# Key Ideas from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussions

• A DIY approach to chip fabrication was discussed, with Swordsman developing methods for building high-performance circuits at home at low cost (potentially reaching nanometer scale), and Kanzure sharing resources like the HomeCMOS project to make reconfigurable hardware systems more accessible.

• Brain emulation versus traditional AI approaches were contrasted, with the observation that recent advances seem to be coming more from using neuroscience to inform computational approaches rather than from traditional AI research labs.

• Documentation challenges for open source hardware projects were highlighted, with criticism of Google Docs being used instead of version-controlled repositories, and recommendations for ikiwiki and Git repositories with markdown files as superior solutions.

• Genetic engineering discussions covered BGI's work sequencing "smart people" to identify intelligence markers for IVF selection, alongside debates about the current limitations of genetic modification technology for human applications.

• The "paperbot" tool for archiving and extracting academic papers from behind paywalls was discussed, with users suggesting improvements to its filename handling capabilities.

• Performance optimization for scientific computing in Python was analyzed, with comparisons showing scipy.weave outperforming both Numba's auto JIT compiler and scipy.spatial.distance.jaccard, revealing ongoing interest in maximizing computational efficiency.

• Web tracking techniques were examined, including browser cache exploitation using unique images with long expiry times and HTTP ETag tracking, demonstrating the group's technical awareness of privacy concerns.