2 JUL 2026

Day 183

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Alan Kay · Meeting of the Palo Alto Research Center, 1971

A bronze sculpted head shown in isolation, dark metal surface, broken or truncated at the neck, presented as a museum fragment rather than a full standing figure.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Chatsworth Apollo

c. 460 BC · Bronze · Mythological sculpture

A bronze head dated to around 460 BC, held between great museum collections, and tied to an Apollo whose complete form is still treated as a hypothesis.

Enter lesson 5 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Human Feedback from Comparisons

alignment / RLHF · Christiano 2017; Ouyang 2022 · pairwise human preferences

Pairwise comparisons give trainers a cleaner signal than absolute scores. Two papers show how preference data becomes a reward model, then a policy that follows human intent more closely.

Enter lesson 7 MIN

A curtain opens onto a sunlit studio. A painter sits with his back turned at an easel; a young woman in blue stands nearer the light beneath a large wall map, holding a book and trumpet. A chandelier hangs above a tiled floor.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

The Art of Painting

Johannes Vermeer · c. 1660–1667 · Oil on canvas

A curtain is drawn aside on a lit room. A painter works with his back to us; his model stands still beneath a wall map. Nothing in the arrangement feels accidental.

Enter lesson 6 MIN