😷The best: the weirding world, AI & it's malcontents; attention capital & wealth++ #38
Why the world gets weird; the Doomsday invention; talking to AIs; self-driving cars and improving cities; our attention and why we should protect it; privacy, wealth & the biocode.
EV grows by referrals. Please recommend: twtr | fb | genie
Not following me on Twitter? Just do it! 😀
Special note: I have been ill & bed-bound this week with a strep throat and accompanying fever. During a brief moment of lucidity, I’ve compiled 12 of the top 1000 or so stories featured in EV.
Hope this gives you something approximating good service for a Sunday; and apologies, again. I’ll try to get back to regular programming next week.
If you are a new subscriber to EV, check out the archive of past issues. (Last week’s issue is particularly good.)
Dept of the best-of-the-best
😮 Why the world is getting weirder by Steve Coast (founder of Open StreetMap). Excellent explanation: technology and experience leaving only bizarre edge cases unaddressed. The weirding will continue.
🌟 The Doomsday invention: the New Yorker on Nick Bostrom, artificial intelligence and existential risk. STUNNING LONG READ (est 40 mins, make the time, you deserve it)
👾Stephen Wolfram on how we should talk to AIs. (Moderately technical).
⏱Time capital is our most scarce commodity: time to accept it and adapt; argues EV reader, Albert Wenger. EXCELLENT
😫“I’m so tired of this shit”: the Internet needs an off switch. Maciej Ceglowski’s blistering plea on the Internet, privacy, ads and business models. Unmissable, must read
🚗Networked intelligence and the self-driving car, by me.
🌆 Imagining the driverless city: less traffic, more walking, better housing or longer commutes & streets buzzing like video games. What does the driverless city look like?
🙊How to protect your privacy. EXPERT advice from Edward Snowden. (Also the Fernstein photo essay on the history of privacy is quite cool.)
💰The origin of wealth: Eric Beinhocker brilliantly applies complexity theory and network theory to economic design. Strongly recommended.
🍃 Understanding the biocode. Human genomics is just the beginning. What about the rest of the planet’s DNA?
➰The future of the Web looks like bitcoin.
🐣Consciousness, here, there and everywhere. Tononi and Koch’s new theory of consciousness. This is the hardest piece ever featured on Exponential View.
End notes
Again, a huge apology for not being able to get out a proper EV this week. I was just too sick to do much but sleep & watch 1980s movies for the past 2-3 days (Airplane, Trading Places & Coming to America, if you were wondering). Thanks for sticking with me!
See you next week!!