Links for 2021-10-05
Nines of safety: a proposed unit of measurement of risk — Terence Tao proposes “an alternate system of units to measure one class of probabilities, namely the probabilities of avoiding some highly undesirable outcome, such as death, accident or illness.” https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2021/10/03/nines-of-safety-a-proposed-unit-of-measurement-of-risk/
Was the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution? — “A century passed between James Watt’s patent—the first revolutionary “general purpose technology”—and its maximum realization in TFP growth….We may not even yet be reaping the benefits of the “IT revolution” that began forty years ago.” daviskedrosky.substack.com/p/was-the-industrial-revolution-the
Yale study: magic mushrooms may grow connections between brain cells https://www.freethink.com/health/mushrooms-grow-dendritic-spines
The fallacy of using observational study to guide medical treatment: about 40% of medical procedures and drugs reported as not useful https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/09/27/the-fallacy-of-using-observational-study-to-guide-medical-treatment-about-40-of-medical-procedures-and-drugs-arent-useful/
“In purple-crowned fairy-wrens, childless helpers risk their necks to defend group members from predators. How could such a tendency evolve? According to a new paper, it's all about helping kin, helping potential mates, and helping their own future helpers.” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00899-X
"Mao wished to purge the higher echelons of power...He turned to radical students, giving them licence to denounce all authority...party officials [encouraged] the youngsters to raid the homes of class enemies, stigmatized as social outcasts" […] "Some [teachers and students] were made to wear dunce caps...many were paraded around the campus...Beatings came soon enough...students egged each other on, trying to outdo each other in their demonstrations of revolutionary furor, the abuse intensified" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26073079-the-cultural-revolution
“This paper documents a set of facts about the dramatic decline in birth rates in the United States between 2007 and 2020 and explores possible explanations.” https://www.nber.org/papers/w29286
Japan’s births in 2020 lowest ever; fewest marry since WWII’s end https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14365588
Cryonics without freezers: resurrection possibilities in a Big World https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MkKcnPdTZ3pQ9F5yC/cryonics-without-freezers-resurrection-possibilities-in-a