The Local Maximum with Max Sklar

Max talks about Ethereum's move to proof of stake and what tradeoffs it brings to the crypto markets. He also discusses Google's plan to upgrade maps at their IO conference, and their new product Bard in relation to chatGPT. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks to Homebrew creator Max Howell about open source software, package managers, and his new project tea.xyz. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron discuss and provide commentary for their 2002 high school film, The Dictator of Easton. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Aaron talks to Max about his move to Connecticut. They review Columbia University's data science day. A touch of Twitter news and a tweet we thought was interesting on rationality.Probability Distribution of the Week: Multivariate Gaussian Distribution (or Normal Distribution) Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today's discussion is all about Quantum Physics and Quantum Computing as Max talks to Ian who has a PhD in Physics and is actually a practitioner when it comes to quantum computing.localmaxradio.com/274 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max grumbles about the corporate and dry nature of MLConf and the talks from top companies, even as the world of AI and ML explodes in controversy, breakthroughs and new applications.- Should AI research be Paused for 6 months?- Are "X for Good" talks always evil?- Are engineers afraid to share any perspective slightly outside the mainstream? Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Wiggins and Matthew Jones dive into a new book called "How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms" with Max. We learn that we can reach back into data history and find stories that experienced scientists and engineers are will find surprising at present.Chris Wiggins is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and the Chief Data Scientist at The New York Times. Matthew is the James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization at Columbia University.localmaxradio.com/272 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max interview's Adam Kane of ASML about the industrial processes which make hardware innovation possible. They cover extreme UV lithography, the law of accelerating returns, and implications for software engineers.www.localmaxradio.com/271 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Todays news update starts on the lighter side with an article from the New York Times that seeks to denigrate podcasters by branding them as the "podcast bro". Then we get into the release of GPT4 just months after chatGPT shook the world of AI and tech, and the bank runs at Silicon Valley Bank and elsewhere.Probability distribution of the week: Exponential Distributionlocalmaxradio.com/270 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest is Susan Conover, cofounder and CEO of Piction Health, which brings Image Recognition AI technology to the practice of dermatology. This Boston-based company has started to launch their product throughout New England. Susan talks to Max about how the technology could be used to help patience more effectively, and the challenges of bringing change to healthcare and being an entrepreneur.https://www.localmaxradio.com/269 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max discovers Pascal's Mugging, the counterpoint to Pascal's Wager. He speculates about the category of errors (and sometimes scams) made by doomsayers in every field including most recently general artificial intellgence.Probability Distribution of the Week: Gamma Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Could the crisis in modern science be a result of fallacious probabilistic thinking? Mathematical researcher and writer Aubrey Clayton joins the Local Maximum to discuss his book Bernoulli’s Fallacy: Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

We are joined by Software Engineer, Data Scientist, and Author Joel Grus for a discussion that ranges from the latest NLP techniques to thoughts on how to think about complexity costs. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks about the multi-armed bandit - an important concept in the Data Science world. The news of the day is Microsoft's plan to integrate generative text (from open AI) into it's Bing search engine, and whether Google can turn around from negative news stories and compete with this.Probability Distribution of the Week: Dirichlet Distributionlocalmaxradio.com/265 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks to Adam Kovacevich, the Founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress in DC, to talk about several issues that have caught to attention of policymakers. We discuss the concerns of the rise of Tik Tok as a potential arm of the Chinese government, and whether similar concerns about domestic services are warranted.Chamber of Progress: https://progresschamber.org/ Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Aaron talks to Max about his new pamphlet entitled "Relative Probability on Finite Outcome Spaces".arXiv Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.14555Probability Distribution of the Week: The Normal Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max describes category theory as a branch of mathematics, and asks whether it will become more important in the age of AI. We then discuss the issues of the day:- looks at John Stossel's Video on how governments responded to Covid, and where their decisions stand three years later- Google's Recent Moves in Response to ChatGPT as well as layoffsProbability Distribution of the Week: Beta Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

As Generative AI has captured the imagination, Max thinks about it from many different angles. How does it actually work under the hood? What does it mean for media creators, investors, and job seekers? And what does it mean for humans and their comparative advantage with respect to this new technology? All the big questions of our time! Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron start off the New Year with a predictions show for the short, medium, and long term outlook for technical advances. Today's episode focuses on generative AI and self driving cars.Probability Distribution of the Week: Continuous Uniform Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max looks back at the previous New Year's episode, and was surprised by how right he was on the changes we saw in our channels of information online this year. He reviews the news of the year, particularly the innovations in AI that have come to the forefront, and comments on Clay Shirky's Twitter rant. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max interviews SportsVisio CEO Jason Syversen about how artificial intelligence can be applied to sports video, including automated highlights, scoring, and refereeing. Jason also shares details about his startup's innovative product for basketball. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Gene Epstein, founder of the Soho Forum monthly debate series, comes on The Local Maximum to discuss and critique Max's recent debate performance on Democracy vs Monarchy.- Also: Max's 9 Things I learned from the Debate, Gene's debate with Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times.localmaxradio.com/257 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks about the breakage in both the crypto industry and the social media landscape in 2022, and the long term ways of thinking about it.Probability Distribution of the Week: Non-Homogeneous Poissonlocalmaxradio.com/256 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron discuss the launch of the chatGPT product demo taking the internet by storm and the potential applications of this technology. The title of this episode doesn't make sense 100% - but it was generated by chatGPT when asked for an amusing title.Probability distribution of the week: Poisson Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks about the developments surrounding Amazon's Alexa, where it's been revealed that layoffs are coming and the initiative has been costing an eye-popping 10 Billion per year. Max believes there is a future for these devices, and discusses where that might be.Max also adds some details that he missed from the discussion on hurricane Sandy, and his experience in a Tesla self-driving car. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks to guests Helen and Dave Edwards about the human side of decision making, and how we can use research in behavioral and cognitive science to practice better decision making. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max recalls to Aaron his experiences in New York in 2012, and the hurricane (Superstorm Sandy / Frankenstorm) that cut power in Manhattan for days during Halloween and devastated the coastal areas. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max defends representative democracy in an October 26th public debate for the Live Free and Debate series in New Hampshire. The resolution was "Monarchy is better than representative democracy" with Alu Axelman arguing in the affirmative and Max arguing in the negative.It's a long one, but it was a good time with expanded perspectives all around! Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

As the keys to Twitter get turned over to Elon Musk, Max talks about how the development of the open internet is proceeding. He traces back to previous predictions about the upcoming fallout from short-sighted content politics of the previous social media management, and how the dream of a decentralized communication network is progressing.localmaxradio.com/250 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron dive deeper into the sleeping beauty problem, which starts as a probability question, then wades into philosophy and finally theoretical cosmology. They take a listener email on the MLB playoff rules, and the distribution of the week is the Zeta distribution.localmaxradio.com/249 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest is Foursquare Principal Engineer and Unfolded Founder Isaac Brodsky, talking about the mission of location visualization and how this was achieved by tiling the world with Hexagons using the H3 open source framework and Foursquare's Hex Tiles. We learn a lot about the geometry of the globe!localmaxradio.com/248 Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Headlining today is Elon Musk's re-takeover of Twitter, after seemingly backing out earlier. Updates from the war in Ukraine. Paypal says it will fine you $2500 if you say certain forbidden things - but then quickly backtrack. Biden's administration aspires for new "AI" regulations - and finally - Ziph's Law is the distribution of the week! Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Guest is AJ Jacobs, author of The Puzzler: One Max's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. Max and AJ talk about what he's learned about puzzles on the way, the benefits and strategies of problem solving, and finally wade into the sleeping beauty problem probability controversy. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max starts with a brief news update on ethereum, and then moves to the Kolmogorov axioms of probability. What is an axiom system anyway - and why would someone want to change it? Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Phyl Terry - a pioneer in customer experience for decades - talks to Max about how he has applied these principles to crack the job search (and even revolutionize it!) in the new book "Never Search Alone". Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Todays guest is CEO and co-founder of Conexus, the first spinoff of the MIT math department that takes discoveries in high level mathematics (category theory) and applies them to make databases intelligent across many industries. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

This week's news update starts with a discussion of an AI project that won an art competition, followed by Cloudflare's decision to block access to one of its clients. The probability distribution of the week is the roll of a pair of dice, and we down a deep philosophical rabbit hole that leads to the multiverse. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest is Žiga Fajfar, a tech entrepreneur who is focusing on scaling Flowout, who talks to Max about the "no-code" trend in building software. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max looks at what's next in the Cryptocosm following the recently declared "winter". He covers the complicated Ethereum merge as well as the government crackdown on tornado cash and what that means for privacy.Distribution of the week: Multinomial Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Over the weekend, listeners and friends gathered in Rollinsford New Hampshire to discuss technology, ideas, and predictions. We ended up getting on stage and running a free-for-all panel where participants and Max discuss the issues of the day Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Ok, maybe only when it's in other countries - but we'll look at that dichotomy. Also - we talk about the entertainment industry and the recently shelved Batgirl project.Probability distribution of the Week: Binomial Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks to Jonathon Wright about what quality means for AI, and goes through a wide range of examples.Jonathon Wright is the Chief Technology Evangelist and heads up Solution Engineering (R&D) for Eggplant a Keysight Technologies company, and hosts the QA Lead Podcast. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

On today's news update, Max and Aaron talk about several stories related to the consequences of confusing science and truth.- Alzheimer's research reported to have major setback after results from the 2000s found to be manipulated- Updates on the Google AI Saga- Facebook is de-emphasizing professional newsDistribution of the day: Uniform Categorical Distribution Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks to Tony Olsen, founder of Freedomhaven about the idea of Seasteading, and the practical and theoretical issues it raises. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max discusses a fascinating geometrical object - the simplex - that generalizes to many dimensions, and its connection to the categorical distribution. Starts with some thoughts about Elon Musk spurning the Twitter deal, and the future of Social Media. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron break down the cascade of liquidity crises affecting major crypto firms, the larger cycle and growth story of bitcoin, and announce a new segment for listeners to learn about probability distributions. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks gives an intro course on inflation, what it is, it's causes, and its effects. He also talks about the history of the monetary system in the United States and how credit expansions, politics, and wars have contributed to the problem of inflation. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max discusses the increasing centralization of AI research into large corporate institutions, with its causes and dangers. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

An engineer in Google Research was put on leave after claiming that their Lambda AI Chatbot is sentient. Max breaks down the situation, and the long-term drama that comes out of Google's AI programs. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

In a wide-ranging conversation, Max talks to Will Kurt, author of "Bayesian Statistics the Fun Way" about math, writing, philosophy, truth, and of course Bayesian techniques! Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe