Chris Anderson Profile picture
Occupy the skies. @chr1sa2 on Threads Photo by @chrismichel
Potato Of Reason Profile picture Felix Peña Profile picture urbansheep Profile picture Eric Bossieux Profile picture Brian Zajac Profile picture 5 subscribed
Feb 19, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
I'm seeing dueling views on China and AI:

Some describe ChatGPT as "China's second Sputnik moment", to use @kaifulee's term about its motivating power

Others say China's government is too fearful of AI breaking their lock on information and power to really allow it to flourish My own take is that this illuminates our immature taxonomies of "AI" -- there are many different kinds and some countries will be better at each.

China is great at *perception* AI, thanks to its surveillance state and huge data, which supports government power
Oct 30, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
While AI is having a summer, robotics is stuck in winter. While the perception problems have been largely solved (thanks to AI), the other robotics problems -- understanding, planning, grasping, energy, flexibility, judgement, etc -- need breakthroughs. Maybe it's because "robotics" is not a thing. I'd argue it's a category error, too broad to be useful (like "electricity").

Cars are not drones are not industrial arms are not vacuum cleaners.
Apr 26, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
It's now been almost a year since the New York Times put together this technically impressive yet totally wrong interactive article about how long it would take to get a Covid vaccine. To their credit, the NYT allowed you to try, by clicking, all sorts of (implausible, they suggested) accelerants like fastrack regulatory approval and building factories ahead of approval. But no combination of options got you to how fast we actually got the vaccine.
Mar 13, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
Was it always obvious which side of "pandemic wishful thinking" liberals & conservatives would be on (more pessimistic than the facts justified vs more optimistic)?

It's now clear that liberals tended to catastrophize & conservatives minimized, but why? Just a Trump-era thing? Here's one good answer, involving feelings about "agency" and individualism

sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/…
Nov 22, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Still life of a simplified OpenBot mod thinking that 2-wheel drive makes a lot more sense than 4-wheel drive. More nimble, cheaper, easier. openbot.org

The phone does all the work -- computer vision, deep learning, motion control, etc This is kind of like a @diyrobocars version of @comma_ai's OpenPilot
Oct 11, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
I'm incredibly impressed by the new Creality CR-6 3D printer. It's the first 3D printer I've had that *just works*. Silent (just fan noise), perfect quality, no tweaking or setup, just like a good paper printer

Took 10+ yrs to get here, but we're here

creality3d.shop/collections/cr… Game-changers turned out to be:
-Self-leveling w/tap-touch
-10 yrs of software improvement (Marlin)
-Good touch-screens
-Finally getting nozzles/filament drives right
-Dual z-steppers. The fewer belts the better
-Enclosures unnecessary (waste of space/money)
-Heated glass beds
Aug 29, 2020 9 tweets 4 min read
Hey GIS and data science followers, can you help? James "Kiwi" Oroc is a paraglider pilot missing in Nevada. The search teams have a site where you can review satellite data & see if you can find his glider or parachute

Can you think of a way to automate?
9mile.xcskies.com ImageImage Some tips on using that site:

Read all of the instructions carefully first, then zoom out to see the active slice (it will be a black and white filled in image). RGB is turned all the way up so you will especially notice when you see something that not black or grey.
Aug 10, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

The fall in US daily cases continues and the peak in daily deaths is more apparent Image The US, Brazil, India and Mexico all lead the world in new deaths, but now that the US seems to have peaked, keep your eye on India Image
Jul 31, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

As US new cases pass their peak, US new deaths are still rising (from a much lower level) due to the 21-day lag and have now passed a 7-day average of 1k/day
who.int/docs/default-s… Image The US is about to pass Brazil in new daily deaths and become the global leader again, which hadn't been the case since May Image
Jul 30, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and death stats from the WHO

Every few weeks I also display the daily deaths data in per-capita form. Here's the latest, with the US compared to the big European countries. You can see that the US (red) is still well below European peaks Image Comparing new US cases to deaths, you can now see the peak in cases, while the deaths are still catching up over the ~21-day lag from diagnosis
who.int/docs/default-s… Image
Jul 26, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

In the US, new daily cases appear to be peaking at around 65k, while new deaths appear to heading to 1k
who.int/docs/default-s… Image India and the US are the fastest growing areas of new deaths, while Brazil remains at a higher rate Image
Jul 25, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

We're about to go into the weekend dip, so this is a high for the week. US new cases above 70k, new deaths above 1.1k
who.int/docs/default-s… Image The ratio of US new cases to deaths is still just over 100:1 and has not risen much yet Image
Jul 22, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

Keep in mind that the WHO numbers are a day behind so it's still showing a bit of weekend effect, but it does look like we're seeing a peak in US new cases in this wave

who.int/docs/default-s… Image New deaths in India continue to rise. Brazil remains flat Image
Jul 21, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

Possible sign of leveling off of new cases in the US. Still waiting for a spike in new deaths, now more than a month since cases started spiking. If it's going to happen, it really should show up this week Image New deaths in India continue to rise. Brazil is plateaued at a high rate
who.int/docs/default-s… Image
Jul 20, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO.

To be honest, I thought we'd be seeing more of a US new deaths spike by now, a month after cases began to spike.
who.int/docs/default-s… Image India continues to rise. At this rate, it may pass the US in the next week Image
Jul 19, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

I was curious about trends in cases vs deaths in the US, so here it is. Note that deaths lag cases, so we should expect this curve to start rising again. But it is remarkable how deaths/cases have fallen from 7/100 to 1/100 Image Another day with US deaths well below 1,000 despite soaring cases
who.int/docs/default-s… Image
Jul 18, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

India has now passed Mexico in new deaths
who.int/docs/default-s… Image US new deaths remain under 1,000 while new cases soar above 70,000 Image
Jul 17, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

New deaths in India and Iran continue to rise. Brazil remains plateaued at a high rate. And the US is showing some effects from the spike in cases in southern states, but still not as much on a national basis as expected Image Here's US new cases vs deaths, a month after the new-case spike began
who.int/docs/default-s… Image
Jul 16, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and death stats from the WHO

It's still too early to say what the ultimate ratio of US new cases to deaths will be in this phase, but we can at least now see the lag between the two: ~21 days
who.int/docs/default-s… Image New deaths in Europe remain flat at ~500, a third of which are Russia Image
Jul 15, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
Today's Covid19 new cases and deaths stats from the WHO

We're starting to see the relationship between new cases and new deaths in the US. Let's give it a few more days before putting a ratio on it
who.int/docs/default-s… Image India and Iran still growing Image
Jul 15, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read
I hadn't seen this full picture of the average ratios from Covid tests all the way to deaths, so I put it together. Each percent is of the previous level's total

Hope it's helpful (sources below) Image Sources

1: coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/indivi…
2: sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/…
3: who.int/indonesia/news…
4: cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…