Sofia Mendez

this is wild

I think one of the conclusions we should draw from the tremendous success of LLMs is how much of human knowledge and society exists at very low levels of Kolmogorov complexity. We are entering an era where the minimal representation of a human cultural artifact... (1/12)

@MileyCyrus @DisneyPlus I’ve been watching and rewatching this since I was 5. how has it been 20 years? That makes it sound so old when i'm only 23. I always wanted to see her live and experience the intro to the show. I wish they had done this for the anniversary!

The secrets out! Can’t wait to celebrate the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary special with all of you! March 24 on @DisneyPlus. 🤫

The bigger finding: all of these models now consistently are more persuasive than actual campaign advertisements. Our earlier work found that chatting with older models was around as persuasive as watching a campaign ad. That's no longer true — frontier LLMs have pulled ahead.

Someone built Startups.RIP a directory of 5,700+ failed YC startups with post mortems, deep analysis, and rebuild plans so you can revive dead ideas and turn them into new projects.

“It is not the absence of dark impulses, but the strength of character to resist them, that defines us.” - Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream

@deepfates I LOVE THIS IDEA

It does seem like we should get like a global push notification at this point. like, "Your civilization has developed powerful AI. Do you want to stop everything else and focus on that? (Y/n)"

@ellebeecher another texture of this is giving away flowers to strangers. ppl crave proof of kindness. Will def be trying this ♥️

Early in our relationship, Cam brought a present to date night. An envelope full of $20 bills. "I want you to give these away when you feel called." I had SO much money scarcity back then. Even though I was making six figures at Meta, investing every month, totally fine financially… the thought of giving away a $20 bill caused tension in my body. But Cam would go to the bank and come back with envelopes: "Here's your money for the month. Give these as tips to people who deserve them." Two years later, that practice completely changed my relationship with money. I went from fear to abundance because someone made me prove to myself: we're good. We're so good we're giving it away. If you're stuck because of money fear, try the opposite. Be radically generous with what you have. Watch what happens.

@brad_brexton ragebait

Had to pass on an intern candidate today. Even though his resume was perfect. UCLA CS grad. Interned at Google. Really impressive background. I asked what he was looking for. "I want to learn how early-stage startups operate." Great answer. Then he asked about the role structure. Responsibilities, timeline, expectations. All reasonable questions. But something felt off. I couldn't put my finger on it. Then he said: "And one more thing..." Ah, there it was. The red flag I'd been sensing. Didn't extend an offer. He was the type who'd ask for a salary.

@Pandora_Delaney #1 If they’d be able to help me through the loss of a parent And #2 bc why not: Whether or not they already exhibit markers that suggest they would be good parents by default. Regardless of your desire to want children.

I want to know what your #1 criteria for a partner is. (I already have mine in mind but don’t want to bias the convo, so I’ll share later.) If you had to select a life partner on just one trait, what would it be & why?

✍️ New article: Tracking historical progress against slavery and forced labor: a long-run data view For much of history, forced labor was widespread and brutal. Tens of millions of people were made to work under the threat of violence or punishment. The situation today is very different. Many governments have ended their own use of forced labor, changed laws, and now prosecute those who use it. Some forms of forced labor and human trafficking still exist—but they are much less common than in the past. The chart summarizes how these massive changes unfolded across the globe. It shows for each point in time how many countries had not yet abolished “large-scale” forced labor, meaning forced labor that was common and entrenched—tolerated, enabled, or imposed by authorities, rather than isolated abuse. To measure this specific form of large-scale forced labor, we rely on expert assessments from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, based at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden. What the chart shows has been well documented in the many excellent books by historians and social scientists. What we add to this is a quantitative, bird’s-eye perspective on the global history of slavery and forced labor. The decline of forced labor is one of the biggest social and economic changes in history. It gave many millions of people much more freedom to live their lives. This shows that large changes to our societies and economies are possible—even those that were once unimaginable. Summarizing changes of this scale in a single chart is challenging. Forced labor can take many different forms; legal rules and real-world practices often don’t match, and no country is completely free from forced labor.

It's okay to embarrass yourself in pursuit of human connection btw

@rryssf_ lmao

🚨 BREAKING: Every "AI agent" you've seen is basically fake. Google just exposed that 99% of agent demos are three ChatGPT calls wrapped in marketing. I read their 64-page internal playbook. This changes everything:

It would cost $318 billion a year to get everyone’s basic needs met, 0.3% of global GDP… cega.berkeley.edu/end-of-poverty/

indeed

@birdabo I miss this already

There’s a lonely feeling in being too young to be taken seriously, yet too far along to relate easily to people my own age

Authentic relating always brings me back to myself; it reminds me of my social intelligence. Somehow I lose that when I’m in a room full of rats. I forget how to speak and feel like ripping my hair out every time. I need more circling in Berkeley STAT.