Time Well Spent This Week ?? v2

"The AI Evolution, Quantum Breakthrough, and Extension of Reality"

Welcome to another volume of the Top Ten of Time Well Spent!

I started a newsletter! This is not the original version of this concept. Rather, the original inspiration of ? Token Wisdom was delivered almost two years ago with some odds and ends of the internet I found along the way and would always include one YouTube video that really hits a chord, for whatever reason. In order to pick one, I tend to watch at an extraordinary order of magnitude more. As a result, I have carefully bookmarked and favorited ten terrific topics that I find particularly appealing and arranged them according to a certain level of value with No.1 being number one. It takes something rather special to stand out or pique my interest. If you’ve ever met me or spent time with me, you know I ain’t ever lie and don't like to waste time. These here videos might even save your life one day. Look at that. I’m out here saving lives, on the daily! What a happy day!

The first of this week's series starts with the vast and ever-present realm of big business and artificial intelligence. It has the potential to revolutionize our lives, and the need for global regulation to ensure its responsible and ethical use. Learn all about Microsoft's investment in OpenAI and the work of Sam Altman in promoting the conversation around AI's promise and peril.

Can you explain a subject five different ways, without ChatGPT? Well, you get to witness a quantum expert do just that from way back when; we're talking pre-pre-trained transformer days, so far back, most of the current transformers were still on Cybertron at the time.

Then, you can find out who or what a MEMS is — the tiny tech titan that's making waves in the world of mobile technology. You'll be able to explore the transformative power of virtual and augmented reality technologies and how they're changing our perception of space and the environment. It's an eye-opening moment when you feast your eyes on the GigaGAN and check out Qualcomm's quest for innovation and diversification.

Learn all about the power of USD (Universal Scene Description) and FBX (Filmbox) in 3D scene construction and marvel at the drone-specific lighting systems that illuminate the skies. Dr. Andrew Ng talks about supervised learning and generative AI and how to put them to use, and lastly, falling into pole-position of videos with one of my favorite channels that utilize every ounce and corner of the generative capabilities that exist currently. I mean every corner, every ounce. It is a thing of beauty.

I'm starting to see a trend — people who subscribe to this newsletter are very curious, emotionally intelligent, and soon to be extremely prepared for the tsunami of growth and specialization devastation. Every tool that builds the future currently is based upon generative processes and general intelligence. Generalists are the only ones that can align us.

The future is not just an abstract concept, but a thrilling adventure waiting to be shaped by the brilliant minds of super creatives, physicists, and math superheroes. They possess an extraordinary power to influence and inspire, fueling us with the determination to unravel the complexities of the world. Together, we will embark upon a journey to seek out the seemingly disconnected nodes, like pieces of a grand jigsaw puzzle, and connect them in the vast and infinite quantum realms.

Some of this stuff is pretty exciting! I had mad ideas flood into my mind as I watched each video. Definitely an inspiration starter.

This would be the perfect time to dive right in.

?? This Week's The Top Ten of Time Well Spent ??

AI Revolution: Navigating the Potential and Peril

/imagine that once upon a time, tech giants chased dreams of shiny self-driving cars and the Metaverse. Now, the shiny prize is AI, the new frontier in technology. Tomorrow the glaring brilliance of quantum computing. Microsoft, renowned for revolutionizing the world with Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a MacGyver-esque paper clip, now seeks to make a splash with AI under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella. They are doing so by investing significantly in OpenAI.

What if OpenAI was a gold mine, brimming with untapped potential? Microsoft becomes the miner, eager to extract its value, hoping to spark new life into old products, especially their languishing search engine. But striking gold isn't easy, and the journey is fraught with challenges. Don't forget the picks and shovels. Someone will always eventually need them, no matter what shiny thing you're mining.

Meanwhile, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, envisions a future where AI is a 'super assistant', a tool that enhances our cognitive work, rather than replaces us. He sees a world where AI could potentially end poverty, and improve education and medical care. The eyeball data must be worth a pretty penny to certain companies, one in particular that rhymes with can't hear. But, he also warns of the risks and ensures proper optics, comparing the potential dangers of AI to those of nuclear war and pandemics. The apathy towards the probability of what he provided a catalyst to is the most alarming thing about this person. That's some serious privilege that I have no way of comprehending or remotely can understand or method act that into any close proximity of that level of benightedness.

Nadella likens the advent of AI to the birth of the internet, a tidal wave that changed the rules of the game. New game, new rules. The race to AI is not just about innovation and competition, it's about navigating a minefield of ethical, societal, and safety concerns. It's about ensuring that this powerful tool doesn't become Clippy 2.0, Microsoft's infamous and irritating paperclip assistant. Might help to have an ethics team for your AI research and development while you're experimenting and innovating, but first, COM'MERCé!

The stakes are high in this thrilling saga of technology and ambition. As of now, we haven't determined who the heroes and villains are. But, the journey is just beginning, the destination is unknown, and we got a long way to go and a short time to get there. We make AI out to be the hero that propels us into a utopian future, but will hubris and greed be the villain that brings us down? Only time will... tick, tick, tick, tick...

The Pre-GPT Way: Five Explanations of Quantum Computing

/imagine stepping into a world where computation is not just about 0s and 1s, but about a realm that transcends these boundaries, where they are neither here nor there; rather, both. This is the world of quantum computing, everything all at once. Scientist Talia Gershon from IBM Research takes us on a journey through this exciting field, explaining it in five levels of increasing complexity.

Quantum computing, she explains, is like a fancy chandelier, intricate and different, using the principles of quantum mechanics to solve problems in a fundamentally new way. It's also like a computer that can spin a coin and have it land on both heads and tails at the same time, thanks to a quantum property called s u p e r p o s i t i o n.

The conversation delves into the heart of a quantum computer, which is as cold as space and looks nothing like the computers we're used to. It's like stepping into a sci-fi movie, where gold chandeliers are actually quantum computers and spinning coins can help solve complex problems.

From helping with homework to potentially creating new medicines and understanding nature better, providing a layer of security that has never been seen before, the possibilities with quantum computing are as vast as the universe itself. The journey starts now and there are many obstacles to conquer. But the fun lies in the thrill of the voyage and the revelations we will come across, five different ways.

Tiny Tech Titans: Unveiling the Marvels of MEMS

/imagine holding a universe in your hand. When you use your phone, it's like having a spaceship, compass, and star tracker all in one. It helps you navigate not only the physical world but its cosmic location as well. It is the Holy Grail of unique identifiers. Have you ever wondered how your phone accomplishes all this incredibleness?

The answer lies in a device smaller than a grain of sand, yet packed with a world of technology. This device is known as a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System or MEMS, the unsung hero that lets your phone navigate the cosmos. It also allows for certain folks to know your every movement and triangulate it with your biometric data in an anonymized point cloud which ties right back into the universe you hold in your hand as a unique identifier and know when you take it out of your right butt cheek pocket.

Picture a tiny city, two millimeters wide, with structures so small that several could fit on a single human hair. This city is bustling with activity. Six discrete components, each dedicated to tracking a specific direction of movement, work in harmony to give your phone its extraordinary capabilities. Pitch, yaw, and roll baby.

Three of these components are accelerometers, simple devices that detect linear accelerations. Imagine a stubborn, heavy mass that refuses to move. When you drop your phone, the phone moves, but this mass tries to stay put. The difference in movement is detected and translated into acceleration data.

The other three components are gyroscopes, more complex devices that detect rotations. Picture a tuning fork, vibrating at a specific frequency. As the phone turns, its frequency alters, detected by the gyroscopes.

MEMS, with its accelerometers and gyroscopes, serves as a sixth sense for smartphones. It's what allows your phone to know its place in the universe, to turn silent when flipped, and to track stars in the night sky. All of this, from a device smaller than a grain of sand, yet infinitely fascinating.

__________

Fun fact: When producing each accelerometer, hardware imperfections occur during the sensor manufacturing process. These imperfections cause every sensor chip to respond differently to the same motion stimulus. This infinitesimal difference that is received back allows for identifying and fingerprinting a device from an accelerometer. This was ten years ago and was building an adtech platform where you could not opt-out of any advertising. I thought better of it. Now, I can only imagine the advances in millimeter wave technology and ultrawideband that have transpired over the past decade, with a very large database of uniquely identified tracking devices. Sousveillance has never had so many volunteers before!

Designing Realities: Virtually Dangerous or the Brink of a Revolution?

/imagine unlocking a future where you have the creativity to design your reality. Experience a world that intuitively responds to your wishes and longings. Advances in virtual and augmented reality technology have made a realistic outcome possible.

Technologies are blurring the boundaries between the physical and digital realms, unlocking an exciting new realm of possibilities. It's like having a magical carpet that instantly transports you to any place and allows you to become anyone—all without leaving home.

Riding the magical carpet can be bumpy. It forces us to question our bond with tech, our perception of our surroundings, and how virtual realms influence our real lives. It's like standing on the edge of a precipice, simultaneously excited and scared of the plunge.

Public transit is a microcosm of our society which has seen a cultural shift. Face masks and machine learning technology are the translators bridging the physical and digital realms, just as a translator bridges two languages.

Postmodern architecture enables multiple realities to exist within one physical space, similar to how a house could change into a castle, beach, or concert hall with a single switch.

Technology is altering the future of our homes, cities, and public spaces. It's like an artist wielding a fresh palette of colors to craft a synthesis of the physical and digital worlds. Though the potential is expansive, delivering a masterpiece requires skillful execution.

Are you ready to dive into the future? It's sort of here. Take a number. Or sign up to be notified when we launch =)

Super GigaGAN Power: Billion Parameters a Second

/imagine a magician with four remarkable tricks up their sleeve. That's GigaGAN, an AI system that's the star of our show today. Picture this: you whisper a description of an image into the magician's ear, and in less than a second, he paints you a remarkably detailed picture. That's GigaGAN's first trick - text to image transformation, and it does it faster than a cheetah on a caffeine rush.

But wait, there's more! It's not just quick, this machine works lightning-fast. Think about a pianist's fingers flying over the keys, each note a new image. That's GigaGAN's second trick, a controllable latent space.

But ‘hold onto your hats’, because the third trick is where things get mind-boggling. Picture an old, grainy photograph. GigaGAN takes it, waves its magic wand, and bingo-bango! You're looking at a high-resolution image, as detailed as if you're viewing it under a magnifying glass.

And for the grand finale, GigaGAN presents a 'disentangled latent space'. Think of it like a potter's wheel, where the artist can mold and shape the clay into any form they desire. With GigaGAN, you can tweak and twist your image with text prompts, without having to start over with a new lump of clay.

Experience GigaGAN - a revolutionary magician quicker, cleverer, and more creative than any other. What an exhilarating era we live in! As the good doctor says, “What a time to be alive!”

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Reviving the Future: Qualcomm's Quest for Innovation and Revenue Reignition

/imagine a titan of technology, a mastermind behind the scenes, powering the devices we use every day. This is the story of Qualcomm, a company whose invisible hand has shaped the landscape of wireless communication. It's like the wizard behind the curtain in the land of Oz, orchestrating our connected world from smartphones to cars, and even VR headsets.

From its humble beginnings in the home of Irwin Jacobs, Qualcomm has grown into a behemoth, pioneering wireless connectivity from the 80s to the present day. It's akin to a silent composer, orchestrating the symphony of wireless communication that powers our modern world. With tiny chips that can produce the same level of content and complexity that a desktop computer running an NVIDIA graphics card will soon be delivered on an edge-network with the chipset handling the remainder of the compute, seamlessly. A phone, that produces seriously intensive GPU and CPU requirements done with the greatest of ease. Now, that’s something!

But even titans face challenges. Qualcomm faces a challenge from tech titans like Apple and Nvidia, a classic David vs. Goliath narrative. Qualcomm, however, isn't yielding - instead, it's diversifying into new fields including automotive and AI.

Imagine a future where your car is technologically advanced like your phone or your VR headset can take you to another reality in a split second - all thanks to a bold new era is powered by Qualcomm.

Qualcomm has always been an innovative force, leading the way in advancements in their technology, their resilience and dedication to progress have taken them far. However, new technology may circumvent their patents and licensing with a more open-sourced silicon approach of connectivity. It's coming, and it's coming fast and can compute 1000x more efficiently on device with an entire knowledge base of a 100B parameters all conveniently travel-packed away and fits on your phone.

/imagine: a personal assistant that doesn't live in a cloud, instead lives on your phone and doesn't need to share or access information outside the safety of your device and unique quantum key

Building the Future: Unlocking the Power of USD and FBX

/imagine a world where artists can seamlessly transfer their work between different software tools without losing any data. This was the dream that led to the creation of FBX, a file format that could handle everything from models and motions to audio and shading. It was like a universal translator, bridging the gap between different digital content creation apps.

But as the sun sets on one era, it rises on another. Enter the Universal Scene Description (USD), a new file format that promises to revolutionize the way we work with 3D data. Envision a symphony orchestra, where each instrument blends together in harmony to produce a stunning piece of music. Imagine what it would be like if each musician was in a separate location around the world, performing their part alone yet all perfectly in unison. That's what USD aims to achieve for artists and developers.

Developed by Pixar and open-sourced in 2016, USD is like a master conductor, ensuring that all the different parts of a 3D project work in harmony, regardless of the software used to create them. It's like the HTML of the 3D world, providing a universal language that all tools can understand.

With the backing of major stakeholders like Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Nvidia, and even Pixar itself, USD is poised to become the new gold standard in 3D data interchange. It's like the dawn of a new day, promising a future where data is king, and the tools used to create it are just the subjects. Get set for a revolutionary journey into 3D data interchange! This is sure to be a game-changer.

Illuminating the Skies: A Bright Spot in Your Night Shots

/imagine in the thrilling world of drone technology, you embarked on an electrifying journey to illuminate the skies. Imagine, if you will, the power of a thousand suns harnessed and attached to the wings of a mechanical bird. That's what was achieved when Daniel Riley built his first 1,000-watt LED light for a drone.

The drone light concept quickly gained popularity, resulting in its further development and two more stunning versions. The first was a quartet of 100-watt LED chips, one on each arm of the drone, consuming a total of 800 watts and radiating a brilliant 96,000 lumens. The beauty of this design was its convenience - like a bird with feathers, the lights were integrated into the drone's frame, making transportation a breeze.

The second design was a behemoth, reminiscent of my original 1,000-watt flashlight. It boasted two rows of five 100-watt LED chips, consuming a total of 1,000 watts and emitting a blinding 130,000 lumens. This design traded prop wash for larger heat sinks and cooling fans, allowing for more artistic control over the light's angle.

In a daring move, he combined both setups on the Alta 8, pushing the drone to its maximum recommended takeoff weight of 40 pounds. The result was a spectacular aerial light show, drawing 1,800 watts and producing over a quarter of a million lumens of light.

This thrilling adventure into the world of drone lighting systems was not just for kicks. Daniel's been deploying these systems for various gigs, so give him a follow or stay tuned for more of his electrifying updates. Eyes on the prize, and in this case, keep your eyes on the skies!

AI Evolution: Unleashing the Power of Supervised Learning and Generative AI

/imagine the electrifying world of Artificial Intelligence, Dr. Andrew Ng stands as a beacon of knowledge, illuminating the path for those eager to understand this transformative technology. Imagine AI as a new form of electricity, not confined to a single purpose but capable of lighting up an array of applications.

Andrew Ng, a maestro in the realm of AI, takes us on a thrilling journey, unraveling the mysteries of AI. He introduces us to the dynamic duo of AI tools - Supervised Learning and Generative AI. Picture Supervised Learning as a discerning labeler, meticulously categorizing emails as spam or not, or identifying potential ad clicks. Generative AI, on the other hand, is the newer, exciting kid on the block, creating content from mere prompts.

But the journey doesn't stop there, he also explores the potential of AI, a landscape as vast as a starlit sky, filled with opportunities waiting to be seized. From maritime shipping to romantic relationship coaching, the applications of AI are as diverse as the universe itself.

Yet, like any powerful force, AI must be handled responsibly. He emphasizes the importance of ethical considerations, addressing concerns about job disruption and potential risks.

Are you ready to navigate the exhilarating world of AI, where every turn reveals a new opportunity, every path leads to innovation, and every step brings us closer to a future shaped by the power of Artificial Intelligence?

Another One: Tupac's Timeless Revival in a Sampladelic Multi-Sensory AI Resurrection

/imagine Nobody and the Computer. I wish I thought of that. This channel showcases the amazing potential of Artificial Intelligence in more forms than I’ve seen with any other creator or nerd, with a specific emphasis on music production. Also, there is no other faceless YouTube channel that I know of that comes close to this mastery and smoothness. I’ve been a fan for a hot minute and learned how to create music by prompting my way into MIDI composition and been hooked since 8k subscribers. You should too. If you want to see what the future looks like, it’s this level of craftsmanship and effort. Dude combines the legendary voice of Tupac Shakur, cloned from SUNO's generation, with a beat produced by MusicLM and an A.I.-generated video. It also utilizes MusicGEN to source samples from a variety of eclectic music styles, such as Exotica, library music, Italian giallo soundtrack, and more. GPT is being used to generate inventive lyrics and Lauryn Hill, MF Doom, and Quasimoto are providing their voices, while PiKaLabs is dropping videos of breakdancing from the eighties. This project is a unique combination of musical and visual elements, all powered by A.I. technology. I lost count of how many tools Nobody and the Computer are rocking.

Each video gets better and better.

There’s a reason why the number one pick is the number one pick. You will see how a talented and experienced creator is able to take all of these ingredients and prepare some of the best intellectual nourishment with a thick side of entertainment this side of 1's and 0's.

?? This is the end of this week's curated collection of consumed knowledge ??

As we conclude this journey through the vast landscape of today's technology, I hope our exploration was inspiring.

We stand at the dawn of a new sensor-driven age, with quantum ready to throw a lasso around AI and have ourselves a rodeo. This changes everything.

Voltaire's famous words, "Power entails responsibility," highlight the importance of using modern technologies ethically and responsibly. I'm dedicated to furthering this conversation. Yet, one can argue that these technologies, while impressive, are also creating a new form of digital divide. Creating a separation even further than the one we know. How low can you go? Life is not a limbo contest.

As this technology becomes more sophisticated and complex, the barrier to understanding and utilizing them increases, potentially leaving behind those who lack the resources or education to keep up. Let's not forget the wisdom and hope of an anonymous generalist who says,

I’m a Generalist. I solve problems you don’t know you have in ways you can’t possibly understand, yet.

So, apparently, the Generalists know something we don't. If you look at the displacement of blue-collar jobs over the past decade or two, we're now seeing the same repeat with white-collar jobs or specialized areas of knowledge, and it will take only two years to exact the same outcome to clip the collars. Generalists have often been ridiculed and overlooked in the talent pools; however, it is very apparent that being a Jack/Jill of all trades is better than being a master of one. One can be easily replaced by another nowadays.

As we navigate the information superhighway, let's strive to approach these innovations with a sense of curiosity, joy, and intelligence. Unknown outcomes lie ahead, yet there is no reason to fear the future. It’s unknown. It hasn’t been defined yet.

So, we must actively shape the ending of our story and participate in our future, together.

Sustainability or Convenience? Branching narrative. Choose your own adventure!

One is worth a fortune, the other costs you one.

?? k.

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