Bioinformatics | (meta) genomics | Data science. Some politics. Views are all my own and do not represent past, current or future employer.
Edinburgh
Joined December 2010
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I have big news!
I will be leaving @roslininstitute and @EdinburghUni at the end of September to take up a new position as Principal Data Scientist at @DSM!
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
tbh - given the lack of any progress around the fundamental questions relating to fiscal sustainability, currency, etc - it’s extraordinary that there’s one at all
Twelve years after the independence referendum it's extraordinary there's still just one newspaper supporting and exploring the political future half of Scotland wants to see, writes Lesley Riddoch ✍️ thenational.scot/news/264249…
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
i agree creating a border with the market where 19% of our exports go was a bad idea - creating a border with the market where 60% of our exports go would, rather obviously, be an even worse idea
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Well done all those addicted to LTNs - you are slowly killing public transport.
I love London buses and I love scrollytelling on maps, so this brilliant Guardian feature was always going to win me over. It follows individual routes, then zooms out to show how buses across the city have slowed down since 2015.
theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i…
Remember, Scottish nationalism is exactly the same as any other kind of nationalism - hatred is the core driver
Immigrants from rUK to Scotland obstructed restoration of independence 2014 unfortunately
That is true fact to reflect upon
🏴 #indyref
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
All three major AI models have agreed that they should slow down development.
There's two likely reasons.
1.) they're looking for an excuse to go after open source models.
2.) they've hit diminishing returns and are afraid to admit it.
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Translation: our gross margins are getting competed down to 0 by open source models and our capex burn rate is too high.
Let’s maintain our margins with regulatory capture, ban open source models, and slow down the capex arms race. All with a virtue signaling cherry on top.
We Must Pace the Frontier: I’ve written a new essay on why the AI industry should slow down, with a three-part plan for doing so.
Anthropic is unilaterally committing to the first of these steps. We’ll provide third-party evaluators with permanent, employee-level access to our systems, so that they can verify adherence to our safety measures, report on incidents, and assess models’ alignment during training.
You can read the full post here: darioamodei.com/post/we-must…
Theoretically, if the AI tech CEOs realised they couldn't make the models any better and that LLMs were a dead end for AGI, this is exactly what they'd do - "let's slow development down" gives them a free pass based on "safety" when they fail to deliver on former promises.
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Accidental handballs don’t count if they result in goals for Manchester United, I guess 🤷🏽♂️
Here is a video of Harry Maguire taking several touches and running into the box
skysports.com/football/video…
We shouldn't have email, it will decimate the pens industry
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Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Update on where Burnham is pulling vote from:
Most of it still clawing back Lab 2024 voters from other left parties.
But Lab now also taking 12% of Green & LD 2024 vote. Small but important slither of Con 2024 vote too.
Reform voters (incl Lab/Reform voters) basically unmoved
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
2/ Nobody can say this because the polling support for independence is far too fragile to bear exposure to the truth. And they have no story to explain why painful trade-offs would be worth it. The only stories they have are fantasies.
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
1/ Very striking that nobody who supports independence can speak honestly about the GERS numbers.
It wouldn’t be difficult: “These figures tell us that independence will involve painful trade-offs. Our job is to explain why those difficult decisions will be worth it.”
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Today's GERS figures show how an independent Scotland would need huge budget cuts.
Small, independent countries cannot run large deficits.
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Whatever debates the GERS figures trigger, there should be no doubt about one simple fact: by benefitting from a higher share of public spending than the share of revenue it contributes to the UK, Scotland "gets back" more than it "sends to Westminster"
these-islands.co.uk/publicat…
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Scotland raised its top income tax rate to 48% to make the rich pay more.
New HMRC data suggests the result may have been the opposite: Scotland collected about £22m less.
We can't be sure, but Scotland may have fallen over the Laffer curve.
🧵:
Mick W@tson ↙️ retweeted
Scottish tax hike for high earners backfires with loss of £22m thetimes.com/uk/scotland/art…