Collection of my favorite Essays, Podcasts, & Videos
The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment of All Time | Slate | 28th April 2014
Roko’s Basilisk exists at the horizon where philosophical thought experiment blurs into urban legend. What if, in the future, a somewhat malevolent AI were to come about and punish those who did not do its bidding? What if there were a way for this AI to punish people today who are not helping it come into existence later?” (2,100 words).
Sixty Eight Pieces of Unsolicited Advice | Kevin Kelly's Technium | 28th April 2020
Each one of these is a gem. "Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points”. “Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works”. “If you are looking for something in your house, and you finally find it, when you’re done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it” (1,800 words).
How Will You Measure Your Life? | HBR | 1st July 2010
“Over the years I’ve watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold; I’ve seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. I can guarantee that not a single one of them graduated with the deliberate strategy of getting divorced and raising children who would become estranged from them” (3,740 words).
The Power of Reading Aloud | Literay Hub | 22nd January 2020
“Even as human societies confided their stories and histories to print, people continued to rely on the voice to make sense of what was written. Until 10C AD, writing was not something to take in through the eyes and consider in silence with the mind. Rather, it was a mechanism for a kind of reverse dictation” (2,800 words).
Asimov's Empire | Public Books | 7th January 2020
Remembering Isaac Asimov, born a hundred years ago, died 1992. “If you wanted to construct the most productive writer who ever lived, the result would look a lot like Asimov. He emerged in the pulp magazines of the 1930s; he learned to produce serviceable material after only two drafts. Asimov was a rapid typist; he was fond of enclosed spaces and hated to travel; he had a prodigious memory; and he specialised in popular science texts that could be researched” (2,012 words).
The Deadliest Marksman's Brave, Cold Stand | Narratively | 9th January 2020
Portrait of “the finest killer in military history”, a Finnish sniper called Simo Häyhä who reportedly killed more than 500 Russian soldiers during the 105-day Winter War of 1939-1940. Häyhä was farm boy who learned by shooting animals; he survived the Winter War despite having his face shot off by an exploding bullet and being left for dead in the final week of fighting. He lived to be 96, dying of natural causes in a veteran’s facility (2,350 words)
How New York’s Bagel Union Fought the Mob | Grub Street | 9th January 2020
A brief history of the New York bagel as an object of organised crime. The Mob captured kosher meat, then moved on to bagels. “In 1964, a shop called Bagel Boys had opened in the centre of Jewish New York, on King’s Highway in Brooklyn. Among its principals was Thomas Eboli, otherwise known as Tommy Ryan, a capo in the Genovese crime family and a direct counter to Dio. Eboli was so powerful, in fact, that when Vito Genovese died a few years later, Eboli reigned for a time as the family boss” (3,240 words)
Collection of Podcasts
Planning the Perfect Death | Podcast: The NYTimes Daily | 18m58s
Moving and memorable episode. The guest is a reporter who had been covering the Canadian government's loosening of restrictions around “medical assistance in dying” for competent adult patients who are already near death. She relates the story of one man she followed through the process and relates his efforts to plan the "perfect death" for himself. This included hosting his own wake and setting the details of his own funeral. His calm introspection on this difficult subject is inspiring.
Why Toile Paper? | Podcast: The Journal | 18m58s
Demand is consistent; the average American uses 57 sheets of toiler paper per day. Supply is plentiful; we hoard only becaue we think others might do so.
13,000 Questions. 1 Economists. | Podcast: Planet Money | 21m00s
What is the most useful idea in economics?
Phoning Home | Podcast: Radio Atlas | 4m27s
Brief phone call between a granddaughter with a broken heart and her grandmother, who is 91 and hard of hearing. The way they weave between the two to try and understand each other is fascinating and very moving.
Swallows | Podcast: BBC Multi-Story | 33m01s
Anthology series made by BBC English local radio, which pulls stories from around the network and weaves them into a new, more podcast-esque narrative. It’s the opening piece from this episode that convinced me of the brilliance of this concept. It features a Lincolnshire man known as Farmer Wink, who has never really left his own farm for long, let alone visited London. Here, in the company of a radio reporter, he takes his first ever train south to the capital. Wink’s accent, attitude and approach to life are a precious survival of a simpler time.
Carlos Ghosn’s Escape From Japan | Podcast: The WSJ | 22m18s
How and why the Nissan-Renault boss fled Japan for Beirut, transforming himself from a tycoon, to a prisoner, to a fugitive
Collection of Videos
Brad Abrahams | Video: Conspiracy Cruise | 12m17s
A cruise-ship vacation for conspiracy theorists takes a turn for the surreal when a squad of Illuminati hijacks the vessel.
Critical Mass | Video: Domain in Space | 12m59s
A technical exercise in computer simulation of granular movement, which is also a reminder that we can no longer distinguish visually between the real and the artificial.
Every Kind Of Thing In Space | Video: Domain in Space | 12m59s
Informational video about the history and nature of objects in the Universe, from galaxies to particles by way of planets and dust
After Thoughts
“The hard part of pickpocketing isn't finding pockets to pick”
— Isusr
“The formula for prison is lack of space plus surplus of time”
— Joseph Brodsky
“Irrational people are more powerful than rational people, because their threats are more convincing”
— Rory Sutherland
“Any idiot can face a crisis — it’s day to day living that wears you out”
— Anton Chekhov
“I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Charlestown, Boston
Home | Video: Charlestown, 1970 | 12m59s
A personal story.