(Brain Ticklers, Ed. 48) A tapestry of articles serving as a beacon of our world
Inspiresting links for March 2024 that [carnivas thinks] will tickle the brains [of his (purportedly) intelligent friends].
Hail, good companions! Mayhap, life's gentle touch finds thee in good stead. Verily, the hours have lengthened in this passing month, for the burdens of life and toil did beset me. Yet, I hold fast to the belief that within these pages lies a trove of articles designed to stir thy intellect. Let us not tarry, but delve forthwith into their depths.
(Don’t worry. I am doing OK. On the text above: I wrote normal text and asked ChatGPT to convert it to how Shakespeare would write it. That’s all. Let’s indeed delve forthwith into the articles to stir thy intellect).
History (or its first draft)
The fastest-growing countries for software development, according to GitHub, are: Bangladesh and Nigeria.
From 1985: The real future of the laptop computer will remain in the specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still can't imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing. (What tech are we talking in such language now? Gen AI? Metaverse? Crypto?)
A note on Savarkar: India’s Hindus today are finally being cured of their perverted virtues of nonviolence, tolerance, and respect for adversaries. Ha!
Why Julius Caesar's "Year of Confusion" (46 BCE) was the longest year in history. Also: Leap years be as it may, things are still not accurate. We will run into trouble a little after 5600 CE, apparently. Humans will still exist then, no?
Mumbai’s land use regulations (Floor Area ratio and Rent caps) are designed to keep population density low. Instead, they force Mumbaikars into slums, while all of India pays the price.
In terms of irrational confidence, many people at opposite ends of the political spectrum seem to have something in common. [Here’s something I wrote long ago, with a similar theme]
Society
Data shows fully remote employees are more likely to be let go than their peers. Oops.
Parents (who fear their child will fall behind their peers) turn to AI tablets after China’s tutor crackdown
The most civilized place to look for news online might now be Reddit. (I have tried to use Reddit like some thousand times, and did again after this article, but alas, dropped off one more time)
The nature of the food production process (organic vs. non-organic) influences food waste aversion. There is lower waste aversion towards organic food. This is driven by the decreased perception of environmental harm associated with wasting organic food.
America’s Religious ‘Nones’ aren't antagonistic to religion, after all.
Our concepts of time are based on our understanding of physical space, with some surprising cultural variations. If your Wednesday meeting has been moved forward by two days, when is it? On Monday or Friday? (If you have a third answer, please write back. We need to talk).
Cousin marriage is probably fine in most cases, says this Economist article. (My advice: Don't believe it)
Our big assumption is that work is how we contribute to society. We assume, uncritically, that work is what we do in exchange for the privilege of a life with relatively few discomforts. But what happens when we make life a right rather than a privilege contingent upon work? (In case you wonder: I think this is a good thought exercise, but don't subscribe to this view).
“Tapestry”, “Beacon” - are words that will get you into trouble, because ChatGPT spews them out more often, and is a "tell" that you didn't write it by yourself. (Apparently, there is a demand for content writers who can pick a ChatGPT write-up and make it sound like it is written by a human). Kudos if you realized something was amiss with the subject of this mail.
Interesting-Perspectives
A new model of leadership: Benevolent Dictator for X. (This link takes you to the second post of the series, but you will automatically go to the first when you start reading)
Far too many industries are run by people who don’t see the customer as the recipient of the value of a product or service. Example: Most of the horrifying layoffs you've seen in journalism are a result of rot economics borne of the ideas of people who can't write and don't read.
Two currently popular poison-pilled terms are enshittification (visibly increasing crappiness and blight of Web2 platforms; a kind of urban blight) coined by Cory Doctorow, and luxury belief (“an idea that confers social status on people who hold it but injures others in its practical consequences”), coined by Rob Henderson. Explains why they are poison-pilled and you better avoid using them.
Hard-hitting: Wrong cooks spoiling the scientific broth -- Says: The taste buds of the American journal are distinctly American. A paper on the “giant gravity hole in the Indian Ocean” scores way above one dealing with the perennially recurring froth in Bellandur lake in Bengaluru. The frothing lake does not attract as many eyeballs as the ocean.
Benign boundary violations. Very interesting mental model to think of, when we see conflicts.
Is race based on "genetics" or based on "lived experiences"?
Science & Technology
The next generation of privacy-invading manipulative tech is being built as we speak. By tracking a consumer’s facial expressions in response to various visual objects in real time, the system learns the consumer’s individual preferences toward different ads. Then it searches the ad pool, and selects and subsequently displays a new ad that is most likely to elicit positive attitudinal and behavioral responses.
Floppy disks are facing extinction, but musicians are still pumping out DIY music projects.
Hilarious: Bengaluru residents have been seeing words in Kannada they have never encountered before since mandating shops to have 60% usage of Kannada in name boards. Thanks to Google Translate, and ChatGPT, I suppose. Example: "Friend's food corner" became "Friends’ food is in a corner" once translated.
Finance worker pays out $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer’
An alien story: They (i.e., us) are made out of meat.
The new term in social networking - Fediverse - is very confusing. Verge tries to explain.
Urgently pivot the career plans (you devised last year) for your children: Research suggests that prompt engineering is best done by the model itself, and not by a human engineer.
Perso-Dev
An interesting list of things for rational people to strive to be/do. (from CFAR training). I found the "inner simulator" thing so appealing. Ask me if/when we meet whether I found it useful. And oh, IFS is a concept I like a lot.
Extension of the above: This is an intriguing framing effect: Assume you already know the answer to a question, and let your intuition fill in the blanks. (Don't tell anyone, but this is how I have been managing my overflowing To-Do list for a while. Instead of assigning a due date, I rely on my early morning thoughts while brushing to surface the important ones to do that day, failing which it will be too late).
A new-ish “Definition of Done” template, suitable for personal projects
Is exercising when you're sick safe? Experts Weigh In. [Added this here mostly as public service. For myself, I don't risk it even otherwise!]
Mistake/Misdeed + Apology can be net gainful to social status. I agree, and tend to operate on this mode by default.
Random
An obituary for square check boxes. I am in the camp that prefers checkboxes to be square (and multi-select) and radio/option buttons to be rounded (and single-select). The main reason I abandoned Todoist and chose Wunderlist/TickTick was for this reason. Todoist uses rounded check boxes. But if Apple is changing the paradigm, we might not be heard.
How language nerds solve crimes. Fascinating video.
There was no Jesus: How could a cult leader draw crowds, inspire devotion and die by crucifixion, yet leave no mark in contemporary records? Good question. Related: Carl Sagan's idea of "The Dragon in my Garage" to prove God exists.
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