Johan

Space Physicist turned Machine Learning Engineer @ParadoxCatGmbH for @BMWGroup. Previously on @MarsCuriosity and @ESASolarOrbiter. Developer of @ev_map 🚙⚡

[Johan @johan_vf]

@DB_Bahn Die Fahrten mit X2000 tauchen zwar inzwischen im Fahrplan auf, sind aber nicht online buchbar. Gelten die Sparpreise dann nur noch für den Öresundtåg?

[Johan @johan_vf]

@DB_Bahn Für Fahrten von/nach Schweden (z.B. Göteborg->Kopenhagen) ab 15.12. tauchen bei https://t.co/1dTDKwCcGs nur Fahrten mit den Regionalzügen (Öresundtåg) auf, nicht die mit dem Schnellzug (X2000). Werden die noch eingepflegt oder sind die nicht mehr über euch buchbar?

[concerti @concerti]

Das Münchner Festival #vokalSinn gibt der Natur eine Stimme und probt die künstlerische Verschmelzung von Mensch und Maschine.
#festivals #vokalsinn #muenchen
https://t.co/xDN8xO16BI

[Randall Munroe @xkcd]

Electric vs Gas https://t.co/V6C6hlHtPj

[Yann LeCun @ylecun]

My opinion of @elonmusk
I like his cars (I own a 2015 S, and 2023 S), his rockets, his solar energy systems, and his satellite communication system.
I also like his positions on open source and patents.

But I very much disagree with him on a number of issues.

I disagree with how he treats his scientists.
Technology/product development may not need openness and publications to advance, but forward-looking *research* sure does, whether it's in AI, neural interfaces, material science, or whatever.
Secrecy hampers progress and discourages talents from joining the effort.

I also disagree with the hype. I mean, expressing an ambitious vision for the future is great.
But telling the public blatantly false prediction ("AGI next year", "1 million robotaxis by 2020", "AGI will kill us all, let'spause",...) is very counterproductive (also illegal in some cases).

More importantly, I think his public positions on many political issues, journalism, the media and the press, and academia, are not just wrong but dangerous for democracy, civilization, and human wellfare.
Say what you want about "traditional media" but you can't really have reliable information without professional journalists working for a free and diverse press. Democracy can't exist without it, which is why only authoritarian ennemies of democracy rail against the media.

Finally he doesn't seem to hesitate to disseminate batshit-crazy conspiracy theories as long as they serve his interests (e.g. boosting "PizzaGate", "illegal immigrants corrupt elections in the US", "person X is a pedo",...).
One would expect a technological visionary to be a rationalist. Rationalism doesn't work without Truth.

This has become particularly concerning since he bought himself a platform to disseminate his dangerous political opinions, conspiracy theories, and hype.
He has been quite naïve about the difficulties of running a social network and the (legal) necessity of doing content moderation. One can claim to be a 1st Amendment absolutist, but a lot of content *must* be taken down by law, e.g. terrorist propaganda, child exploitation, blatant hate speech (in the EU and other regions).
Then, there is dangerous disinformation that puts public health in danger or corrupts the democratic process. You have to moderate that too.
Content moderation is a complicated problem whose best answer is not an attitude of total laissez-faire but a complex trade-off.

[Johan @johan_vf]

@LNDonMoon Beautiful! 😍

[Johan @johan_vf]

Aurora & trains in Munich #aurora #solarstorm 🌞💨🌍🌌

[Johan @johan_vf]

...and a couple more pictures 😍

[Randall Munroe @xkcd]

Google Solar Cycle https://t.co/ZX07nbuDWX

[Johan @johan_vf]

@DHLPaket Ein Paket für mich, das sich nun schon einige Tage verspätet hat, ist heute Nacht "für die Verladung ins Zustellfahrzeug vorbereitet" worden, scheint es dann aber nicht mehr aufs Fahrzeug geschafft zu haben. Wäre eine Abholung in der Zustellbasis heute noch möglich?

[Johan @johan_vf]

"In wenigen Minuten erreichen wir Hamburg Hbf. Bevor Sie aussteigen, schauen Sie bitte an Ihrem Sitzplatz noch einmal nach links, rechts, oben und unten. Nicht, dass Sie im Zug noch Ihr Gepäck, Ihre Wertsachen oder Ihren Reisepartner vergessen!" #BahnAnsagen @BahnAnsagen

[Yann LeCun @ylecun]

Some folks: "Open source AI must be outlawed."
Open source AI startup community in Paris:

[Johan @johan_vf]

@MihoJnvr @huggingface @ICCVConference Yeah, have thankfully not encountered real ones yet 😅

[Johan @johan_vf]

Tested the new LLaMA 3 AI model at #ICCV2023. Quite impressive! 😜🦙
@huggingface @ICCVConference

[Johan @johan_vf]

Excited to be attending #ICCV2023 in Paris next week! I'm looking forward to learning about the latest news in the Computer Vision community. Thank you to @ParadoxCatGmbH for this opportunity!

[Randall Munroe @xkcd]

Musical Scales https://t.co/oFQ6mQdaBj

[The Verge @verge]

Pretty sure Google is focusing on AI at this year’s I/O. #GoogleIO

[Johan @johan_vf]

@thoraschubert @JeHallier Das würde dann wiederum heißen E = Erdgeschoss => 1 = rdgeschoss (außer wenn E = 0)... 😄

[Johan @johan_vf]

...and it's still going! #aurora

[Johan @johan_vf]

Aurora over Dagalifjell, Norway

[Johan @johan_vf]

@JanGieseler @VisitTurku There's also astrophotography mode (can be enabled if you place the phone on a steady surface). That's how I did these timelapses ☺️ https://t.co/6HfWIpBTIg

[Johan @johan_vf]

Aurora over Dagalifjell, Norway