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Submission + - Anthropic's models show signs of introspection (axios.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Anthropic, a leading AI company, tells Axios that its most advanced systems are learning not just to reason like humans — but also to reflect on, and express, how they actually think.

They're starting to be introspective, like humans, Anthropic researcher Jack Lindsey, who studies models' "brains," tells us.

Why it matters: These introspective capabilities could make the models safer — or, possibly, just better at pretending to be safe.

Submission + - Duane Roberts, Inventor of the Frozen Burrito, Dead at 88 (tmz.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Duane Roberts — the billionaire businessman credited with inventing the frozen burrito — has died [at the age of 88].

After serving honorably in the U.S. military, he went on to revolutionize the food industry with the frozen burrito in 1956.

Beyond business, Duane was a proud philanthropist and developer ... best known for restoring the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, California. His generosity also extended to animal welfare, education, veterans, and the arts.

Submission + - What horror films do to our brains (dw.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Horror films work on the same principles: We experience fear within a safe environment, whether seated on the sofa in our living room or in a plush cinema seat.

The horror genre is more than mere entertainment, however. US movie director Wes Craven (1939-2015) regarded horror films as a "boot camp for the psyche," a sort of psychological training.

"In real life, human beings are packaged in the flimsiest of packages, threatened by real and sometimes horrifying dangers, events like [school shootings]. But the narrative form puts these fears into a manageable series of events. It gives us a way of thinking rationally about our fears," he once said.

Submission + - "Dumb homes" are the latest flex (axios.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The return to analog hobbies and spaces is about more than nostalgia for pre-internet times, researchers say.

A home where "technology is always in the background, working and listening, feels anxiety-producing" instead of restorative, architect Yan M. Wang tells Axios.

Rising costs for smart devices, new advances rendering old systems obsolete and tech troubleshooting can also cause homeowners headaches.

Submission + - The empty search for dark matter (phys.org) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: We have run dozens of direct detection experiments around the globe hunting for WIMPS—dark matter particles in this particular mass range. And they're not all the same kind of experiments. There are also the scintillators, which use a giant vat of liquefied noble gas, like several tons of xenon. They wait for a dark matter particle to strike the xenon and cause it to scintillate, which is a fancy science word for "sparkle." We see the sparkle; we detect dark matter.

WIMPs aren't alone. They're just one example of a broader class of dark matter candidates, with delightful names like Q-balls, WIMPzillas, and sterile neutrinos. We've tuned our different experiments to capture different mass ranges or interaction strengths to cover as much of that wide dark matter spectrum as possible. We've even tried to manufacture various kinds of dark matter in our particle collider experiments.

And we've found nothing.

Submission + - Mathematical proof debunks the idea that the universe is a computer simulation (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Today's cutting-edge theory—quantum gravity—suggests that even space and time aren't fundamental. They emerge from something deeper: pure information.

This information exists in what physicists call a Platonic realm—a mathematical foundation more real than the physical universe we experience. It's from this realm that space and time themselves emerge.

"The fundamental laws of physics cannot be contained within space and time, because they generate them. It has long been hoped, however, that a truly fundamental theory of everything could eventually describe all physical phenomena through computations grounded in these laws. Yet we have demonstrated that this is not possible. A complete and consistent description of reality requires something deeper—a form of understanding known as non-algorithmic understanding."

Submission + - How a chorus of synchronized frequencies helps you digest your food (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: It is known in the scientific community that if you have a self-sustained oscillation, such as an arteriole, and you add an external stimulus at a similar but not identical frequency, you can lock the two, meaning you can shift the frequency of the oscillator to that of the external stimulus. In fact, it has been shown that if you connect two clocks, they will eventually synchronize their ticking.

Distinguished Professor of Physics and Neurobiology David Kleinfeld found that if he applied an external stimulus to a neuron, the entire vasculature would lock at the same frequency. However, if he stimulated two sets of neurons at two different frequencies, something unexpected happened: some arterioles would lock at one frequency and others would lock at another frequency, forming a staircase effect.

Submission + - MIT physicists just found a way to see inside atoms (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: MIT researchers have devised a new molecular technique that lets electrons probe inside atomic nuclei, replacing massive particle accelerators with a tabletop setup. By studying radium monofluoride, they detected energy shifts showing electrons interacting within the nucleus. This breakthrough could help reveal why matter dominates over antimatter in the universe.

Submission + - Intel 8080 bottleneck made classic Space Invaders run faster as enemies died (tomshardware.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: One of the most charming bug = feature tales is the story behind the thrilling crescendo of pacing gamers experienced when playing the original Space Invaders arcade machine. This weekend, self-proclaimed C/C++ expert Zuhaitz reminded us that the adrenaline-pumping rising intensity of Taito’s arcade classic was not due to genius-level coding. Rather, it was simply the fact that the underlying Intel 8080 could run the game code faster as aliens were wiped from the screen one by one, by the player dishing out laser missile death.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Offensive music

Journal by alternative_right

A number of people had asked, so I created an offensive music thread on the Fediverse. Expect pro-Islam, pro-Satan, pro-Purge, Luciferian, and generally intolerant or ornery lyrics and sounds. I am hoping I can get at least one Western government to ban this thread!

Submission + - Sweden's crowd-forecasting platform 'Glimt' helps Ukraine make wartime predictio (france24.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Glimt is an open platform that relies on the theory of “crowd forecasting”: a method of making predictions based on surveying a large and diverse group of people and taking an average. "Glimt" is a Swedish word for "a glimpse" or "a sudden insight". The theory posits that the average of all collected predictions produces correct results with “uncanny accuracy”, according to the Glimt website. Such “collective intelligence” is used today for everything from election results to extreme weather events, Glimt said.

Submission + - "Analog bags" are in. Doomscrolling is out. (axios.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The latest must-have accessory is a "stop-scrolling bag" — a tote packed with analog activities like watercolors and crossword puzzles.

"I basically just put everything I could grab for instead of my phone into a bag," including knitting, a scrapbook and a Polaroid camera, says Sierra Campbell, the content creator behind the trend.

Stop-scrolling bags fit into a broader revival of analog hobbies, led by younger people, that researchers say is less about trendy nostalgia than embracing a pre-digital, pre-AI world.

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