Tootfinder

China has made AI a national mission, but local workers' fear of displacement mirrors worries abroad, and potential for social unrest may force CCP to slow down (Michael Schuman/The Atlantic)

China’s AI Rollout Is Messier Than It Looks
A top-down tech revolution is harder to manage than a bottom-up one.

Look out world, I'm back!!
Drivers license was on hold until the ophthalmologist said my vision was good enough.
Had my appointment at the drivers license office this morning. Glad all they wanted to do was the eye test in the little box. Was able to read the little itty bitty stuff abet with a little difficulty. But I passed. Only restrictions glasses which were a given both outside rear view mirrors and no night time driving.
Probably will stick to letting the wife dr…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
Angel Olsen:
🎵 All Mirrors
#AngelOlsen
https://angelolsen.bandcamp.com/track/all-mirrors-johnny-jewel-remix

what decentralized networks (tor, i2p, etc) are people still using and not just for mirrors of things on the clearnet? are there any cool ones?
#decentralization

Coldcut, everything is under control #sound
https://coldcut.bandcamp.com/album/sound-mirrors-remixes?t=2

Toward a mechanistic understanding of inference in visual cortex and diffusion models
Zeyu Yun, Alexander Belsten, Dasheng Bi, Zahra Kadkhodaie, Yubei Chen, Bruno A. Olshausen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.15693 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.15693 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.15693
arXiv:2607.15693v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: We describe a model of perceptual inference in primary visual cortex (V1) equivalent to a minimal diffusion model whose function can be readily understood from its parameters. The model is based on sparse coding with a non-factorial prior over latent variables in the form of an unconstrained, pairwise interaction matrix, extending standard sparse coding inference to a general recurrent dynamical system. We efficiently train these recurrent dynamics using a denoising score-matching objective and implicit differentiation. After training on natural images, the learned interaction matrix mirrors the structure of horizontal connections in superficial layers of V1 that link neurons of similar orientation tuning. This model exhibits exceptionally good denoising performance, restoring image features such as extended contours amid extreme visual ambiguity, nearly matching the behavior of standard, black-box diffusion architectures in generalization regime. Owing to the model's simplicity, the network's Jacobian can be decomposed directly in terms of the interaction matrix between latent variables, revealing mechanistically how the recurrent dynamics assign high probability over a continuous family of natural structural deformations. Intriguingly, within this circuit, a large fraction of latent variables learn to disconnect from visual input altogether, essentially forming a hierarchical representation that appears to enforce global consistency among image features. Together, the model and results bridge two distinct domains: for neuroscience, it generates concrete, testable hypotheses regarding functional connectivity in recurrent neural circuits during perceptual inference tasks; for machine learning, it elucidates the internal mechanisms learned by diffusion models that allow them to generate infinitely many novel images from a finite training set.
toXiv_bot_toot

A proposed constellation of satellites has astronomers very worried.
Unlike satellites that reflect sunlight and produce light pollution as an unfortunate byproduct,
the ones by US startup
"Reflect Orbital" would produce light pollution by design.
The company promises to produce “sunlight on demand” with mirrors that beam sunlight down to Earth so solar farms can operate after sunset.
It plans to start with an 18-metre test satellite named Earendil-1

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?
Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
RJD2:
🎵 Smoke & Mirrors
#RJD2
https://officialrjd2.bandcamp.com/track/smoke-mirrors
https://open.spotify.com/track/2C1nOw1nRxJaBWb9I1x05A

The issue is that [Musk's] Cybercab has no steering wheel, no pedals, and no mirrors, features normally required by federal safety rules. Tesla certified the vehicle itself and has not applied for an official exemption.
https://stocksdownunder.com/tesla-tsla-stoc…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #Expansions
Need for Mirrors:
🎵 Blood Orange
#NeedforMirrors
https://needformirrors.bandcamp.com/track/blood-orange
https://open.spotify.com/track/6FV2pXZ1ZrHlyaJmjO3XR5