Daniel Savage

If you don't own the compute now you are in big trouble. The two big frontier labs lease now. That's going to get very expensive. No AGI without compute. No compute without Kardashev Type II.

“I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are, I don't know. They're outside my ken. But sometimes when I'm in a theater I can feel them.” Pauline Kael

I got an allarming call from my health insurance provider, Yes, I want to speak with an agent... The agent starts talking but I'm not buying it. Inappropriately long pauses, flat affect. "You are not a human." The agent doesn't argue. Instead it asks for my account details. Nah, not falling for it. Hang up.

I was on a business process reengineering engagement at a large Mutual Insurance company in NYC in 1994. The process reengineering consultant had gotten management to offer an early retirement package to employees in the regulatory reporting group. It has been a very stable organization with most of the member having over 20 years of service. The entire group took the package. Put management in a bit of a bind.

I know I'm late to the party - I did use it in a Primeagean comment: imgs.xkcd.com/comics/random_…

I went to a Law and Data meetup last week. Walked up to the old guy to chat. Retired mechanical engineer. Worked on guidance systems and such. Spends his time fishing now. Kalman filters, signal processing, that kind of stuff. Then he looked me in the eye and said that a lot of people strongly dislike Elon Musk. I'm paraphrasing. Hm. Excused myself. I heard some of the lawyers talking and decided to talk to them. One was tonight’s presenter, the other a lawyer in an IP practice. Me: “Convince me that IP still exists” Good presentation, though - Provenance Documentation seemed key.

Jimmy Leyden was my high school's band director in the 1970s. Jimmy had been a Madison Avenue jingle writer and studio musician in the 1960s. He’s more famous for Caliope’s Children steel drum band at the high school. He asked me (string bass) to accompany him (piano) on the final performances of his cabaret class at the end of my junior year. One girl, a nerdy, auburn-haired senior, sang “How Are Things in Glocca Morra” from Finian’s Rainbow. I never spoke to her, just accompanied on string bass. Sometimes music hits me hard; even fifty years later, I think I'm still in love with her.

It hasn't rained here on Neelys Bend in two weeks. I accidentally cut a strip in front of my house an inch too low last week. It is still there. Nothing has grown except the weeds. Another journeyman mole made an attempt on my back yard. He's gone now. Fall brush pickup is in about a week and a half. The leaves haven't really started to turn color.

I was driving north out of Chicago. One of those 10-lane monster highways with 2 lane feeder roads on either side. It was a Sunday afternoon, spring 1988. Speed limit 55, probably going 60. I see up ahead of me, as the traffic clears, a Canada goose with a string of goslings following her all trying to cross, already made it through the first lane.

I cut the grass on my front yard today. Maybe the last time this year. I'm wearing socks in the house right now. Had a cup of green tea late in the afternoon.

No Super Intelligence without Kardishev Type II

Bit by bit or suddenly. I saw an LLM using "wind at your back" when it meant "head wind" - no biggie - just an idiom. I asked a rates trading question: Roll a SOFR Futures short position; what is the cost. and it got the P&L backwards. Now I see. But yes, I'll use it to write code.

I was driving north out of Chicago. One of those 10-lane monster highways with 2 lane feeder roads on either side. It was a Sunday afternoon, spring 1988. Speed limit 55, probably going 60. I see up ahead of me, as the traffic clears, a Canada goose with a string of goslings following her all trying to cross, already made it through the first lane. I thought about stopping for a second. Funny what you remember.

It is raining here on Neelys Bend. It has been so long since I've driven in the rain, I've forgoten how my windshield wiper worked. Made a mental note to test when the weather was better and maybe take my car over to the mechanic. Then I figured it out on the way home.