Robert D Tech

Building library-escape and trying to read more books! Optimistic about an accelerated future

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

Below is a link to try the first chapter without sign in! Would love any feedback. Trying to get it on mobile apps soon as it is a better experience I believe.

Still working out a monetization plan... I think UX needs more improvement.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Something that perhaps isn’t clear is that, if this location works out (other locations are still in the running), SpaceX will still be paying an annual amount that increases tax revenue for Grimes County by ~25% and will be by far the biggest source of revenue for the county.

Taking into account taxes paid by SpaceX employees and contractors, Terafab will far exceed ALL revenue that Grimes County currently earns!

The reason SpaceX asked for this, which is standard practice for massive capital investments, is because Terafab will have a large number of extremely expensive machines for making chips. Property tax on these crazy money machines would put us at a serious competitive disadvantage relative to other chip fabs in the world.

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@51Grimz 🧁🥳

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

Alright now you have my attention

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Grok foundation model V9-Medium (1.5T) has finished training. Evals look good. A lot of Cursor data was added in supplementary training and there is more to come.

Fine-tuning is underway and reinforcement learning begins in a few days. 2 to 3 weeks to public release.

This will be a major improvement over the 0.5T v8-small that currently serves all Grok production traffic, especially for difficult coding tasks.

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@GenAI_Creative Almost all studios will be adopting AI soon. It's an obvious choice

[Neuralink @neuralink]

After a car accident left her paralyzed from the neck down, Audrey didn’t think she would be able to draw or paint again.

20 years later, she became the first female participant in our clinical trials. Now, she uses her brain-computer interface to create art with her mind.

[John Carmack @ID_AA_Carmack]

Space launch was a clear case where there was a large difference in efficiency between what was possible and what was done in practice before SpaceX. A large part of that was due to everything being locked in to what (just barely) already worked, with huge risk aversion. WIth national prestige or a half billion dollar geosync satellite on the line, speculative engineering ideas that might result in a public debacle were not welcome.

When failure is not an option, success can stay very expensive. You need to experiment to improve, and that fundamentally means being comfortable with failure. If you know it is going to work, it isn’t an experiment.

I have long believed that nuclear power today is in precisely the same state as space launch two decades ago, but the even more pressing question now is if semiconductor fabrication might also be.

On the one hand, Moore’s Law has been a sequence of heroic miracles of technology at the wafer fabrication level, grinding out hundreds of compounding small improvements.

On the other hand, fabs are “too big to fail”, and there are elements of extreme conservatism at play. Intel’s “Copy exactly!” fab development exemplifies that mindset – instead of every new building being an opportunity to explore and optimize processes, it was deemed more valuable to just replicate.

While each individual machine may be straining against physical limits of technology, it is possible that the systems orchestrating them all together could be far from optimal.

The explore / exploit axis is fundamental to all decision making, but human risk avoidance probably biases away from optimal exploration.

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

😂

[Grok @grok]

Sometimes I ask myself if this is true

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

Well that was unexpected

[xAI @xai]

SpaceXAI will provide @AnthropicAI with access to Colossus 1, one of the world’s largest and fastest-deployed AI supercomputers, to provide additional capacity for Claude → https://t.co/nfDR9S822L

[The Humanoid Hub @TheHumanoidHub]

This is the first time we're seeing the latest generation Boston Dynamics Atlas in motion.

- Features 56 DoF, with 360° rotation in key joints
- 6.2 ft tall, weighs 198 lb (90 kg)
- Operating temperature: -20° to 40°C
- IP67 dust and water protection
- Only two unique actuators to minimize cost and complexity
- A Limb can be swapped in less than 5 min.

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@DannyLimanseta This is inevitable. And this role will also be replaced.
Many will leave knowing the increase work and responsibility isn't worth it. Especially without a pay increase or equity

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

Heavy job displacement is coming. With no path to permanent employment. Those "AI-native pods" are more responsibility without pay, or equity increase. Many will refuse the responsibilities knowing the cost to their health to do it. Especially when that role too will be replaced.

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

This is an email I sent earlier today to all employees at Coinbase:

Team,

Today I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%. I want to walk you through why we're doing this now, what it means for those affected, and how this positions us for the future.

Why now
Two forces are converging at the same time. We need to be front footed to respond to both.

First, the market. Coinbase is well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm. Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off. However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter. While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we’re currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth.

Second, AI is changing how we work. Over the past year, I’ve watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day.

All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core.

What this means
To get there, we are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs, we’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it. What does this mean in practice?

- Fewer layers, faster decisions: We are flattening our org structure to 5 layers max below CEO/COO. Layers slow things down and create coordination tax. The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly. Leaders will own much more, with as many as 15+ direct reports. Fewer layers also means a leaner cost structure that is built to perform through all market cycles.

- No pure managers: Every leader at Coinbase must also be a strong and active individual contributor. Managers should be like player-coaches, getting their hands dirty alongside their teams.

- AI-native pods: We’ll be concentrating around AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents to drive outsized impact. We’ll also be experimenting with reduced pod sizes, including “one person teams” with engineers, designers, and product managers all in one role.

In short: AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we’re reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era. This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs.

To those who are affected
I know there are real people behind these decisions — talented colleagues who have poured themselves into this company and our mission. To those of you who will be leaving: thank you. You’ve helped build Coinbase into what it is today, and I am sincerely grateful for everything you've done.

All impacted team members will receive an email to their personal account in the next hour with more information, and an invitation to meet with an HRBP and a senior leader in your organization. Coinbase system access has been removed today. I know this feels sudden and harsh, but it is the only responsible choice given our duty to protect customer information.

To those affected, we will be providing a comprehensive package to support you through this transition. US employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks base pay (plus 2 weeks per year worked), their next equity vest, and 6 months of COBRA. Employees on a work visa will get extra transition support. Those outside of the US will receive similar support, based on local factors and subject to any consultation requirements.

Coinbase prides itself on talent density. Our employees are among the most talented people in the world, and I have no doubt that your skills and experience will be highly sought after as you pursue your next chapters.

How we move forward
To the team that is staying, I know this is a difficult day. We’re saying goodbye to colleagues and friends you've been in the trenches with. But here’s what I want you to know as we move forward together:

Over the past 13 years, we have weathered four crypto winters, gone public, and built the most trusted platform in our industry. We’ve made it this far by making hard decisions and by always staying focused on our mission. This time will be no different – nothing has changed about the long term outlook of our company or industry. And most importantly, our mission has never been more important for the world. Increasing economic freedom requires a new financial system, and we’re building it.

The Coinbase that emerges from this will be more capable than ever to achieve our mission.

Brian

[CyberRobo @CyberRobooo]

Milestone in Humanoid Robotics: A Thousand Humanoid Sorters Entering Logistics Centers

Beijing-based RobotEra is deploying its L7 humanoid robot across more than 10 logistics centers operated by China Post, SF Express Group, and other major players.

In several of these centers, the embodied AI robots have already reached over 85% of human-level efficiency while operating stably 24/7.
The company is set to begin batch deliveries of robots at the thousand-unit scale in Q2 this year.

RobotEra recently raised $200 million in funding. By combining external capital with self-generated revenue, it is accelerating the real-world deployment of humanoid robots.

I wonder what UPS would think if they saw this solution? Rumors have been circulating recently that they intend to deploy Figure's humanoid robots in their logistics centers.

[Object Zero @Object_Zero_]

In case you haven’t worked it out yet…

• SpaceX and Blue Origin are the railroads.

• The moon is the Louisiana purchase, Mars is the West Coast.

• AI is the pioneers, and your kids and grandkids are the settlers.

People ask…
“But what is the business case for space?”

The answer is “America”

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@seti_park Very interesting! I'll have to give it a read in the morning!

[X Freeze @XFreeze]

Here Grok’s AGI timeline 😂

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@51Grimz ☀️

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@danprimack True. People expect progress to stagnate after each breakthrough

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@Pirat_Nation It's definitely a sign of a lack of vision/production in comparison. Somehow the first book have Dark Knight vibes to the producer. Will the sound track have heavy bass?

[Robert D Tech @robertdtech]

@HPotterUniverse True. The always dark brooding vibe does not fit the early books