Mark Mounts @markmounts@qoto.org

Periodic reminder that Mark Everett (of the band Eels) did a documentary about his father's (Hugh Everett III) groundbreaking work on quantum theory, and it's touching, fascinating, and completely free to watch.
https://vimeo.com/58603054

Now we know:

”Caltech researchers have quantified the speed of human thought: a rate of 10 bits per second.“

10 bits/sec is remarkably slow. Oh, and #multitasking is definitely off the table.

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/thinking-slowly-the-paradoxical-slowness-of-human-behavior

#science #caltech #brain #computing

#CNRSnews 📰 Alexandre Grothendieck, considered one of the founders of modern algebraic geometry, left a considerable mark on mathematics through his genius and reflections. Ten years after his death, mathematician Leila Schneps revisits his legacy.
https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/alexandre-grothendieck-a-committed-genius

Over this weekend, #Amazon workers and allies will be protesting on 6 continents. Do NOT buy from Amazon. https://www.commondreams.org/news/make-amazon-pay-day?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=ee7319d8e3-Top+News%3A+Thu.+11%2F28%2F24_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-3b949b3e19-600541243

This article argues there’s a trend away from major platforms sending traffic to websites via links. I see three trends

1. Search engines providing more answers inline driven by competition from AI chatbots.

2. Social media apps pivoting to short form video.

3. News sites lobbying for laws requiring major platforms pay for linking to them causing a pullback on linking to news.

These shifts will have major repercussions on the web.
https://www.techspot.com/article/2908-the-zero-click-internet/

'As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more & more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great & glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool & complete narcissistic moron'!

HL Mencken (in the Baltimore Evening Sun, 26 July 1920). quoted by William Keegan (Observer)....

I'm saying no more....

#USpol

The actual outcome of this election with •the whole US population• as the denominator:

22% voted for Harris
23% voted for Trump
<1% voted for other
26% eligible but did not vote*
28% not eligible to vote

* (whether by choice or by voter suppression)

Numbers might shift a tiny bit as last votes are counted, but this is close to the final tally.

Just sit with that for one quality minute. Think about what stories people are telling about this election. Then think about what stories are true.

RIP Thomas Kurtz, cocreator of BASIC.

https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-thomas-e-kurtz-1928-2024/

#programming

I suspect I will not be hurting for material to cover over the next four years.

If you haven’t yet, consider signing up for a free or pay-what-you-want subscription to receive each issue in your email, and to support my work.

https://www.citationneeded.news/signup

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol

"St. Paul officials are sending letters to 32,000 people this week alerting them that their medical debt will be erased.

Residents didn’t have to apply to be eligible. Instead, the city analyzed resident incomes and debt levels and prioritized those with the highest need.

By using federal American Rescue Plan funds, the city paired with the nonprofit, Undue Medical Debt, and M Health Fairview to wipe out $40 million in medical obligations."

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/11/12/st-paul-to-wipe-out-medical-debt-for-32000-residents

#healthcare #MedicalDebt

X is short for MAGA
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/253211/
Researchers find Twitter changed its algorithm to promote posts from Elon Musk and Republicans in the run-up to the election.

"The date at which (the spike) in engagement occurs coincides with Elon Musk's formal endorsement of Donald Trump on 13th July 2024."
#elonmusk #Election2024 #twitter #trump

There's a lot to learn from the history of science. That's it... that's all I have to say haha.

I think a compelling reason to learn the history of science is you get to appreciate how our knowledge of the world has grown over the centuries. You realize that our modern world didn't just come out of nowhere; there is a long and steady process, a constant accumulation of knowledge and experiences.

#science #history #typography

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has written an op-ed published at MSNBC that links to last month's story about companies selling tools that can track hundreds of millions of mobile phones just by the digital exhaust from mobile ad networks.

"Congress needs to finally breach the corporate barricade that has blocked a strong consumer privacy law. I’ve authored my own strong privacy bills, the Mind Your Own Business Act and the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act. And in the coming months I plan to release two new bills: one that will protect Americans’ privacy by limiting how much data websites and apps can collect on Americans and preventing data brokers from amassing and selling that data, and another that will protect Americans from being spied on by their smart TVs and set-top boxes and having that data given away or sold to data brokers."

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/abortion-data-brokers-phones-google-apple-wyden-rcna178479

The Global Surveillance Free-for-all in Mobile Ad Data: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/the-global-surveillance-free-for-all-in-mobile-ad-data/

This is the room I'm trapped in for the next week while participating in a #clinicalTrial for a potentially revolutionary #cholera vaccine called #PanChol invented here at Brigham & Women's hospital (#BWH) in #Boston. I'll basically be doing my regular job all week while helping save lives.
I'm in isolation because if I were to shed the vaccine and somebody else picked it up from me it could cause a false cholera outbreak panic.
I'll be posting about my experience under #PanCholLiveToot. #AMA!

A primer from Heather Cox Richardson:

"The ideology of fascism is associated with Italian journalist and politician Benito Mussolini, who articulated a new political ideology in the 1920s. Mussolini had been a socialist as a young man and had grown frustrated at how hard it was to organize people. No matter what socialists tried, they seemed unable to convince their neighbors that they must rise up and take over the country’s means of production. The efficiency of World War I inspired Mussolini to give up on socialism and develop a new political theory.

Mussolini rejected the equality that defined democracy and came to believe that some men were better than others. Those few must lead, taking a nation forward by directing the actions of the rest. They must organize the people as they had during wartime, ruthlessly suppressing all opposition and directing the economy so that business and politicians worked together. Logically, that select group of leaders would elevate a single man, who would become an all-powerful dictator. To weld their followers into an efficient machine, they demonized opponents into an “other” that their followers could hate.

This hierarchical system of government was called “fascism” after the bundle of rods tied around an axe that was the ancient Roman symbol of authority and power. Italy adopted it, and Mussolini’s ideas inspired others, notably Germany’s Adolf Hitler. These leaders believed that their new system would reclaim a glorious past with the ideology of the future, welding pure men into a military and social machine that moved all as one, while pure women supported society as mothers. They set out to eliminate those who didn’t fit their model and to destroy the messy, inefficient democracy that stood in their way.

But while today we associate #fascism with this European movement, its foundational principle—that some men are better than others and have the right and even the duty to rule over the majority—runs parallel to that same strand in United States history. Indeed, Nazi lawyers and judges turned to America’s Jim Crow laws for inspiration, and Hitler looked to America’s Indigenous reservations as a way to rid a country of “unwanted” people.

For retired Marine general John Kelly to have spoken out against Trump before the 2024 election was a huge deal. As Secretary Buttigieg put it: “It’s one thing for some leftist group to call you a fascist. Quite another when it’s a fellow Republican. And absolutely astonishing when it’s your own chief of staff.” But Kelly was not alone. Former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told veteran journalist Bob Woodward that Trump is “fascist to the core.”" https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-23-2024

Education is a vital component of Gazan identity. "Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture" highlights its significance in the context of collective trauma. Despite the destruction wrought by Israel's occupation and siege, Gazans were working tirelessly to revitalize their education system, underscoring the enduring power of knowledge and learning.

‘These authors’ lives have been utterly devastated, but we can preserve their vital voices. Daybreak in Gaza must be shared with the world.’ Fatima Bhutto

https://www.matthewteller.com/daybreak-in-gaza/

@academicchatter
@israel
@palestine
#domicide
#IsraelUSAWarOnGaza
#GazaGenoicide

🚨On the record: Trump's former Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, suspects Putin is blackmailing felon Trump.

This should be a much bigger news story. This is the biggest national security news. The United States of America's fmr Director of National Intelligence believes that Trump is compromised by the dictator, who says that he will destroy #America. Please boost.

#election #election2024 #voteblue #vote #dem

A bunch of additions to the Modern Tools list today, including sq and xq, - jq-inspired tools for structured data and XML respectively - as well as the Kitty terminal, axe-cli, a new collection of Wayland tools and some other odds and ends.

As always, suggestions are welcome.

https://github.com/mhoye/moderntools/

Researchers from Apple have published a paper showing that what LLMs do is sophisticated pattern matching not reasoning.

This is a problem for anyone who belueves they can build autonomous AI agents on this foundation since it means anytime the “agent” sees a pattern it doesn’t recognize, it will fail hilariously or even catastrophically.

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/llms-dont-do-formal-reasoning-and