Reza Aslan participated in an incisive interview with Nathan Gardels of the Berggruen Institute, which I highly recommend you watch: One of the sections that resonated deeply was the discussion around “what could have worked: trade, interdependence, reform” around the 42-minute mark. Once upon a time, I believed that U.S. policymakers would come to their…

Some Simple Economics of AGI is the most important paper that has been released in years. It’s quite long, but the implications are tectonic for individuals’ lives and livelihoods. At bottom, the chokepoint ahead is human capacity to oversee and verify the coming tsunami of AI output. We are moving from an era where our…

I’ve been training BJJ for a while now, and I’ve been pretty terrible about tracking my mat time. I have a composition book filled with notes diligently scribbled after watching videos, participating in seminars, observing lessons while injured, etc. But the gaps between entries is measured in months. It’s embarrassing tbh and it’s holding back…

Canadian PM Mark Carney’s address to the WEF is excellent. (text below) He delivers truth about the state of the world, the failures of the United States, the need for middle powers to take action, and much else besides. I agree with him. Here’s another lie that Americans should stop living within: that the Trump…

I’ve been reading Voltaire’s Candide for Venkat Rao’s Contraptions Book Club. The theme for the year is to trace the origins of the ‘Divergence Machine’—the idea that our current era is characterized by proliferating, mutually retreating varieties of life rather than ‘convergent canonicity.’ (I must confess I am still wrapping my head around the taxonomy.)…

The Trump Administration’s actions in Venezuela overnight are a clear violation of international law, and a distillation of the era we now live in: the age of lawlessness.

I recently finished Anil Ananthaswamy’s Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI. Would I recommend it? Depends on you, tbh, and how deep down the rabbit hole you wish to go. If you’re keen to learn, Ananthaswamy is an excellent teacher. That said, after enduring hundreds of pages of math lessons and working…

I enjoyed reading the president of the Mozilla Foundation’s op-ed in today’s FT: Open source could pop the AI bubble — and soon. I don’t think open source software will be the catalyst for popping the AI bubble[^1], however I do think (a) it is one of the challenges to the current narrative that is…