Saturday 17th February, 2024 - AI: the Good, the Bad, and the Lawyers (Issue #152)
Lots of interesting AI podcasts, no Vision Pro stuff, aside from a bit of commentary from me. I’m still very ill, so please bear with me.
Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
Another season 2 instalment…
I’m still really ill. It’s been unbelievably horrible. Coughing fits, vomiting, swollen ankles. I feel completely trapped. The last few days I’ve found that maybe not eating foods that have sauces or cheese might makes things a bit better. Less vomiting. Anyway life goes on.
I managed to listen to some podcasts. These were the best ones. The theme is most definitely AI. The other thing that’s been really big the past few weeks has been Apple’s new Vision Pro. I’ve listened to quite a few episodes about it. Weirdly listening to some of them made me feel really nauseous. Being ill is weird, being ill and listening to VR/AR first hand accounts apparently can make it worse.
Anyhow I still think it’s an interesting product. You don’t get to watch a new product category get introduced very often.
No progress on my ssg development. I’m stuck on a bug in a Github Action that I’m trying to get working. Others are seeing the same issue. Here’s the issue:
[error] The process '/usr/bin/git' failed with exit code 128 - https://github.com/dorny/paths-filter/issues/24
I’m going to keep the intro short this week. Hope all is well with you all.
Podcasts
Michael Saylor: The Thermodynamics of Bitcoin EXPLAINED (2021) (Into the Impossible Podcast) - I only just noticed now that this was from 2021. It’s still great. I thought it was interesting to hear Michael talk through his physics based Bitcoin metaphors with an actual physicist. Also interesting to see one of the best tech sales minds out there meeting a top notch academic scientist. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vaW50b3RoZWltcG9zc2libGU/episode/NTM1OGVjODItYmFhZC0xMWVlLWIyMmItYTc0ODIxOTRlMDQ2?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiywr6jpbGEAxV4pv0HHabtBZYQkfYCegQIARAG
Why e/acc is Right with Beff Jezos (Guillaume Verdon) Ep#209 (Bankless Podcast) - They have an interesting discussion about alter egos / online nyms at the start. Then the bulk of the conversation is all about AI e/acc. Beff is incredibly eloquent and probably one of the most informed people out there about these topics. They don’t shy away from some of the dark sides. Overall it’s reassuring to know these topics have been explored and thought about at depth. Though I worry the e/acc aren’t seeing the dangers of sprinting ahead to infiniti. Any professional chef will tell you you got to clean up the kitchen as you go or you’ll eventually get into serious issues. We need some structure around helping those that fallen back up on their feet. We need to make lifting people out of poverty as cool as building rockets. Both can happen. https://www.bankless.com/early-access-why-e-acc-is-right-with-beff-jezos-guillaume-verdon
The Collapse of the Dollar, Here’s What You Must Know. (Eurodollar University Podcast) - It’s all about the Eurodollar! https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL21ha2luZy1zZW5zZQ/episode/MmRjODExMWQtZGM1Ni00MTkwLThkZjYtZjE1Mjk2M2I4MDk0?sa=X&ved=0CAYQkfYCahcKEwjYvKaqpbGEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQFA
The UK’s new crypto minister comes to Washington (Politico Podcast) - I thought this was interesting, because it shows the UK is getting serious about crypto. The interesting thing will be when the EU starts making crypto regulation. Will the UK be able to capitalise on not being in the EU? https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS95MnJxWWJwNA/episode/MmRlM2Y0M2ItZDU2ZS00NjU1LWEyNGYtYTAyMjI4ZTMyNmMw?sa=X&ved=0CAYQkfYCahgKEwjYvKaqpbGEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQ2QM
How AI copyright lawsuits could make the whole industry go extinct (Decoder Podcasts) - Some lawyers, ones that have been online for multiple decades and know the internet, are worried we might be near a copyright apocalypse with generative AI. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vcmVjb2RlZGVjb2Rl/episode/MmM2ZGM3NDAtOTljZi0xMWVlLWI2NmQtZmI0MzBiOTAxMzgw?sa=X&ved=0CAYQkfYCahgKEwjYvKaqpbGEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQxwg
The US President in on Tik Tok. Now what? (Politico Tech Podcast) - Kind of has to be big news doesn’t it. I don’t spend any time on Tik Tok myself. Will the Republicans get on there too now? How times change, feels like it was only yesterday the US was trying ban Tik Tok. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS95MnJxWWJwNA/episode/YWFiNDc3ZDAtYzg4My00OWI2LTg0ZDQtNTZiNzNiZWNiMDFj?sa=X&ved=0CAYQkfYCahcKEwjg2d30p7GEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
The Weird World of an AI Clickbait King (Gadget Lab Podcast) - The future of huge parts of the internet being generated by AI is upon us. Some people are trying to capitalise on it even though they know they are breaking the web. The Gadget Lab team investigate. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wdWJsaWNmZWVkcy5uZXQvZi81OTAxL2dhZGdldC1sYWI/episode/cHJ4XzU5MDFfY2ZiZmMxNjctMmMwZS00Njc4LTkzODAtYTY0ZDM3ODEwOWYy?sa=X&ved=0CAYQkfYCahgKEwjYvKaqpbGEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQ_xE
Not much point linking to the linkblog or notes on the website since I haven’t been posting anything.
Update: Though writing this issue was relatively non eventful, the sickness gods struck me down hard as I started putting it together in Substack. I was literally flem voming the entire way, so there are likely going to be loads of typos and mistakes. Sorry.
That’s all from me…
Best reguards,
Mark
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