Decibel #6
Early Computer Optimization
I really enjoy hearing stories of the hoops that people jumped through to bring a project to life, and this is a good one. Especially if you like old computer hardware or old video games.
Put Up or Shut Up:
80,000 hours interview with MIT professor Max Tegmark on AI and Algorithmic News
Max Tegmark made a rule for himself: no complaining about something until he’s actually done something about it. Put up or shut up.
I love this. It’s a great little slogan that encourages becoming invested and actually caring about something (good) before making the life around you worse (by complaining). I’m curious how well it translates into personal relationships, but I’m not going to explore that idea in depth here.
It also reminds me of my two year food tasting rule — I can’t say I don’t like a food if I haven’t tried it within the past two years.
As with most 80k hours interviews, this one is not short. I found Max to be well spoken and to have ideas worth thinking about, but I also think the interview was not one of Rob’s (the host) best, so if the two main topics aren’t up your alley, I’m not sure I actually recommend the full podcast.
Stable Diffusion:
A few weeks ago I had a link on using a tool called DALL E. It’s a text-to-image generation tool that is accessed through a company portal and costs some money.
Stability.ai released a fully public version of this type of machine learning model recently. It’s had a fair amount of both excitement and concern over its release. I personally have spent many hours playing around with it; testing its capabilities, playing around with new logos, and seeing what kind of images it can create.
Artists are concerned over the model stealing art as well as scared of its capabilities in replacing their output. Artists are also thrilled at a powerful new tool to play with, generating wonders of their imagination with ease and efficiency. Aspiring artists can use it to bridge the skill gap — helping create something worthy of their time while they’re still perfecting their craft.
Other questions of pornography deepfakes and fake media also make the rounds. “Will this new technology destroy our society?” they ask. But I think it’s good when powerful tools like this get released in a public way. Technology isn’t just for the rich and powerful. I believe it’s for improving the lives of everyone (and sure it will start with the rich and powerful and that’s fine).
When technology reaches the hands of millions — that’s when the explosion of creativity really happens. It’s when the projects that help fix someone’s problems get built. The high school hackers will dream up new applications. The inspired weekend warrior will create a new social scene. The entrepreneurs will build new companies and apps and projects to solve problems we know we have and ones we don’t.
There will be some duds, and some disgusting projects, yes. But this tool can be used to improve our lives more than it will harm it. The optimist in me is excited to see where our new age of image generation takes us. I dream of a world where kids are generating and animating high quality movies, where college students augment their work with the perfect creative and relevant graphics, where people fill their homes with art that inspires and connects them to the world, and where even the oldest generations feel capable of sharing their joys and sorrow aided by new technology.