Links for 2022-03-25
The future of meritocracy will be outside of the rotten school system. The future is billionaire patronage. Peter Thiel's special program to bribe people to drop out of college has been a remarkable success https://www.strangeloopcanon.com/p/on-medici-and-thiel
“My big bet on the future of AI: Verbal parity” — “While everyone is focused on the question of when will general artificial intelligence come to be, there’s another milestone that will probably come earlier- verbal parity.” https://philosophybear.substack.com/p/my-big-bet-on-the-future-of-ai-verbal?s=r
“Venture capitalists are betting this is just the beginning. Funding for AI in drug discovery has risen 3,800 per cent in the past five years to $2bn” https://www.ft.com/content/3e57ad6c-493d-4874-a663-0cb200d3cdb5 [archived: https://archive.ph/wuagu]
A Q&A with Jeffrey Dukes, a Purdue University ecologist, on the impact of global warming on agriculture and the best ways for societies to manage it. [Bloomberg] https://archive.is/GiwbI
Scientific Analysis Of Michael Phelps’s Body Structure: “Athletes often envy Phelps because it’s scientifically proven that his body produces half as much lactic acid as his rivals need to process, significantly shortening his recovery time.” https://www.scienceabc.com/sports/michael-phelps-height-arms-torso-arm-span-feet-swimming.html
This New Rescue Robot Doggy AI Is Amazing! 🦮 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM-rKTOyD_k
What Tears Couples Apart: A Machine Learning Analysis of Union Dissolution in Germany https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/59/1/161/293326/What-Tears-Couples-Apart-A-Machine-Learning
Astrocyte GluN2C NMDA receptors control basal synaptic strengths of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in the stratum radiatum https://elifesciences.org/articles/70818
“Germany finds itself once again allowing a murderous dictator to run rampant in Europe, though this time it is due to incompetence and technophobia rather than malice.” https://bigthink.com/pessimists-archive/germany-nuclear-power-russia-putin/
How Putin spent millions spreading fake news about fracking https://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/putins-fake-fracking-news/
The need for more rational radiation protection standards https://atomicinsights.com/the-need-for-more-rational-radiation-protection-standards/
Ukraine has officially started using Clearview facial recognition technology. It’s identifying dead Russian soldiers, finding contacts for their family and friends and informing them of the death. [Forbes] https://archive.ph/WrFM7
Three of the French four nuclear-armed submarines are currently deployed in the oceans - normally it’s just one. Each submarine carries the equivalent of 960 to 1600 Hiroshima bombs. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/ukraine-konflikt-drei-franzoesische-atom-u-boote-im-meer-unterwegs-17905466.html
Germany should try to invite as many Ukrainian refugees (women and children) as possible. A country can never have enough culturally compatible people who are of a roughly equal or higher level of competence.
One of the biggest mistakes Germany made after WW2 was failing to help as many Vietnamese "boat people" to come to Germany as it could. Some people tried to do this, such as Alexander Gauland, a member of the far-right AfD. Had they succeeded, Germany would be significantly richer now.
If all goes well, many Ukrainians will want to go back to their country. But even if that happens, it will have been worth it to protect these people from the influence of our enemies.
We're in the year 2071. President Ding Xuexiang of Greater China has deployed the Donald J Trump drone carrier to the Black Sea. Its fusion-powered 3D printers begin to churn out millions of drones hardened with depleted uranium which the carrier extracted from seawater.