link.dump.2.1.2026
starfish murder, predictions, cab driving, and falling crime
I think declining fertility rates is a big deal. Noahpinion agrees. I am, at heart, a technologist and a radical optimist but this is a quantifiable drop in productivity for the world.
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, has a speech from Davos that is well worth a read. Will be interesting to see if this is a turning point at all when we look back at history.
I am endlessly fascinated by how we mitigate nature sometimes. From genetically engineering mosquitoes so they cannot reproduce to maybe using pheromones to trick starfish to a place where we can murder them.
Cool interaction world population chart over time. It’s like “here’s what civilization means” and it’s neat when you consider each one represents a unique human in the world.
Also worth visiting US crime rates - which are half what they were in the nineties - compared to the percept of US crime rates. The disconnect is amazing.
Betting on the Oscars is wild to read about. Prediction markets as a whole are something I think are fascinating as they continue to grow and become something that really does give us some predictions. But, then again, I’ve read The Black Swan so I’m taking it all with a grain of salt.
We Should Talk About The Morality of Political Violence by Ken White.
If You Want Different Outcomes, You Have to Do Different Things by Freddie Deboer
Lots of reasons to work for the big tech organization, but the appeal that you have to know how to drive the car is certainly a commonality. Kudos for teaching me about the Torment Nexus as well.
While it barely touches on the risk of Alzheimers being reduced when a London Cabbie acquires and uses The Knowledge this is one of the more interesting reads into what is required to drive the 25,000 streets of London in a black cab.
So did America force TikTok to be sold to American interests to “protect from propaganda” only to turn it into a propaganda machine for one the political parties? An interesting question.
My state breaking records for a Measles outbreak. Love to be in the news for this.