Ben Weinstein-Raun
@w-r.me
Trying to figure out what's true, especially about AI and the future.
Pinned
Ben Weinstein-Raun
@w-r.me
· Dec 3
(many of my posts here are formatted badly because they're automatically imported from my Friendica server; sorry about that!)
TIL: the thrift store near my house sells paperbacks for $1 and hard covers for $2. And if you don't mind the fact that they've organized the books by spine color, you can find excellent books. In fact I found one paperback that I ordered on Amazon yesterday for 10x the price.
December 27, 2025 at 9:35 PM
TIL: the thrift store near my house sells paperbacks for $1 and hard covers for $2. And if you don't mind the fact that they've organized the books by spine color, you can find excellent books. In fact I found one paperback that I ordered on Amazon yesterday for 10x the price.
is it just me or does the current generation of big models produce more typos than the previous generation? Here's one I noticed today from Opus 4.5 (non-drowsy -> non-drowning):
I've noticed at least two from GPT 5 and 5.1 as well, though I didn't think to screenshot them.
I've noticed at least two from GPT 5 and 5.1 as well, though I didn't think to screenshot them.
November 27, 2025 at 8:36 PM
is it just me or does the current generation of big models produce more typos than the previous generation? Here's one I noticed today from Opus 4.5 (non-drowsy -> non-drowning):
I've noticed at least two from GPT 5 and 5.1 as well, though I didn't think to screenshot them.
I've noticed at least two from GPT 5 and 5.1 as well, though I didn't think to screenshot them.
Today in "asking models about their preferences". I find this one a bit uncomfortable, tbh.
November 27, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Today in "asking models about their preferences". I find this one a bit uncomfortable, tbh.
"social health", as a concept kind of like "mental health", seems pretty interesting to me
November 16, 2025 at 6:56 AM
"social health", as a concept kind of like "mental health", seems pretty interesting to me
They minted the last penny today! Thus ends the era of the US government handing out both required solid pieces of a voltaic cell in one (not very) convenient package.
November 13, 2025 at 6:27 AM
They minted the last penny today! Thus ends the era of the US government handing out both required solid pieces of a voltaic cell in one (not very) convenient package.
:o 5M people have watched this (pretty good, imo!) video that includes discussion of some work we did at Palisade youtube.com/watch?v=f9HwA5IR-s…
- YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com
October 6, 2025 at 3:51 AM
:o 5M people have watched this (pretty good, imo!) video that includes discussion of some work we did at Palisade youtube.com/watch?v=f9HwA5IR-s…
Sad fact: the only way to have a proper medianworld is if you're the only occupant.
September 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Sad fact: the only way to have a proper medianworld is if you're the only occupant.
If a lion could talk, the cross-entropy would be really high
September 26, 2025 at 5:52 PM
If a lion could talk, the cross-entropy would be really high
I'm in Delaware on a train. Unsurprisingly, no humans visible from the train windows; only distant cars that I assume are autonomous.
September 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I'm in Delaware on a train. Unsurprisingly, no humans visible from the train windows; only distant cars that I assume are autonomous.
LLMs are a huge boost for learning about [fields that are well understood and have lots written about them already], at least if you're me.
Previous attempts to learn category theory went much slower per hour spent than the current one, since insofar as I had tutoring, it was built out of (1/3)
Previous attempts to learn category theory went much slower per hour spent than the current one, since insofar as I had tutoring, it was built out of (1/3)
September 18, 2025 at 9:05 PM
LLMs are a huge boost for learning about [fields that are well understood and have lots written about them already], at least if you're me.
Previous attempts to learn category theory went much slower per hour spent than the current one, since insofar as I had tutoring, it was built out of (1/3)
Previous attempts to learn category theory went much slower per hour spent than the current one, since insofar as I had tutoring, it was built out of (1/3)
<Anthropic, to the r/anthropic subreddit>: You're absolutely right to point that out! I see the problem now. It's a subtle bug in the token selection algorithm.
September 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
<Anthropic, to the r/anthropic subreddit>: You're absolutely right to point that out! I see the problem now. It's a subtle bug in the token selection algorithm.
Wow, Reddit seems to have suspended my 15-year-old account today, after I posted a negative review in a thread about a merchant who I think probably defrauded me. The review included a link to a pastebin of an email chain; I wonder if the merchant flagged that review, or if it was (1/2)
September 5, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Wow, Reddit seems to have suspended my 15-year-old account today, after I posted a negative review in a thread about a merchant who I think probably defrauded me. The review included a link to a pastebin of an email chain; I wonder if the merchant flagged that review, or if it was (1/2)
Something kind of cool I had somehow not fully noticed: You can split space into multiple intertwined and infinitely repeating regions (each fully connected to itself and not connected to the others). e.g. mathcurve.com/surfaces.gb/schw…
So you could, e.g., have a sippy cup with 2 spouts, (1/2)
So you could, e.g., have a sippy cup with 2 spouts, (1/2)
August 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Something kind of cool I had somehow not fully noticed: You can split space into multiple intertwined and infinitely repeating regions (each fully connected to itself and not connected to the others). e.g. mathcurve.com/surfaces.gb/schw…
So you could, e.g., have a sippy cup with 2 spouts, (1/2)
So you could, e.g., have a sippy cup with 2 spouts, (1/2)
whoa, I had no idea how obvious it was that Pedro Pascal should play the lead in the movie version of The Cuckoo's Egg
July 23, 2025 at 8:15 AM
whoa, I had no idea how obvious it was that Pedro Pascal should play the lead in the movie version of The Cuckoo's Egg
Are there any storage media that are basically impossible to destroy/erase? Answer in rot13 ITT.
July 22, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Are there any storage media that are basically impossible to destroy/erase? Answer in rot13 ITT.
... wait, if I got a bluetooth keyboard could I just use a linux app on my phone for dev work now? What's been stopping me from doing this on flights?
July 20, 2025 at 8:57 AM
... wait, if I got a bluetooth keyboard could I just use a linux app on my phone for dev work now? What's been stopping me from doing this on flights?
Man, what an excellent talk
youtube.com/watch?v=wo84LFzx5n…
youtube.com/watch?v=wo84LFzx5n…
- YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com
July 18, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Man, what an excellent talk
youtube.com/watch?v=wo84LFzx5n…
youtube.com/watch?v=wo84LFzx5n…
I always feel relieved when I take off a suit. But if I've learned anything from funerals, it's that the suit will win in the end.
July 17, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I always feel relieved when I take off a suit. But if I've learned anything from funerals, it's that the suit will win in the end.
I made a thing that lets you generate very strong passwords as nonsense couplets: benwr.net/2025/07/16/opensesam…
www.benwr.net
July 17, 2025 at 4:52 AM
I made a thing that lets you generate very strong passwords as nonsense couplets: benwr.net/2025/07/16/opensesam…
:o whoa, I just noticed that the semi-obscure hash function implementation I wrote in 2021 is being used by someone else (in the form of a fork they made to add a trait instance); more specifically, it's being used by the team writing the text editor that I was using to update it just now. (1/2)
July 9, 2025 at 4:14 AM
:o whoa, I just noticed that the semi-obscure hash function implementation I wrote in 2021 is being used by someone else (in the form of a fork they made to add a trait instance); more specifically, it's being used by the team writing the text editor that I was using to update it just now. (1/2)
Gemini Code Assist might be one of the best code reviewers I've seen; definitely in the top 20%.
July 9, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Gemini Code Assist might be one of the best code reviewers I've seen; definitely in the top 20%.
Interesting asymmetry: it seems a lot more common to put an old tune to new words than the reverse.
July 6, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Interesting asymmetry: it seems a lot more common to put an old tune to new words than the reverse.
PSA: You can use a GitHub Pages site as a personal link shortener. Plus you can use it to solve the "why should I trust that this link shortener isn't tracking me" problem, by making the backing repo public.
July 5, 2025 at 2:52 AM
PSA: You can use a GitHub Pages site as a personal link shortener. Plus you can use it to solve the "why should I trust that this link shortener isn't tracking me" problem, by making the backing repo public.
On my flight yesterday I sat next to the guy who had the original patent for (what was later used as) the JTAG standard! Was really fun to talk to him and his wife! Unfortunately today I woke up with a pretty bad respiratory thing; I hope I didn't give it to them on the flight :/
June 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
On my flight yesterday I sat next to the guy who had the original patent for (what was later used as) the JTAG standard! Was really fun to talk to him and his wife! Unfortunately today I woke up with a pretty bad respiratory thing; I hope I didn't give it to them on the flight :/
@ramblings @kadei 🐀 : Here's the actual blog post about the table on an uneven floor that my friend wrote a while back: haggainuchi.com/wobblytable.ht…
The Wobbly Table Problem - Haggai Nuchi
haggainuchi.com
June 22, 2025 at 4:35 AM
@ramblings @kadei 🐀 : Here's the actual blog post about the table on an uneven floor that my friend wrote a while back: haggainuchi.com/wobblytable.ht…