Things I read and liked in September
Possible smells, rhyming goodbyes, and life-affirming lists
[1] A collection of rhyming goodbyes, ala "see you later, alligator", from around the world. Some highlights:
Spanish: hasta luego, cara huevo ("see you later, egg face")
English (Montreal): hang loose, pamplemousse
Norwegian: hade på badet, din gamle sjokolade ("goodbye in the bathroom, you old chocolate")1
Swedish: tack och hej, leverpastej ("thank you and goodbye, liver paté")
[2] Sasha Chapin has penned a wise and kind essay on a hard subject (slightly nsfw).
[3] Reinstalling Eden (2013). An ahead-of-its time sci fi short story by Eric Schwitzgebel and R. Scott Bakker. Very related reading: Sharing the World with Digital Minds.
[4] Simone Weil on the Iliad: "The true hero, the true subject, the center of the Iliad is force. Force employed by man, force that enslaves man, force before which man’s flesh shrinks away. In this work, at all times, the human spirit is shown as modified by its relations with force, as swept away, blinded, by the very force it imagined it could handle, as deformed by the weight of the force it submits to." (ht Nabeel Qureshi)
[5] Astonishingly skillful anagram (and other wordplay) poems.
[6] Jack Clark on how AI might uncover the space of possible smells: “In much the same way that latent space feature maps of text, imagery, chemistry, materials, and music have made it easy and intuitive for scientists and artists to explore the 'universe of possibilities' of these domains, the POM may do the same for smell, unlocking a new era of exploration in this domain (smell-ploration?).”
[7] In recent years we see more and more viral videos of brazen shoplifting, and news stories about beleaguered stores having to close down. But is retail shoplifting a real problem? (Yes).
[8] A brutal academic review of a recent book on Chinese history. You don’t have to know the first thing about the (apparently extensive!) scholarly literature on the Qing dynasty’s administrative apparatus—I sure don’t—to enjoy it:
It analyzes the book's multitude of problems, such as its flawed conception, numerous factual blunders, failure to engage existing scholarship, problematic choice of primary sources, and dubious citation practices. Most significantly, this essay aims to provide ample evidence to demonstrate how the book systematically misrepresents the majority of its primary sources to support an untenable thesis. It argues that the book's central claims are ungrounded in evidence.”
[9] Life-changing: did you know that typing doc.new into your chrome browser’s address bar opens up new google doc?
[10] Beautiful art by Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950).
[11] Interesting technique from Kasra: if there’s something you want to do more, but it makes you uncomfortable, keep a log of every time you do the thing:
The same practice can be helpful for any uncomfortable activity that you repeatedly have to do. I think making the written note is crucial because it helps to create a vivid juxtaposition in your mind between (1) how uncomfortable you felt at the moment you did the activity, and (2) how totally unimportant it feels when you’re looking back at the note a week later. This juxtaposition helps train your brain to be less afraid of the activity, perhaps.
I’ve used this same approach for various other things that I wanted to conquer my fears on, e.g. “going to parties where I don’t know anyone and I feel nervous” (currently at 13), and “feeling cringe when posting on social media” (currently at about 50), among others.
[12] Shane Legg’s AI predictions from 2011 are incredible. He recently cleared up one thing I’d wondered about: “I…thought neuroscience would provide more AGI design hints. It hasn't much, other than at a very high level, but I now suspect that the lack of this driver of progress isn't going to matter much”.
[13] “Be not despondent, for there is no weakness or sin more deadly” Sergei Bulgakov’s diary, 1924
[14] Samstack is back! Are experts useless? And some interesting miscellany.
[15] Excellent New Yorker piece by Gideon Lewis-Kraus on the (alleged) Dan Ariely and Gino data fraud scandals (archive). Plus the best tweet about the topic.2
[16] Rick Benger on parenthood.
[17] What Matt Yglesias learned losing 70 pounds.
[18] NYT on the Texas tradition of massive mums (archive). h/t Experience Machine’s Texas correspondent, Charlie Schaub at Sunk Thoughts.
Thanks to Experience Machine’s Norway correspondent, Hedda Hassel Mørch, for help with the Norwegian translation.
As Linch notes, Lewis-Kraus has covered Slate Star Codex, Will MacAskill, and the FTX crash.
doc.new is incredible! Looks like it also works with sheet.new, cal.new, slide.new, and form.new.