JohnBrownsBussy2

They’ve made deals with Those Who Lurk Below to gain power over the world. They’ve poisoned the water. Polluted the air. Contaminated the soil. Sacrificed lives, stole resources, and made tons of money . They’ve done all of that and more. And nobody gives a shit. Drowning in goods and services, people are comfortable enough to ignore the nightmare. And ignorance is bliss. But the consequences are coming. The Deadline is looming over this reality.With each day, the end is closer and closer. They won’t stop. Welcome to the Real World

CORP BORG is a neat Mork Borg hack for the classic sub-genre of the demonic office space. The art is pretty neat, and while there isn't as much 3rd-party support as Mork Borg itself yet, I'm sure that will accrue and it shouldn't be hard to re-adapt other modules to the setting. I've always been fan of TRPGs where you play as decidedly unheroic, beleaguered schmucks (other favorite TRPGs include Delta Green and Electric Bastionland), it's certainly up my alley. I won't have a chance to run it for Halloween due to scheduling, but I hope to try out some one-shots in the near future (here or elsewhere).

With this project falling behind, and the reducing likelihood of delays in the Lunar Gateway/Artemis program, I think there's a good chance that NASA and the ESA will not have access to a space station following the ISS's decommission. It's not the only "public-private" partnership for an ISS successor, but I don't think the other candidates are making much progress either.

I also thought that this quote was pretty amusing, and highlights the futility of trying to privately fund commercial station projects:

To bring in some much-needed cash, Axiom Space started selling seats for trips to the ISS on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.

It was also awarded a NASA contract to fund a space suit for the first crewed mission to the lunar surface, Artemis III.

But the suit appears to have been a massive distraction — not to mention a major money pit — from its plans to build a space station. SpaceX trips to the existing orbital outpost were also not a sustainable solution to Axiom Space's woes.

"Turns out that there's not a lot of billionaires that want to set aside their life for 18 months to go train to be an astronaut for the ISS," a former Axiom executive told Forbes.

The lab is available to researchers 24/7, uses real human neurons and uses the Python programming language, creating a “dream bridge between biology and data scientists,” according to Jordan.

After accessing the provided login/password, researchers gain the ability to remotely send electrical signals to neurons and receive their responses. It is then the responsibility of researchers to devise optimal algorithms for controlling the behavior of the organoids.

Users can mimic memory function by using periodic electrical stimulation to reinforce synapses through repetition, thus making desired pathways stronger.

Researchers do this by training the organoids through a reward system. The organoids are rewarded with dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure (and addiction).

Meanwhile, as “punishment,” the organoids are exposed to chaotic stimuli, such as irregular electrical activity.

A live view of the biochips working in real-time can be found at www.finalspark.com/live.

Still think it's kinda neat, but with clearly disturbing implications.

Listening now. Will let you know if there any Matt updates.

Very funny enshitification coming from OpenAI. In exchange for access to real time data, it looks like they're planning to bake in partner ads. Wouldn't be surprised if this becomes just as pay-to-play as Google search.

Details from the pitch deck

The Preferred Publisher Program has five primary components, according to the deck.

First, it is available only to “select, high-quality editorial partners,” and its purpose is to help ChatGPT users more easily discover and engage with publishers’ brands and content.

Additionally, members of the program receive priority placement and “richer brand expression” in chat conversations, and their content benefits from more prominent link treatments. Finally, through PPP, OpenAI also offers licensed financial terms to publishers.

The financial incentives participating publishers can expect to receive are grouped into two buckets: guaranteed value and variable value.

Guaranteed value is a licensing payment that compensates the publisher for allowing OpenAI to access its backlog of data, while variable value is contingent on display success, a metric based on the number of users engaging with linked or displayed content.

The resulting financial offer would combine the guaranteed and variable values into one payment, which would be structured on an annual basis.

“The PPP program is more about scraping than training,” said one executive. “OpenAI has presumably already ingested and trained on these publishers’ archival data, but it needs access to contemporary content to answer contemporary queries.”

Obviously done so Elon looks like less of a hypocrite in his quixotic OpenAI lawsuit. However, it is notable in that it's the largest LLM to date with open and commercially licensed weights (314B params). It's way too large for any consumer to actually run, but having direct access to a model this big may benefit researchers looking into safety and bias in AI.

RIP Trevor Moore

Due to a power issue, it looks like the lander may now no longer have sufficient fuel to make a controlled landing on the moon. This was the lander that was set to carry human remains to the moon despite objections from the Navajo nation. Hopefully, this discourages any future attempts at such a stunt, since instead of a permanent mausoleum your ashes may instead be stranded in orbit or scattered amongst the moon dust if the thing crashes.

I am still fascinated with The Product, even if I have no intention of purchasing or playing it. Still listening, but some interesting tidbits so far are Braces reiteration that he isn't (legally) making any money on the game, and that one thing that inflated the cost of the game were the legal fees to have it reviewed to make sure it wouldn't be actionable in court. He also confirmed that courting negative media attention was 100% intentional and part of the game's marketing strategy.

Hey folks,

I've put out feelers before, but it's the new year and I wanted to look at offering to run some tabletop RPGs. Right now, I'm feeling pretty open system-wise (although would prefer the lighter-weight side of the hobby) and can help figure out schedule at some point. Also not necessarily looking for a long term commitment, but thought it might be fun to meet some folks and try out some games together.