What does it mean to be alive? Purpose? Goals? On the idea of 'biological agency': "Is Life Just Different?" @philipcball.bsky.social @quantamagazine.bsky.social
(Plus- Ernő Rubik)
Wondering why:
He slipped through the hidden pathway in the hedge to the left of the middle. Pulling out his phone, he hit shuffle on his Night Escapes playlist and let his exhaustion dissolve in the music that played through his headphones.
THIS GUY BUILT A $12,000 AI WORKSTATION FOR $2,070.
He started with an $800 used Mac Pro from Craigslist, then spent three weeks rebuilding it for local AI.
The upgrade list: 192GB RAM, 8TB NVMe storage, an Afterburner card, and an eGPU enclosure.
The parts added $1,270. Total build cost: $2,070.
An equivalent workstation from Apple costs more than $12,000.
The payoff was immediate.
Video exports fell from 18 minutes to four. It now runs three large local LLMs at the same time. Models that normally need enterprise cloud infrastructure run on his desk.
He says it also cuts $400 to $600 from his monthly API bill. At that rate, the whole machine paid for itself in under four months.
The used market is full of hardware that stopped being fashionable long before it stopped being powerful.
There are days that don’t feel like days,
just pauses I keep falling through,
no beginning I can point to,
no ending I can move to.
The light shows up out of obligation,
not because it wants to stay,
and even it looks tired
by the time it reaches me that way.
7/11 Day. 🥤 Free Slurpee Day. This is the most critical day of the fiscal year. Caloric Arbitrage. I hit 4 different locations. My blood sugar is to the moon. 🚀 I am vibrating. #711 FreeSlurpee #Hustle
Like, sure, I would be special, but that would only make me all the more odd and different from the rest.
* Same thing. Not a surprise we think the same when we're the same person, is it?
I’ll have one drink, chase that feeling, and before I know it I’ve had much more than I intended. I think I mostly drink because I’m bored and it gives me a quick dopamine hit, but it gets out of control. Deep down, I know I need to take a break.
First day of our 2026 “Eternal Happiness” Convention. Truly an amazing program! We are privileged to know the two happiest people in the entire world. Jehovah and Jesus 😌🙏🏼🙌🏼
This is a “Swiftie Safe Space” to talk about the jokes you saw out on the internet about TNT’s wedding that made you laugh and didn’t hurt nobody. We ARE NOT looking for mean/bitter/political. We’re looking for silly/innocent ribbing. My favorite one is below. 🤭😂🫶🏻