GPT-3 tells me a story, does not disappoint

GPT-3 tells me a story, does not disappoint

  The following is the result of my literal first attempt of playing with the new GPT-3 AI text generator. It was produced using the AI Dungeon. Text in bold is the prompt I entered, everything else is produced entirely by GPT-3. The longer paragraphs were...
How LONG is the Earth – video calculations

How LONG is the Earth – video calculations

Calculations behind the “How LONG is the Earth” video: Galaxy length earth: Earth’s volume is approx 10^21 cubic metres. The diameter of the galaxy is estimated at around 100,000 light years, which approximately = 10^21 metres. Hence, the earth...
Coronavirus: Why You Shouldn’t Rely On Your Intuitions

Coronavirus: Why You Shouldn’t Rely On Your Intuitions

A weed is growing in a garden, and it doubles in size every week. If it takes forty weeks to completely cover the garden, how many weeks does it take to cover half? If your first instinct was “twenty”, your instinct was wrong. The correct answer is thirty-nine. This...
I’m on Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s new podcast!

I’m on Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s new podcast!

I can’t quite believe it… I’m the guest on the latest episode of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s fantastic podcast “Creative Processing”!!! You know, the superstar genius actor JGL. From Inception. And Don Jon. His actual podcast. Wow....
Hypochondriac? Bayes’ theorem can help!

Hypochondriac? Bayes’ theorem can help!

(This post originally appeared on Vox, but I want to share it here too) I’ve been a hypochondriac for much of my life. When I was 13, I read an article about a girl my age who had recently lost her hair to alopecia. For the next six months, my teenage self...

LivGor Platinum Pass Round 4 Quiz: Q & A’s

Here are the questions and answers to the 4th preliminary round of our #PlatinumPass contest. Thanks to the thousands of you who took part in the contest – I hope you enjoyed it! We are now in the process of collating and double-checking the scores, and will be...
Reducing Scope Insensitivity

Reducing Scope Insensitivity

There’s been a huge oil spill somewhere, and you hear that approximately one thousand birds are covered in oil and dying slow, horrible deaths. You’re upset, as you should be. Now you hear that actually, it’s one million birds that are covered in oil and dying. You...
The Joy of Winning – BBC4 documentary

The Joy of Winning – BBC4 documentary

Enjoy games? You’ll love this BBC documentary I was part of recently: “The Joy of Winning” presented by mathematician Hannah Fry. It takes a deep dive into general game theory and strategy. A pleasure to see the subject given some mainstream...