Lenny Bogdonoff

Internalized urgency, intensity and speed - sustained over time - is a force to be reckoned with.

@kipperrii @JMT3‘s East Bay Makers Club

does anyone know of any good projects i can fund through a 501c3 that are art, culture, climate, welfare, education, economics (or secondarily anything that isn't ai policy or animal welfare)

Out of a Vernor Vinge universe. Inflation, AI regulation, and a front-page photo of humanoid robots.

One of the great limitations on future of work discourse is that most of its participants have never had a real job

@erikdunteman Watch for the progress, come for the sauna

@rememberlenny I’ve been glued to your back yard progress updates btw, love it

@joannejang Albeit short, you were a wonderful colleague and I’m excited for all the physical monuments you plan to name after your husband.

i shared this note on slack:

@typesfast @jeffdean

Whoever named Gemini at Google really named it. In the mythology, the immortal twin gives up his immortality to save the life of his mortal twin. It’s just like Google giving up 100% of its free cash flow to make sure Deepmind survives.

@johncoogan “AI is truly deflationary” is not about AI, but for the general economy

@sharifshameem Not palm pre, but if you want an incredibly small phone - NX1 from Bluefox is awesome

I’d kill for a modern smartphone with the form factor of a palm pre

Just make one good thing

@markcecchini “Nobody knows”

COMMANDER: We’re fighting for freedom. And part of that freedom… is the freedom to retire with dignity. So we’re going to start accounts called 401(k)s. SOLDIER 1: What’s a 401(k)? COMMANDER: It’s a retirement account. You put money in, it grows tax-free, you take it out when you’re old. SOLDIER 2: So I don’t pay taxes on it? COMMANDER: Well, you pay taxes later. When you withdraw. SOLDIER 2: So it’s not tax-free. COMMANDER: It’s…tax-deferred. SOLDIER 2: What’s the difference? COMMANDER: You pay taxes later instead of now. SOLDIER 1: What if I want to pay taxes now? COMMANDER: Then you do a Roth 401(k). SOLDIER 3: What’s a Roth? COMMANDER: You pay taxes now, and it grows tax-free. SOLDIER 2: That’s what I thought the first one was. COMMANDER: No, the first one you pay taxes later. SOLDIER 1: Which one’s better? COMMANDER: Depends on your tax bracket in retirement. SOLDIER 1: …How would I…know that? COMMANDER: You don’t. You just guess. ⸻ SOLDIER 4: What if I don’t have a 401(k) through my employer? COMMANDER: Then you open an IRA. SOLDIER 4: What’s the difference? COMMANDER: One’s through your job, one’s on your own. SOLDIER 4: Can I have both? COMMANDER: Yes. SOLDIER 4: Should I? COMMANDER: Maybe. SOLDIER 3: Can I do a Roth IRA? COMMANDER: Only if you make under a certain amount. SOLDIER 3: What’s the limit? COMMANDER: Changes every year. SOLDIER 2: What if I make too much? COMMANDER: Then you do a backdoor Roth by putting it in a Traditonal first. SOLDIER 2: …Is that legal? COMMANDER: Surprisingly, yes. SOLDIER 1: What’s a backdoor Roth? COMMANDER: You contribute to a traditional IRA, then convert it to a Roth…but watch out for “pro rata”. SOLDIER 1: Why wouldn’t I just contribute to the Roth directly? COMMANDER: Because you make too much money. SOLDIER 1: But this way I can? COMMANDER: Yes. SOLDIER 1: That feels like a loophole. COMMANDER: It is. But the IRS is cool with it. ⸻ SOLDIER 5: I just changed battalions. What do I do with my old 401(k)? COMMANDER: You roll it over. SOLDIER 5: Into what? COMMANDER: An IRA. Or your new 401(k). Depends. SOLDIER 5: On what? COMMANDER: The funds. The fees. Whether your new plan accepts rollovers. SOLDIER 5: What if I just take the money out? COMMANDER: You’ll pay taxes plus a 10% penalty. SOLDIER 5: What if I’m 59? COMMANDER: Penalty. SOLDIER 5: 59 and a half? COMMANDER: No penalty. SOLDIER 5: …The half matters? COMMANDER: The half matters. ⸻ SOLDIER 3: What’s a mega backdoor Roth? COMMANDER: Okay. So. Your 401(k) has a limit of how much you can contribute. SOLDIER 3: Right. COMMANDER: But the total limit including employer contributions is higher. SOLDIER 3: Okay… COMMANDER: So if your plan allows ~after-tax~ contributions, you can put in more, then convert that to Roth. SOLDIER 3: Does my plan allow that? COMMANDER: I don’t know. You have to ask Betsy. SOLDIER 3: Will Betsy know? COMMANDER: Probably not. ⸻ SOLDIER 2: Can I deduct my IRA contribution on my taxes? COMMANDER: Are you covered by a retirement plan at work? SOLDIER 2: Yes. COMMANDER: Then only if you make under a certain amount per year. SOLDIER 2: What’s the amount? COMMANDER: Depends if you’re married. SOLDIER 2: What if my wife has a plan but I don’t? COMMANDER: Different limit. SOLDIER 2: What if neither of us has a plan? COMMANDER: Full deduction. SOLDIER 2: So it’s better to not have a 401(k)? COMMANDER: No… ⸻ SOLDIER 1: Can I just keep my money in a sock? COMMANDER: You could. But inflation will slowly destroy it. SOLDIER 1: What’s inflation? COMMANDER: (sighs)…

“Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Everything is systems, and all systems have bottlenecks. We can have AGI which gives us infinite intelligence, but that only moves the bottlenecks.“ - @fchollet

‘Recently, one of my favorite questions to bug people with has been “What is it you do to train that is comparable to a pianist practicing scales?”  If you don’t know the answer to that one, maybe you are doing something wrong or not doing enough. Or maybe you are (optimally?) not very ambitious?‘ - @tylercowen

“We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” - Edison

@ashleevance @zipline First glance on thumbnail, I thought this was a Sopranos commercial

Coming to Core Memory tomorrow - our piece on @zipline

@ericmigi cc @ggerganov

SiFli has a 2.5D GPU+ MCU with up to 64MB PSRAM...are there any LLM optimized for MCUs or super small ram? Any papers I should read?

Casually had lunch talking about nuclear power, submarines, and robots. 60yo woman interrupts us to share she worked on patents for the trident missile system and offered to share the manuals she has at home. Only in S.F.

@LM_Braswell Braswell model eval

Have decided to allow this at my poker nights

@jeffreyhuber Super Mario Brothers

whenever a phrase prepends the word “super” you should be very cautious of their truth claims: superhuman, superpower, superfoods, supernatural, super intelligence

@ArtirKel Less the "blue zone" stuff and more about how scientists in China contrast to European researchers

@rememberlenny in other countries?

I'm writing a primer to aging clocks (broadly tests that try to tell you how old you are 'biologically'). What would you like to know that I might not already be thinking about?