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0/ we should be answering so many curiosity questions with ai research right now. some I have below! If it’s been done pls tell me 1/ when do algos get upgraded ? Use AI-assisted code parsing to scan open-source history, detect algorithm implementations, and track when they’re replaced. Example: MD5 vanished from major projects as SHA-256 takes over, quicksort swapped out for introsort or timsort in language libraries. 2/ what code dialects exist? Use AI to extract and compare style and structure patterns across thousands of projects, grouped by type—scientific computing (NumPy, Bioconductor), games (Godot, libGDX), data pipelines (Airflow, Luigi), embedded systems (FreeRTOS, Arduino sketches). 3/ What drug side effects have vanished from modern records? Run AI over pre-1960 medical literature, then cross-reference with today’s databases to uncover what’s been lost. Eg: old quinine reports linking it to hearing loss 4/ What happens to trade networks when the world changes overnight? Use AI to pull artifact dates, origins, materials from excavation reports, museum catalogs. Eg trace how obsidian sources in Mesoamerica shifted after Teotihuacán’s collapse Or export controls on GPUs. Too soon? 5/ Give model a historical account with both real and fake details, then have it fact-check itself repeatedly. See which falsehoods persist and how the story changes. Example: slip a bad date for the fall of Constantinople into text, track whether it survives over retellings Oh this isn’t AI but: an extension to @natfriedman plastics project: test how packaging leaches chems under real-world use. sitting in fridge for days, reheating, repeated washing. we need to know not just what has plastic, but when it gets into us. Asking for a friend 😢