Branch3D | Senior Developer (Full-stack), 3D Design engineer, Growth lead | Vancouver (REMOTE, North America / South America) | Full-time
Branch is taking on real-time structural design and analysis. Design software for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) has been archaic for too long, and we're building a novel 3d structural modeling and design tool with real-time design feedback and performance as a focus. We're taking ambitious technical swings! Our team is less than 10, we're incubated within a larger structural engineering firm and leveraging real project expertise. We're in pilot programs with key customers right now, and hiring to scale out to a larger audience. Your ideas will help shape the future of how our product evolves, regardless of role.
We're looking for folks with deep technical experience for developer roles (AEC background not required), or deep industry experience for the GTM side of things. In particular, our design engineer role focuses on a mix of 3d design & front-end experience, with a focus on quality.
If Branch sounds like your jam, apply via email - dcascaval@branch3d.com, HN in the subject line. Include a resume, any open source or portfolio projects if applicable, and a couple sentences of relevant experience.
This is pretty similar to the caching used by the Grasshopper3d visual programming environment, which also deals with 3d geometry: https://www.grasshopper3d.com/
It's a crucial optimization to enable the kind of live programming environment you're talking about here, especially since some nodes ("components") are much more expensive to execute than others. The DAG of the program is laid out in the workspace, and it means users can smoothly drag sliders downstream even if re-executing the whole program from scratch would be prohibitively expensive. It's a lovely way to iterate on creative visual programs.
This strikes me as kind of ironic -- you'd think a language model would do better on questions like essay prompts and multiple choice reading comprehension questions regarding passages than it would in calculations. I wonder if there are more details about these benchmarks somewhere, so we can see what's actually happening in these cases.
I don't find it ironic, because a language model is (currently?) the wrong tool for the job. When you are asked to write an essay, the essay itself is a byproduct. Of course it should be factually and grammatically correct, but that's not the point. The real task is forming a coherent argument and expressing it clearly. And ideally also making it interesting and convincing.
Creators aren't worried about others getting the ability to produce. It would be fantastic if everyone could paint, sculpt, carve -- or any number of skills that must be painstakingly built. The fear is that so many things will be produced without thought that, rather than entering a period of cultural abundance, we will enter a cultural stagnation.
This is not because AI tools cannot be used to generate good art! In fact we'll likely see artists adjust their process to take advantage of its strengths. Rather, it's because these tools are used to generate art (whether good, or mediocre) completely automatically, rendering art as a commodity rather than something special to treasure. If you see art as a means to an end then this might seem good. But part of the sheer power of art is in its scarcity; in the rarity encouraging us to take the time to investigate something more deeply, to build up relationships with art and artists, to find meaning and emotion and connection, which takes time and intention.
Imagine an AI-produced endless stream of music that takes all of its cues from your favorite songs and produces high-quality audio tuned exactly to what you like hearing. How long does this remain interesting? How difficult is it to tell this noise from new music which might later shape your tastes? Part of the stagnation this AI revolution represents is an added difficulty of cultural evolution, because instead of there being room for the truly new, we are swamped by imitations of everything that came before.
- Culture is already stagnant. In the last 10 years I can't think of a single movement or trend that isn't about politics, and certainly nothing "refreshing". More than that, we have a calcified hubris towards new technology that means we don't even bother figuring out how it might impact us, nor how to use it properly.
- We will get swamped with garbage content, and we will personalize all content (like generated music streams). We will stop hiring models, photographers, concept artists, musicians, writers, domain expert consultants, actors, etc.
- This will trigger an existential crisis for many people (I know, do we really need more of that?). I don't want to be snarky or mean, but I also think putting it this way might get the point across as a proverb: "Artists" who thought they could get away with drawing anime waifus and uploading them to DeviantArt or social media for likes and commissions will have to face the fact that they're not wanted or needed. That goes for almost the entire creator and influencer economy. That brand of narcissism and delusion will get punched in the face repeatedly by AI, because everyone will be generating their own special waifus without them.
Artists who want to create something new will be able to use AI to find the negative space where they can differentiate themselves. This dynamic of despair and searching might lead to a kind of renaissance.
The potential for renaissance is there, but it'll probably be very painful, and I don't think anyone currently even knows what it would look like.
>Imagine an AI-produced endless stream of music that takes all of its cues from your favorite songs and produces high-quality audio tuned exactly to what you like hearing
That sounds pretty awesome actually, but keep in mind that my tastes don't stay the same over a given day. At work I need something that helps me focus, when driving I want something that calms me down and if I ever get my ass in the gym I want something that pumps me the fuck up.
I would also expect an AI that did this to slightly alter it to what I was doing better and better. What it would not do is take into account what others liked, or what it got paid to promote (hello radio and probably Spotify).
I found the next two books in the trilogy (The Dark Forest, Death's End) to go much more in depth on the sci-fi aspect; if you're willing to suspend a little disbelief the story is constantly engaging and quite thought-provoking. While the style is different from Stephenson's I think anyone who enjoys Stephenson's books would enjoy the journey and perspective this series offers too!
Branch is taking on real-time structural design and analysis. Design software for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) has been archaic for too long, and we're building a novel 3d structural modeling and design tool with real-time design feedback and performance as a focus. We're taking ambitious technical swings! Our team is less than 10, we're incubated within a larger structural engineering firm and leveraging real project expertise. We're in pilot programs with key customers right now, and hiring to scale out to a larger audience. Your ideas will help shape the future of how our product evolves, regardless of role.
We're looking for folks with deep technical experience for developer roles (AEC background not required), or deep industry experience for the GTM side of things. In particular, our design engineer role focuses on a mix of 3d design & front-end experience, with a focus on quality.
Postings with more details at https://www.branch3d.com/careers.
If Branch sounds like your jam, apply via email - dcascaval@branch3d.com, HN in the subject line. Include a resume, any open source or portfolio projects if applicable, and a couple sentences of relevant experience.