Today’s selection of articles:
- “The new intelligence“, by Nan Li (World Positive, 2018-06-26). This article argues that regression-based artificial intelligence is a fundamentally different model of artificial intelligence than that envisaged by researchers and developers in the mid-1900s, one less tethered to limitations imposed by human methods and logic.
- “How Google’s AI viewed the move no human could understand“, by Cade Metz (Wired, 2016-03-14). A retrospective (in more ways than one) on AlphaGo’s now-famous Move 37.
- “Lessons learned from my journey as a self-taught developer“, by Victor Cassone (freeCodeCamp, 2018-07-09). This article seems a sincere and insightful encouragement to others seeking to develop themselves. Thanks, Victor.
- “Free cash, no strings attached“, by Alieza Durana (Slate, 2018-07-10). An interview with Annie Lowrey on universal basic income. I found the interview jejune. Doing our own inquiries into the issues the interview tries to discuss might be interesting.
- “If the universe is 13.8 billion years old, how can we see 46 billion light years away?“, by Ethan Siegel (Medium, 2018-03-02). Or, how to think like a cosmologist.
- “These cookware companies are making it easy to shop for high-quality pots and pans“, by Leah Bhabha (Vogue, 2018-07-11).
- “These terrifying stories are more evidence ‘nice guys’ are full of shit“, by Miles Klee (Mel Magazine, 2018-07-09). It’s always enlightening, if sometimes painful, to know how we come across to others. It might reveal something about us to ourselves. In reference to the focus of this article, permit me to posit the following: There are people in this world who are awkward in their interactions with others, who are trying, more or less successfully, more or less constructively, to navigate the turbulent waters of social life. As members of society, and its smaller communities, instead of publicly mocking and shaming awkward expressions (especially easy to do in the age of the internet), we could try to help our fellow human. Permit me to posit also: Sometimes people might be too far gone — too angry, too abusive — for us to help, let alone safely help. Don’t put yourself in danger. At the same time, let’s remember that these situations are almost always the result of many years of unattended issues. And perhaps we, as members of society, share in the blame of allowing the situation to go so long unattended.
- “I know what incarceration does to families. It happened to mine.“, by Michiko Kakutani (NY Times, 2018-07-13).
- “Balanced funds don’t inspire fear or greed. That’s why they are so useful.“, by Tim Gray (NY Times, 2018-07-13).
- “Have the tech giants grown too powerful? That’s an easy one“, by John Herrman (NY Times, 2018-07-11).
- “A fight for men’s rights, in California courts“, by Katherine Rosman (NY Times, 2018-07-13).
- “What Elon Musk should learn from the Thailand cave rescue“, by Zeynep Tufekci (NY Times, 2018-07-14). Sincere thoughts on hubris and humility. “[W]hen thu doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right doeth”.
A few random things I learned this weekend:
- “Hard” soaps like dish soap can damage the finish of cars (bikes, etc.). To protect the finish, use milder soaps of dedicated auto cleaners. Consumer Reports includes this among other tips, in “How to was your car” (2017-05-09).
- The position of your elbows during arm curls affects which part of your bicep you work out. Elbows apart works the inner biceps; elbows in works the outer biceps.
- If you want other people to learn something, get them to ask the questions needed to learn it. For one, if they ask the question, it probably means they’re motivated to learn (and listening to your response). For another, while forcing “learning” down someone else’s throat might get your point across, it’ll also almost surely lead to resentment (and possibly rejection of your point, for emotional reasons).
thegraywolff 