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Claude discovers a novel enzyme system with CRISPR-like repeats

780 points · 805 comments · raahelb

  1. evolarjun · · focus · HN ↗
    It is odd (or maybe not) that they decided to publish a marketing whitepaper rather than a more traditional journal submission + preprint. The work does appear to be sufficient for a publication, though there's a good chance a reviewer will rip into them for some of the assertions they make, but given the topic I'm sure the paper will be accepted regardless.

    The market for entry-level programmers has already declined, but at least they were somewhat in demand and made reasonable salaries. Now what happens to post-docs who already make almost nothing and often get treated like crap?

    1. stets · · focus · HN ↗
      Medical advances are more important than post docs
      1. papyrus9244 · · focus · HN ↗
        Absolutely. But without post docs, it won't be long before we are unable to understand what the LLMs are suggesting.
        1. plutomeetsyou · · focus · HN ↗
          once everyone lives to 200 yo there will be no need for post-docs - afterward we can just upload PI's brain to some AI.
          1. 6LLvveMx2koXfwn · · focus · HN ↗
            I wonder who's going to pay for that extra 120 years of living we're gonna be doing?
            1. ben_w · · focus · HN ↗
              I have no idea what prompts questions like these.

              We got to 80 without inventing money. Living that long back then was hard work every day.

              Then the industrial revolution happened, and we got state pensions at one end of life and extended childhood a few years past adolescence on the other. We currently pay for this… by taxes funding both education and a pension.

              Absent the radical transformations of an AI driven economy, we live 200 years in exactly the same way.

              With those transformations, all bets are off unless they violate the laws of physics.

              1. AngryData · · focus · HN ↗
                But the majority of people in the world are still working just as hard now as before the industrial revolution? Most of the labor rights activists of the 19th and 20th century spent their time advocating for working hours closer to their pre-industrial grandparents. Industrialization increased working hours with the promise that eventually everyone will have to work less hours once the equipment was built. And yet many generations later countries are talking about increasing retirement age, reducing worker rights, and wage theft is more prevalent than all other forms of theft combined.

                What is AI going to do that industrialization and automation hasn't already made the same promises for?

                1. solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
                  This is a horribly wrong understanding of history. If you think life today is in any way comparable to the Industrial Revolution, you need to pick up a history book because your history classes failed you.
                  1. AngryData · · focus · HN ↗
                    If you think malnourished subsidence farmers could work non-stop before industrialization then you need to think about that a bit more and aread a bit more early and pre-industrial works.
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