This recent post by Marc Andreessen is recommended reading for tech enthusiasts and skeptics alike. I particularly liked this line, a reference to the silicon sand that powers our modern world: “We believe Artificial Intelligence is our alchemy, our Philosopher’s Stone – we are literally making sand think.” ~ learn more
This post by Packy McCormick overlaps with Andreessen’s manifesto (linked above). He points out that the prevailing attitude that America has adopted is a shift from a belief that people are competent and responsible to one where they need supervision and protection. “The movement is against the idea of risk minimization as a goal. It’s against the culture of safetyism that we’ve all allowed to seep into every corner of…
This is fun because you can overfit whatever your preferred explanation is to this outcome. “Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.” I’d love to see some more granular data, starting with average test completion time. ~ learn more
This is published evidence from 350,757 flips among 48 flippers. The bias comes from the flippers, because most people can’t seem to flip coins without also introducing a wobble. That causes them to land on the same side that they started 50.8% of the time. ~ learn more and original paper
“The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.” ~ learn more
This article from the Washington Post is sprinkled with bad-sounding factoids about vacant space throughout the city’s new buildings. “Roughly 87 percent of new office space is expected to open vacant, according to data from the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.” However, I think the article doesn’t actually tell a cohesive story about the market and its sentiment could easily be shown ‘wrong’ in the next couple years.…
This annual report by Nathan Benaich and team is well worth the read in all its 163-slide glory. You can start with this link for Nathan’s “director’s cut” of slides that stood out to him. ~ learn more
There are currently 66 private companies valued at over $1 Billion. Another 3 are in the ‘deadpool’ and others have been acquired or have gone public. ~ learn more
I knew that the product recently enabled uploading images, but I hadn’t tried it until I saw this post. As an example, you can screenshot a website and ask for specific feedback on how to improve it. ~ learn more
Here’s a doozy: “But a physician utilizing diet alone to achieve remission in a patient with type 2 diabetes is penalized financially because, when the risk is adjusted, diabetes is no longer listed among the patient's conditions. So, Medicare pays the physician less money.” ~ learn more