See the Nature article for more details.
]]>This connects to research by Dunning and Kruger, which explains how people often become overconfident once they begin learning something new. This is a particularly risky tendency in cross-disciplinary work.
This serves as a personal reminder to approach unfamiliar topics with appropriate caution. As Alexander Pope wrote in 1711:
“A little learning is a dang’rous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring”
The passage emphasizes that shallow knowledge can be misleading, while deeper study brings wisdom and humility.
]]>The talks fell into several distinct categories:
Automation tasks - Using AI to analyze microscopy images and detect grain structures, automating work traditionally assigned to junior researchers.
Sampling optimization - Exploring whether researchers can extract equivalent information from fewer samples, reducing beamtime and material consumption. This represents a modern take on DOE (Design of Experiments).
Theory-focused approaches - Training neural networks on computational results (like DFT calculations) to create faster approximations, though with reduced accuracy suitable for screening purposes.
Inverse problems - Comparing experimental data against theoretical models to classify which theory best fits observations.
Materials prediction - Though some work showed clear overfitting, other efforts showed maybe some promise.
A crucial takeaway emerged: physics researchers typically lack big data. As one speaker noted, there isn’t sufficient data volume for algorithms to independently learn representations—instead, researchers must construct representations using established physics models.
Machine learning in physics remains in early stages, with questions about whether such tools genuinely advance understanding.
]]>I’m excited about the direction of this work!
]]>Contrary to viewing government as an impediment, Mazzucato demonstrates how U.S. government investment has driven innovation across sectors. While she sometimes overstates connections between government funding and commercial success, her point about SBIR grants supporting companies developing government-needed technology with later commercial applications is well-taken.
There’s a fundamental tension: venture capitalists operate on ~10-year horizons, making long-term, uncertain investments (like cleantech) problematic. Government can provide “patient capital” pursuing specific goals like clean energy development without immediate profit requirements—something private markets struggle to sustain.
While Thiel attributes slowing pharmaceutical innovation to regulation, I’d argue we’ve exhausted “low hanging fruit.” Johnson’s concept of the “adjacent possible” suggests we’re awaiting conditions for the next innovation wave. Complex problems like personalized cancer treatments require foundational work before breakthroughs emerge.
Beyond direct research funding, government can facilitate university-to-industry knowledge transfer, encourage corporate collaboration on difficult problems, and support technological incubators in cities.
]]>The book provides a useful framework for understanding how innovative thinking develops through environmental and behavioral factors.
]]>Three mechanisms can enable order:
This leads to a general strategy for discovering switchable phenomena: Find a phase which is subject to an instability through some type of perturbation. If you can move the system towards the instability using one control parameter, you’re half way there.
The approach involves using multiple control parameters (pressure, electric field, etc.) to manipulate a system across phase boundaries, potentially enabling novel functionality.
]]>The protagonist William Cage undergoes a transformation from a self-centered coward into a true hero. Initially unprepared for combat, Cage gains the ability to relive the same day after being exposed to alien blood. Through repeated deaths and training with the legendary warrior Rita Vrataski, he develops from a trickster character into someone willing to sacrifice everything.
The critical turning point occurs when Cage stops fighting one time and escapes to London, discovering something worth fighting for beyond self-preservation.
What I particularly appreciate is the moment when Cage becomes mortal again—losing his time-loop ability—yet chooses to proceed with a likely suicidal mission to save humanity. He gathers a team and they decide that they will try to destroy the alien Omega, even though it’s likely to be a one way mission.
I think the film’s ending would have been more powerful if Cage had died as an unrecognized hero rather than receiving Hollywood’s traditional feel-good resurrection and romantic resolution.
]]>This comes to approximately $1,920/month before tax deductions.
After accounting for tax deductions on interest and property taxes, the monthly cost reduces to roughly $1,580. When factoring in closing costs and selling expenses over a 7-year holding period, the total monthly cost reaches approximately $2,000—comparable to rental prices in the same area.
Home appreciation shouldn’t exceed inflation long-term, and equity accumulation must account for opportunity costs of the initial down payment. Risks of ownership include:
The question of owning vs renting depends on your assumptions regarding investment returns, inflation, and personal risk tolerance rather than being an obvious financial advantage.
]]>The translator used archaic or formal English, requiring dictionary lookups on the Kindle. I grew to appreciate this distinctive tone.
The book employs a multi-perspective storytelling technique similar to recent films. Characters introduced early as antagonists are revealed to be heroic when viewed through other characters’ perspectives—a psychologically interesting approach that creates initial bias.
The story explores pride’s dual nature—sometimes motivating, sometimes destructive. I found myself reflecting on personal experiences with pride. Have you ever had the feeling of meeting the sky above the sky?
A character gains martial prowess from reading a scroll fragment. I question this plausibility—while instructional books and videos help, they cannot fully capture the feelings behind a number of techniques without a teacher’s guidance.
It was a good read, though I regretted the open ending.
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