2023-08-12
Readings
Means to detect subtle variants in large protein structures: https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nanopore-technology-breakthrough-protein-variant.amp
Ancient sports that still (maybe) are played today in some form, in this case Mayan team sports:
Fine-tuning neurotransmitters in mice for (very rough-grained) behavioural control: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-dopamine-ion-channel-mice-smarter.html
Counterintuitive tunneling of sound through a vacuum: https://phys.org/news/2023-08-physicists-transmitted-vacuum.amp
A terrible acronym (and it’s annoying to feed the bayesian cult), but it’s interesting to see some efforts towards building models of the interiour of planetary bodies based on gravitational data (unclear what it would look like to validate these methods): https://phys.org/news/2023-08-method-gravity-density-anomalies-planetary.amp
A reminder that many countries (and subcommunities) still have not entirely adopted romantic marriage as their dominant form of marriage, and how important it is that they do so and entirely dismantle (actively, ideally) the older systems where parents and communities control the love lives of their youth: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/06/1188366128/india-arranged-marriage-love-commandos
Thoughts
I’ve been working through the Cyberpunk genre’s company-internationalism and trying to figure out how realistic it is to stifle the kind of company-internationalism that’s usually depicted in the fictional genre. Are fictional companies like Arasaka something we actually can avoid without just trying to avoid allowing internationals? Should we perhaps have that be an explicit goal? Maybe it would be for the best to not have international corporations - do they add efficiencies that the world needs? What would it look like to not have them?
I recently watched an animation of a set by George Carlin, a comedian from decades past, on Words that Hide the Truth (
) ; it’s a good set, and I may have even commented specifically on this in the past. I don’t remember for sure. On the case that I haven’t, I appreciate the general message and am skeptical of a lot of linguistic change, but I think his framing that the change is bad generally because it hides the truth is often oversimplistic; sometimes the older terms are actually less accurate than newer ones. Sometimes, for example, we find that intelligence or learning or something is more multifaceted than older language suspected, and so certain specific subtypes of learning-disabled might actually be something quite different than dumb (leaving both terms potentially useful to someone with Carlin-type leanings). Meaning someone could have his views at heart but prefer to have about 80% of their implementation, adopting some new terms when they actually add clarity (if that’s the goal - I actually am not entirely pragmatic that way in that I also am just generally reluctant to change terms unless they add quite a lot of clarity and have no ties to an obnoxious kind of politics)
Virgin Galactic recently sent its first set of private tourists into what technically (by some definitions) counts as space, and, just like with Antarctic tourism, I think this is something we might want to consider banning because of its environmental impact and resource spend. Or at least severely limit.
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, with little progress on either side and with continued border tensions on the border between Poland and Belarus. Ukraine continues to attempt to damage the bridge connecting Crimea and Russia, Ukraine has shown an increased willingness to go after targets in Moscow, and Russia continues to go after civilian targets.
Political pressure on the illegitimate government of Niger to restore democratic rule so far has achieved nothing, with the coup leaders promising to kill the president if military force were used to attempt to remove them, while neighbouring military dictatorships have promised solidarity with the coup’s leaders. It’s uncertain how willing neighbouring governments would be to engage in military conflict to restore the government (and risk conflict with the other illegitimate governments in the area); attempts to convince the junta to step aside have so far been unsuccessful
Ecuador presidential candidate Villavicencio assassinated at a rally; his running mate Andrea Gonzalez will take his place on the ticket
The US and Iran have reached an early arrangement to exchange some prisoners and unfreeze some economic assets; hopefully this will lead to further opening of diplomatic relations
Polls
Pew Polls on American views on racial progress ( https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/08/10/martin-luther-king-jr-s-legacy-60-years-after-the-march-on-washington/ ) - This is a grab bag of issues:
Most Americans, myself included, think MLK had a positive impact on the country. I don’t think MLK was necessary, but I think his style of activism was responsible and allowed for the mainstream to see the sensibility of his views, helping society move towards colour-blindness (The goal I believe in), bit-by-bit, generationally.
A little over half of Americans have read King’s “I have a Dream” speech. I’ve read it (in school), but again, speeches are rarely that important that long after. What’s important what they did, except when one is studying rhetoric.
About half of Americans think there’s been a great deal or fair amount of racial progress over the last 60 years. I’m in that half - I think there has been steady, strong progress, to the degree that I think it’d be nutty to pretend there has been little progress towards colour-blindness. From political to economic power to cultural shifts, it’s hard to find dimensions where major changes haven’t happened.
Pew says that many who say efforts towards equality haven’t gone far enough say several systems need to be completely rebuilt to ensure equality. I think that’s a nutty, radical perspective. Gradualism is the general way to improve society, and on race most change is generational change.
(I’ll skip the rest of the poll, which goes on for several pages, and into more detail)
Pew Poll on Taiwan ( https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/11/taiwan-seen-more-favorably-than-not-across-24-countries/ ) - This is an international poll and finds generally positive views on Taiwan across most countries covered (notably negative: India, South Africa, Brazil). My views on Taiwan are not entirely dispassionate and are probably influenced by the many close Taiwanese-American friends I’ve had over my life, as well as my general views on how nations are formed. I view Taiwan as a country, and one which we are committed to defend, like Ukraine, at any cost.
Gallup poll on figures in the news ( https://news.gallup.com/poll/509387/newsmakers-prince-william-popular-putin-least.aspx ) - I am frequently frustrated at American fascination with British royals; I suspect Disney has done this to us, and it’s also partly that they’re outside our political system so our normal partisan views don’t enter into it. I see them as useless people, more useless than even our own celebrities.
Policy Focus
There was a recent plebiscite in Ohio on making it harder for future plebiscites to adjust Ohio’s Constitution ( https://www.politico.com/2023-election/results/ohio/ballot-measures/ ); believed to be in the context of future abortion. I see a good argument for and a good argument against easy plebiscites on these topics; the first is that they provide a good counterweight to gerrymandering (maybe all states should have this, or maybe all states should have two houses of legislature, one strictly population-party-proportional and one regional, to limit gerrymandering abuses, unless we really can get that issue under control). The argument against is that the general voter has no context on broader legal context and has little ability to adjust legislation through negotiation after or through drafting, making it hard for these to be good law or to even be well-formed. Who drafts plebiscites and how are they maintained is a hard issue.
Reviewlets
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ (tablet) - This replaced my beloved old tablet after I broke it recently; so far the hardware seems pretty solid. Good speakers, bright screen. The software is fairly close to stock Android, but as usual it has some annoyances that take time to remove and other annoyances that cannot be removed.
I bought with it a Techcircle Folio case (from Amazon, actually) to hold me over until my real case shows up, but it doesn’t quite fit right (it’s designed for a range of tablets); the buttons don’t line up exactly. Hoping the proper case, which should arrive in a few weeks, will work out better. It’s often a bad idea to buy tablet/phone cases that advertise compatibility with a wide range of devices because of this kind of physical compatibility issue.
Annihilation (scifi novel, Vandermeer) - Just started this, interesting premise of a future dystopian society, some mind control stuff, and maybe some mild lovecraftian/survivalist themes. It’s part of a series, and so far I’m glad for that.
Amusements
I haven’t played D&D for a long time (even when I played I usually preferred to DM in custom worlds with fairly custom rules based off 2nd edition rules), but I remember fondly the collaborative storytelling aspect of tabletop role-playing (when I read about DMs trying very hard to keep people within the bounds of an adventure as if it’s a videogame I often think they’re really missing the point). This is a particularly amusing such story:
Unclear what this might be useful for (almost seems like a video game), but it’s interesting to see highly custom shapes designed for their roll patterns: https://phys.org/news/2023-08-algorithm-ramps-desired-path.html
Recent Music
Jupiter - Accessory - One of those bands that’s not ashamed to sound-manipulate every instrument in their entourage, to the point where I’m not sure what’s intentional and what’s not. But I don’t need to care either.
Map - Jason Webley - A weird little song that I actually like better as the poetry in its lyrics. The song isn’t bad, but the lyrics are bril and they’re a bit hard to follow when dropped into the arboretum of the song.
6:45 - Firewater - One of my favourite songs from one of my favourite bands, it captures a mood perfectly that I know well, with words and specifics that are not part of my life whatsoever. This is why people can be good friends who have lived very different lives, based on shared emotional resonance - friendships that are often inexplicable from the outside.