AI ‘chain of thought’ is still just a ‘brittle mirage’. *AI vendors now insist their chatbots do reasoning. They even list their reasoning steps! (more)

Dwarkesh Patel Notes: Symbolic Species by Terrence Deacon. ..the two of us got a chance to go have lunch with the author, Terence Deacon, a couple weeks ago (more)

Default Friend: I LIKE Labubus and Dubai Chocolate and Matcha and Lana and Brandy Melville and TikTok Aesthetics and and and. Today, in his newsletter, W. David Marx (who, as an aside, is a must-read) wrote about an Amanda Mull piece on the disorienting nature of contemporary trends: Labubus and Dubai chocolates and matcha and chamoy and Swedish candy, all things that seem to emerge from nowhere, mean nothing, and disappear just as quickly. (2025-08-14-MarxOnlyFadsACultureandEconomyOfLabubu) (more)

What Is Night Eating Syndrome? Medically Reviewed by Smitha Bhandari, MD. With NES, you eat a lot after dinner, have trouble sleeping, and eat when you wake up at night. (more)

Kevin Lipe: Hidden Agendas, Lost Cities. I first really spent time with Lotus Agenda because of a guest post I wrote for 512 Pixels, which meant I approached it with the half-serious curiosity of someone who’d long harbored a suspicion that MS-DOS software might change the way he thought, and was determined to find out, armed with an impossibly small terrible keyboard (more)

Scott Alexander on Light Therapy. The short version: Light therapy can treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) (eg winter depression) and sometimes regular depression. Buy this light box, and at some time between 6 AM and 9 AM, sit exactly 12 inches away from it and do some activity that doesn’t involve staring directly at the light box. Continue every morning for the period of time you’re at risk of depression. If bipolar, don’t try this without medical supervision. Carex Day-Light Classic Plus Sunlight Therapy Lamp - 10000 LUX Therapy Lamp at 12 Inches, LED Bright White Light with Adjustable Height and Brightness Levels for Mood, White (more)

Dan Hon: s20e04: A Software Strategy. This one is about the cycle of starting by building something you need, and then having it be replaced by a commodity. (more)

Matt Zeigler: Grow Your Network: Bill Stephney Is A Culture-Shaping Legend You Need to Know. Do you know Bill Stephney? He's the executive producer who helped launch Def Jam Records, discovered Chuck D in an Adelphi University cafeteria, and played a pivotal role in bringing Public Enemy, LL Cool J, and the Beastie Boys to the world. From college radio DJ to music supervisor for films like Boomerang (which launched Toni Braxton's career), he's been shaping culture for decades. (more)

standard identifier for books (more)

In computability theory, a system of data-manipulation rules (such as a computer's instruction set, a programming language, or a cellular automaton) is said to be Turing complete or computationally universal if it can be used to simulate any single-taped Turing machine. The concept is named after Alan Turing. A classic example is lambda calculus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_completeness (more)

Raymond Thomas Dalio (born August 8, 1949) is a billionaire American hedge fund manager and philanthropist who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in 1975 in New York. Within ten years, it was infused with a US$5 million investment from the World Bank's retirement fund... Dalio is the author of the 2017 book Principles: Life & Work, about corporate management and investment philosophy. It was featured on The New York Times best seller list, where it was called a "gospel of radical transparency." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Dalio (more)

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The TM technique involves the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day. It is taught by certified teachers through a standard course of instruction, with a cost which varies by country and individual circumstance. According to the TM organization, it is a non-religious method that promotes relaxed awareness, stress relief, self-development, and higher states of consciousness. The technique has been variously described as both religious[2] and non-religious.[nb 1] Maharishi began teaching the technique in India in the mid-1950s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Mahesh_Yogi (more)

Rusty Guinn: A Man Must Have a Code. One such Britticism was the idea that any person who wants to be consistently successful as a human being, and especially as an investor, must have a World View. (more)

Aaron Swartz on Personality Tests. There are related claims, however, that exercise much more power over our lives and (perhaps as a result) are far less challenged. One of their creators explained that they would “promote personal development”, “manage conflict”, and “increase human understanding worldwide.” (Paul, 121) But instead of Vedic science, she was talking about her creation: the Myers-Briggs personality test. I have written before about the failures of experiments to provide evidence in favor of our concepts of personality or intelligence and how despite this many continue to believe in them. One can discuss how even studies by proponents find that IQ lacks validity and that 47% of people have a different Myers-Briggs personality type on a second administration of a test. But this somehow seems not to convince. So let us try another tack: let us look at how these tests are made.

aka MBTI; Personality Test (more)

Processing is an Open Source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and sound (Multimedia). It is used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook (NoteBook) and professional production tool. (more)

aka Graphic Novel; longer than a Comic Strip (more)

*The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is an agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.[1] Its mission is to "make pivotal investments in break-through technologies and broadly applicable platforms, capabilities, resources, and solutions that have the potential to transform important areas of medicine and health for the benefit of all patients and that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity."[2]. (more)

precursor to DARPA, see also ARPA-H

Pentagon R And D outfit. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.[3][4] Originally known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the agency was created on February 7, 1958, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik 1 in 1957. By collaborating with academia, industry, and government partners, DARPA formulates and executes research and development projects to expand the frontiers of technology and science, often beyond immediate U.S. military requirements.[5] The name of the organization first changed from its founding name, ARPA, to DARPA, in March 1972, changing back to ARPA in February 1993, then reverted to DARPA in March 1996. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA