Links and tweets, 2022-08-23

by Jason Crawford · August 23, 2022 · 1 min read

Links

• A visual encyclopedia of megastructures (h/t @Ben_Reinhardt)
• City Journal on the campaign to save the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant (h/t @atrembath). Also, sign the petition (via @isabelleboemeke and @juliadewahl)
• Bringing the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction (h/t @QuantaMagazine)

Quotes

• Before the germ theory, flies were merry companions; after: “germs with legs”
• When the polio vaccine was developed, placebo-controlled RCTs were ethically controversial
• When Charles Kettering was told that Lindbergh had flown the Atlantic alone, he replied: it certainly couldn’t have been done with a committee

Queries

• How recent is our ability to test for specific viruses with PCR?
• What are good rules to identify bad popsci? (@acesounderglass)
• Is anybody working on editing genes that make you sleep less without any negative consequences? (@bolekkerous)

Retweets

• John Carmack has raised $20M for a startup to build AGI (@ID_AA_Carmack)
• Stated vs. revealed preference for funding high-risk research (@michael_nielsen)
• Carl Sagan on the 1939 New York World’s Fair: “where the future became a place” (@camwiese)

Comment on

Progress Forum, LessWrong, Reddit