James Durbin
@theamazingdrd.bsky.social
Genomics. Machine learning.
Even God can not beat me at tic-tac-toe.
Even God can not beat me at tic-tac-toe.
LLMs are a highly abstracted kind of auto-complete. One consequence of this that how smart the LLM seems will be a function of how smart your prompts are. You can lead it down the primrose path with a bad idea in your prompt or down a good path with a good idea.
March 13, 2025 at 10:38 PM
LLMs are a highly abstracted kind of auto-complete. One consequence of this that how smart the LLM seems will be a function of how smart your prompts are. You can lead it down the primrose path with a bad idea in your prompt or down a good path with a good idea.
Reposted by James Durbin
This photo was released today by Intuitive Machines, seemingly taken by their Athena IM-2 mission lander.
The lander clearly tipped over, but otherwise looks OK. But it can't recharge, so is functionally dead.
As far as I know, this is the first photo ever taken from the lunar south polar region.
The lander clearly tipped over, but otherwise looks OK. But it can't recharge, so is functionally dead.
As far as I know, this is the first photo ever taken from the lunar south polar region.
March 7, 2025 at 3:29 PM
This photo was released today by Intuitive Machines, seemingly taken by their Athena IM-2 mission lander.
The lander clearly tipped over, but otherwise looks OK. But it can't recharge, so is functionally dead.
As far as I know, this is the first photo ever taken from the lunar south polar region.
The lander clearly tipped over, but otherwise looks OK. But it can't recharge, so is functionally dead.
As far as I know, this is the first photo ever taken from the lunar south polar region.
Reposted by James Durbin
This is devastating. We’ve stopped training the next generation of scientists.
PhD student mentoring is the most rewarding part of being a professor. You get to be part of building the future. And now we aren’t able to admit a new class next year.
Heartbreaking is exactly the right word.
PhD student mentoring is the most rewarding part of being a professor. You get to be part of building the future. And now we aren’t able to admit a new class next year.
Heartbreaking is exactly the right word.
This is my institution. These are the people I work with making these decisions. The situation is heartbreaking. Public medical schools have no other choice; there is no other source of funding, and everyone in academia is at extreme risk right now.
March 13, 2025 at 4:07 AM
This is devastating. We’ve stopped training the next generation of scientists.
PhD student mentoring is the most rewarding part of being a professor. You get to be part of building the future. And now we aren’t able to admit a new class next year.
Heartbreaking is exactly the right word.
PhD student mentoring is the most rewarding part of being a professor. You get to be part of building the future. And now we aren’t able to admit a new class next year.
Heartbreaking is exactly the right word.
Reposted by James Durbin
Batteries on fire at the largest collection of batteries in the world at Moss Landing Power Plant! #MontereyBay #MossLanding HT @nativesantacruz.bsky.social
January 17, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Batteries on fire at the largest collection of batteries in the world at Moss Landing Power Plant! #MontereyBay #MossLanding HT @nativesantacruz.bsky.social
Reposted by James Durbin
Not to brag, but one of my vendors described my debt as OUTSTANDING. It's just nice to be appreciated.
December 20, 2024 at 8:04 PM
Not to brag, but one of my vendors described my debt as OUTSTANDING. It's just nice to be appreciated.
Reposted by James Durbin
Reposted by James Durbin
If you're following the OpenAI o3 announcements and are curious about the "ARC-AGI" benchmark and why I think solving these tasks by brute-force compute defeats the original purpose, here are some past posts about this from my Substack: (1/3)
December 20, 2024 at 6:29 PM
If you're following the OpenAI o3 announcements and are curious about the "ARC-AGI" benchmark and why I think solving these tasks by brute-force compute defeats the original purpose, here are some past posts about this from my Substack: (1/3)
Reposted by James Durbin
@radiofreetom.bsky.social um, Tom. Found on threads, gotta admit this is hilarious.
December 20, 2024 at 6:29 PM
@radiofreetom.bsky.social um, Tom. Found on threads, gotta admit this is hilarious.
Reposted by James Durbin
This is what it looked like when we punched an asteroid back in 2018.
For science.
For the dinosaurs.
For science.
For the dinosaurs.
December 20, 2024 at 7:02 PM
This is what it looked like when we punched an asteroid back in 2018.
For science.
For the dinosaurs.
For science.
For the dinosaurs.
Reposted by James Durbin
Fascinating topic, and a good illustration of distal and proximal causation.
We understand sunburn at one level: too much sun causes your skin to turn red, sometimes flake off... but WHY does this happen?
One level down (more 'proximal') there's an inflammation reaction to damaged cell contents.
We understand sunburn at one level: too much sun causes your skin to turn red, sometimes flake off... but WHY does this happen?
One level down (more 'proximal') there's an inflammation reaction to damaged cell contents.
sunburn is from ribosomes stalled by UV damage to RNA? super cool www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The ribotoxic stress response drives acute inflammation, cell death, and epidermal thickening in UV-irradiated skin in vivo
Solar UVB light causes damage to the outermost layer of skin. This insult induces rapid local responses, such as dermal inflammation, keratinocyte cel…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 27, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Fascinating topic, and a good illustration of distal and proximal causation.
We understand sunburn at one level: too much sun causes your skin to turn red, sometimes flake off... but WHY does this happen?
One level down (more 'proximal') there's an inflammation reaction to damaged cell contents.
We understand sunburn at one level: too much sun causes your skin to turn red, sometimes flake off... but WHY does this happen?
One level down (more 'proximal') there's an inflammation reaction to damaged cell contents.
Reposted by James Durbin
Some shiny (micaceous?) rocks and sand.
On Mars.
Photographed today.
On Mars.
Photographed today.
November 23, 2024 at 2:09 AM
Some shiny (micaceous?) rocks and sand.
On Mars.
Photographed today.
On Mars.
Photographed today.
Reposted by James Durbin
as long as journalists and pundits act as if they are amateur political strategists & not people trying to understand and tell the truth about the world, they are going to take the implicit view that voters can never be wrong, which then demands endless explanation of their morally blameless choice
November 8, 2024 at 2:53 AM
as long as journalists and pundits act as if they are amateur political strategists & not people trying to understand and tell the truth about the world, they are going to take the implicit view that voters can never be wrong, which then demands endless explanation of their morally blameless choice
Reposted by James Durbin
dems: burning billions of tons of fossil fuels is heating the ocean and will cause freak weather events to become normal events
gop: that’s insane
(freak weather events become normal events)
gop: the democrats have a secret hurricane spawning machine
gop: that’s insane
(freak weather events become normal events)
gop: the democrats have a secret hurricane spawning machine
October 8, 2024 at 6:56 PM
dems: burning billions of tons of fossil fuels is heating the ocean and will cause freak weather events to become normal events
gop: that’s insane
(freak weather events become normal events)
gop: the democrats have a secret hurricane spawning machine
gop: that’s insane
(freak weather events become normal events)
gop: the democrats have a secret hurricane spawning machine
Reposted by James Durbin
Jupiter's moon Io as it appeared to the Juno spacecraft on yesterday's Perijove 55.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
October 16, 2023 at 11:51 PM
Jupiter's moon Io as it appeared to the Juno spacecraft on yesterday's Perijove 55.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
Being able to create your own sci-fi book cover type images to order is a trip.
October 16, 2023 at 6:23 AM
Being able to create your own sci-fi book cover type images to order is a trip.
My cat has been trained to jump through a hoop for dinner.
October 6, 2023 at 7:04 AM
My cat has been trained to jump through a hoop for dinner.