Last week I was in Queenstown for a work event — pretty full-on social activities from Wednesday night to Friday, but then I stayed in Queenstown for the weekend and had that time to myself. So I treated myself to a couple of big walks.
I signed the Pacing The Frontier petition for a very simple reason: I agree with the statement.
From Sunday to Tuesday I led a group tramp from Karangahake Gorge to Te Aroha via Waitawheta Hut in the Kaimai Range. The weather was very wet on the last day but overall we had a great time.
I signed the We Will Not Be Divided open letter. I agree with Anthropic that AI should not be used for mass surveillance of a government over its own citizens, and that AI should not be used to kill people without human oversight. I hope my employer, Google, asks for the same restrictions. I applaud Anthropic and Dario Amodei in particular for taking their stand. I think Anthropic is clearly the…
[Preface: The United States government plans to scrutinise the social media posts of visitors. I wondered whether it will still be safe for me to make a post like this. First I thought so, but then I thought that anyhow it would be sensible to be cautious and not post. Then I decided that if the USA becomes the kind of country that blocks visitors based on posts like this, I want to know about it…
Our family went to Taiwan for a couple of weeks, in Taichung, Taipei and Alishan. It was our first overseas holiday together for many years, and perhaps the opportunity will not come again for a long time. My wife is Chinese and we’d never been to Asia, so it was good to spend some time there.
My previous attempts to tramp the Pouakai Circuit and see the famous view of Mt Taranaki from Pouakai Tarns were fun, but not entirely successful due to foggy weather at the tarns, so I vowed to keep trying until we got good a view there. Last week I had another attempt, but once again it was fun but foiled by the weather!
Three things: I work for Google Deepmind; I believe AI will most likely be disastrous for humanity; and I believe Jesus rose from the dead. That combination possibly makes me unique. It certainly is awkward.
I’m a Christian, I work for Google, I have money, so I try to never forget Jesus’ words: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
Last weekend I went back to Crosbies Hut in Coromandel for the fourth time (first time, second time, don’t seem to have documented the third time). It’s pretty accessible from Auckland but these days it gets booked far ahead, so we had to book it back in May. I took a whole group this time — three parents, six kids and me. It went well but it was harder than I expected!