supreme_harmony

supreme_harmony t1_jcieyt3 wrote

Reply to [N] A $250k contest to read ancient Roman papyrus scrolls with ML by nat_friedman

There was a recent attempt at reading hieroglyphs from temple walls in Egypt using ML, but that failed spectacularly.

Despite having tons of high quality training data available, being announced with much fanfare and ample funding in 2018, it got completely pulled by now and even its website has been erased.

I am struggling to find any results apart from some of the initial marketing material:

https://www.psycle.com/casestudy/hieroglyphics-initiative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfdWNY7priQ

I have briefly interacted with some people involved and the consensus was that its not realistically doable.

Therefore, although I do not doubt the good intention behind this prize, I am quite sceptical any results will come of it, as a seemingly simpler project with more resources failed to deliver.

3

supreme_harmony t1_ja4ot1d wrote

Reply to comment by ECatPlay in If the fuel that goes in car engines is extracted from hydrocarbons, which consist of only Hydrogen and Carbon, and those hydrocarbons react with Oxygen in the air (combustion reaction), to produce CO2 and H2O, why do we get a bad smell from car exhaust fumes if both gases are odorless? by Protoflare

This is a fantastic answer. The only thing I would add to the above is that no burn is ever perfect. Exhaust fumes from a car therefore also contain trace amounts of unburnt fuel and even partially burned hydrocarbons of various complexities. These are tiny amounts, but enough for our noses to pick it up.

201