Mint: “As Brian Dovey’s book title says, The Idea is the Easy Part. Given that more than 95% of startups don’t survive five years (between 80-95% in India, depending on how you cherry-pick your data), we can’t agree more. Part of his motivation for writing this book was that myths and false impressions about entrepreneurship and startup culture had continued to spread. Fans of reality TV shows like Shark Tank still think they can make a fortune from a clever idea and a slick elevator pitch. And detractors really think the startup world is full of egomaniacs and dishonest ‘vulture capitalists.’ Both camps are mistaken. As it stands, the startup world is a captivating realm, filled with innovation, ambition and the promise of disruptive change—even if copied and pasted. It is also a world rife with myths and misconceptions that can mislead aspiring entrepreneurs. That the idea is the most critical aspect of a startup’s success is one such myth.”
WSJ: “LLMs are capable of producing responses with huge variations. The trick is to tweak the “input” to maximize the “output.” Here are three approaches learned in White’s class that I now use regularly: Persona prompt: Tell the AI system to assume a role. For example: “Act as an assistant helping a financial analyst.” Then when you ask your question, the bot will frame the response in that role. New-information prompt: You can add new information that the LLM might not know. For example: “Here’s the transcript of Microsoft ’s last earnings call. Summarize all the mentions of AI and Bing in five bullets.” The more specifically you describe your desired output, the better it will be. Question-refinement prompt: You can ask the LLM to suggest improved or alternative questions to get more refined answers. Example: “When I ask a question about Microsoft earnings, suggest a better version of the question and ask me if I would like to use your question instead.””
FT: “Google DeepMind researchers have discovered 2.2mn crystal structures that open potential progress in fields from renewable energy to advanced computation, and show the power of artificial intelligence to discover novel materials. The trove of theoretically stable but experimentally unrealised combinations identified using an AI tool known as GNoME is more than 45 times larger than the number of such substances unearthed in the history of science, according to a paper published in Nature [recently]. The researchers plan to make 381,000 of the most promising structures available to fellow scientists to make and test their viability in fields from solar cells to superconductors. The venture underscores how harnessing AI can shortcut years of experimental graft — and potentially deliver improved products and processes. “Materials science to me is basically where abstract thought meets the physical universe,” said Ekin Dogus Cubuk, a co-author of the paper. “It’s hard to imagine any technology that wouldn’t improve with better materials in them.””
James Gwartney and Richard Stroup: “Income is simply compensation received in exchange for productive services supplied to others. People who earn large incomes provide others with lot of things that they value. If they did not, other people would not be willing to pay them so generously. There is a moral here. If you want to earn a large income, you had better figure out how to help others a great deal. The converse is also true. If you are unable and unwilling to help others very much, your income will be quite small.” [via CafeHayek]
HBR Qs on how to create the life you want: “How do I define a great life? What is my life purpose? What is my life vision? How do I assess my life portfolio? What can I learn from benchmarks? What portfolio choices can I make? How can I ensure a successful, sustained life change?”
