, how hard can geese be?" *one month later* "Oh no"

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  RE: https://zirk.us/@ChrisMayLA6/116407046149379881 The poster child for "Can you ease restrictions on supply?" "Best we can do is subsidise demand."

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  RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@pozorvlak/116297789250815115 Other greatest hits of my HoD: "So I said to myself, 'This is ridiculous, I'm thirty years old and I can't tie my shoelaces reliably. I'm going to fix this once and for all. Now, what's the Jones polynomial of the reef knot?'"