Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Busy Beaver Number BB(6) Shockingly Surpasses All Expectations

2025-06-29

Recent breakthroughs in Busy Beaverology have drastically increased the lower bound of BB(6), the 6th Busy Beaver number. Initially estimated to be greater than a number with 15 levels of exponents of 10, it's now known to be far larger, exceeding even 2^^^^9 (2 tetrated to 2 tetrated to 2 tetrated to 9). This astonishing jump suggests that BB(n) may become independent of the ZFC axioms of set theory much sooner than previously thought, prompting a reevaluation of the function's growth and posing new challenges for computational theory.

(scottaaronson.blog)

Misc

Quantum Physicist Scott Aaronson's LessOnline Adventure

2025-06-19

Renowned quantum physicist Scott Aaronson attended the LessOnline rationalist conference and shared his unique perspective on the experience. The article describes the vibrant atmosphere of discussion, and Aaronson's deep conversations with fellow rationalists about AI, free will, and more. He ultimately embraced the identity of 'rationalist,' explaining the reasons behind this shift, including a reassessment of the speed of AI development and changes within the rationalist community itself.

(scottaaronson.blog)

Misc rationalism

Simulating Dates with GPT-4: A New Approach to Treating Dating Anxiety?

2025-04-24

A blogger recounts years of receiving emails from young men struggling with dating anxiety. He experiments with GPT-4 to simulate a date, creating a virtual female character to interact with a male character suffering from severe dating anxiety. While GPT-4 facilitates fluid conversation, its overly positive and accommodating responses lack realism, failing to effectively simulate the nuances and feedback of real-world dating. The blogger suggests that with fine-tuning and reinforcement learning, future large language models could create effective dating simulators to help overcome dating anxiety.

(scottaaronson.blog)

AI dating anxiety

Microsoft Claims First Topological Qubit: Breakthrough or Hype?

2025-02-20

Microsoft announced the creation of the first topological qubit, sparking significant interest in the tech world. Topological qubits, based on non-Abelian anyons, are theoretically more resistant to errors than traditional qubits. While Microsoft retracted a similar claim in 2018, they now assert a fully functional topological qubit. Though currently not practically useful, this marks a milestone in topological quantum computing, with the future success of this approach compared to traditional qubits still uncertain.

(scottaaronson.blog)

Tech

US NSF Funding Freeze: Science on the Brink

2025-01-31

A freeze on funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has thrown the scientific community into turmoil. Despite Trump's purported rescission of the freeze, chaos continues, leaving program directors paralyzed and uncertain. A prolonged freeze could leave tens of thousands of graduate students and postdocs without stipends, halting basic science research and potentially leading to a brain drain to countries like China. An indefinite hiring freeze further weakens the NSF and similar agencies. The author urges insiders to share information and expresses deep concern for the future of American science.

(scottaaronson.blog)

Tech NSF funding funding freeze US science