“From Ancient Greece to the 20th century, Aristotle, Freud, and numerous other scholars were all looking for the same thing: eel testicles. Freshwater eels could be found in rivers across Europe, but no one had ever seen them mate and […]
“[T]he color blue is always out of focus for the human eye. It’s hard to believe since it appears that we see blue clearly, but it’s astonishing when shown an example. Here, I’ll explain why we’re unable to focus on […]
“Decentralization doesn’t eliminate the hard problems. It doesn’t wish away wars over values; hierarchies of professional vs amateur; the challenges of developing and nurturing talent. And, token-based governance isn’t necessarily going to reach the best or most ethical solutions. But […]
“Key learnings: Dicker envisions what he calls “Web 3.0,” a world in which social tokens, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and “creator DAOs” (decentralized autonomous organizations) will create new layers of digital value that will allow audiences to interact with each other, […]
This essay is from 2009 and much of this still feels novel. I guess paradigms take time to shift. Or is it gradually, then suddenly? “I present here examples of what in my mind constitute paradigm shifts and drifts in […]
“The new database of roughly 350,000 protein sequences and structures represents a potentially monumental achievement for the life sciences, one that could hasten new biological insights and the development of new drugs. DeepMind said it will be free and accessible […]
Copycat versions of popular products are a mainstay of the retail world. It’s not common to see brands fight back against giants to defend their intellectual property. | learn more
“Up until this moment, she felt only the deep anxiety she has been struggling with every day, but an instant later she begins to feel good about her life. In a matter of seconds, the restrictions lift. She feels lighter, […]
Popularized by Nassim Taleb, the thing to know about ergodicity is that the average outcome of the group is rarely the same as the average outcome of the individual over time. This article is a great way to digest Taleb’s […]
What an excellent analogy! I especially appreciate the Finishing Mindset – “In cooking, a dish that is 99% finished has zero value.” More: “Knowledge work is unique among skilled professions in that we lack a culture of systematic improvement. Other […]