Comment Re: good self awareness (Score 1) 62
Why MCA?
Saving money on ROM
Will not help you for long...
Comment Re:Sunlight on the dark side (Score 1) 79
I'll be charitable, and assume you know the difference between a dark surface and a surface that happens to be in the dark.
I have a physics degree and I was aiming for a +1, Funny. I guess since we're joking about global warming, it counts as "dark" humour.
Comment Re:Sunlight on the dark side (Score 4, Funny) 79
Comment Re:Learning another language is fun, too. (Score 1) 100
Comment Re:Ok cool (Score 1) 104
Machine learning/AI models to help with this are quite common in this field, and have been around for decades to help with spectral library lookups - long before the current LLM hype phase.
Yep, I once worked with NIR spectrometry in the paper industry around 2000. The company developed a kind of robot that measured various qualities of pulp and paper in realtime at paper mills. I was more on the hardware side, and I was kind of annoyed when they wanted to switch to spectroscopy for everything and ditch our nice old mechanical robots, parts of which I'd developed earlier. But at the same time I was excited about the ML and pattern recognition bits.
Comment Re:Today's AI is just Automation! (Score 1) 104
Comment Re:Q-C! What is it good for? (Score 1) 59
Comment Re:No commercial applications (Score 1) 59
Are you suggesting that Shor's and Grover's are the only possible quantum algorithms? I'm not holding my breath for commercial QC either, but I don't like being overly pessimistic or conservative either. Quantum computers now are a bit like the early electronic computers of the 1940s — proofs of a concept but not exactly commercial success stories. Sure, with those computers people could do the same old calculations much faster, but the really interesting and useful applications involved a bit more vision, and those didn't appear overnight.
While many people associate QC with breaking cryptography, in the end it's just a faster way to do classical math. There's a whole world of pure quantum problems that are more naturally solved with quantum computers; this is what Feynman meant when he conceived the idea of QC in the early 1980s. So instead of getting hung up on the number of qubits, consider for example what D-Wave is doing.
Comment Re: Standing Desks (Score 1) 88
I started using a standing desk soon after I quit teaching, and I guess there's a connection. But I also have some level of ADHD traits, and I find it easier to work on a computer if I can move around. I guess the commenters that don't understand standing desks have never used one extensively; the idea is not to stand in attention for 8 hours straight, but to allow your body some natural movement.
It also feels nice to sit down for a break, or for things like reading. I don't like the idea of moving the desk down to a sitting position, I'll much rather move myself somewhere else (undocking the laptop if necessary).
Comment Re:Linux is now a testcase for sketchy tech (Score 1) 17
Sure Rust it, AI it--what's next?
Writing userspace stuff in BPF so it can run super fast within the kernel. Starting with systemd.
Comment Re:Build stupid cars (Score 1) 330
Comment Re: Snot ? (Score 1) 111
Comment Re:So... nvidia is boned? (Score 1) 20
Comment Re:British slang (Score 1) 75
Apparently "boffin" is a British slang term for a scientist/engineer.
I recently watched a documentary on the British space program, and I recall someone saying something like "this project needs more engineers and fewer boffins". So "boffin" is specifically a scientist in an ivory tower, much like "egghead" in US slang.