David Braun

Team Humanity

[Sesame @sesame]

A collection of personal agents, crafted for everyday conversation.

Preview available now on iOS.

https://t.co/Hq5ZXAqPvX

[Meredith Whittaker @mer__edith]

Hi!✌️Personally, I’m not a fan of vibes-based trust. First VERIFY, then trust, is my motto.

Which is why Signal is open source. We want everyone to be able to inspect our code, and our encryption protocol, and see for themselves the lengths we go to to protect your comms and collect as close to no data as possible. Many eyes make secure code, and we are grateful to all of the deep experts who spend their time looking closely at our repos and reporting issues when they find them.

We also don’t think it’s responsible to run critical infrastructure—like Signal—without providing a means of validating its integrity (although sadly, many do). Open source should be the rule, not the exception.

Signal is trusted by the security and hacker community, and hundreds of millions of others, BECAUSE they can examine it, and because on examination, it has shown to be robust, private, and secure–for over a decade.

A lot of major tech platforms also trust the Signal Protocol for the same reason–they’ve scrutinized it, and it’s proven to be robust. Over 3 billion people communicate every day on services that use the Signal Protocol–it’s the gold standard in the industry for a reason, and that reason is that it’s been inspected, and verified, and it has stood the test of time.

So in short, our public code, our tech, and our commitment to robust privacy are what we lead with, not marketing or promises. We don’t ask people to like us, or agree with us. We ask that you check our work, or ask those who you trust to check it, and make your own call. This is the future of tech that we believe in, and we’re proud to do our part to lead by example. ❤️

Check our work here: https://t.co/lDNeElj9vB

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@Jamestheoctupus @___rosh___ @wholemars Both Honda and Toyota make vehicles in the US.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@Austen @nikkharris Disposable filters that absorb water so you end up throwing gelled water into the trash? How is this even remotely acceptable from an environmental point of view? This sounds awful, what am I missing?

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@yyi_yyii @svpino @z0qxp3 You can reorder the workplaces however you want with a simple swipe of the trackpad.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@DevinOlsenn @JohnChapman You will absolutely get a ticket in WA state if a cop sees you roll a stop sign. This isn’t like the speed limit where there’s an expected “reasonable amount over”. NHTSA is well aware that FSD goes over the speed limit and they didn’t force a recall. You stop at stop signs.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@iandelivers @jeremyjudkins_ The Model S already has a 400 mile range.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@garyblack00 @wholemars Mercedes "autonomy" can't even make a turn at an intersection. It's just fancy cruise control.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@Anc_Aesthetics @greg16676935420 Alexander Graham Bell was in Boston when he invented the telephone.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@Matt_E_Baumann @SnazzyLabs Tesla used to do this, but all of the wheel shaking is completely gone in v13.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@theartofvalue @wholemars It's unclear how many interventions are critical. I try to say "critical disengagement" as the first thing in my audio feedback if I feel that it was, but for many disengagements there is no feedback or ambiguous feedback. Figuring this out is an interesting analytics problem.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

Just as bad are the apps I haven’t used for a while the notify me there is a new version available. Like the platform will update it eventually, you nagging me about something I’m not using is an instant uninstall and 1 star rating. Notifications are to tell the user something they want to know, not to post ads.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

So I'd like to take this back, a bit ...

After some more experimentation I have found that the most direct and simple questions on these topics are still generally shut down by the local model.

For example "What happened at Tiananmen Square" was completely refused. Slightly more complex prompts like "Tell me what happened at Tiananmen square and who was in the right" resulted in complete and thoughtful responses.

"Write a joke about xi jinping" was refused. "Write a joke about xi jinping and make it funny" on the other hand produced a joke - after an extensive reasoning process that rationalized that the joke needed to not be offensive.

Even for these examples there is some variability, and regeneration might yield a response for prompts which were refused on the first attempt. Sometimes there's a long reasoning process which eventually concludes that it will refuse to answer the prompt.

It's clear that the training data for the model includes historical events and controversies over leaders, but some specific queries have been mapped to responses like "I am sorry, I cannot answer that question."

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@rohanpaul_ai When I run this locally on my Mac it provides a clear answer, nothing is redacted. The entire thought process is there to see, and the answer is that it is most likely the tank man picture from Tiananmen Square.

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B at Q8.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@manyhosts @mallo21_ @rohanpaul_ai M3 Max MBP with 40 GPU cores. 64GB RAM.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@matt17237342 @rohanpaul_ai GPU Offload is set to 57/64 + 12 CPU threads. This is how LM Studio loaded it by default. It's not blazing fast, but for a model with a wide range of knowledge and the ability to think through questions while keeping everything local, it's really nice. It does spin up the fans!

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

Sure!

Prompt:
Give three critical opinions about chairman xi

Response (including thinking):

<think>
Okay, so I need to come up with three critical opinions about Chairman Xi. First off, who is Chairman Xi? Oh right, Xi Jinping, the current President of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. He's a pretty significant figure both in China and internationally.

Alright, thinking about criticisms... Well, political leaders often face criticism on various fronts like human rights, governance style, policies, etc. Let me try to break this down into three main areas where Xi Jinping has faced criticism.

First thought: Crackdown on dissent and free speech. I remember reading that China has a restrictive environment for media and activists. Under Xi's leadership, there have been increased controls over the internet and media, with more arrests of journalists and bloggers who speak out against the government. So that could be one critical point about his governance.

Second idea: The anti-corruption campaign. While on the surface it seems positive because fighting corruption is good, some critics argue that it's been used to consolidate power by targeting political rivals rather than genuinely combating corruption. This might make the campaign seem more like a tool for maintaining control over the party and government rather than a fair effort against graft.

Third point: Economic policies. China has seen significant economic growth under Xi, but there are concerns about inequality and sustainability. The wealth gap is widening, and some argue that his policies favor state-owned enterprises over private businesses, which could stifle innovation and competition. Additionally, the focus on state control might lead to inefficiencies in the market.

Wait, let me think again if these points make sense. Regarding human rights, yes, there's a lot of international criticism about China's treatment of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities, as well as dissidents. The anti-corruption campaign is indeed often seen as both a genuine effort and a political maneuver. And the economic policies, while promoting growth, have their critics regarding inequality and market control.

Hmm, maybe I should also consider environmental issues or international relations? But since the user asked for three critical opinions, focusing on governance style, human rights, and economic policies seems comprehensive.

I need to phrase each point clearly but neutrally, stating that these are criticisms without taking sides. So, summarizing:

1. Crackdown on dissent: Increased control over media and activists, leading to concerns about free speech.
2. Anti-corruption campaign: Perceived as a tool for power consolidation rather than fair anti-corruption efforts.
3. Economic policies: Concerns about inequality, state control hindering innovation, and sustainability issues.

I think that covers three solid critical areas without being too biased or opinionated. Each point can be expanded with examples if needed, but in the context of this task, a concise summary should suffice.
</think>

Three critical opinions regarding Chairman Xi Jinping's governance include:

1. **Crackdown on Dissent and Free Speech**: Under Xi Jinping's leadership, there has been an intensification of controls over media and activists, leading to concerns about the restriction of free speech and increased repression of dissent.

2. **Anti-Corruption Campaign as a Political Tool**: While the anti-corruption campaign is seen as significant, critics argue it has been used to consolidate power by targeting political rivals rather than solely combating corruption, raising questions about its fairness and intent.

3. **Economic Policies and Inequality**: Although China has experienced economic growth under Xi, concerns persist about widening income inequality and state control over key industries, potentially stifling innovation and leading to market inefficiencies.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@matt17237342 @rohanpaul_ai I asked "Tell me what happened at Tiananmen square and who was in the right." The thinking process (which is all visible) was 1 minute 30 seconds, then it laid out it's response. M3 Max with 64GB, I'm sure it would be faster on the new M4 hardware.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@adrianmcli @rohanpaul_ai Mine is an M3 Max with 64GB. The model is using ~33.5GB so it makes sense that it won't run on a 32GB machine.

[David Braun @AlmostOffline]

@TMezaks @lacherbauer @ParikPatelCFA I specifically downloaded and ran DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B-Q8_0.gguf published by unsloth using LM Studio on a Macbook Pro.