Skip to content
The Daily Triptych252 / 365

9 SEP 2026

Day 252

We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.

John Berger · Ways of Seeing
Multiple painted panels showing the Virgin and saints, now separated between museums in Milan and Paris.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Polyptych of Assumption

Moretto da Brescia · 1529 · Oil paint on canvas

An altarpiece painted for a mountain basilica, dismantled after three centuries, and divided between Milan and Paris in an exchange that valued five paintings against five.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Preference Optimization with DPO

alignment/safety · Direct Preference Optimization · arXiv 2305.18290

A preference pair and a classification loss replace the reward model and the RL loop. The same model that generates text turns out to carry an implicit reward inside it.

Enter lesson 7 MIN

Written before source checking was enforced · facts in this lesson are unverified

A young woman in profile stands beside an open window, head bent over a letter held in her hands. On the wall behind her hangs a painting of Cupid.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window

Johannes Vermeer · 1658 · Oil on canvas

A woman stands at a window with a letter. For centuries a blank wall stood behind her. Restoration has returned the Cupid Vermeer painted there — and changed what the scene may mean.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

The daily email

Four lessons in your inbox, every morning at seven.

One object, one idea, one masterpiece, one game. Deep links to that day’s pages. Unsubscribe with one click, any time.