Cam Pegg

There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you’ve made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you’ve made a discovery.
—Enrico Fermi

My flight home last night tracked up the Hudson and I was fortunate enough to have a window seat on the right hand side of the plane, so I had an amazing view of the Tribute in Light.

✈️ DL434 ATL-LGA—Delayed. Again. This time it’s because the plane is broken.

(To be clear, it’s because the aircraft I was supposed to be on had a faulty navigation unit, not because it was missing its tail after being clipped by a bigger plane. That seems like something one needs to be explicit about here in ATL.)

✈️ DL969 LGA-ATL—Aaaaand we’re delayed. 🙄

✈️ DL520 ATL-LGA—Only a little late this time.

✈️ DL569 LGA-ATL—Atlanta-bound once again.

Tired: This meeting could have been an email.

Wired: This startup could have been a spreadsheet.

Well, here’s an idea I don’t dislike.

I will contribute to a Kickstarter to fire Elon Musk at Mars. Serious inquiries only.

Stop blaming yourself and others.
Learn Feng Shui and blame the furniture.

Ed Zitron does brilliant job of summarizing and providing color commentary on the the Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit? report from Goldman Sachs.

I feel a little crazy every time I write one of these pieces, because it’s patently ridiculous. Generative AI is unprofitable, unsustainable, and fundamentally limited in what it can do thanks to the fact that it’s probabilistically generating an answer. It’s been eighteen months since this bubble inflated, and since then very little has actually happened involving technology doing new stuff, just an iterative exploration of the very clear limits of what an AI model that generates answers can produce, with the answer being “something that is, at times, sort of good.”

It’s obvious. It’s well-documented. Generative AI costs far too much, isn’t getting cheaper, uses too much power, and doesn’t do enough to justify its existence. There are no killer apps, and no killer apps on the horizon. And there are no answers.

I’ve had the report open in a browser tab for a few days now (and have been resisting the passive-agressive urge to email it to lots and lots of people), and “costs far too much, isn’t getting cheaper, uses too much power, and doesn’t do enough to justify its existence” encapsulates the situation pretty much perfectly.

✈️ DL169 BCN-JFK—Wow, what an amazing vacation! Hanging out with friends in Ibiza was a ton of fun, and then we had a great time exploring Barcelona. Back to reality now, I guess.

@artlung I’ve always though it was a bit of an odd construct too, but after hearing more of the story and more about Gaudí, it makes much more sense. It really is an incredible structure.

I’m not a church guy, nor am I a particular fan of the work of Antoni Gaudí, but I visited the Sagrada Família today and was completely blown away… it is an awe-inspiring building and the architect’s vision for what a church could (should?) be is brilliant. Regardless of your religious beliefs—or lack thereof—I would absolutely recommend visiting it at least once in your life.

✈️ VY3503 IBZ-BCN—Ibiza was not at all like I thought it would be, in the best possible way… such an amazing place!

✈️ VY3510 BCN-IBZ—We’re going to Ibiza! (👈🏻 So yeah… I do feel bad about that. I’m sorry.)

✈️ DL128 JFK-BCN—Finally going somewhere that’s not Atlanta. And doing it for fun, not work.

✈️ DL434 ATL-LGA—Finally, a flight home that is leaving on time!

✈️ DL569 LGA-ATL—Off to Atlanta. Again.