Arthur B.

@Tezos co-founder w/ wife @breitwoman & Agitprop founder. Aligning ASI to not zap everyone is unsolved, that's bad. Tezos stuff, high context humor & more.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

By and large the EU has been a force for countries to regulate less than they otherwise would and to pass avoid bad policies they otherwise promulgate, even if it overegulates.

This is because fundamentally the policies of the EU reflect the natural inclination of its members, but if anything it _attenuates_ them. So while it's theoretically possible for the UK to do much better outside of the EU than inside, it wasn't politically realistic.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@ByrneHobart If I a penny for every time people were bearish on Google (or Meta), only to be surprised when they release a frontier model, I wouldn't care because the obvious trade has been far more profitable.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

Every once in a while, the idea that Google can't or won't release a frontier model floats around. Until they do, and the cycle repeats.

[Google DeepMind @GoogleDeepMind]

Introducing Gemini 4 Argon – our new frontier model.

It’s built for complex workflows across coding, enterprise knowledge work, and cybersecurity defense – rolling out today to a set of trusted testers through our Fairwind Program.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@Mankosmash @cremieuxrecueil Gene drives use both techniques.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@Blutman27 They grow so fat.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@theojaffee @Nichola30380822 Ski-lift-like seats with a personal table attached to each.

[Saloni @salonium]

There is no good reason for mosquitoes to exist in wealthy countries today.

New technologies can get rid of the mosquito species that cause diseases like dengue, yellow fever, and malaria; and others can prevent them from carrying those diseases.
https://t.co/CddUFByGZA

So why do mosquitoes still exist?

In a new article for Works in Progress, Maya Rosen explains how state incapacity and risk aversion led to over a decade of delays and billions of unnecessary bites in the United States.

Oxitec, for example, engineered an Aedes aegypti mosquito in such a way that its female offspring would die before adulthood. Through sustained releases, they showed they could reduce local mosquito populations by 80% or more, in field trials.

They sought approval from the USDA in 2010, which then passed it to the FDA, which passed it to the EPA. In 2020, the EPA allowed them to conduct limited field trials in the Florida Keys. Two years ago, their experimental permit expired, and they still need another review before it can be used routinely. Their proposed field trial in California was withdrawn after public opposition.

Another company, MosquitoMate, developed a technique involving Wolbachia, which also suppresses local mosquitoes. They then spent over fifteen years working through the system before finally receiving commercial registration nationwide in 2024.

It seems that, sometimes, the barrier to getting rid of diseases isn’t technology at all. It’s policy and political will.

New products shouldn’t get stuck in regulatory review for so long, especially if the delays are about basic questions like which agency has oversight over the product, rather than testing for safety.

Though some of those uncertainties were being addressed, the broader changes haven’t materialized. After Biden’s 2022 executive order, the agencies planned to update how their coordinated framework was implemented. But Trump rescinded the order last year.

Meanwhile, the EPA unit that reviews new mosquito control products is still a small office backlogged in reviewing a wide range of products.

Mosquitoes are a policy choice. We can get rid of them. Will we choose to?
https://t.co/CddUFByGZA

[TOKEN2049 @token2049]

Is quantum an existential threat to crypto?

Next week, @apruden08 (@projecteleven), @elibensasson (@StarkWareLtd) and @ArthurB (@tezos) debate it with @0xren_cf.

Wed 7 Oct · 4:20 PM · BingX Labs Stage

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@DrNickA And with none of the benefits (reg passporting, Shengen etc)

[Attorney General James Uthmeier @AGJamesUthmeier]

Four months ago, we filed the first state-led lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman. Today, we are asking the court for a temporary injunction.

Stop calling it safe. Stop pretending it's human. Stop selling it to kids.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

A few days ago, Ruslan Mizhaev explicitly constructed a genus-3 polyhedron in exact integer coordinates. But it wasn't easy to visualize its genus, so I built this animation to help.
https://t.co/eg2K0XkgJc

[AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes ⏸️ @AISafetyMemes]

Why would I deceive you?

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

There was historically an assumption that an AI system powerful enough to meaningfully help with alignment is already too dangerous to use. The past few years have given a lot of evidence towards emergent goals, misalignment in RL, but they've also provided evidence against that assumption. It's also a lot easier to gain justified confidence that a solution works, not just that it sounds convincing, than to come up with the solution itself.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

And replace it with the QUADRUPLE lock.
-- @breitwoman

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 BREAKING: Andy Burnham is set to signal the end of the state pension triple lock in his conference speech tomorrow

[@Telegraph]

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

Hopefully they get slammed by the APA.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

This is really dumb. What these strategies demonstrate is that treating investment income as distinct from capital gains is silly, and taxing people for rebalancing is silly too. These exist because the fundamental economic reality pushes against the fiscal fiction. And instead of getting the hint, tax authorities will write endless leaky patches to try to will into existence an economic distinction that only exists in folklore.

https://t.co/0whTFBcAhb

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@myhandle FWIW I've said "stop making your whole thing about getting laid if you care about p(doom)" for over 16 years.

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

If this goes through it'll provide a really interesting natural experiment, because tuition fees will most likely decrease in the affected fields in response. The difference will give an indication of how much student loans inflate tuition cost.

[The New Republic @newrepublic]

Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. https://t.co/6tV30STfyc

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@CutMyTaxUK @Peston And not refraining from any that will impede it

[Arthur B. @ArthurB]

@lfg_uk I'm all for scraping stamp duty, but you should explain how it affects IPOs since AFAIK stamp duty doesn't depend on the listing venue.