Living in the future

Nearly a decade ago, I mentioned here how science-fiction it felt to be using my mobile handset to be pulling up satellite imagery of my environs. At this point, the future feels even closer: I suspect that it's only my lack of spending that prevents me from having reasonable verbal conversations with AIs. After all, the speech recognition is now pretty good and, although Alexa's dumb as a rock, I can have good textual chats with models like Mistral. I mean, sure, they don't really understand anything and can't be relied on but they're impressive nonetheless and probably somehow soon coming to my home.

I'm not holding my breath for the post-scarcity spacefaring utopia but, at least in form, this does feel like a small landmark, even if I suspect that generative AI trained on a sea of people-output is a diversion away from advancement toward the knowledge-based reasoning for which I might hope. It's enough of a landmark that what it can seem to do is an effective distraction from what it might cost.

So much more to know

I probably mentioned that working in life sciences for years underscored for me just how little we know of biology or, more optimistically, how very much more interesting and valuable research remains ahead of us. With my current state of learning, in having half a science background across a broad range, it's also true that I know just enough to know how much more there is to know in many spheres.

The above occurred to me in the bathtub this morning. Sure, I've taken college-level physics, thermodynamics, etc. but, looking at the condensation on the cold tap, I realized: I don't know why colder air can't hold as much moisture, I don't even have an intuitive model for that. Sure, warmer air means a higher fraction of the water will be gaseous but that feels rather insufficient to explain what I see. It's not specifically a matter of much concern, just an underlining of how very much I still don't know. Perhaps it's just a matter of cranking the numbers, maybe there's more condensation than I'd expect because I'm seeing moisture from a 3d volume accreting onto a 2d surface, but it's very likely that I just don't understand it anywhere near enough. I mean, a bit hotter, then the surface doesn't seem at all damp.

Topics like thermodynamics often come to my mind because, in experiencing day-to-day life around me, it is fun to indulge in imagining what is actually happening: heat transfer in my mug of coffee, etc. I enjoy trying to model my environment.

Popular music

I was listening to some older Blondie recently and I noticed a couple of things. One is the bass guitar line: there's often some decent contribution coming from it, at least in my amateur opinion. It's fairly rich and skilful, enough that I am glad to have noticed. Another is that, although Debbie Harry's vocal definitely helps to make the song at times, it also often sounds technically rather imperfect to me. R. suggested that, basically, she has a good voice, it's just fitting the song well; perhaps it's all as intended. (As a point of comparison, here some years back, I mentioned Chrissie Hynde in the Pretenders' Glastonbury set; I always think well of her vocals.)