Hi everyone!
As a developer, I've been leaning massively on AI models to help me accelerate my work. In January, I consumed 261 million tokens while working on various projects, and this month that number is already up to 643 million as I find more ways to put AI agents to work.
While AI allows me to accomplish more in the same amount of time, I have been worried if it'll lead to brain rot. This week I came across a Ness Labs post about the "omnipotence dilemma".
Anne-Laure Le Cunff noticed that she kept starting new things and finished very few things. She felt "like being surrounded by infinite drafts". When the cost of creating things is approaching zero, we spend less time thinking and just... do. Or rather, we prompt.
It's referred to as the rise of the "autocomplete culture" where people no longer wrestle with ideas but instead refine options that are proposed to them. Creation starts to feel like selection rather than authorship.
What becomes scarce is no longer skill or access. What becomes scarce is attention, conviction, taste, trust, time, and responsibility.
Le Cunff warns that the cost shows up slowly:
Projects that don’t quite make sense. A subtle loss of our ability for strategic thinking and meaning-making. Being unable to articulate why in the first place you’re doing this work.
So here's what I've been sitting with this week: in a world where AI can build almost anything for you, how do you decide what's actually worth building? And when starting is free, what does commitment even look like?
Let me know your thoughts, and as always, enjoy this edition of the newsletter.
Xavier
🤓 Cool Stuff I Found on the Internet
A brick wall gave the kidnapper away
Investigators were at a dead end. They had images of a 12-year-old girl being abused, but the abuser meticulously scrubbed all identifying details, but to no avail. The real breakthrough came from looking at an exposed brick wall, which experts identified as “Flaming Alamo” brick. Those are made at only a few locations in the US, and combining that with sales data on sofas yielded a match. Within hours, the girl was safe and her abuser arrested. Wow!
Origins of "hello"
The word "hello" has only been around for around 200 years. Why did it become the standard greeting? Because Thomas Edison chose it to answer phone calls because he believed it was clearer than his rival Alexander Graham Bell's "ahoy!".
Rats Play Doom
Researchers built a complete VR system to let rats play the video game DOOM. The setup features a motion-tracked ball for movement, a panoramic screen for visuals, a paw-operated trigger, and an automated system that rewards successful actions with sugar water.
Route planning improved
How do computers find the shortest path between two points? Most likely by using Dijkstra's algorithm, which works by progressively exploring nearby connections to build up the shortest path. This new algorithm goes further by focusing only on the most relevant connections and skipping the rest, similar to planning a trip using major highways before filling in the smaller roads.
⏳ On this day...
1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its debut in Wales. This marked the birth of rail transport and powered the Industrial Revolution.
1848 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto. This pamphlet became one of the most influential political documents in history.
1878 - The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
1947 - Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera," the Polaroid Land Camera. This invention revolutionized photography by allowing people to see their photos in seconds.
🤨 Questions nobody asked
A few months ago, I noticed fluid leaking from the bottom of our fridge and wondered: where does all the condensation actually go?
Condensation in a fridge is completely normal. You put hot things in, and while they cool down, they create condensation (which you can clearly see at the back of a fridge).
It turns out there's a drain hole at the back of the fridge. The water flows down into a drip pan (or evaporator tray) underneath or at the back of the fridge.
From there, it gets evaporated by the heat from the compressor. See, fridges are essentially heat pumps. They “pump” heat from the inside towards the outside, heating the drip pan and evaporating the drained condensation.
But here's the thing: that tray can overflow if you have too much condensation. That's why it's recommended to use closed containers when storing food in the fridge. It reduces the amount of condensation that builds up.
Another mystery solved! I appreciate these kinds of clever engineering "hacks".
🧠🤖 Artificial intelligence
OpenClaw acquired by OpenAI
Peter Steinberger created OpenClaw just a few weeks ago. It's an AI-powered personal assistant that can do amazing things (while being a bit dangerous). This week, OpenAI acquired the open source project. Peter's next goal? Make a powerful AI agent that anyone can use, including his own mother. Meanwhile, I'm experimenting with OpenClaw to see how it can create value for me. If you have some experience with this, hit reply and let me know!
Gemini powering Siri
Apple announced it’ll be using Google’s Gemini models to bring a major upgrade to Siri. While Siri was revolutionary when it launched, it hasn’t really evolved much, and now Apple is falling behind in the AI race. I do wonder what happens to Apple’s current deal with OpenAI to use ChatGPT in Siri?
ChatGPT is Solving Decades-Old Math Puzzles
AI models have started solving famous, unsolved math problems. Since Christmas, 11 of these solutions have credited AI for helping, marking a significant new milestone for large language models like ChatGPT. One mathematician noted that AI seems particularly suited for the “long tail” of obscure math problems that have straightforward but overlooked solutions.
👽 Space
AI on Mars!
NASA took a significant step in autonomous planetary exploration. For the first time, an AI model analyzed orbital images of Mars to identify hazards and generate a safe driving route for the Perseverance rover. The rover then used these AI-generated waypoints to travel 456 meters without human intervention. A crucial capability to overcome the long communication delays between Earth and Mars.
Closer to the Moon
NASA is targeting a March 6 launch for Artemis 2, the first crewed mission to fly around the moon in over 50 years. The announcement follows a successful full-scale launch rehearsal, which resolved a hydrogen leak issue that had previously caused delays for the Artemis program. With the crew in quarantine and final system checks underway, excitement is building for this historic return to deep space.
⚡️🌎 Energy & Environment
Destruction of unsold clothes
Up to 9% of unsold textiles in Europe are destroyed each year, releasing 5.6 million tons of CO2. The EU is now banning fashion brands from destroying unsold clothes. Companies are encouraged to adopt circular practices like resale, donation, or recycling.
Easier battery recycling
Recycling batteries is difficult and expensive. The hardest part is extracting valuable lithium from dead batteries. A Chinese research team has now found a simple new method: dump the batteries in a bath of CO2-rich water and over 95% of the lithium will be extracted. Sounds great, but they won’t solve our e-waste problem overnight as the technology needs to be commercialized first.
Which Energy Source Takes Up the Most Space?
All energy production requires land, but the amounts vary dramatically. This analysis compares production methods and how much land they need. The results? Nuclear power is the most land-efficient power source, while fossil fuel and large solar farms have a substantially higher land footprint.