All paths

The Early Archive Path

A compact tour through the older indexed posts, where the navigation severity begins to look at the ceiling and whistle.

5 waypoints 2 years Average severity 3 / 5
  1. 1
    Severity 4 / 5: Cave Inscription

    The Merge

    A popular topic in Silicon Valley is talking about what year humans and machines will merge (or, if not, what year humans will get surpassed by rapidly improving AI or a genetically enhanced species). Most guesses seem to be between 2025 and 2075....

  2. 2
    Severity 2 / 5: Archive Goblin

    E Pur Si Muove

    Earlier this year, I noticed something in China that really surprised me. I realized I felt more comfortable discussing controversial ideas in Beijing than in San Francisco. I didn’t feel completely comfortable—this was China, after all—just more comfortable than at home....

  3. 3
    Severity 3 / 5: Cartographic Incident

    A Clarification

    I made a point in this post inelegantly in a way that was easy to misunderstand, so I’d like to clarify it. I didn’t mean that we need to tolerate brilliant homophobic jerks in the lab so that we can have scientific progress....

  4. 4
    Severity 3 / 5: Cartographic Incident

    Productivity

    I think I am at least somewhat more productive than average, and people sometimes ask me for productivity tips. So I decided to just write them all down in one place. Compound growth gets discussed as a financial concept, but it works in careers as well, and it is magic....

  5. 5
    Severity 3 / 5: Cartographic Incident

    US Digital Currency

    I am pretty sure cryptocurrency is here to stay in some form (at least as a store of value, which is the only use case we have seen work at scale so far). There was possibly a time when governments could have totally stopped it, but it feels like that’s in the rearview mirror....