The spaghetti harvest of 1957. The BBC convinced viewers that spaghetti grew on trees. Richard Dimbleby narrated the faux report, and “an estimated eight million people watched the original program,” many fooled by the whimsical claim. ~ learn more
After-dinner snuff in 1964. I knew nothing of this curiosity before watching this video about snuff. Now I know that there’s a communal snuffbox kept at the door of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. ~ learn more
The age of research. AI pioneer Ilya Sutskever says, “We are squarely an age of research company.” In this interview with Dwarkesh, he discusses the shift from scaling to focused AI investigation and the nuances of effectively harnessing pre-trained models. […]
Self-driving cars are finally here. “Fully autonomous driving is no longer a question of if, but when. And that ‘when’ is now upon us.” This article explores the dramatic shift towards self-driving technology and its implications for transportation. ~ learn […]
The battle over open banking. Chase wants to charge fintechs for accessing Open Banking data. This move is part of a broader conflict over whether banks can monopolize and charge for all economic activities, despite not operating the payment methods. […]
Venture capital déjà vu. “AI has given venture capital a new way to repeat an old mistake: kingmaking. The pattern from 2021 is back: a category becomes ‘obvious,’ a top-tier firm anoints its winner, and everyone else acts like the […]
Why aren’t smart people happier? “Across 50 years of data and 30,346 people, the folks who scored higher on the vocab test were a tiny bit less happy.” A deep dive into intelligence and happiness reveals a curious finding: being […]
Confidently wrong. “The gap between what they know and what they think they know is widest.” A study reveals that those who oppose scientific consensus often have lower objective knowledge but higher subjective confidence. ~ learn more
Dementia rates declining in older adults. The percentage of older US adults with dementia dropped from 11.6% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2012, which indicates a nearly 25% decrease. “If the rate of dementia in 2012 had been what it […]
The truth about delivery app tipping. Travis Kalanick argues, “Delivery app tipping isn’t about feedback mechanisms.. it’s a tool for maximizing price paid by consumers… eaters are economically irrational with tip.” This practice exploits human psychology to boost app revenues […]