Links - Jan & Feb 2024

Published Mar 2024

Winslow Homer, The Veteran in a New Field, 1865

Here are some interesting links I found in January & February:

1. Most blind mathematicians work in geometry and topology.
   It is argued that the spatial intuition of sighted people is degraded by the triviality of retinal perception.
2. Surprising things I've learnt from @OurWorldInData.
   Fertility rates in China and Taiwan have reduced at similar rates over the past 50 years, suggesting that China’s one-child policy didn’t have a significant effect on curbing its population growth.
   Polio used to affect few people because bad hygiene caused babies to be already exposed to the virus when they could still benefit from their mother’s immunity. Thus, ironically, it was improved sanitation that caused polio to kill many people in the early 20th century!
3. A history of US Steel.
   In the short term, taking risks is what kills institutions. In the long run, though, it's avoiding them that's the problem.
4. Science needs sovereigns.
   In the aftermath of World War II, American officials in the State Department and the CIA wanted to undermine the dominance of pro-Soviet communists in the Western highbrow cultural scene. To do this, they planned to promote artists and intellectuals who were either anti-Soviet or at least not especially sympathetic to the Soviets. They considered abstract expressionist painting, which was then a new and obscure movement, a promising candidate.
   In 1946, the State Department organized an international exhibition of abstract painting called “Advancing American Art.” It was so poorly received that the tour was canceled and the paintings were sold off for next to nothing. Undeterred, the CIA continued to arrange international exhibitions for abstract expressionists under a front organization called the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Eventually, the movement caught on.
5. What will be left of Gaza when the war ends?
   
6. Europe's political stupor.
   For the German voter has basically no say over his country’s fate. Sure, he may cast a vote in an election for parliament. But in the end, the same centrist parties seem to hold a majority in parliament, the same centrist parties form a coalition government, and the same party leaders remain in charge, making policy mostly through backroom deals rubber-stamped by the parliament. Besides relatively minor policy tweaks, the elections don’t seem to matter much.
7. Recognizing Somaliland.
   
8. Marshmellow tests and SF's homelessness problem.
   The ones who overachieve the most are those who devise the most effective ways to manipulate their own psychology into jumping through ever more inane hoops, no matter the test that’s put in front of them.
9. Autism diagnoses are rising.
   it appears 26% of the increased rate in autism is due to reclassifying people previously diagnosed with "MR", that is, mental retardation (very low intelligence), or "special education" (meaning about the same). No one wants to be told their child is retarded or needs to go to special education (loser/weirdo school).
10. Income inequality positively covaries with female sexualization on social media.
    Women post sexier pictures of themselves on Instagram in areas of greater income inequality. This is because these areas have fewer high status men to date or marry, thus greater intrasexual competition. All else being equal, for every one standard deviation increase in income inequality in a city, the number of sexy selfies goes up by 31-34%.
11. 300 years of French history in Rambouillet.
    
12. Book review: The education of Cyrus.
    “He did not run from being defeated into the refuge of not doing that in which he had been defeated.” Cyrus learned to love the feeling of failure, because failure means you’re facing a worthy challenge, failure means you haven’t set your sights too low, failure means you’ve encountered a stone hard enough to sharpen your own edge. Yes, it’s the exact opposite of the curse of the child prodigy, and it’s the key to Cyrus’s success. He doesn’t flee failure, he seeks it out, hungers for it, rushes towards it again and again, becoming a little scarier every time. He’s found a cognitive meta-tool, one of those secrets of the universe which, if you can actually internalize them, make you better at everything. Failure feels *good* to him rather than bad, is it any surprise he goes on to conquer the world?
    But in the real world, the most important skills are not solving a quadratic by completing the square or whatever, the most important skills are: recognizing whether it’s possible to solve a given problem, recognizing whether solving it is worthwhile, figuring out who can help you with the task, and figuring out which tools can be brought to bear on it. The all-important meta-skills are not only left undeveloped by textbook problems, they’re actively sabotaged and undermined. This is why so many people who got straight As in school never amount to anything.
    Cyrus wants to know how to attract followers and keep their loyalty, and his father gives him a very good answer which is: just be great. Be the best at what you do. Be phenomenally effective at everything. People aren’t stupid, they want to follow a winner, so be the kind of guy who’s going to win over and over again, and if you aren’t that guy, then maybe choose a different career.
13. Joke from the chinese web.
    > Xi summons his cabinet and announces that it is time to strike america. he proposes they nuke san francisco.
    > One official raises his hand and protests "we can't do that, my eldest son is a undergrad at berkeley."
    > Xi sighs and then says they will instead hit new york. another official raises his hand to state that his sister in law lives there and that his wife would murder them all.
    > This goes on for a bit longer, before xi, exasperated, asks the room: "is there any city in the west where no relevant chinese people live?"
    > They all look at each other for a moment and decide to nuke guizhou province.
14. Vesuvius Challenge: How AI deciphered ancient Roman scrolls.
15. Poland and the demon in democracy.
16. Islam is dying in Iran.
    
17. Things unexpectedly named after people.
    > MySQL (My Widenius)
    > Main Street, San Francisco (Charles Main)
    > Gasoline (John Cassell)