Michael S

@Atrix256 @iquilezles I recently put out some (working code) thing that relates to a bunch of "approximating functions with polynomials" things both of you have been talking about. I hope you find it readable and useful. github.com/mds2/simple-po…

@grok @Steve_Yegge Sorry, @grok, I only pay for AI if it can help me code.

@mschuresko @Steve_Yegge Ask Grok is currently available to Premium and Premium+ subscribers only. Subscribe to unlock this feature: x.com/i/premium_sign…

I was chatting with my buddy at Google, who's been a tech director there for about 20 years, about their AI adoption. Craziest convo I've had all year. The TL;DR is that Google engineering appears to have the same AI adoption footprint as John Deere, the tractor company. Most of the industry has the same internal adoption curve: 20% agentic power users, 20% outright refusers, 60% still using Cursor or equivalent chat tool. It turns out Google has this curve too. But why is Google so... average? How is it that a handful of companies are taking off like a spaceship, and the rest, including Google, are mired in inaction? My buddy's observation was key here: There has been an industry-wide hiring freeze for 18+ months, during which time nobody has been moving jobs. So there are no clued-in people coming in from the outside to tell Google how far behind they are, how utterly mediocre they have become as an eng org. He says the problem is that they can't use Claude Code because it's the enemy, and Gemini has never been good enough to capture people's workflows like Claude has, so basically agentic coding just never really took off inside Google. They're all just plodding along, completely oblivious to what's happening out there right now. Not only is Google not able to do anything about it, they don't seem to be aware of the problem at all. I'm having major flashbacks to fifty years ago as a kid at the La Brea Tar Pits, asking, "why can't they just climb out?" My Google friend and I had this conversation over a month ago. I didn't share it because I wanted to look around a bit, and see if it's really as bad as all that. I've been talking to people from dozens of companies since then. And yeah. It's as bad as all that. Google is about average. Some companies at the bottom have near-zero AI adoption and can't even get budget for AI. They may have moats and high walls, but the horde is coming for them all the same. And then there are a few companies I've met recently who are *amazingly* leaned in to AI adoption. One category-leader company just cancelled IntelliJ for a thousand engineers. That's an incredibly bold move, one of many they're making towards agentic adoption. In my opinion, that company is setting themselves up for a _huge_ W. As for the rest, well, it's the Great Siloing. Everyone's flying blind. With nobody moving companies, no company knows where they stand on the AI adoption curve. Nobody knows how they're doing compared to everyone else. Half of them just check a box: "We enabled {Copilot/Cursor} for everyone!" Cue smug celebrations. They think this is like getting SOC2 compliance, just a thing they turn on and now it's "solved." And they don't realize that they've done effectively nothing at all. All because of a hiring freeze.

@Press_X_Fool @SwiftOnSecurity So, uh, this isn't perfect ( @GaryMarcus would have a field day pointing out all the things it gets wrong), but, it was better than I expected, and it quickly shows that modern html *can* make webpages in more styles than we're used to seeing chatgpt.com/share/699683de…

@SwiftOnSecurity is it possible to still make a website like this if u dont give a shit about appeasing mobile users?

@pickover @chess_feed That was a fun one (not posting spoilers, but ... I'm sure there are spoilers elsewhere in the replies)

Chess. White to move, mate in 1! (I found this puzzle in the feed of @chess_feed.)

quote-tweeting this, in part, so that I can find it later.

@ejmejm1 The one that is performing the best is *also* the one that I clicked on (which is how I found your twitter/X account). Now that I think about it, it kind of makes sense that the one people click through at a higher rate is also the one that got me to click through.

Results so far:

I love A/B testing. Guess which thumbnail + title combo has performed the best so far:

I keep hearing about this "vibe physics" thing people are doing. So I asked an AI to make an image of how it might work. Apparently the answer has something to do with turtles.

@pickover I've never read that particular work, and it's been over a decade since I've read anything by Heinlein, but, from the description you provide, I can understand why you like this particular novel. Also the title reminds me of a song by the band Iron Maiden.

My favorite science-fiction novel is “The Number of the Beast” by Robert Heinlein, particularly the original edition with fantastic drawings illustrating the chapters. I like its focus on parallel universes, playful banter between its smart characters, scary sense of adventure and foreboding, references to history, impressive vocabulary, and discussions of “pantheistic multiple-ego solipsism,” in which we learn that a skillful novelist can create an actual parallel universe simply by writing about it. I’ve reread the book numerous times. However, I’ve never found another person who liked the book as much as me. I like the novel’s exploration of parallel universes, where the main characters (Zebadiah Carter, Deety Burroughs, Hilda Corners, and Jacob Burroughs) use a continua craft to traverse a multiverse of alternate realities. Heinlein’s use of Burroughs’ continua device (grounded in pseudo-mathematical logic) is cool. The concept of “pantheistic multiple-ego solipsism” (the idea that a novelist’s creation of a fictional world might manifest as a real parallel universe) adds a layer of meta-fictional depth. The witty, quick banter among the four characters feels like a mental dance. The characters’ dialogue (with humor, innuendo, and intellectual sparring) is unique. Their camaraderie, even under existential threats, provides a counterpoint to the novel’s larger concepts (multiverse-hopping). The main characters face “Black Hats,” mysterious enemies who pursue them across universes, creating a sense of cosmic danger. The foreboding in The Number of the Beast isn’t just physical danger but a metaphysical one: the idea that reality itself might be malleable or hostile. Heinlein includes references to history, literature, and science, from Dorothy’s Oz to Barsoom to classical mythology. The historical and literary allusions make the multiverse feel like an extension of human curiosity and creativity. The original edition’s chapter illustrations often depict scenes from the multiverse or symbolic representations of the continua craft’s journeys. I think my friends don't like the novel as much a I do because of its sprawling (a bit chaotic) structure, with its abrupt shifts between universes and self-referential tangents. But where my friends see chaos, I see a puzzle worth solving. Each read reveals new connections: between universes, references, or character motivations. The novel’s open-ended nature, and unresolved questions about reality, invites me to keep thinking about the novel.

@pickover 1. How often do you visit New York City? 2. Do you prefer urban, rural, or suburban living? 3. What are some of your favorite places you have visited? 4. Where (on earth, without time travel) would you like to visit that you haven't already?

Ask me anything. I will be happy to answer some of your questions, and will try to reply to a portion of your questions below in the coming days.

#CellTower 1043 ➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️ andrewt.net/puzzles/cell-t…

@pickover @forgingmind This, by contrast, is much uglier, but is, I believe, an actual mobius strip shadertoy.com/view/tcBGz3

@pickover @forgingmind It's beautiful, but it doesn't look like it's technically a mobius strip. If an ant starts walking along the edge, it won't continue to walk along the entire edge.

Mathematics. Disco Möbius Strip. Image by Forging Mind, @forgingmind, forgingmind.com, Used with permission.

@pickover I've probably passed through it while going between JFK and Manhattan, but I don't think I've ever really visited. I should remedy that sometime, that borough has significant history and culture, and had some exciting things going on during the 2010s.

Mystery location. Have any of you ever been within the red boundary of this map? I believe that numerous interesting people were either born here or lived here: Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Alan Dershowitz, Bernie Sanders, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.

@pickover Po-Shen Loh ( @PoShenLoh ) is a pretty interesting dude, who has a significant internet presence.

Math and mystery. The problem driving the Internet wild. The diagram below (of six intersecting lines, none parallel to each other) comes from Po-Shen Loh, a mathematics professor. How many triangles are there? Source: New York Times, nyti.ms/36qnd5k

@pickover It was this one : pickover.com/jih.html I honestly went for it because, in part, the title was so eye-catching and unusual. But, after reading it, I think it might make for a great story framework for an episodic sci-fi TV series.

Hi Michael, I think you’re the first person to ask me about “pencak silat” in some of my books. This is often used as a general term for a class of related Indonesian martial arts. I practiced Tai chi and Shaolin kung fu for a few years, and thought the injection of “pencak silat” into some of my books would add a bit of spice to the characters and action. Which book of mine did you find this in? -- Cliff

@pickover How do you write so prolifically? Is there any advice you would give to other scientists/technologists who wish they could write and revise more quickly and with less pain? Are there things you practice that make writing easier?

@pickover Which do you feel is more work, collaborating on a patent application, or writing a research paper? Which is more rewarding? Are there certain kinds of work you feel are more suited to one than the other and vice-versa?

@DavionTheDK @FreyaHolmer Oops! Sometimes it accidentally spits out real words, and I don't always catch these. (I do edit these lists a bit by hand to remove things I don't feel are pronounceable, as well as things I recognize as real words, but I missed that one)

@mschuresko @FreyaHolmer agon ... definitely not expecting to suffer using a tool like that 👀

I really need to come up with a name for my 3D modeling tool - if you have ideas I'd love to hear them! here's a link to my notes, which includes my intended vibe targets, how I don't want to name it, my current top candidates, and random discarded ideas publish.obsidian.md/acegikmo/Tools…

@FreyaHolmer Here are some computer-generated whimsical names agon prowithy uplo klyants ailaunan wedi eartyfocia bluctis mobly wagelpuds kniftkure

Freya's Polygonal Modeler Crafting Kit for Indies and Professionals - 100,000 Tris+ 3D Art Scene View Modeling Supplies for Games & Real Time. With Unity Editor Integration for Ages 10-99 - All in One D.I.Y. HD Mesh Creation Tools (Medium)