2025:
- set up new facility for mfg of CVD diamond tech products
- replaced awful old carpets at home with bamboo wood floors
- lost 42 lbs (thanks, tirzepatide)
- secured $ for a new CVD diamond system, build starts in January
- road trip to see friends & family, some for first time in a decade
Wishing happiness, love, accomplishment and adventure to all!
A bunch of devices (laser diodes, microprocessors, high power RF GaN amplifiers) that'll run lots cooler on diamond heat spreaders; diamond Raman lasers (high efficiency & power); large single crystal diamond wafers - nothing most of us would pick up off the sidewalk, but might be very important.
I do have 3 CVD gem brilliants (blue, pink, colorless, 2ct. each) that a local jeweler is putting into a 30th anniversary piece for my wife. That makes me grin in anticipation of the surprise gift - my kind of bling.
It seems you substantially discount neural plasticity: "...cannot be cured".
IMHO, our understanding of autism, specifically, and neural development of the brain, in general, is rudimentary at best. It's too soon to conclude it's incurable.
I do indeed. Because developmental windows exist. You can take the cat out of the vertical world, but you can't take the vertical world out of the cat. Trying to train them out of it only helps a little - too much damage is already done. The brain has developed a certain way, and you can't un-develop and re-develop it.
There is no consensus that autism is like this, but a lot of evidence points that way.
We'd need at least a generational leap in neuroscience to be able to pull off something like that. It's not a "laws of physics prevent you" level of impossible - we just don't have a clue of how would we even begin approaching something like that.
Hubel & Wiesel's work is fascinating, but may not map well to more complex systems (not dissing cats, they're plenty complicated!).
For example, humans clearly have a window for learning their native language. It just happens, and it's nearly magical. But humans can learn non-native languages after that window slams shut. We vary in our ability to do that, but if it matters, most can pick up useful conversational and reading skills.
I agree it's a matter of research. I think we've barely begun to scratch the surface of what's possible.
The biggest points against it being anywhere near as easy as "teaching an adult a language" are: the existence of masking, and the limited success of behavioral interventions - especially in adults.
If people find it easier to learn and apply the workarounds than to learn the thing itself, then, clearly, something prevents them from just learning the thing itself. Behavioral interventions being generally more successful the earlier you do them lines up with that too.
Maybe there are "low hanging fruits", simple interventions that work well that we are yet to discover. But it's not like no one went looking. And the fact that we are yet to find them weights against it.
The risk of this happening seems low, but the impact on my life as an Apple ecosystem resident would be catastrophic. It's an easy decision for me - I won't buy or redeem an Apple gift card again.
Not an expert in the issues presented, but I see increasing numbers of single-point process failures, like what happened to Paris, being designed into our civilization.
Self checkouts are something I avoid unless I'm genuinely pressed for time and there's a self station open. It's a small thing, but I'd rather keep the human checkers employed.
Yes, or the horrible diseases that were common before we understood germs or had safe, effective vaccines. (Sadly, we seem to be backsliding on that one.)
Decades ago, my wife and I visited the Big Island during a fairly sedate eruption. We drove down Chain of Craters Road, got to see a tiny lava flow (talking like a couple feet of glowing honey), but were wanting more. In the distance, we could see a huge steam column where a lava stream was reaching the sea. We asked one of the ever-attendant Park Rangers if we could walk over there. He said no.
But then he said - we close at 5pm, and there are no gates. OK, we can take a hint.
We drove to Hilo and bought cheap tennis and flashlights, then scurried back down Chain of Craters after 6. As the sky darkened, we walked towards the steam column. The rocks beneath our feet showed incandescent glows deep in the cracks, and we started to smell burned rubber from our cheap tennis. Eventually, we came to the lava outfall.
We watched nearly an hour as a river of molten rock cascaded into the ocean. We used our water bottles on our shoe soles, turning back when we ran dry.
I now understand that we were stupid - apparently the park loses a few tourists to shelf collapse each year - but we lived, and the memory is a treasure. Thank you, Mr. Ranger.
And yes, it's like being on a different planet - like being on our own, maybe 4 billion years ago.
Not stupid. Just experiencing life and sometimes amazing experiences have a chance of danger. You get to choose what risk levels you are okay with. Props to that ranger who agreed with that belief.
Choosing your risk level and working within it isn't stupid. Not knowing the risk when it's easy to gather some more info and then acting in ignorance is, which is what GP was describing, and likely why they called their own actions stupid.
At that time, we had no kids & no pets, nobody directly dependent on us. That figured in our conversation on the drive to Hilo. Nowdays, we might come to a different conclusion, but I'm glad for the path we chose then.
That's completely irrelevant. Rescuers can encourage people to be safe, that's expected. they chose that job , despite it's dangers, because they care about those people being safe.
They know the danger and chose the job. That's the relevant bit.
> The rocks beneath our feet showed incandescent glows deep in the cracks, and we started to smell burned rubber from our cheap tennis.
When I was there, this happened in the area that the rangers guided us to. There was an active flow of pāhoehoe at the time, which we could get as close to as we wanted - the heat was a strong disincentive to doing anything dumb. We were warned at the start that shoes with rubber soles would be ruined, but that warning was too late for me and I had no alternative. It was certainly worth the price of a pair of sneakers though.
You might consider acquiring a used model that meets your needs, then spend $ to zero-time the important stuff. In 2023, I decided not to buy a new car, but to re-engine (and other stuff) my 1999 4Runner. Really happy I did.
I would like a pickup (spouse -> serious gardener), have decided to get something simple & used, then put another $20K into it.
I have (rather, had) a paid subscription to ChatGPT. I work at my home in the Sierra foothills, and on alternate weeks in my office in San Jose.
Last month, I used ChatGPT while in SJ. I needed a function that's only available to paying customers, and which had worked well from my home. ChatGPT refused to recognize me as a paid-up customer. I had correct login creds + ancillary identifying info, but no go. Over the course of about half an hour, ChatGPT told me in several different ways it wouldn't (not couldn't) attempt to verify my customer status.
Weird. I’ve traveled across Europe and used ChatGPT paid account from my phone and my laptop in multiple countries on various connections. Mobile data, home WiFi, hotel WiFi, coffee shops, etc. I always get an email to confirm the login with a code but they’ve never denied my login or prevented me from using my account thankfully.
I would be surprised if bad customer experience handling were the reason OpenAI loses to Google. It's not like Google is known for their customer experience.
Of course Google is mature enough that this particular failure mode probably won’t happen, but there may be other more concerning failure modes for individuals who are reliant on a broad swath of Google services.
Diversity of tech companies is an important consideration for me, one that definitely outweighs one-time issues, especially in a field where credible competition is limited.
This is exactly the kind of failure Google is notorious for. Google has put me through their login purgatory multiple times where the only solution was to wait many days and try the same steps again until it works. I think it would be much easier to get this resolved with OpenAI than with Google.
My commute is every other week, so it's not terrible. I drive to SJ Sunday night, stay in a hotel that's 5 minutes from my office, then drive home Friday afternoon.
It averages 3.25hrs one way, or about 13 hrs/month, given my every other week schedule. It's a little tiring, but doable.
Super commuting is a thing since this whole RTO shit show happened. A lot of companies use it as excuse to lay-off.
As someone who does it, it depends on motivations. If the paycheck you bring in with the commute is more than what you’ll make by getting a new job, your kids are semi independent, your partner can hold the fort down Monday to Friday it’s doable.
So you experienced a bug, which happens on software. I've traveled a lot and have never had an issue with my ChatGPT subscription. I'm not doubting you, but I don't think your anecdote adds much to the conversation of OpenAI vs Google.
2025: - set up new facility for mfg of CVD diamond tech products - replaced awful old carpets at home with bamboo wood floors - lost 42 lbs (thanks, tirzepatide) - secured $ for a new CVD diamond system, build starts in January - road trip to see friends & family, some for first time in a decade
Wishing happiness, love, accomplishment and adventure to all!