It is clear that we are facing the rise of a new and profoundly disruptive technology. It’s not clear if this is going to be similar to other major disruptions or if this is unique. I’m not convinced anyone is able to honestly answer that by the way. There has been a great deal written reacting to what people perceive the challenge to be, but I’m not aware of any broad, careful, reflective scholarly engagement […]
Boozy chimps fail urine test, confirm hotly debated theory – Ars Technica In short, “We find widespread physiological evidence of the consumption of alcohol by chimpanzees,” Maro said. “If there’s any doubt about the drunken monkey hypothesis—that there’s enough alcohol in the environment for animals to experience alcohol in a way analogous to humans—it’s been cleared up. Food and alcohol evolutionarily are, as it turns out, very much connected, especially in the lives of chimpanzees.” […]
I’m spending my sabbatical time doing a deep dive into how Machine Learning and Large Language Models (LLM) work and what the implications might be for all of us in the next few years. I came across this insight just now: AI’s Uneven Arrival – Stratechery by Ben Thompson: because they lack the ability to think and decide and verify they are best thought of as a tool for humans to leverage. Indeed, while conventional […]
Altruism improves happiness and well-being, research finds – The Washington Post: “Finding joy in helping others is fundamental to who we are as a species,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. American volunteering and charitable giving have been on the decline in recent years. But helping others may set up a positive feedback loop: Because doing good feels good, altruism can beget more altruism and better well-being. “If […]
Lovely bit of reasoning at the end of this long, well presented article: Quantum information theorists are shedding light on entanglement, one of the spooky mysteries of quantum mechanics: What my colleagues and I proposed is that this quantum [entanglement] results from the relativity principle, which (again) states the laws of physics are the same for all observers with different orientations in space. If the electron with a vertical spin in the up direction were […]
There’s a great discussion in this morning NYTimes newsletter on why we’re seeing such a divided and divisive response to vaccination. The short version is that the CDC and public policy issued strict guidelines in what is actually a much more nuanced situation. The piece discusses what it means to US culture that our national guidelines for children’s COVID vaccinations were a global outlier – with the CDC taking a much more aggressive stance than […]
‘Places of the living’: bishop of Norwich calls for churchyards to be rewilded | Anglicanism | The Guardian: Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich: “My dream is that churchyards will be places of the living, not just the dead.” A paper submitted to the synod meeting in London says there is “noticeable biodiversity potential” within churchyards. However, it adds, “these places carry significance for the communities that surround them … Their significance and primary role […]
Over the years, as I’ve studied the conversation between Science and Theology, it’s been clear that whatever perceived divide there is between the two, the width of that divide varies regionally. And in my experience one form of Applied Philosophy (either Science or Theology) is privileged in the US over the other depending which side the region was on during the Civil War. Essentially one region, the South insisted on a particular hemenuetic (method of […]
Newly discovered cosmic megastructure challenges theories of the universe | Space | The Guardian: Astronomers have discovered a ring-shaped cosmic megastructure, the proportions of which challenge existing theories of the universe. The so-called Big Ring has a diameter of about 1.3bn light years, making it among the largest structures ever observed. At more than 9bn light years from Earth, it is too faint to see directly, but its diameter on the night sky would be […]
Study of wide binary stars reveals new evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration: Chae concludes, “At least three independent quantitative analyses by two independent groups reveal essentially the same gravitational anomaly. The gravitational anomaly is real, and a new scientific paradigm shift is on its way.” The observed gravitational anomaly is remarkably well consistent with the MOND-type (Milgromian) gravity phenomenology. However, underlying theoretical possibilities encompassing the MOND-type gravity phenomenology are open at present, and […]
