David Peto

Delivering energy abundance. Iain M Banks' Culture series is my North Star. Hard tech to solve hard problems. I tilt at Windmills.

[Zara Zhang @zarazhangrui]

If you've adopted AI at your company but haven't seen any tangible results, read this 1990 article: "The Dynamo and the Computer" by Paul David.

When electricity first arrived, factories that "adopted" it barely got faster. They just swapped the steam engine for an electric one and ran everything else exactly as before: same machine layout, same workflow, same management. Electricity in, no real gains out.

The most common mistake with any new technology is to drop it into the old organization and then declare the transformation done.

The real leap came decades later, when each machine got its own small motor. Suddenly machines no longer had to be lined up around one central drive shaft. They could be rearranged around the actual flow of work.

The productivity gains didn't come from electricity. They came from REDESIGNING THE ENTIRE FACTORY around it.

AI is the same. Bolting it onto your existing process gets you a faster steam engine. The payoff comes when you redesign the work itself.

(link to paper in comments)

[Aman @AmanHasNoName_2]

If someone can fit 20g protein into a can of Diet Coke without changing the taste and texture , that recipe will make a bigger IPO than Anthropic.

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

A Saronic Corsair unmanned surface vessel rescued the Army AH-64 Apache crew after they crashed near the Strait of Hormuz in the waters of Oman yesterday, the first-ever rescue of downed aircrew by a drone boat -WSJ

[David Peto @davidpeto]

This is what makes our two countries great 👇

[Mike Pompeo @mikepompeo]

Within hours of being announced as the nominee to be the U.S. Director of the CIA, I received a hand-delivered message on MI6 stationery congratulating me on my nomination. It was signed simply "C" in green ink. Legendary. I shared it with my son and even he thought I was now cool!

More than that, this note, from Sir Alex Younger, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service of the United Kingdom, confirmed what I already believed: the work that the CIA and MI6 did together mattered, that the partnership was critical, and that two leaders focused on the mission could save lives and provide tools for our nations to deter our adversaries.

Alex's passing this week brought back so many memories of our time in service together. He flew to Langley to see me the day I was confirmed. We brought our two senior teams together in the UK to plan and coordinate and build in the first several weeks of my time on duty: making clear to them all that this relationship was more than special - it was critical for the security of our two countries.

Alex was a remarkable intelligence partner. When we needed help, it wasn't "let me see;" it was "this matters to you and America we'll get it done." And he and his team always did. I think he knew we would do the same for him and his team and his nation. Many Americans are alive today because of his leadership of MI6, I never knew how to thank him enough.

Alex became a friend as well. In the years since we both left office we would see each other from time to time. He was always so kind, so thoughtful, so smart. His deep love of his country was surpassed only by his deep commitment and love of his family. Decent and proper - and funny as hell - Alex was "C." As espionage requires, he was quiet, not attention seeking. He knew what evil was and he was ruthless in his efforts to crush it with every legal tool at his command. And he knew who his friends were and committed himself to supporting them.

I miss Sir Alex Younger. He was a role model for me and a man with whom every minute I spent was valued and savored. Blessings to you Alex. Praying for you and for your family. Well done and may you rest in peace in His hands.

[Lukas Ziegler @lukas_m_ziegler]

End-to-end neural networks racing drones in Abu Dhabi! 🚁

Check out the drone racing team from Delft University of Technology!

A completely end-to-end neural network solution, from pixels to direct motor commands.

There are no Kalman filters, and no computer vision feature detectors.

As they nicely put it in their article: "Just neurons flying the drone."

The challenge is extreme. These drones fly at high speeds and need split-second decisions with minimal onboard resources: a single rolling-shutter camera and an IMU.

Their approach is called SkyDreamer, based on the Dreamer-v3 reinforcement learning algorithm.

First, a world model is trained in simulation. Then, the neural network learns how to fly in its dreams through reinforcement learning. The network's internal state can be read out to see where it thinks it is on the track or how fast it's going.

Even better, the drone estimates some of its own body characteristics during flight, like the camera angle relative to the body, eliminating time-consuming manual calibration.

The system uses only a single camera and the gyros from the IMU, ignoring the accelerometers, just like human FPV pilots do.

Read more here & video source: https://t.co/jEN7RRvc5G

~~

♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → https://t.co/GoA3ZuwoPB

[David Peto @davidpeto]

😍

[Lawrence Whittaker @ListerLawrence]

How totally mesmeric! Love a mercedes diamond cut! ♥️

[Sameer Singh @sameer_singh17]

This is not going well

[David Peto @davidpeto]

@charlesarthur And I drive a modified 20 yr old mini in part because of this film..

[David Peto @davidpeto]

@charlesarthur I agree! But sadly I think it would still go over most people's heads. They'd have to insert it into the scene where they are practicing it - perhaps they did and they cut it?!

[David Peto @davidpeto]

@charlesarthur Agreed. There's a great similar moment in the Gumball Rally film where they drive a Ferrari Daytona into the back of a truck - but that's RWD. How many folk even know the difference between FWD and RWD though..

[Khan Noonien Singh @wtfcetialpha5]

You only think about yourselves.

[Robert Peston @Peston]

The death of Alex Younger is a terrible loss to this country, and to all who knew this truly remarkable person. He was a superb public servant, and one of the most courageous and thoroughly decent people I’ve ever met. His sangfroid and humour after his diagnosis was extraordinary, in the true sense. Heartfelt commiserations to his family

[@jason @Jason]

Business AI is here.. for your business! 😂

[David Peto @davidpeto]

@ListerLawrence @AutoPap 🤣

[Lawrence Whittaker @ListerLawrence]

Lexus leather seat repair. Very satisfying to watch.

[Ghost Maggie Serota @maggieserota]

My sick action hero line before I kill a bad guy:

[David Peto @davidpeto]

@packyM Tl;dr we’re engineering ourselves out of curiosity. Which is highly likely to do be a disaster.

[Heisenberg 🇮🇳 @Internetumpire7]

Cricket Disaster class 😂😂

[David Peto @davidpeto]

@JeffCrusey Super cool.