"Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam...'They are living, programmable organisms.'...Their unique features mean that future versions of the robots might be deployed to clean up microplastic pollution in the oceans, locate and digest toxic … Continue reading Xenobots | Living Robots
Category: articles
The Lindy Effect
"The Lindy effect is a theory that the future life expectancy of some non-perishable things like a technology or an idea is proportional to their current age, so that every additional period of survival implies a longer remaining life expectancy.[1] Where the Lindy effect applies, mortality rate decreases with time.-Wikipedia contributors, "Lindy effect," Wikipedia, The … Continue reading The Lindy Effect
Ferming
Open Questions: Will agriculture by fundamentally transformed in the next decade? And if so, what are the likely health implications? We are on the cusp of the biggest economic transformation, of any kind, for 200 years. While arguments rage about plant- versus meat-based diets, new technologies will soon make them irrelevant. Before long, most of … Continue reading Ferming
I’m Not Enlisting…
—Good Liars
…You’re Going to Have to Forgive Yourself.
"If you are looking for absolution, you are going to have to forgive yourself."-Elizabeth Wurtzel, "‘I Believe in Love’: Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Final Year, In Her Own Words." Medium.com. January 8, 2020. Everything about this essay is perfect. Read it.
Hear My No
"'No’ is a word that must never be negotiated, because the person who chooses not to hear it is trying to control you.”-Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence, quoted in Mark Frauenfelder, "Protect yourself from violence." Book Freak, No. 40. December 31, 2019. "If you … Continue reading Hear My No
Sucking Black Holes
"Avoid sucking black holes of negativity in your newsroom and your writing life. They will bring you down with them......"There will be some people in every newsroom who create a whirling vortex of negativity," she told her students."They spend their time and energy (and yours) complaining, criticizing, blaming and spitting bile. Avoid them at all … Continue reading Sucking Black Holes
A Page A Day = A Book A Year
"Lately, I've been following a dictum I first heard from writing coach Donald M. Murray. "A page a day," he said, "is a book a year."As the author of more than a dozen books, Murray knew what he was talking about. A double-spaced page of prose is 250 words. Multiply that by 365 days and you could … Continue reading A Page A Day = A Book A Year
Political Parties are the Sam’s Club and Costco of Opinions
"The defining quality of an ideologue, whether on the left or the right, is to acquire one's opinions in bulk."-:Paul Graham, "The Two Kinds of Moderate." PaulGraham.com. December 2019.
Abdiel’s Party
"In my case, I found that my interest was most vividly caught by the meaning of the temptation-and-fall theme. Suppose that the prohibition on the knowledge of good and evil were an expression of jealous cruelty, and the gaining of such knowledge an act of virtue? Suppose the Fall should be celebrated and not deplored? … Continue reading Abdiel’s Party
How to Play in Secret [or Not]
"If you’re somewhere with a lot of people around, chances are one of them is playing something secret. If that seems unlikely at first, just look through one of many threads where people share the weird little games they play in their heads."-Holly Gramazio, "How to Play in Secret." Wellcome Collection. December 5, 2019. I … Continue reading How to Play in Secret [or Not]
Scalzi on Impeachment
Of course, this is just going to make Trump more, well, Trump. The man has never understood why people wouldn’t just let him be king, and narcissists never react well to blows to the ego. If you think he’s lost his shit and been completely unreasonable before, just you wait. Things are going to get … Continue reading Scalzi on Impeachment
Chaotic Principles or Robert’s Rules of Disorder
Chaotic Principle No. I: Divest yourself of expectations.Chaotic Principle No. II: You will never be totally in control.Chaotic Principle No. III: Be a fool, not a sadist. You should be able to take it as well as dish it out. Chaotic Principle No. IV: Allow people the validity of their own emotions (humor is a … Continue reading Chaotic Principles or Robert’s Rules of Disorder
The Watchers Are Watching
"For brands, following someone’s precise movements is key to understanding the “customer journey” — every step of the process from seeing an ad to buying a product. It’s the Holy Grail of advertising, one marketer said, the complete picture that connects all of our interests and online activity with our real-world actions.Once they have the … Continue reading The Watchers Are Watching
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