Solar became cheap because of manufacturing optimization.
Wind improved because of simulation.
Fusion progress is almost entirely computational.
Wind improved because of simulation.
Fusion progress is almost entirely computational.
Physics simulators are mostly three things:
particles
fields on grids
coupling between them
Almost every computational physics code reduces to those.
Plasma physics just happens to use all three heavily.
particles
fields on grids
coupling between them
Almost every computational physics code reduces to those.
Plasma physics just happens to use all three heavily.
Python physics DSL
↓
operator graph
↓
domain primitives
↓
kernel compiler
↓
GPU backend (Metal / CUDA / etc)
↓
operator graph
↓
domain primitives
↓
kernel compiler
↓
GPU backend (Metal / CUDA / etc)
fusion reactor is just a controlled plasma system where charged particles move in electromagnetic fields while turbulence tries to destroy confinement
Intelligence = finding a representation where the constraint is no longer the dominant axis of the search space.
mechanism design is basically game theory turned inside-out, where instead of solving the game, you design the incentives so the equilibrium outcome benefits you
Science is fundamentally the study of dynamical systems, and most dynamical systems in nature can be written as equations involving a small set of operators acting on fields or variables.
Humans organize knowledge by domain, but mathematics organizes it by structure.
If you construct a machine that understands equation structure, you can reorganize the entire scientific literature into a unified map of dynamical laws.
Humans organize knowledge by domain, but mathematics organizes it by structure.
If you construct a machine that understands equation structure, you can reorganize the entire scientific literature into a unified map of dynamical laws.
world as an optimization puzzle
if you zoom out, a lot of industries are basically repeated decisions + expensive resources → algorithms give huge leverage
places where this shows up:
finance
hft, options pricing, portfolio optimization, risk models, market making, arbitrage, credit scoring, fraud detection, crypto mining / mev
ads / attention
real time ad auctions, click prediction, targeting models, attribution, budget allocation, creative selection, user segmentation
search + ranking systems
web search ranking, product search, recommendation engines, social feeds, marketplace ranking, job matching
marketplaces / gig economy
driver ↔ rider matching, delivery dispatch, surge pricing, supply–demand balancing, buy box selection
logistics / transport
vehicle routing, airline fleet + crew scheduling, airline pricing, shipping packing, ports, rail routing, ride share dispatch, warehouse picking
supply chain / manufacturing
inventory optimization, demand forecasting, factory scheduling, robotics planning, predictive maintenance, chip placement, yield optimization
energy / resources
grid balancing, power markets, energy trading, battery scheduling, renewable forecasting, oil reservoir simulation, drilling optimization, pipelines
telecom / networks
internet routing, congestion control, spectrum allocation, base station handoffs, 5G resource allocation, CDN routing
media / data infra
video + image compression, streaming bitrate control, CDN cache placement, distributed query planning, indexing systems
ai infrastructure
training optimization, GPU scheduling, tensor graph optimization, inference batching, model compression, hyperparameter search
cybersecurity
anomaly detection, malware classification, intrusion detection, bot detection, crypto protocols, vulnerability prioritization
healthcare / biotech
drug discovery sims, protein structure prediction, genome alignment, medical imaging, hospital scheduling, epidemic models, clinical trials
retail / consumer
dynamic pricing, demand prediction, inventory placement, fraud detection, recommendation systems
agriculture
crop yield prediction, fertilizer optimization, irrigation scheduling, pest detection, ag robotics
cities / infrastructure
traffic lights, congestion prediction, parking allocation, transit scheduling, emergency routing
defense / aerospace
radar processing, missile guidance, satellite orbit optimization, logistics planning, target recognition
science
weather + climate simulation, particle physics analysis, fluid dynamics, materials discovery
education
adaptive learning, student performance prediction, curriculum optimization
sports
player modeling, recruitment optimization, strategy simulation
real estate
property valuation, mortgage risk, rental pricing, urban development simulation
pattern:
most valuable algorithms fall into a few archetypes
prediction
→ forecast future events from data
optimization
→ choose best action under constraints
matching / allocation
→ pair participants in a system
compression / signal processing
→ reduce cost of storing / transmitting information
control systems
→ manage dynamic physical systems
so a lot of industries look different on the surface
but underneath they’re basically the same small set of algorithmic problems repeating everywhere.
if you zoom out, a lot of industries are basically repeated decisions + expensive resources → algorithms give huge leverage
places where this shows up:
finance
hft, options pricing, portfolio optimization, risk models, market making, arbitrage, credit scoring, fraud detection, crypto mining / mev
ads / attention
real time ad auctions, click prediction, targeting models, attribution, budget allocation, creative selection, user segmentation
search + ranking systems
web search ranking, product search, recommendation engines, social feeds, marketplace ranking, job matching
marketplaces / gig economy
driver ↔ rider matching, delivery dispatch, surge pricing, supply–demand balancing, buy box selection
logistics / transport
vehicle routing, airline fleet + crew scheduling, airline pricing, shipping packing, ports, rail routing, ride share dispatch, warehouse picking
supply chain / manufacturing
inventory optimization, demand forecasting, factory scheduling, robotics planning, predictive maintenance, chip placement, yield optimization
energy / resources
grid balancing, power markets, energy trading, battery scheduling, renewable forecasting, oil reservoir simulation, drilling optimization, pipelines
telecom / networks
internet routing, congestion control, spectrum allocation, base station handoffs, 5G resource allocation, CDN routing
media / data infra
video + image compression, streaming bitrate control, CDN cache placement, distributed query planning, indexing systems
ai infrastructure
training optimization, GPU scheduling, tensor graph optimization, inference batching, model compression, hyperparameter search
cybersecurity
anomaly detection, malware classification, intrusion detection, bot detection, crypto protocols, vulnerability prioritization
healthcare / biotech
drug discovery sims, protein structure prediction, genome alignment, medical imaging, hospital scheduling, epidemic models, clinical trials
retail / consumer
dynamic pricing, demand prediction, inventory placement, fraud detection, recommendation systems
agriculture
crop yield prediction, fertilizer optimization, irrigation scheduling, pest detection, ag robotics
cities / infrastructure
traffic lights, congestion prediction, parking allocation, transit scheduling, emergency routing
defense / aerospace
radar processing, missile guidance, satellite orbit optimization, logistics planning, target recognition
science
weather + climate simulation, particle physics analysis, fluid dynamics, materials discovery
education
adaptive learning, student performance prediction, curriculum optimization
sports
player modeling, recruitment optimization, strategy simulation
real estate
property valuation, mortgage risk, rental pricing, urban development simulation
pattern:
most valuable algorithms fall into a few archetypes
prediction
→ forecast future events from data
optimization
→ choose best action under constraints
matching / allocation
→ pair participants in a system
compression / signal processing
→ reduce cost of storing / transmitting information
control systems
→ manage dynamic physical systems
so a lot of industries look different on the surface
but underneath they’re basically the same small set of algorithmic problems repeating everywhere.