1. Roger Penrose on the gravitization of quantum mechanics. Physicist Roger Penrose was on Sean Carroll’s podcast (recommended). I want to highlight a particular point Penrose made at the 1:16 mark. As you may know, the theories of gravity and quantum mechanics are not reconciled. The problem is general relativity (gravity) treats space as continuous,… Continue reading Saturday links 19-Jan-2019: Gravitization of quantum mechanics, Revolt of the public, income sharing for tuition, Big 5 personality quiz

Here’s my weekly list of links with commentary, the first for 2019. 1. Apple’s new services strategy. My new post from earlier today. I argue Apple’s shift to put their movies/TV shows/music services on other hardware platforms was a decision to commoditize the complement. link 2. Climate Change is about China. Noah Smith: “This leads… Continue reading Sunday links 13-Jan-2019: Apple services, China climate change, superstar cities, falling murder rates

I accidentally published this post yesterday with no content. Just a blank post. Sorry about that. Below is the real thing. 1. US-China, begun the cold war has. The Cold War between the US and Soviet Union ran from 1945-1990. With the arrest of the chief financial officer of Huawei (maker of networking and mobile… Continue reading Sunday Links 23-Dec-2018: US-China cold war, moving to superstar cities, internet shaming

Here’s what I’ve read recently that’s worth linking and commenting on.  1. Is bitcoin a scam, a bubble, or a (nascent) platform?  I’d answer yes, partial yes, and a maybe. Let’s go one at a time. First up: scam. Kevin Drum argues Bitcoin Is a Long Con Aimed at Those Least Able to Afford It.… Continue reading Sunday Links 16-Dec-2018: Bitcoin bubble or scam or platform, Waymo cars, population mountains

Here’s links and commentary on what I read this week. Chinese CRISPR babies tops the list. So let’s get started. 1. Embryo selection is a bigger deal than CRISPR. In a surprise announcement yesterday (Nov 25), Chinese researcher He Jiankui claimed to have created the first gene edited babies. He used CRISPR-Cas9 to disable a… Continue reading Monday Links 26-Nov-2018: embryo selection is a bigger deal than CRISPR, China panopticon, Saudi relations, software eats photography

Pleasantly surprised to find a lot of good things to read this week. Here’s my commentary on what I read. 1. Science Is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck. Excellent piece by Patrick Collison and Michael Nielsen arguing science has reached diminishing returns. More people and more money are going into it. But less progress. Some… Continue reading Saturday Links 17-Nov-2018: Stagnant science, Chinese fan economy, Qualtrics, best burgers no more

Here’s links and commentary on what I found most interesting to read this week. 1. Amazon HQ2 enters the realm of farce. Since September 2017, Amazon has held an ongoing contest to decide which city would get their new second headquarters. Now it turns out there won’t be a second headquarters. Instead Amazon will open two… Continue reading Saturday Links 10-Nov-2018: Amazon HQ2 as farce, American aDNA, Head Start, do not summon the doxxing demon

Here’s my weekly list of links and commentary. 1. Printing, Populism and Social Media. Razib Khan has a scathing take down on the ahistorical belief that the populism unleashed by social media is sui generis. I often think of what’s happening now with US politics as a return to normalcy. The post World War 2… Continue reading Monday Links 5-Nov-2018: Printing and Populism, Psychologists and free speech, new Apple maps