Monday Assorted Links from Marginal Revolution
Key Takeaways
- •Jon Stokes questions how severe compute scarcity and costly inference can coexist with claims that top AI models could run unnoticed on distributed GPU clusters.
- •Christian Catalini and Ben Yeoh contributed pieces on related incentives and on unconference formats.
- •Syracuse University, an R1 research institution, is in serious financial trouble as U.S. universities face shrinking applicant pools and scrutiny of tuition-dependent business models.
- •The New York Times explores how CRISPR gene-editing tools used in livestock could extend to companion-animal breeding, raising questions about engineered traits.
- •The roundup also links to the Philosophers' Annual list of ten best philosophy articles for 2025.
Marginal Revolution's Monday assortment of links covers topics ranging from AI compute constraints to university finances and gene-edited dogs.
-
Prices, prices, prices: "Again I am asking how the following two things can be true at the same time: 1) we're all massively compute limited so inferences & GPU time are $$$, and 2) SoTA models will just start running themselves on everyone's GPU clusters & no one will notice or turn them off." From Jon Stokes: https://x.com/jon_stokes/status/2094288737005871123
-
Christian Catalini on incentives and the same: https://x.com/ccatalini/status/2094121167091318902
-
Ben Yeoh on unconferences:
-
The ten best philosophy articles of the year?
-
Syracuse University, an R1 institution, is in serious financial trouble (WSJ): R1 is the Carnegie Classification's top research designation, and Syracuse's budget strain comes as many U.S. universities face shrinking pools of college-age applicants and heightened scrutiny of tuition-dependent business models.
-
Markets in gene-edited dogs? (NYT): The piece touches on how CRISPR tools, already used in livestock and agriculture, could extend into companion-animal breeding, raising questions about where existing breeding-industry practices end and engineered traits begin.
