Live data from Hacker News

USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

usgs.gov

11–20 of 237 posts

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#11

Love to see a project that uses bog standard ML techniques and doesn't call them AI. Respect.

Quoth the article:

  The USGS predictive model provides the first estimate of total lithium present in Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas, using machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence.

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#12

Love to see a project that uses bog standard ML techniques and doesn't call them AI. Respect.

Nothing bog standard about contemporary ML. If anything calling it AI is underselling it.

This is what it was called back in the day. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02478259

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#13

Serious question: Given the mood alerting properties of lithium, are people living here chiller than would be expected (controlling for instance for poverty / SES) ?

Potentially. See "Lithium in drinking water linked with lower suicide rates" [1].

[1] https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/lithium-in-drinking-water-linked-...

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#14

Love to see a project that uses bog standard ML techniques and doesn't call them AI. Respect.

When the tide goes out on the AI hype there’s going to be a lot of companies currently using expensive API calls for simple classification tasks that will be quietly revamped to use a simple CNN.

ML is a toolbox of methods. Not every problem needs a transformer.

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#15
post #11

Love to see a project that uses bog standard ML techniques and doesn't call them AI. Respect.

Quoth the article: The USGS predictive model provides the first estimate of total lithium present in Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas, using machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence.

I was disappointed in that line. They could’ve mentioned it used a random forest, which is much more informative. “ML is a type of AI” isn’t even a cocktail party understanding of the topic.

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#16
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoth the article: The USGS predictive model provides the first estimate of total lithium present in Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas, using machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence.

I was disappointed in that line. They could’ve mentioned it used a random forest, which is much more informative. “ML is a type of AI” isn’t even a cocktail party understanding of the topic.

For a layperson, this is an accessible and directionally correct definition.

For the HN audience, of course this is 'technically incorrect'.

The article was written for the (larger) general public.

I am also glad they didn't squeeze in a word salad of LLMs and quantum technology and instead stuck to 'it's just standard ML'.

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#17
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that the presence of lithium in the groundwater is in trace amounts if at all, while the dosing of lithium is in the domain of ~300mg. A casual search for the quantity of lithium in brine from a mine shows a max of 1400ppm for a rich mine in Chile[1] so drinking straight brine wouldn't get you anywhere near the therapeutic dose. Good question! [1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01…

1400 ppm is one part in 700, so you'd get your dose from one cup (250 ml) of that brine. I agree it's not likely you'd get a measurable effect from the local groundwater.

[deleted]

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#18

Serious question: Given the mood alerting properties of lithium, are people living here chiller than would be expected (controlling for instance for poverty / SES) ?

Potentially. See "Lithium in drinking water linked with lower suicide rates" [1]. [1] https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/lithium-in-drinking-water-linked-...

I would assume any positive effects are balanced out by living in Arkansas.

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potentially. See "Lithium in drinking water linked with lower suicide rates" [1]. [1] https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/lithium-in-drinking-water-linked-...

I would assume any positive effects are balanced out by living in Arkansas.

[flagged]

Re: USGS uses machine learning to show large lithium potential in Arkansas

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potentially. See "Lithium in drinking water linked with lower suicide rates" [1]. [1] https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/lithium-in-drinking-water-linked-...

I would assume any positive effects are balanced out by living in Arkansas.

My only experience with Arkansas was waking up to a speeding ticket at 3 in the morning. Who puts out a speed trap at 3 in the fucking morning?

But if it’s anything like Oklahoma…

Post reply on HN