In short: reality is a messy place. I think we overrated intelligence, or misread what it is. Here’s how I’d define it. We hold a… Read More »Clifford Sosin (and Harold Ableson) on the limits to (artificial) intelligence
TL;DR: In case you came in late… progress is possible! The number of people living in extreme poverty – both as a percentage of global… Read More »Not long ago; or, Little by little (12): Armentano, Niehaus and Vogl on How Poverty Fell
Disclaimer: I am not much of a climber, nor am I a rope-access technician, nor have I sailed much beyond dingies. Don’t trust your life… Read More »Driverless Crocodile Knot Course (1): Foundations – The One Knot; or, The Overhand Variations
Auto flush is commonplace, and I assume you’re familiar with the gamification of urination by way of artfully placed fly transfer, designed to help users… Read More »Design Matters (25): Wingèd Urinal à la Toto with istinja spout; or, Fount of Knowledge
Arendt wrote the prologue to The Human Condition not long after the successful launch of Sputnik raised the first realistic prospect of humanity taking its… Read More »Hannah Arendt on science, language, politics and our future machine overlords
It would be no surprise to me if it came as no surprise to you that running a leaf blower for thirty minutes produces far… Read More »Fact check: Comparing Leaf Blower Carbon Emissions with Pollution from Cars
Here’s Stephenson, from his Substack: Speaking of the effects of technology on individuals and society as a whole, Marshall McLuhan wrote that every augmentation is… Read More »Neal Stephenson on augmentation as amputation
The latest book review from The Psmiths (Jane, this time) is itself an excellent read. As she says, “forget everything you think you know about… Read More »Jane Psmith on Cargo Cults, local politics and mutual misunderstanding
… over the next six years Euclid will observe the shapes, distances and motions of billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. By doing… Read More »A sense of proportion; or, Here’s Euclid looking at
Writing good documentation is key infrastructure work. Remove documentation, or fail to provide it, and your products cease to exist, their inner workings left to… Read More »Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti: Docs as code, Docs as infrastructure, Docs as product