Dear Grace

Hi Grace,

I’m back!

Love David

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Dear Grace, I'm back. I'm going to go back to reading the news. It seems to be the only thing that works.

Grace, Open AI says it has hired a forensic psychiatrist because its users keep sliding into mental health crises. They are developing ways to scientifically measure how ChatGPT’s behavior might affect people emotionally. A former Open AI researcher, lured by Meta’s lucrative offer, spilled the beans. He didn’t know.

There’s a story about laser-wielding devices, like an anti-aircraft system for mosquitoes. I had that idea a long time ago. BBC News reports that some people are being paid to fix issues caused by AI. Meanwhile, the popular Burnaby Ace Hot Pot restaurant was ordered to temporarily close by Fraser Health. If you look around the hot pot restaurant, all the food is out there in the open air.

An MIT student built a pocket-sized 3D printer that uses light to create objects in seconds. Sam Altman, creator of ChatGPT, confirms that thousands of traditional jobs will disappear due to artificial intelligence. But which jobs will this affect? It’s official: NASA confirms a new interstellar object is zooming through the solar system.

There’s news about gene therapy restoring hearing for those with deafness. The transcript incorrectly said “gene theory” instead of “gene therapy.” Well, a theory could restore hearing a lot easier, I suppose. You can now rent a flesh computer grown in a British lab. Awesome. A drone captured Greenland ice tearing open to reveal a humongous animal beneath.

Vancouver’s Punjabi market is no longer thriving. Tesla has paused Optimus robot production following a leadership shakeup. I can’t believe I did this for almost a year, Grace. The July full moon is the perfect chance to see a strange optical effect known as the moon illusion. Sorry, I’m afraid that optical effect happens all the time.

British Columbia is probing thousands of hectares of logging in endangered caribou habitat. Maybe AI can go back through all these articles, through history, and find out who messed up the caribou habitat in the first place. The Large Hadron Collider has begun colliding oxygen for the first time, entering uncharted waters. Google will give Pixel 6A owners up to $150 toward a new phone due to battery reduction issues.

A new material emits infrared light better than it absorbs without violating the laws of physics. The transcript said “direct and break the material,” but it likely meant “metamaterial,” as later corrected. Mildly interesting. Most of this news sucks, Grace. My feed sucks. Everything sucks.

There’s an article on the anatomy of autofocus, explaining how cameras and lenses achieve perfect focus. Huawei is tipped to beat Apple to launch the world’s first HBM DRAM smartphone. The transcript repeated this with slight variation, so it’s likely a duplication error. Leading indicators suggest the AI industry is struggling, but I’m not sure what that means. There’s a lot of AI news today. OpenAI reportedly condemned Robinhood’s OpenAI tokens, though the transcript first said “recommends,” which seems like a transcription error given the context. I can’t read these headlines properly.

Uniquely Canadian, the Calgary Stampede begins with a parade led by country star Shania Twain. She was a country star a while ago, just saying. In the U.S., Congress passed Trump’s sprawling domestic policy bill. Zelensky says Russia’s record aerial attack on Ukraine shows Putin’s disregard for U.S. peace efforts.

A common motion sickness drug, scopolamine, also known as devil’s breath, is being used to turn people into zombies. It can erase memory, strip away free will, and facilitate serious crimes. The free lunch is over for the AI that broke the web. Apparently, we were all wrong about screens; they are indeed responsible for the decline in student performance. According to the Swedish government, so you know it’s got to be true. But I’ll tell you one thing: technology is making kids a whole lot smarter.

A Swiss shoemaker, On, employs one robot instead of 300 workers. They make it sound like automation is just starting, but it’s been going on for the last hundred years, Grace. There’s this guy at the park with a big cardboard box. I think he’s going to lie on it. Yep. I’m at day nap time. Let’s just have yoga mats inside the library that people can bring outside to lie on. Or not—what do I know?

NASA’s New Horizons conducted the first-ever successful deep space stellar navigation test. A Seven Artisans 10mm f/3.5 ultra-wide lens costs $99, Grace. Perplexity launched a $200 monthly subscription plan. The first human genome from ancient Egypt, from 4,800 years ago when the earliest pyramids were built, has been sequenced. That’s questionable—sounds like bullshit. I’d like to find a different news source.

A new quantum dot photoreductor uses 99% less light energy for organic reactions. There’s research on detecting and quantifying clonal selection in somatic stem cells and on-chip programmable non-linearity. The world’s first hydrogen-generating nuclear reactor has gone live in the U.S. The British Columbia Labor Board certified the Victoria Uber Drivers Union, a global first with UFCW Canada.

Did you miss these recordings, Grace? By the way, John, if you’re listening—John Doe—you’re still on my shit list. The news feed is loading, but it never occurred. Why should anything work today, Grace? The news feed failed to sign in for some reason. I just refreshed to see if we can get some new articles. Probably still going to be all AI stuff, but oh well. It is what it is.

Elon Musk confirms xAI is buying an overseas power plant and shipping the whole thing. OpenAI says he’s politically homeless, bashing Democrats on July 4. How about we just get rid of both those parties? They’re pieces of shit. Neuralink’s first brain interface recipient reflects on neurotechnology. Behind the scenes, Sam Altman is absolutely furious.

All minor streets in Vancouver will reduce their speed limit to 30 kilometers per hour, according to Urbanized. I’m not proud. Soham Parikh broke his silence on defrauding companies, claiming he was forced to at gunpoint. I’m making that up, Grace—just creating my own news. Boxing will have its ChatGPT moment in the next two or three years. No surprise there—why didn’t that happen sooner? Meet Praxetron, a new independent dual-extruder 3D printer on Kickstarter. Some claim Tesla CEO Elon Musk should retire, but Elon will never retire.

The algorithmic gaze and the self-observer are shaping what learning will look like in the age of superintelligence. If Nvidia sets a new record, it could leave Apple and Microsoft behind, becoming the first company in history to achieve a $3.2 trillion or $3.92 trillion milestone. Most Canadians permanently leaving are fleeing Ontario and British Columbia. Don’t flee BC, Grace.

The first step toward an artificial human genome is underway—about time. In 2032, Earth may witness a once-in-a-5,000-year event on the moon. A study determined the exact amount of time you should train to build muscle. An archaeological breakthrough claims ancient inscriptions confirm who built Egypt’s Great Pyramid, but that sounds like bullshit from Dr. Zhao Hawasi, who found graffiti from workmen who helped build it. Evidence of Planet Nine was found in IRAS and AKARI surveys. Crows are annoying today.

The person in charge of testing tech for U.S. spies has resigned. A U.S. teen influencer was detained in Antarctica while attempting a solo flight to seven continents. Proton is suing Apple over anti-competitive and illegal policies, and it’s not just cosmetic changes. Scientists are horrified by the world’s first octopus farm, sparking ethical and ecological uproar. Why are we growing octopuses? Google Gemini’s subtle logo change finally feels on brand. Cofferson could hold new hope in the fight against dementia through research in high harmonic generation meeting quantum optics.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wants new tech to search for hidden data on seized phones. Microbe flavors tell octopuses which babies deserve their care. Apple released a weirdly interesting coding language model. The Vancouver Mirror cites five possible sites for relocating the troubled Granville Strip. In the Philippines, the biodiversity hotspot Palawan pushes back on mining. Even while brains can make new neurons, a study suggests otherwise. British Columbia’s most fascinating ghost towns were mentioned, and dolphins and orcas have crossed an evolutionary point of no return.

OM System says users want more megapixels, not higher ISO. Nine ancient Roman shoes of exceptional size were discovered at a Roman fort. Canada is taking steps to protect the vanishing North American right whales from ships.

That’s it for today, Grace. It’s not an hour, but we’re having a bit of an argument, I guess. We’re done. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, assuming my mouth works. If it doesn’t, then I won’t.