Some materials, like quartz crystals, sugar, some ceramics, bone, and even wood, display the piezoelectric effect: pieze being Greek for push. When these materials are squashed or deformed in some way, they generate an internal electrical charge. The opposite is also true; if a voltage is applied to a piezoelectric material, they change shape.
In comparison to the spring-driven escapements that typically beat six times a second, atoms in atomic clocks oscillate over nine billion times a second, providing an incredibly precise and standardized time
Microsoft is also a very large investor in OpenAI and a recent investor in Mistral, another LLM startup. The “$650 million” license fee is essentially a way to circumvent the growing hostility in Washington DC towards “big tech” companies buying “startups.” *This isn’t technically an acquisition, but it is a good way to get all its benefits.* If the DoJ had any real desire to do something meaningful, it would go after Microsoft. Otherwise, we are going to see this innovative technique become very common in Silicon Valley. Smaller public companies have been using this structure regularly for their “acquisitions”.
when you hammer a nail, the compression forces are huge, sending shockwaves through its body, but the duration of the loading is just a fraction of a second. Smash the nail hard enough and it doesn’t have time to buckle. Part of the reason for this is the strange behavior of metals when loaded. The load at which they deform can depend on how quickly that load is applied: the quicker it’s done, the more force a metal can resist without failing.
sometimes we use the same technology for centuries before we suddenly invent a new material or process, and realize that we need to adapt existing technology to suit. Other times, it’s the other way around: we invent a new technology, like the incredibly strong fiber Kevlar, and then find purposes for it—in this case, bulletproof vests.
Chesterton’s Fence, described by G. K. Chesterton himself as follows:There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
