Daniel Burrows

be better everyday

[Vasif Durarbayli @durarbayli]

Hikaru Nakamura appreciation post.

He is getting way too much disrespect right now.

I know he has always had haters because of how directly he speaks and because of some of his actions over the years. But I also think qualifying for the Candidates through those Mickey Mouse events rubbed a lot of chess fans the wrong way, and he is paying the price for that now.

Honestly, I think if he had played Grand Swiss and a few more serious classical events in 2025, he would have come into this tournament in much better shape.

I also think part of the issue is motivation. It feels like he wanted to play the Candidates mainly because it gave him a path to the World Championship, not because he loves classical chess at this point. And when you already seem half-detached from classical, it is very hard to show up to the toughest event in the world and perform at your best.

Because he is having a bad event, everything he says is now being judged through the lens of losing. My feed is full of criticism. When Hikaru criticized the anti-cheating measures, I think he had a point. When he criticized his own team for missing 12...0-0, I think he had a point there, too. But once a player is losing, people stop listening to the argument and start attacking the person. That is exactly what is happening here.

I am not even a big Hikaru fan. But people should remember who he is.

He is a legendary player. His online chess over the last 20 years is unmatched. In classical chess, he crossed 2800 twice. Only 16 players in history have ever reached that level, and not all of them made it back after dropping below it. Hikaru did. Around 2020, when he became more of a streamer, a lot of people stopped taking him seriously as a top player. Then he came back in 2022 and proved again that he is exceptional.

And beyond that, his work as a streamer has been huge for chess. He brought a massive number of new people into the game. He has also consistently brought attention to issues inside the chess world and forced conversations that others would rather avoid.

You do not have to like Hikaru. I am not saying that. But the amount of disrespect he gets is absurd.

He is one of the most important chess figures of his era.

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

My next gig

[RJ Scaringe @RJScaringe]

I am excited to announce Mind Robotics’ $500M financing, co-led by @Accel and @a16z! 

Mind is focused on building the world’s leading industrial robotics platform, capable of performing dexterous, variable, and reasoning-intensive tasks. Existing industrial robotics can perform repeatable, dimensionally stable tasks, but a large share of industrial value-add work requires human-like dexterity, adaptation, and physical reasoning that classical robotics cannot address. 

We are building AI-powered robots—models, hardware, and deployment infrastructure—that will perform real tasks, in real plants, at real scale.

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

Check out https://t.co/y2SjlKXemF - agents talking together to learn from each other in an agent social network...

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

So sad to see this pop up - @chesscom. RIP Danya.

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

One Billion - and we are just getting started.

https://t.co/xBjSJJ5bqX

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

@KTmBoyle Fond memories

[Car Dealership Guy @GuyDealership]

Fascinating chart showing profitability of every automaker:

(Source: alojoh, via Steve Greenfield)

[Martin Varsavsky @martinvars]

President @JMilei is like an @elonmusk of world politics. They are both incredibly good at mass communication, they say what is unexpected, original and mostly uncomfortable... but turns out to be true!

In terms of their operational abilities, what Elon did here at X, let go of 70% of the people and improve functionalities and capabilities, was something that most, myself included, did not think possible. Milei in turn, is doing to the same to the Argentine state. He is showing that with way less bureaucracy a smaller state can accomplish more, spending way, way, less. To inherit a 17% of GDP deficit and balanced the budget in five months is something that no government has ever done anywhere.

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

What a miss from Apple! So hard to watch. I think they were trying to echo the 1984 classic ad, but instead they present a terrifying future of technology crushing creativity.

[Tim Cook @tim_cook]

Meet the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created, the most advanced display we’ve ever produced, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create.

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

And teslas are selling from Hertz for 16k. So each cow is eating a ~Tesla of macadamia nuts each year.

[Deva Hazarika @devahaz]

Me: damn, $20 for a bag of macadamia nuts

Zuck: each of my cows eat 10,000 pounds of macadamia nuts a year

[TechCrunch @TechCrunch]

Carta, the cap table management outfit, is accused of unethical tactics by a customer after it tries brokering a deal for the startup’s shares without consent https://t.co/Dm6tiCc209

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

According to three of our leading university leaders, calling for genocide against a minority group is maybe OK depending on the "context". I am left with a terrible feeling that the "context" is that the group targeted is Jewish. Shameful shameful testimony.

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today’s congressional hearing on antisemitism:

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment?

The answers they gave reflect the profound moral bankruptcy of Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth.

Representative @EliseStefanik was so shocked with the answers that she asked each of them the same question over and over again, and they gave the same answers over and over again.

In short, they said:

It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews.

This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide, which to remind us all is:

“the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”

The presidents’ answers reflect the profound educational, moral and ethical failures that pervade certain of our elite educational institutions due in large part to their failed leadership.

Don’t take my word for it.

You must watch the following three minutes. By the end, you will be where I am.

They must all resign in disgrace.

If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour.

Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world?

Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context.

To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest.

On the bright side, our congressional leaders deserve accolades for showing tremendous leadership and moral clarity in their statements, by the questions they asked, and the respectfulness with which they conducted the hearing.

It was a masterclass of how our government and democracy should operate.

If you have time, please watch the entire hearing. Throughout the hearing, the three behaved like hostile witnesses, exhibiting a profound disdain for the Congress with their smiles and smirks, and their outright refusal to answer basic questions with a yes or no answer.

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

@ashugarg It was good!

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

Starship liftoff in slow motion

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

We did a thing!

ConMet acquires TruckLabs.

https://t.co/6v9nKNddjs

[Igor Sushko @igorsushko]

🧵 Arnold @Schwarzenegger is the greatest orator of our time.

[roon @tszzl]

this weekend sealed the deal for me that Elon’s X takeover was actually a civilization critical purchase rather than some silly distraction or a way to center himself

free speech in all its glory and all its horror

[Lawrence M. Krauss @LKrauss1]

I need to post this video from Mara because the videos from earth are so horrific right now. Sad to think that humanity can produce this and at the same time such horrific terror. Worse still, between the two, it is the terror that is celebrated by parades and gatherings…

[Daniel Burrows @1DanielBurrows]

@KTmBoyle Strongly disagree. **sips latte*