link.dump.3.17.2026
war, smuggling ants, ego, and physics
I read a lot of random stuff. Link Dumps are the things I think are worth remembering. You can always check out my Link Dump Tag if you’re looking for even more to read and please forward to anyone else you think might find these interesting.
From The Dispatch — Bipartisan energy policy might finally get a chance thanks to the Iran War?
And also on the Iran War — Nate Silver has a phenomenal take on the war about how, maybe this time, there’s a thing where there are consequences for Trump.
It’s dystopian as hell but also painfully true. Neo Symbolic Capitalism has become one of the primary measurements of “wealth.” Like the author says, symbolic capital has always been a thing, but it’s perhaps one of the most twisted things with media in the modern world.
Did everyone else know that ant smuggling was a thing?
It’s such a weird thing to go on a rant about how Steam was telling the truth with how many games make money but at the same time it’s all just a lie and really game development doesn’t make money and somehow we should all blame Steam? I’m not really sure what Steam is supposed to do here — gatekeep?
Good short story “from the future.” Buried in the end was a nugget I think resonated the most — that attention is one of the few scarce things that will not change no matter how far we go.
Some thoughts on ego and software engineering. Very good piece. “But you really do need a strong ego to be an effective software engineer, because software engineering requires you to spend most of your day in a position of uncertainty or confusion. If your ego isn’t strong enough to stand up to that - if you don’t believe you’re good enough to power through - you simply can’t do the job.”
It goes along with As an engineer, I’d rather be thought stupid than stay silent.
Why DO people do speakerphone in public? How can anyone be that oblivious? Ars Technica has no answers but it’s a good read.
David William Silway digs into how LLMs are fantastic at the past but shit at novel futures they not only only fail miserably but actively squash the innovation. I loved the SpaceX example. This digs deep into the edge of the limitations of LLM in a way I hadn’t seen before and very strongly points out the fundamental differences between something like a creative AGI and what we have today.
I don’t really understand how Twitter has become a place to put tiny essays but at least they are publicly accessible. This one on how the workflow for animations is pushing towards better/perfect solutions was quite interesting.
An astrophysicist breaks down the physics of Project Hail Mary which comes out this week and I am super hyped.