Topics (265k) Articles (272k) Users (338) Discussions (237) Comments (383) Files (2k) New article
Given enough computational power per dollar, AGI is inevitable, but it is not sure certain ever happen given the end of end of Moore's Law.
Alternatively, it could also be achieved genetically modified biological brains + brain in a vat.
Imagine a brain the size of a building, perfectly engineered to solve certain engineering problems, and giving hints to human operators + taking feedback from cameras and audio attached to the operators.
This likely implies transhumanism, and mind uploading.
Ciro Santilli joined the silicon industry at one point to help increase our computational capacity and reach AGI.
Ciro believes that the easiest route to full AI, if any, could involve Ciro's 2D reinforcement learning games.
As highlighted e.g. at Human Compatible by Stuart J. Russell (2019), this AI alignment intrinsically linked to the idea of utility in economy.
There are two main ways to try and reach AGI:Which one of them to take is of of the most important technological questions of humanity according to Ciro Santilli
- AI training robot: expensive, slow, but realistic world
- AI training game: faster, less expensive, but possibly non-realistic-enough realistic
There is also an intermediate area of research/engineering where people try to first simulate the robot and its world realistically, use the simulation for training, and then transfer the simulated training to real robots, see e.g.: realistic robotics simulation.
Of course, this only made sense when Apple was more of an underdog to IBM, and Ciro Santilli greatly admires their defiance of the norm.
As of 2020 however, Apple is kind of on the top of the mobile world, and Think different simply makes no sense anymore, notably because it relies on closed source offline software used by millions.
it's Popular Now It Sucks comes to mind.
This is a trap every company that prides itself on it's "alternative culture" sets for itself. If they succeed, they could become the norm.
1976 Think different. 2011 Think mainstream
. Cropped from wallpapersafari.com/w/RqYUEj.Co-founder of Apple.
Is Jobs evil? Is he interesting? Undoubtedly.
www.folklore.org/ProjectView.py?project=Macintosh&characters=Steve%20Jobs has some good anecdotes about him.
Ciro Santilli is especially fond of: Jobs and Wozniak's blue box.
Good quotes:
- "Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money." quote at: Section "Don't be a pussy" and the related Jobs and Wozniak's blue box attitude
- "Steve Jobs Insult Response" on backward design
- Steve Jobs Pixar office design philosophy: great ideas happen from chance meetings on corridors, not in board rooms: officesnapshots.com/2012/07/16/pixar-headquarters-and-the-legacy-of-steve-jobs/
- Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
- Here's to the crazy ones: Ciro would like to believe that this is mostly written by Jobs, but apparently it was just written by an advertisement agency. Good job though.
You must watch this: Video "Bill Gates vs Steve Jobs by Epic Rap Battles of History (2012)".
Evil deeds:
- not recognizing own daughter for many years??? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Brennan-Jobs
- lying to Steve Wozniak about the 5000 dollar Atari bonus: web.archive.org/web/20110612071502/http://www.woz.org/letters/general/91.html
- not giving stock to early garage employees: www.businessinsider.com/steve-wozniak-gave-early-apple-employees-10-million-in-stock-2014-9 OK, not a legal obligation. But... love?
Investigations on the theory of the Brownian movement by Einstein (1905) by 
Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16 On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light by Einstein (1905) by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16The photoelectric effect paper.
This was THE craze thing in Brazil before Pokemon, it was shown from 1994 to 1997. In particular the collectible action figures! It was possibly more popular in Brazil than e.g. in the US: www.quora.com/Why-was-Saint-Seiya-so-popular-in-Brazil
The thing as quite violent, rated for 14-year olds, but no one gave a fuck, 7 yo Ciro was happily watching it. We protect children too much.
That series also had quite a religious feel to it (as obviously suggested by the series English name itself). It must also have been a great motivator to getting young kids into astronomy!
Ciro's favorite character was definitely Andromeda Shun. He was smart and thoughtful, and had the coolest most complex weapon: his chain whips. He's also a bit effeminate, with his pink clothing and a gentle way. Perhaps that is the reason for adult Ciro's mild fascination with the Andromeda Galaxy.
The English name is horrendous... the Portuguese/French name is so much better: Knights of the Zodiac! Saying this in English just reminded Ciro Santilli of the Zodiac Killer. But nevermind.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.
Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally. Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension. 
- Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact