The main point is that BYD is an existential threat to Germany and Japan. Per Wikipedia (List of countries by exports + List of countries by vehicle exports, latest available data): - US: ~$144B vehicle exports /…
It seems like BYD is a much bigger threat to Europe (specifically Germany) and Japan. The auto industry is big in the US but an insignificant amount of total exports. Germany and Japan could both lose their cash cows if…
I don't know if America has done anything quite like this. The example I'm looking for is where a company starts in the US but leaves and incorporates outside the US and then the US attempts to block acquisition by a…
It's not meant as a slight against Iranian engineers, I believe Iranian engineers can be as talented as any engineers in the world. I just imagine they may be resource constrained. So the question is more about…
Props to the teacher for putting in the work to thoughtfully grade an AI transcript! As I typed that I wondered if a lazy teacher might then use AI to grade the students AI transcript?
One could ask, who is giving Iran and North Korea this technology? Most of it they aren't developing themselves.
Yeah, I agree there is some manipulation of the narrative in the use of pain tolerance to describe China's citizenry. It is in the CCP's interest to convince their population that pain tolerance is a virtue, rather than…
I'd be interested to hear about your experience working with suppliers. How did you go about finding suppliers and haggling with them?
While I don't think this will ship in time. There is a global online hackathon using these robot arms on Hugging Face June 2025, 14-15. https://huggingface.co/LeRobot-worldwide-hackathon
It is unfortunate and confusing that copyright and patents are described as intellectual "property" because intellectual property is fundamentally different than other property rights. Property laws as originally…
Are we entirely sure that energy and information aren't the same thing, or if they aren't the same thing they are both highly overlapping echoes of some more fundamental concept? Or maybe they are two sides of the same…
Sounds like an extension of the second law of thermodynamics.
I read a fascinating article on this dam removal last week! https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-other-side-of-the-wor... The article tells both sides of the story of the dam removal in as fair a way as I think is…
I'm glad you mentioned 'perceived' loss in quality of life. I think that is what is being argued, does the perception meet the reality? It could be that the major reason for 'college kids perception of loss in quality…
Casey Handmer's company is creating synthetic hydrocarbons from renewable energy. Here is a good video where he gives a tour of the company and talks about its goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NngCHTImH1g. Curious…
There was a recent Kaggle competition with the goal of developing a small molecule - protein model hosted by Leash Biosciences: https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/leash-BELKA.
China is currently cornering the market on solar panels and batteries and some would say "flooding" the global market to lower costs. If the West doesn't figure out an alternative source for the solar+battery supply…
I wonder about the first point. As you explain in another comment the value of pi, 3.14159, can be derived from number theory alone but magically it plays a huge role in shaping the physical world we know. Would a…
Look at the influence of sampling in hip hop. Sampling is literally taking music from different time periods, genres, cultures and making something new from it. If the mothers and fathers of hip hop had respected…
It's cool seeing the map of the cable he writes about, FLAG: https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/flag-europ...
It depends on the state-space over which you are optimizing. When they say sub-optimal, I think the state-space they are referring to includes only the pieces on the board. However, if you include your opponent's mind…
Reciprocity is necessary but one of the best strategies for iterated prisoner's dilemma is tit-for-tat or "equivalent retaliation". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat You always start out by cooperating but if…
The Vital Question discusses Nick Lane's hypothesis on how the first cell came to exist in Part II: The origin of life. Energy at life's origin ; The emergence of cells
He was just on Sean Carroll's podcast Mindscape, good listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZ_CVu2M68
I haven't read that one but after reading The Vital Question I will recommend anything with Nick Lane's name on it. There are very few people who have thought about the origin of life as deeply as he has.
The main point is that BYD is an existential threat to Germany and Japan. Per Wikipedia (List of countries by exports + List of countries by vehicle exports, latest available data): - US: ~$144B vehicle exports /…
It seems like BYD is a much bigger threat to Europe (specifically Germany) and Japan. The auto industry is big in the US but an insignificant amount of total exports. Germany and Japan could both lose their cash cows if…
I don't know if America has done anything quite like this. The example I'm looking for is where a company starts in the US but leaves and incorporates outside the US and then the US attempts to block acquisition by a…
It's not meant as a slight against Iranian engineers, I believe Iranian engineers can be as talented as any engineers in the world. I just imagine they may be resource constrained. So the question is more about…
Props to the teacher for putting in the work to thoughtfully grade an AI transcript! As I typed that I wondered if a lazy teacher might then use AI to grade the students AI transcript?
One could ask, who is giving Iran and North Korea this technology? Most of it they aren't developing themselves.
Yeah, I agree there is some manipulation of the narrative in the use of pain tolerance to describe China's citizenry. It is in the CCP's interest to convince their population that pain tolerance is a virtue, rather than…
I'd be interested to hear about your experience working with suppliers. How did you go about finding suppliers and haggling with them?
While I don't think this will ship in time. There is a global online hackathon using these robot arms on Hugging Face June 2025, 14-15. https://huggingface.co/LeRobot-worldwide-hackathon
It is unfortunate and confusing that copyright and patents are described as intellectual "property" because intellectual property is fundamentally different than other property rights. Property laws as originally…
Are we entirely sure that energy and information aren't the same thing, or if they aren't the same thing they are both highly overlapping echoes of some more fundamental concept? Or maybe they are two sides of the same…
Sounds like an extension of the second law of thermodynamics.
I read a fascinating article on this dam removal last week! https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-other-side-of-the-wor... The article tells both sides of the story of the dam removal in as fair a way as I think is…
I'm glad you mentioned 'perceived' loss in quality of life. I think that is what is being argued, does the perception meet the reality? It could be that the major reason for 'college kids perception of loss in quality…
Casey Handmer's company is creating synthetic hydrocarbons from renewable energy. Here is a good video where he gives a tour of the company and talks about its goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NngCHTImH1g. Curious…
There was a recent Kaggle competition with the goal of developing a small molecule - protein model hosted by Leash Biosciences: https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/leash-BELKA.
China is currently cornering the market on solar panels and batteries and some would say "flooding" the global market to lower costs. If the West doesn't figure out an alternative source for the solar+battery supply…
I wonder about the first point. As you explain in another comment the value of pi, 3.14159, can be derived from number theory alone but magically it plays a huge role in shaping the physical world we know. Would a…
Look at the influence of sampling in hip hop. Sampling is literally taking music from different time periods, genres, cultures and making something new from it. If the mothers and fathers of hip hop had respected…
It's cool seeing the map of the cable he writes about, FLAG: https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/flag-europ...
It depends on the state-space over which you are optimizing. When they say sub-optimal, I think the state-space they are referring to includes only the pieces on the board. However, if you include your opponent's mind…
Reciprocity is necessary but one of the best strategies for iterated prisoner's dilemma is tit-for-tat or "equivalent retaliation". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat You always start out by cooperating but if…
The Vital Question discusses Nick Lane's hypothesis on how the first cell came to exist in Part II: The origin of life. Energy at life's origin ; The emergence of cells
He was just on Sean Carroll's podcast Mindscape, good listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZ_CVu2M68
I haven't read that one but after reading The Vital Question I will recommend anything with Nick Lane's name on it. There are very few people who have thought about the origin of life as deeply as he has.