Really interesting (to me) ‘Thought Nuggets’ I’ve read, watched or listened to this past month. Things that helped me think a little harder, and learn a little more.
Why Warm Countries Are Poorer
Societies that live closer to the equator are warmer. Why are they also poorer? - by Tomas Pueyo
Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?
Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and what we can do about it
AI causes reduction in users’ brain activity – MIT
An MIT academic study shows human cognition is decreased with the use of AI, except for those that think first, and LLM later.
The fatal flaw in elephant management: Why ‘carrying capacity’ must be buried for good
Carrying capacity came from livestock management in the US in the early twentieth century, where calculating how many cattle a pasture could support before overgrazing was a matter of profit. But elephants are not cattle. They are long-lived, wide-ranging architects of landscapes, whose movements and impacts are woven into centuries of ecological rhythms. Reducing them to a number is simply a category error.
I found this new NotebookLM feature so good, I might stop using all my other productivity apps
Might be time to make NotebookLM my only productivity tool.
Why Your Partner Doesn’t Hear You (And It’s Not What You Think) - Imago Relationship Kobus van der Merwe
Discover why your partner can’t hear you—and the neuroscience-backed technique that creates the safety needed for real listening.
How African Elephants Fight Climate Change – IMF F&D
African forest elephants fight climate change by contributing in surprising ways to natural carbon capture, write Ralph Chami, Connel Fullenkamp, Thomas Cosimano, and Fabio Berzaghi.
How Meritocracy Worsens Inequality—and Makes Even the Rich Miserable
Yale Law School’s Daniel Markovits argues that rather than democratizing American society, meritocracy has contributed to increasing inequality and the decline of the middle class.
Could AI be a truly apocalyptic threat? These writers think so.
In “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares issue a grim proclamation against the rise of intelligent machines.
I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America.
I had a choice the other day in Shanghai: Which Tomorrowland to visit? Should I check out the fake, American-designed Tomorrowland at Shanghai Disneyland, or should I visit the real Tomorrowland? By Thomas L. Friedman
Do you have a ‘normal’ amount of friends? Here’s how to work it out
Dunbar’s Number, the theory that we are only capable of having 150 friendships at any one time, remains surprisingly robust in the digital age. Helen Coffey investigates whether ignoring in-built limits means stretching ourselves too thin, and why social media shouldn’t make us feel guilty about losing touch
