Dominic Hunt

8 Followers
101 Following
60 Posts
Computational modeller interested in human learning, interactions and the emergent consequences.

Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:

1. They incorporate chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that do the actual photosynthesis) of plants they eat, into their own bodies to do photosynthesis directly for them (that is the green colour you see), in order to survive if food is scarce.

Imagine being able to live from light!

1/2

#WondersOfNature

I just discovered that you can buy the smell of old books, and even library scents.

Has anyone had experience with old book fragrances? Do they smell authentic, and could I use them to try and seduce bookworms?

There are several options:

https://smellslikebooks.com/products/old-books

https://www.amorphousperfume.com/products/antique-books-perfume-oil

https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Solstice-Scents/Library-36784.html

Reddit discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Indiemakeupandmore/comments/9lyoks/old_books_is_there_a_perfume_that_smells_like_old/

#books #fragrance #bookworm #BIBLIOPHILE #libraries

It's the late 18th century. Have you seen the new mechanical automaton that can play chess and beat experts? Nobody really understands how it works - it uses lots of clever gears and cogs - but the technology of mechanical automatons can only improve so imagine what mechanical automatons will be able to do in just a few years. Add them to everything. We should worry about mechanical automatons becoming self-aware and destroying humanity. Make sure to invest in my mechanical automaton startup.

Large language models are proficient in solving and creating emotional intelligence tests
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-025-00258-x

Research examined whether LLMs can solve and generate performance-based emotional intelligence tests. Results showed that ChatGPT-4, ChatGPT-o1, Gemini 1.5 flash, Copilot 365, Claude 3.5 Haiku, and DeepSeek V3 outperformed humans on five standard emotional intelligence tests, achieving an average accuracy of 81%, compared to the 56% human average reported in the original validation studies.

"Notably, all LLMs performed more than one standard deviation above the human mean, with ChatGPT-o1 and DeepSeek V3 exceeding two standard deviations above the human mean. The LLMs also exceeded human performance in each of the five EI tests individually, with large effect sizes"

#psychology #psychometrics #socialScience #LLM #AI #Chatbots

#PSA via @kjcharles "UK WRITERS: You need to fill in this consulation. Govt is very clearly looking to an opt-out model of rights licensing that puts all the burden on creators instead of profiteers. It's long and boring but this is important."

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence

#Writers #Authors #Copyright #ArtificialIntelligence #AI

Thread with more details:
https://bsky.app/profile/ednewtonrex.bsky.social/post/3ldjhfestis2s

Please share this information/links, there's not much time.

Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

This consultation seeks views on how the government can ensure the UK’s legal framework for AI and copyright supports the UK creative industries and AI sector together.

GOV.UK
@jam I would recommend you have a look at https://nathanschneider.info/books/governable-spaces/ by @ntnsndr for a discussion on how the admin structures of our internet spaces affects their emergent culture.
Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life – Writings and rehearsals by Nathan Schneider

@tpuddle @Garwboy This is an excellent real-world example of how very little of a multivariate normal distribution is actually at the centre. I.e. as you include more variables that are normally distributed but independent from each other, the typical value will go further from the centre of the distributions. It will be increasingly unlikely to find an average datapoint! @johndcook gave a good explanation of this in https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2011/09/01/multivariate-normal-shell/.
Willie Sutton and the multivariate normal distribution

When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously replied "Because that's where the money is." If you read about data analysis in high dimensions, you might hear someone say they're focused on a thin shell because that's where the probability is. For a multivariate normal distribution in high dimensions, nearly all the probability mass

John D. Cook | Applied Mathematics Consulting

Every asked me about how real world events can screw with top level internet domains.

Come for the story of how a bunch of Slovenian academics allegedly stole control of the .yu domain. Stay for why the entire .io TLD might be about to disappear due to a minor treaty between Britain and Mauritius. https://buff.ly/3zTcZyt #tech

The Disappearance of an Internet Domain

How geopolitics can alter digital infrastructure

@Tutanota I would want to add @briar to the list. Not my daily go to but a great option when the cellular network is unavailable.
@garius “Truth is the daughter of time” as Josephine Tey would say