The Scientist and the A.I.-Assisted, Remote-Control Killing Machine [ungated] – “Israeli agents had wanted to kill Iran’s top nuclear scientist for years. Then they came up with a way to do it with no operatives present.”[1,2] [T]here really was a kill…
Paris is taking space back from cars. Here’s how.
The Liberation of Paris From Cars Is Working – “The French capital is quickly cutting automobiles out of daily life. David Belliard is the deputy mayor behind it.”[1,2] (previously) Over the past six years, Paris has done more than almost any city in t…
It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile
Enough with the GDP — it’s time to measure genuine progress – “Unlike GDP, the Genuine Progress Indicator is designed to measure economic performance from the perspective of ordinary American households, not corporations or Wall Street investors.”[1,2]…
The Innovation of Modular Housing: How Buildings Learn Pattern Languages
Apartments Built on an Assembly Line [ungated] – “The pandemic put a general crimp in housing construction, but made a California factory that churns out prefabricated housing extra busy.”[1,2] Mr. Holliday, who co-founded the factory with Larry Pace, …
Digital Light
Meet the Little-Known Genius Who Helped Make Pixar Possible [ungated] – “Alvy Ray Smith helped invent computer animation as we know it—then got royally shafted by Steve Jobs. Now he’s got a vision for where the pixel will take us next.”[1,2,3] Pixel is…
Does physics require a continuum?
Finitism and Physics – “A brief precis: Gravitational collapse limits the amount of energy present in any space-time region. This in turn limits the precision of any measurement or experimental process that takes place in the region. This implies that …
data rule everything around me
The four most important charts in science & technology (threadreader) There’s no guarantee these trends will continue without massive public & private investment and smart regulation… but imagine if they do:
– compute power too cheap to meter
– …
“techno-authoritarian superpower” (with chinese characteristics)
China and Big Tech: Xi’s blueprint for a digital dictatorship [ungated] – “By controlling a huge volume of data, Beijing is conducting a grand experiment in 21st century authoritarian governance.” The Chinese control revolution: the Maoist echoes of Xi…
Constructed Worlds, Group Beliefs and Narrative Consciousness
Three Simple Policy Heuristics – “The most important thing to understand is this: Harm ripples, kindness ripples. People you hurt go on to hurt other people. People who are treated with kindness become better people, or more prosperous people, and go o…
Common Prosperity
Vaccinated Democratic Counties Are Leading the Economic Recovery – “The 520 counties Biden won account for fully 71% of U.S. gross domestic product, while the 2,564 that Trump carried produced just 29%. In other words, America’s economic engine is blue…