2023-10-07
Readings
Efforts to map the cosmic web, the strands of gas between galaxies: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/in-a-first-astronomers-directly-image-the-cosmic-web/
A fun explainer for Mercury’s surface faults and their origin in the planet shrinking: https://theconversation.com/mercury-shrinking-planet-is-still-getting-smaller-new-research-213675
Survey of some new discoveries at Gobekli Tepe: https://arkeonews.net/new-discoveries-in-gobeklitepe-and-karahantepe-a-human-sculpture-with-a-realistic-facial-expression-found-in-karahantepe/
In what’s the first of probably a long line of regulatory action, Dish Network suffered a mishap while parking a spent satellite, leaving it short of the graveyard orbit it was due. It faces a fine and a compliance plan for future sats from the FCC: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/02/fcc-space-debris-fine-dish-network-satellite
Use of certain antigens to teach the immune system to fight cancer: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-proof-of-principle-immunity-routine-vaccines-potential.html
Further research into means to reverse cell specialisation: https://news.mit.edu/2023/more-effective-experimental-design-genome-regulation-1002
The hope that ML will lead to decoding language of other animals: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-intelligence-could-finally-let-us-talk-with-animals/
The Nobel Prizes for 2023 were awarded; two notables (ignore the hideous sketches of the recipients):
Physics: Experimental methods to generate incredibly fast pulses of light to study chemical reactions on a very short time scale: https://cen.acs.org/people/nobel-prize/Nobel-Prize-Physics-awarded-three-for-attosecond-scale-electron-dynamics/101/web/2023/10
Chemistry: Development of quantum dots - tiny particles with some bizarre and interesting optical characteristics: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/174
Thoughts
Came across this video on skybridges, which is in fact about the scale of cities (
) ; it’s better for the background info it provides than it is in arguing for its solution. The biggest problem with having extensive skybridge connections between buildings is access control; right now buildings benefit from having a small set of points of entry. It’s easier to have access policies and feel assurance that unauthorised people are not wandering into spaces when the only way in is the ground floor (or possibly a few others). Connecting all the large buildings in NYC would create problems because of overaccess (and in the case of fires, could increase dangers). In some universities, because they have fewer access concerns (common ownership and a need for finer-grained antimischief from students), they often have these connections.
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, with Ukraine continuing to retake lost territory while Russia inflicts civilian slaughter. Ukraine announced a landing of a military force on Crimea for a time, and has also been damaging Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea. Russia has withdrawn from an anti-nuclear-weapons testing treaty
There is political instability in the US as extremists in part of the Legislature demonstrated their power by expelling its speaker. This happened proximate to the usual political blackmail over budget showdowns
Hamas has launched an attack on Israel, turning the usual mutual abuses into another military conflict (I don’t take a pro-either-side stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole)
Polls
Facebook in the EU is set to experiment with a policy ( https://noyb.eu/en/meta-facebook-instagram-move-pay-your-rights-approach ) that would have user consent to certain data collection/use practices be an alternative to paying a fee; this is in response to a number of EU laws that make running a social network less financially viable. I am cautiously optimistic on this approach - I think it publicly highlights a tension between the interest of both sides and that tension rarely visibly bears weight. Both sides are often in the wrong (for very fiddly but important notions of what “in the wrong” means), and this kind of thing may help sort some of that out.
A Gallup poll of Americans shows decreased support ( https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/511346/fewer-americans-back-businesses-wading-current-events.aspx ) for businesses taking a public stance on political/social issues. The results show more enthusiasm for such stances from the left (but it is diminished there as well); I strongly prefer no such public stances (except perhaps for environmental causes), and usually avoid businesses that have cause flags on their doors.
Policy Focus
I am increasingly frustrated with US tech policy relating to China, partly because it seems to have no near-term focus (if the message would be “don’t invade Taiwan” that’d be different), and partly because it cannot be effective. The US Government nonetheless keeps ramping it up with tech export controls and more recently efforts to block opensource RISC-V chip design because it might help China avoid what it imagines is a pinch from its policies.
Reviewlets
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty/2.0 (video game/expansion) - The game is still really buggy and really fun, with the expansion having breathed some new life into it. The new traversal mechanics are really fun.There’s a new ending to the game, one that feels more like a real ending than the existing ones. I’m not sure if it’s because it touches on themes that often worry me, but it’s more emotionally messy than the other endings - hurts more. Maybe enough that I’ll have trouble playing through the game again. Until then, I felt the added replay value was incredible, but certain kinds of endings emotionally close a door (and my head recently has been full of both the idea of endings and the impermanence of things).
High on Life (video game) - An otherwise unremarkable shooter that feels like its tech is almost a decade old, but with great voice acting and tons of personality and a focus on absurdity and (often dark, taboo-breaking, sometimes juvenile) humour. That makes the game. It’s refreshing to see a game that feels like it wasn’t tainted by the current moralising era in our society. It also wasn’t a very long game; probably the perfect length for its amount of mechanics.
The Wordsmiths and the Warguild (fantasy novel) - Feels weird to finally be starting on this 1987 novel, having enjoyed many rereads of the first book in the series and having recently bought what few parts of the series are available. It’s very witty - British fake-game-show-really-banter-show level witty. It’s also low fantasy - the hero is destitute and not very heroic and the world is messy, muddy, and hard to navigate. One downside; the overall story is paced weirdly, meandering along until about 90% through and then suddenly tying things together like the author ran out of time.
Amusements
A very old Onion piece was making a bit of a point on virtue signalling:
Digging into more detail on the gorilla suit study:
A sea otter may be a future basketball star: