Quick thoughts on verifying AI content
I really just meant this to be a response to Scott on LinkedIn, but both as a comment and an update they said it was too long. I thought they were all about keeping content on their own site? Seems self-defeating. Ah well. My old friend Scott Porad asked a really good question about my…
“Doing my own research”
To be clear, the title here is tongue-in-cheek. Real “research” involves carefully-designed and bias-controlled experiments, and there ain’t none of that below. My intended point is just that we’re all capable of digging deeper in ways that haven’t been the case before the advent of LLMs. Arming yourself with these tools is one way to…
On Trails. Also Ants.
I swear it was a coincidence that I was reading On Trails just at the moment when my dad and I road-tripped a small moving truck from Florida to Colorado (go Penske). But it did make for some interesting connections. While it opens and closes with discussions of the Appalachian Trail and the International AT,…
110 Posts and Counting
I realized today that I’ve written 109 (well I guess 110 now) long-form posts on shutdownhook.com since February 2021, the month I quit my job at Adaptive Biotechnologies and updated my LinkedIn bio to “Retired?” (now it’s got an exclamation point). That’s about two a month; sometimes more, sometimes less. Not bad. I do link…
Developing An Intuition for AI
AI is changing the world. Yes we are in a bubble and current claims are overblown and countless stupid companies are being started and a ton of investment capital is being thrown away. But don’t let anyone tell you (even if it feels good) that it’s all smoke, mimicry and plagiarism. They are incorrect. There’s…
AI Models: 50 First Dates
Back in 1987, Dartmouth required each incoming freshman to have a Macintosh computer. This was unheard of at the time — the whole campus (including dorm rooms) had network taps, there was a huge bank of laser printers you could use for free, the school had its own email system, and live chat wasn’t just…
Rivian v Tesla (I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC)
Update 8/12: We just got the car back from the Bellevue Rivian service center and it does appear that the car had a problem with the cooling system (the infamous 5-way valve others have posted about, e.g., here). Service took way too long — they’re clearly struggling with the logistics of scale-up — but they…
Under the Sea!
Summer brings some pretty low daytime tides to Witter Beach. On the most extreme days, our beach stretches out more than two hundred yards from the bulkhead — pretty amazing and endless exploration for human and dog alike. Over the last two years there’s been a resurgence of starfish and sand dollars out on the…
Interaction at the Edges
There’s a rule of multithreaded programming that says that if something can happen, it will. Package delivered at the same time the kitchen catches on fire and ALF is on live TV? For sure. I’ve been in countless debugging sessions where things that “can’t” happen absolutely, 100% happen. Users are clever Users are the same…
Pump and Dump Management
I’ve never been shy about my disdain for management “theory” — because let’s be honest, it’s not really that complicated. Have a plan, reduce complexity, take punches for your team, chip in. I’m not saying it’s easy, but the right move is usually pretty obvious. MBA strategies are just cover for folks that don’t want…
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