Link post
Animator needed for a molecular biology illustration project (via @kanzure)
Heidi Williams seeking a biotech VC co-author on improving university tech transfer
Foresight Vision Weekend 2023 (via @foresightinst). I’ll be speaking!
Helion has sold some fusion energy, to be delivered in 2028. Buyer: Microsoft. WSJ has coverage. My guess: the most important impact of this is to focus Helion employees on an external deadline. (Via @Helion_Energy, @sama)
Hannah Ritchie’s new book: Not the End of the World, “an optimistic, data-driven look at how we solve our environmental problems” (via @_HannahRitchie)
ThereCraft has a 20-lb drone that can carry 10 lbs of cargo 180 miles
Patrick Collison interview with Sam Altman. And a summary
Derek Lowe on a promising trial of an mRNA-based cancer treatment
Anthropic’s Claude gets ~75k-word context length (via @finmoorhouse)
OpenAI attempts to use GPT-4 to explain individual neurons in GPT-2 (via @blader)
What’s the most wonderful textbook you’ve ever read? (@michael_nielsen)
Max Roser crowdsourcing suggestions for improvements to Our World in Data
Can desalination plants be started and stopped (to use intermittent power)?
Is there any sense of economic “waste heat?”
Average number of math authors per paper 1900–2000?
“What man has done, cannot man aspire to?”
In praise of clear thinking: “it makes life easier for those who disagree with you”
We eradicated smallpox for less than the cost of one mile of subway today in NYC
Why does it seem easier for humans to drive than fly, but opposite for machines?
Build a canal from the sea the desert, create a new lake. No, it’s not the Salton Sea
Why don’t whales get more cancer? Maybe their cells are good at DNA repair
Classics + progress studies would be a powerful curriculum. Maybe like this?
“Machine Assisted Thought”, a seminar on AI for middle and high school students
Kevin Kelly writing a book on feasible, desirable AI-enabled futures for humanity
An inadvertent, uncontrolled experiment in reverse geoengineering
The idea of a social tradeoff between GDP and “traditional values” is wrongheaded
Outlier events drive policy conversations, but solving for outliers makes bad policy
“Average” does not mean “typical.” The average Canadian lives in the US
Joyce Carol Oates reacts to Derik Parfit’s ideas about bereavement
The inexorable decrease in kids’ ranges
Kondratieff waves
Progress links and tweets, 2023-05-16
Link post
Opportunities
Animator needed for a molecular biology illustration project (via @kanzure)
Heidi Williams seeking a biotech VC co-author on improving university tech transfer
Announcements
Foresight Vision Weekend 2023 (via @foresightinst). I’ll be speaking!
Helion has sold some fusion energy, to be delivered in 2028. Buyer: Microsoft. WSJ has coverage. My guess: the most important impact of this is to focus Helion employees on an external deadline. (Via @Helion_Energy, @sama)
Hannah Ritchie’s new book: Not the End of the World, “an optimistic, data-driven look at how we solve our environmental problems” (via @_HannahRitchie)
ThereCraft has a 20-lb drone that can carry 10 lbs of cargo 180 miles
Links
Patrick Collison interview with Sam Altman. And a summary
Derek Lowe on a promising trial of an mRNA-based cancer treatment
Anthropic’s Claude gets ~75k-word context length (via @finmoorhouse)
OpenAI attempts to use GPT-4 to explain individual neurons in GPT-2 (via @blader)
Queries
What’s the most wonderful textbook you’ve ever read? (@michael_nielsen)
Max Roser crowdsourcing suggestions for improvements to Our World in Data
Can desalination plants be started and stopped (to use intermittent power)?
Is there any sense of economic “waste heat?”
Average number of math authors per paper 1900–2000?
Quotes
“What man has done, cannot man aspire to?”
In praise of clear thinking: “it makes life easier for those who disagree with you”
Tweets & threads
We eradicated smallpox for less than the cost of one mile of subway today in NYC
Why does it seem easier for humans to drive than fly, but opposite for machines?
Build a canal from the sea the desert, create a new lake. No, it’s not the Salton Sea
Why don’t whales get more cancer? Maybe their cells are good at DNA repair
Classics + progress studies would be a powerful curriculum. Maybe like this?
“Machine Assisted Thought”, a seminar on AI for middle and high school students
Kevin Kelly writing a book on feasible, desirable AI-enabled futures for humanity
An inadvertent, uncontrolled experiment in reverse geoengineering
The idea of a social tradeoff between GDP and “traditional values” is wrongheaded
Outlier events drive policy conversations, but solving for outliers makes bad policy
“Average” does not mean “typical.” The average Canadian lives in the US
Joyce Carol Oates reacts to Derik Parfit’s ideas about bereavement
Charts
The inexorable decrease in kids’ ranges
Kondratieff waves