I enjoyed browsing through it. One comment: the "philosophy and art" row is missing anything after 1890.
Readit Newsblueblimp commented on It’s nearly impossible to buy an original Bob Ross painting (2021) thehustle.co/why-its-near... · Posted by u/rmason
> Today, 1,165 Bob Ross originals — a trove worth millions of dollars — sit in cardboard boxes inside the company’s nondescript office building in Herndon, Virginia.
This seems like a bit of a waste given that there's demand for them.
blueblimp commented on OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/swyx
blueblimp commented on Let's talk about AI and end-to-end encryption blog.cryptographyengineer... · Posted by u/chmaynard
> Although PCC is currently unique to Apple, we can hope that other privacy-focused services will soon crib the idea.
IMHO, Apple's PCC is a step in the right direction in terms of general AI privacy nightmares where they are at today. It's not a perfect system, since it's not fully transparent and auditable, and I do not like their new opt-out photo scanning feature running on PCC, but there really is a lot to be inspired by it.
My startup is going down this path ourselves, building on top of AWS Nitro and Nvidia Confidential Compute to provide end to end encryption from the AI user to the model running on the enclave side of an H100. It's not very widely known that you can do this with H100s but I really want to see this more in the next few years.
And the most important thing about PCC in my opinion is not the technical aspect (though that's nice) but that Apple views user privacy as something good to be maximized, differing from the view championed by OpenAI and Anthropic (and also adopted by Google and virtually every other major LLM provider by this point) that user interactions must be surveilled for "safety" purposes. The lack of privacy isn't due to a technical limitation--it's intended, and they often brag about it.
blueblimp commented on Let's talk about AI and end-to-end encryption blog.cryptographyengineer... · Posted by u/chmaynard
> Yet this approach is obviously much better than what’s being done at companies like OpenAI, where the data is processed by servers that employees (presumably) can log into and access.
No need for presumption here: OpenAI is quite transparent about the fact that they retain data for 30 days and have employees and third-party contractors look at it.
https://platform.openai.com/docs/models/how-we-use-your-data
> To help identify abuse, API data may be retained for up to 30 days, after which it will be deleted (unless otherwise required by law).
https://openai.com/enterprise-privacy/
> Our access to API business data stored on our systems is limited to (1) authorized employees that require access for engineering support, investigating potential platform abuse, and legal compliance and (2) specialized third-party contractors who are bound by confidentiality and security obligations, solely to review for abuse and misuse.
This sort of convenient semi-arbitrary extension of a partial function is ubiquitous in Lean 4 mathlib, the most active mathematics formalization project today. It turns out that the most convenient way to do informal math and formal math differ in this aspect.
> Familial Natural Short Sleep (FNSS), a benign mutation that allows them to sleep 1-2 hours less than the recommended 7-9 hours, without experiencing the negative effects of sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation is one concern, but there’s a more subtle impact on cognitive functions (working memory, creativity, deep focus), overall health (particularly the endocrine and immune systems), and long-term health outcomes (such as an increased risk of dementia).
When I was younger, I was fascinated by various optimized sleep schedules. However, I noticed a stark contrast: many of my math friends consistently slept 9–10 hours a day. They needed that—not just to function in daily life but to achieve the deep focus required for their work. Living on less sleep might not affect immediate action (and in some cases, it might even seem to enhance focus on doing), but it can impair deeper, more complex thinking.
Some suggest that one of sleep's key roles is to help the brain regenerate. Chronic sleep deprivation, in turn, is linked to a higher risk of dementia. For anecdotal evidence: Churchill and Thatcher, known for boasting about sleeping only 4–5 hours a night, experienced significant cognitive decline later in life.
> many of my math friends consistently slept 9–10 hours a day.
Anecdotally, I've noticed an association between long sleeping and math ability in particular, so this doesn't surprise me. I wonder if it's been studied scientifically.
What is the reason for restrictions in the EU? Is it due to some EU regulations?
In Meta's case, the problem is that they had been given the go-ahead by the EU to train on certain data, and then after starting training, the EU changed its mind and told them to stop.
blueblimp commented on The rollercoaster king: the man behind the UK's fastest thrill-ride theguardian.com/travel/20... · Posted by u/pepys
Video of Hyperia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wUKY3HBw2U
A fun point in the article: Burton got into the industry via Rollercoaster Tycoon experience:
> Curiosity became an obsession in his teens, when he started to play RollerCoaster Tycoon, a computer game that allowed him to devise his own rides. [...] In the end he won the job, he said, on the strength of those speculative rollercoasters he had made in a video game.
Going from Qeynos to Freeport, or crossing the ocean on a boat felt absolutely epic and dangerous. It was wonderful, but not something I would want to play today now that I have real life obligations.
I wonder if there's a game that focuses on that sort of travel experience.