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The traditional Zoroastrian burial rites, involving Towers of Silence in India, Iran, and Pakistan, are facing challenges due to the decline of vulture populations. The Parsi community has traditionally relied on vultures to dispose of their dead, but with vulture numbers dwindling, alternate methods such as cremation or burial are being considered. Vultures are in […]
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In this paper, the author introduces a Bayesian learning model to analyze Large Language Models (LLMs) behavior, focusing on the optimization metric of predicting the next token. They develop a unique model based on constructing an ideal generative text model represented by a multinomial transition probability matrix with a prior. Through discussing the mapping between […]
Spotify is making waves in the enterprise and developer tooling space with its Backstage platform, originally introduced internally in 2016. Backstage powers customizable developer portals that consolidate various tools, data, services, and documents, attracting companies like LinkedIn and American Airlines. Spotify open-sourced Backstage in 2020 and has now monetized the platform with premium plug-ins. The […]
CBMC is a Bounded Model Checker for C and C++ programs with support for various compiler extensions. It verifies memory safety, exceptions, undefined behavior, and user-specified assertions. It can also check for I/O equivalence with other languages like Verilog. Available for Linux, Windows, and MacOS X, with a built-in solver for bit-vector formulas and support […]
In 1986, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory completed the Mirror Fusion Test Facility-B (MFTF-B), a massive machine never turned on due to budget pressures, despite $350 million spent. The unique yin-yang magnet mirrors were capable of generating magnetic fields 150,000 times that of Earth. Fusion research showed promise and competition between the torus and mirror-based approaches. […]
TORAX is a differentiable tokamak core transport simulator written in Python-JAX, designed for fast and accurate forward modeling, pulse-design, trajectory optimization, and controller design workflows. It offers open-source and extensible features, with auto-differentiation capabilities and fast runtime compilation through JAX. This allows for gradient-based nonlinear PDE solvers, trajectory optimization, and data-driven parameter identification. TORAX includes […]
In 2022, researchers observed bumblebees engaging in playful behavior, pushing small wooden balls around seemingly just for fun. This behavior sparked a new declaration extending scientific support for consciousness to a wider range of animals, challenging traditional views on consciousness. The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, signed by over 100 researchers, suggests that consciousness […]
The study explores the scaling relationships between height and mass of anime robots, categorizing them into super robots and real robots. Super robots, often associated with superheroes, are larger and more powerful, while real robots are more realistic and mass-produced. Surprisingly, despite their humanoid shapes, anime robots exhibit allometric relationships between height and mass, unlike […]
Secret Llama is a fully private chatbot supporting Llama 3, Mistral, and other open source models, all running entirely in your browser with no need for a server or installation. It has an easy-to-use interface comparable to ChatGPT, thanks to the inference engine by webllm. System requirements include a modern browser with WebGPU support. Supported […]
Daniel Dennett was an exceptional intellectual figure who recently passed away, deeply impacting many including the author. The author first encountered Dennett through his book “Consciousness Explained” and was inspired by his clear, witty writing. Although they didn’t always agree, Dennett’s work provided a guiding light on the subject of consciousness. The author eventually met […]