Links for 2022-01-05
Lisp as the Maxwell’s equations of software https://michaelnielsen.org/ddi/lisp-as-the-maxwells-equations-of-software/
A Global Catastrophe This Century: “Metaculus predictions suggest that there is an 18% chance a global catastrophe will happen this century, and they indicate that there’s an 3.7% chance such a catastrophe will nearly or completely annihilate our species.” https://www.metaculus.com/notebooks/8736/a-global-catastrophe-this-century/
The Finite Nature Hypothesis of Edward Fredkin — "What cannot be programmed cannot be physics. This is a very important idea. If a process cannot be programmed on a particular universal computer, despite having enough memory and time, then it cannot be programmed on any computer. If we can't program it on an ordinary computer, Finite Nature implies it can't be a part of physics because physics runs on a kind of computer." http://www.bottomlayer.com/bottom/finite-all.html
A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed For Human Children https://www.sciencealert.com/cuttlefish-can-pass-a-cognitive-test-designed-for-children
China's 'artificial sun' smashes 1000-second fusion world record https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-12-31/China-s-artificial-sun-smashes-1000-second-fusion-world-record-16rlFJZzHqM/index.html
The earliest moment in the history of the Universe where our current theories work is 10^-43 sec after the Big Bang. This is the shortest amount of time that we can probe in the lab with our current knowledge, and the time at which gravity was formed for the first time in an unknown manner. http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/cosmo/lectures/lec20.html
Scott Alexander paid close attention reviewing the movie "Don't Look Up". The message of the movie might not be what you thought. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/movie-review-dont-look-up
Astronomers publish map showing 25,000 supermassive black holes https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2021/02/astronomers-publish-map-showing-25000-supermassive-black-holes
“It’s something of a miracle that gas is only $2 per gallon and cheaper than any other liquid consumers buy” — "We should also thank America’s risk-taking petropreneurs who spent billions of dollars and many decades trying to “crack the code” that eventually unlocked oceans of unconventional oil trapped in shale rock formations miles below the ground that had previously been inaccessible. Thanks at least in part to the revolutionary drilling technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, we now have the cheapest gas in history when adjusted for increased fuel economy and higher wages." https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/something-miracle-gas-2-per-gallon-cheaper-liquid-consumers-buy/
Cal State Set to Abandon SAT, ACT in Latest Blow to Standardized Tests https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-12-16/cal-state-set-to-abandon-sat-act-in-latest-blow-to-standardized-tests
Background: 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%932021_China%E2%80%93India_skirmishes