The Local Maximum with Max Sklar

Today's Episode is an interview Max gave on Learn Bayesian Statistics by Alex Andorra in 2019, covers the trajectory of his career and interests, and all the different uses of Bayesian Inference. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talks about Alphabet's DeepMind launch of Gato AI - a large scale transformer model. Some of the researchers believe that they are on the path to human level intelligence while others disagree. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

One of the founders of podcasting itself, Adam Curry, joins The Local Maximum today to talk about podcasting 2.0, podcastindex.org , and how to keep podcasting decentralized. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talks about the financial tsunami predicted last year starting to come to fruition, and then dives into a 2001 article by Joel Spolsky and takes a more positive view of architecture astronauts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Joel Valenzuela visits the Local Maximum studio to talk about how he lives off of cryptocurrencies, the value in coins like Dash over Bitcoin for this purpose, liberty in New Hampshire, and general analysis of recent developments. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

We learn about corporate governance and corporate politics in order to understand Elon Musk's bid to takeover Twitter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talks about Professor Johnathan Haidt's article in the Atlantic "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life have been Uniquely Stupid". We compare the techno-optimism of 2011 to the techno-pessimism of today, and contrast the different prescriptions on what to do about it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loca...

Today’s guest is Dr. Alan Cowen, CEO of hume.ai , to discuss fascinating new research on human emotional states, and how machine learning and AI techniques can be used to distinguish between them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max responds to the news that Elon Musk has bought a considerable stake in Twitter. A recent blog post by Andrew Gelmans shows that while language models from OpenAI and Google are exciting, they still don't know what they are talking about! localmaxradio.com/220 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.s...

Max talks to René Morkos, CEO of ALICE Technologies about how AI is being used to make construction projects more efficient. localmaxradio.com/219 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talks to Aaron about his newly published academic paper, "Sampling Bias Correction for Supervised Machine Learning". Paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2203.06239.pdf localmaxradio.com/218 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talks to and accepts submissions from Ukrainians who are living in that country and around the world to tell their stories about the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war. These uncensored stories give a different side to what's happening on the ground. localmaxradio.com/217 supportukrainenow.org This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bon...

Today's guest is Alu Axelman, author of Corona-Fascism that excoriates policies and attitudes imposed to fight the coronavirus. Max talks about his strategy on covid. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Today's conversation is with Polina Shevchenko, who is a data analyst at Bolt in Tallinn. She grew up in Donetsk, which is one of the breakaway regions related to the Russia invasion. Max talks to Polina about growing up in Donetsk, and what the last week has been like for Ukrainians abroad and in their home country. localmaxradio.com/215 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this...

In a late night discussion, Max and Aaron think about recent developments in Ukraine and Max's trip there a few years ago. Max finds headlines in the New York Times that are using the crisis to disparage cryptocurrencies and Duck Duck Go, while also getting some interesting information from those same articles. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or g...

Max discusses the recent tweet by OpenAI scientist leaving open the possibility of their AI being a little bit conscious, and the ensuing ridicule and strong disagreement from the AI community. He goes in-depth on the philosophy and thinking that drives AI research, and how to frame the debate around consciousness and intelligence. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with o...

Max talks to Bitcoin Audible host Guy Swann about the developing lightning network, including (recent) historical background and how to use it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

The drop in Meta stock shows the effects of increased competition over users, ad dollars, and privacy controls. Max talks about this along with other industry updates. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max and Aaron discuss the hype around the metaverse with Microsoft's recently monster-sized acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Then, they move on the philosophical discussion of the axiom of infinite sets, and the meaning of numbers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talks about the ultimately futile attempts by tech companies to silence their critics and political enemies. - includes a tweet storm that was recently banned even from the internet archive. localmaxradio.com/209 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

This interview with Brandon Quittem covers generational theory, the fourth turning, and Bitcoin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max returns for an in-person recording. Discussion of political comedy and the return of Jon Stewart. Then we ask: how do you form uninformed Bayesian priors? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max brings up a bunch of new news topics and expands on some old ones that are likely to be important in the new year. - Is the New York Times being sneaky in the Tech Section? - Would you like an alexa that moves around in your house? - Recognizing that there is a war for truth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vis...

Max exchanges views with author Erik Deitrich on the drawbacks of software engineering organizations and what to do about it. localmaxradio.com/205 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Max talking to Johnny Nelson (@generativist) about how platforms that use a top-down approach to content moderation can lead to the worst of all worlds, and how we might build a bottom-up system. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com