> Researchers used Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s exascale supercomputer El Capitan to perform the largest fluid dynamics simulation ever
That is known to the public.
Readit NewsISL commented on Gordon Bell finalist team pushes scale of rocket simulation on El Capitan llnl.gov/article/53626/go... · Posted by u/perihelions
ISL commented on AI is killing privacy. We can't let that happen fastcompany.com/91435189/... · Posted by u/johnshades
> We’ve got OpenAI’s CEO dreaming of a day when “every conversation you’ve ever had in your life, every book you’ve ever read, every email you’ve ever read, everything you’ve ever looked at is in there, plus connected to all your data from other sources. And your life just keeps appending to the context.”
This isn't an inherently bad thing. If an AI could theoretically help you live your life better, nudge you in ways that stabilize your psychology and behaviors for the better of yourself, that's good.
The danger is an AI that decides to re-perpetrate the class division that our existing system does. Lesser fortunate people lose their upward mobility while being guided into subtle traps.
Who decides what behaviors we should be nudged toward? Is it us, or someone else?
To me, one of the greatest dangers of the present moment is that we can't tell whether the LLMs are being asked to give subtly biased answers (or product-placement) on some questions. One cannot readily tell from the output.
ISL commented on Backblaze Drive Stats for Q3 2025 backblaze.com/blog/backbl... · Posted by u/woliveirajr
What Backblaze is doing here is so underrated. This a large scale, practical, in-datacenter real data on essential hardware infrastructure that is available almost nowhere else, and they provide it, and their excellent analysis, completely for free.
I miss this culture and I admire leadership that allows it to not only exist, but thrive. I fear the day a stockholder meeting occurs and someone wringing their hands see the decommissioned pennies they can save by limiting or stopping these reports.
For as long as Backblaze has been doing this and at this level of quality, I have no doubt that these reports are good for business.
(As an anecdotal example -- I first heard about Backblaze from these reports many years ago and have relied on them to an extent in selecting new drives. I'm now a Backblaze customer.)
ISL commented on Greg Newby, CEO of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, has died pgdp.net/wiki/In_Memoriam... · Posted by u/ron_k
If you are part of PG or closely related to Greg Newby I strongly encourage you to email info@rsync.net at your earliest convenience.
I will watch that inbox personally - please do be in touch as soon as possible.
Please also accept my condolences and best wishes - I've known Greg since the earliest HOPE conventions.
Thank you, rsync, from a community member.
ISL commented on Context is the bottleneck for coding agents now runnercode.com/blog/conte... · Posted by u/zmccormick7
If not now, soon, the bottleneck will be responsibility. Where errors in code have real-world impacts, "the agentic system wrote a bug" won't cut it for those with damages.
As these tools make it possible for a single person to do more, it will become increasingly likely that society will be exposed to greater risks than that single person's (or small company's) assets can cover.
These tools already accelerate development enough that those people who direct the tools can no longer state with credibility that they've personally reviewed the code/behavior with reasonable coverage.
It'll take over-extensions of the capability of these tools, of course, before society really notices, but it remains my belief that until the tools themselves can be held liable for the quality of their output, responsibility will become the ultimate bottleneck for their development.
ISL commented on Towards a Physics Foundation Model arxiv.org/abs/2509.13805... · Posted by u/NeoInHacker
ITAR will be quite a surprise to some when it suddenly makes an appearance.
ISL commented on NSF plans end to lone U.S. Antarctic research icebreaker science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/trauco
Someone ELI5: Why is the Trump administration defunding scientific research? Is there a bigger picture we're not seeing, or is it 8D chess he's playing ?
Reproducible and empirical fact is anathema to any administration that wants the "truth" to be the talking-point of the day.
ISL commented on NSF plans end to lone U.S. Antarctic research icebreaker science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/trauco
As a scientist (physics, not polar ice), scientists alone are too few to advocate for science alone -- we literally cannot do it.
If you want scientific research as you know it to persist in the United States, please take a moment to help support for science in Congress go viral in your community.
Empirical science is non-partisan. It is good and helpful to know what's true.
If your friends are devout readers of the bible, point 'em toward Philippians 4:8. While I'm not religious, that passage has resonated for me my entire life.
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
ISL commented on Proba-3's first artificial solar eclipse esa.int/Enabling_Support/... · Posted by u/sohkamyung
I know technology has come a long way, but it is amazing to me that they can fly two hunks of metal through space and align their positions down to a millimetre, while being a footy field and a half apart.
I wouldn't even know where to begin to tackle a problem like that.
If that sounds cool, check out the LISA mission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Ant...
Edit: and the already-flown Pathfinder : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LISA_Pathfinder
I’m working on https://postcardlove.com — a super simple site that lets you send real postcards using a photo from your phone. No login, just upload, write, and send.
It started because I wanted to send my sister an old photo for her birthday, and instead of using CVS or Shutterfly like a normal person, I ended up building it using Bubble and Lob.
Now I’m exploring the B2B angle — a friend asked if I could do postcard mailings for her medical practice. Curious if anyone here has experience with postcards for outreach or marketing?
Very cool.