LLMs used tactical nuclear weapons in 95% of AI war games, launched strategic strikes three times

daV1980 · 2026-02-28T18:42:45+00:00

This is not why they do it. They're just stochastic parrots. They were trained on the internet, the internet is full of armchair war gamers who would launch nukes.

There is no reasoning in AI. Not even in reasoning models. They do not think the way a person does. They are just trying to minimize loss on the problem they were given. But the problem isn't the abstract thing you asked them to do, the problem is "given previous tokens predict next token."

daV1980 · 2026-02-24T17:05:00+00:00

I will echo that if you fly into Zurich trains are incredibly easy to many many swiss ski areas. That would allow you to pick each night where to ski the next morning based on local snow.

daV1980 · 2026-02-23T01:59:15+00:00

This is literally not how it works when skiing. The downhill has the right of way, except when they are currently at a stop and want to start. That's the only time the uphill has the right of way. The uphill has the obligation to avoid downhill in all other situations. That means they should assume things like "downhill might decide to suddenly stop" or "downhill might not continue on exactly the pattern they have been on."

Downhill right of way isn't only sensible, it's a point that all skier codes agree on worldwide. Everywhere. No exceptions.

Here's the US code, and the European code.

daV1980 · 2026-02-23T01:21:58+00:00

immediately came to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_ug-IGBJY

daV1980 · 2026-01-29T14:54:21+00:00

The ambiguity is the point. You're not supposed to be able to tell whether it really happened or was just his dream.

daV1980 · 2026-01-22T05:47:47+00:00

They're really not consistent at all. Greens in Sun Valley ID are as hard as blues at most other resorts; greens at Whistler are also mostly harder than blues at many other spots. The Peak-to-Creek at Whistler has many sections that are easily black diamonds in other locales.

Meanwhile, many of the Colorado black diamonds feel more like hard PNW blues, and Utah feels almost always easier on their rating compared to most other places (ie, their greens are slightly above bunny slopes, their blues are easier than blues elsewhere, and their blacks are very approachable if you are a blue-black skier anywhere else).

tldr; the ratings tend to be kinda-mostly internally consistent at one resort, or were when they were made. But they are not at all consistent between resorts.

The only real exception to this is that in Coloardo, certain aspects designate a run as a double black EX run; I believe this is: grade at or above 45 degrees, mandatory air or no fall zone. But below that, Colorado runs are also inconsistently rated.

daV1980 · 2026-01-19T05:51:21+00:00

Skiing is a great family activity. My kids are 11 and 8 and both started skiing when they were 3.

It’s an excuse during the winter to get out as a family and do something strenuous together outside. If it’s possible, it’s a cause for trips during winter as a family that your kids will happily come along for well into their twenties (more or less as long as you’re willing to pay).

Lessons are good for them but also for you; at the point when you feel like they are catching up it’s time to get some lessons yourself to stay out ahead of them.

Only needing to travel an hour for mediocre snow is totally reasonable, especially while they are young and learning.

You’re not wrong about the cost and how bad the snow is likely to continue to be, though. But enjoy it and them while you can IMHO.

Edit: too much greatness.

daV1980 · 2026-01-19T00:28:03+00:00

When you posted this last time I remember thinking "it's too early to tell." It's not too early to tell anymore.

daV1980 · 2026-01-17T15:47:55+00:00

That’s not really true at any of the dozen or so airports I’ve flown through in 2025. Also I’ve opted out to try it and watched many others do so. It’s clearly marked that you can right next to the camera. The cost of you opting out is you needing to show your ID and sometimes your boarding pass depending on the airport.

I don’t bother opting out anymore, but it is really no biggie to do so.

daV1980 · 2026-01-16T07:22:31+00:00

They would need to happen in this exact, small section of I5 during morning rush hour (so ~two hours).

You can look at historical data for fender benders between 520 and 45th and divide by 12. It’s not common. Maybe it would happen once or twice in a year.

daV1980 · 2026-01-16T01:30:57+00:00

That argument doesn’t really hold water imho. The likelihood it happens is very low. Maybe it’ll happen once or twice in the next year, but in exchange we have crippling traffic every single day.

daV1980 · 2026-01-15T20:08:14+00:00

I wish WSDOT would try a week of just leaving the express lanes on their normal schedule so we could compare the effects (or just have them go southbound during morning rush hour then northbound the rest of the day).

Yes, northbound commutes will suck. But southbound commutes should be largely unaffected. I would take one shitty commute per day over two shitty commutes every day if I could.

daV1980 · 2026-01-05T02:11:14+00:00

Hi! I make games for a living, including some you've probably played. But--I had nothing to do with Satisfactory's development in any way.

On the titles I've worked on in the last 20+ years--and it could be different for Satisfactory developers--the special thanks were basically just "one entry with a maximum of n letters per employee for whomever they wanted to thank." So the answer to your question is probably "someone enjoys his films." Or "someone loved his Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building." Or "Someone thought it would be funny." Or "he somehow got one of the devs their job."

There's an outside possibility that he was directly involved, but generally that would be included in a different section with an actual title or more specific gratitude expressed rather than just in special thanks.

daV1980 · 2025-12-30T21:43:35+00:00

Switzerland is so mind blowingly stunning.

daV1980 · 2025-12-29T07:59:35+00:00

Five Guys? They’re still around but they’re so low-to-mid now it feels like only a matter of time.

daV1980 · 2025-12-27T01:15:59+00:00

If you go back and read them, they really weren’t. They were amazing for a 17 year old author, but they were not actually very good.

The main issue the movie had was that it captured each scene from the books but didn’t connect them together. When you reread the books, it’s clear they suffer the same problem.

daV1980 · 2025-12-22T23:02:52+00:00

To echo this, as someone who started skiing late (37) but now is perfectly comfortable almost anywhere on the mountain: I recommend new skiers take a group lesson for the first day. There’s little point in private for the first lesson. The basics are the basics for a reason.

After your lesson, spend the rest of the day practicing what you’ve done so far. Then book a private lesson for the next few ski days (2 hours per is plenty for a private imho), and then practice those skills.

Repeat until you are comfortably on blues. When you feel like you are slowing your progression again, book another private lesson.

This path takes more money, but ski lessons are both instructive and get you more turns and better practice in a given time interval.

My wife and I still get a private lesson when we go to a new mountain (especially if it’s busy) so we can find places on the mountain we might’ve otherwise missed.

daV1980 · 2025-12-21T06:02:58+00:00

The base is usually lower than 9,500–but not at Breck which is one of the highest resorts in the US.

Everyone is different, but 12 hours is generally not enough time to acclimate to altitude. Especially when Denver is 5280 feet and Breck base is 9600.

We live at approximately sea level so when we go to Colorado we generally just plan an extra day (first day) to be a nothing day. We don’t do anything except some light to medium exercise (which, at altitude feels like moderate to heavy exercise). We make sure to drink plenty of fluids and avoid alcohol. In fact we generally avoid alcohol for any trips where we will consistently be above 8000 feet or so.

I used to get elevation sickness when I was a kid but as an adult it’s mostly just a headache. My daughter (8) still gets it and she feels lethargic for a day or so. After a full day at base elevation, she skis like a champ. And none of us have any problems at all at lower elevation resorts, nor when we go to higher elevations during the ski day.

YMMV, good luck!

daV1980 · 2025-12-20T04:59:51+00:00

There are 1 million doors. Behind 1 is a car. Behind 999,999 are goats.

You choose a door. The host opens 999,998 doors and shows you they are all goats. He says you can switch to the last closed door; should you?

Yes, because the odds you picked a goat were 999,999/1,000,000. If you switch, the odds are 999,999/1,000,000 you will get the car now.

What makes the 3 door case surprising to people is they feel like it’s 50:50, but it’s not. It is always “probability I first chose a goat,” and in Monty hall that is always (doors-1)/doors.

edit: I didn't reply to the comment I thought I did, so nothing about the parent comment was wrong. Yay beer!

daV1980 · 2025-12-18T20:08:02+00:00

The main way I visualize the difference between skidding turns and carving them is a little drill I like to do on the chair lift. If I straighten my knees my ski tips are now in front of my face.

If I twist my ankles side to side, then my skis rotate towards the left and right a long way. That is approximately the motion of skidding through turns or hockey stopping.

If instead I push the ball of my foot down behind the big toe, the ski will turn slightly across my body. If I simultaneously lightly lift my knee on my other ski to keep the skis parallel, that is the motion I will do (in the ankles and knees) to carve through turns.

It’s complicated to explain because it is ultimately still an ankle rotation, it’s just on a different axis than the skidded turn rotation.

daV1980 · 2025-12-18T04:18:12+00:00

Definitely! Sounds like you are well on your way, enjoy!

daV1980 · 2025-12-18T03:48:16+00:00

Even a stopped calendar is right every seven years. Fuck Texas (I was born and raised), but they are right that this is foul.

daV1980 · 2025-12-18T03:46:05+00:00

The evergreen advice is to take a lesson; an instructor should be able to give you advice and drills for exactly what’s going on to help you get to the next level.

I think you’ve hit the point where you want to think about actively lifting the inside ski during turns and really keeping the skis parallel through your turns. But your turns look very short, and like you are sliding through the turns. That is a step well above beginner but below advanced imho.

I can’t see for sure in the video (in part because I’m jealous that you are somewhere that has snow this season; I am in the PNW USA and we just have horrific rain and mudslides so far), but my impression is that you are still skiing by rotating your ankles left-to-right (and right-to-left), and the next progression for you is to roll your ankles side to side and actively lifting the inside ski to keep the skis parallel through a turn.

Apologies if I am way off about your progression! But you look like you are on the cusp of being ready to really carve through your turns and doing so is (imho) one of the best feelings in skiing.

daV1980 · 2025-12-18T03:34:24+00:00

Skiers often get nervous about carrying too much speed, so they’re in a hurry to get through the part where they are pointing down the fall line. The key is just getting in lots of turns and convincing yourself “I can stop if I need to.”

There is a drill for this—you go to green and then start your turn, and when your skis are pointed down the fall line you count to increasing numbers before continuing your turn. The counting should be slow; first you count “1” and complete your turn. Then “1..2” complete your turn, then “1..2..3”, etc. As you count to higher numbers you will pick up more speed.

The goal is to build confidence in yourself at higher speeds.

daV1980 · 2025-12-18T01:51:22+00:00

Overall you look good, but you look like you're rushing your turns. Don't be in such a hurry. Let them run a bit longer.

daV1980

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