Ari Schulman
@AriSchulman
Editor @tnajournal ~ The mundane, observed, became the romantic ~ The trouble with science: http://bit.ly/39oSBSw
This is baby KJ Muldoon. A new gene-editing therapy just cured him of CPS1 deficiency syndrome, a terrible, highly lethal blood disorder. If he had instead been "treated" with embryo screening, he would not have been healed — he would have been prevented from being born.
Reupping because I guess I'm on a mission. One reason for writing this series is that during the past few years I’ve seen lots of people reacting to portrayals of dystopian societies w/o working infrastructure by thinking the wreckage looks kind of cool…
Today, the folks @tnajournal have lifted the paywall on the new installment in "How the System Works"--my series about the systems that undergird our days, that have vastly improved life for billions of people, and that--arrgh!--we seem to be forgetting about paying attention to.
Universities simply do not need anywhere near the number of new buildings they are building. Just slap your megadonor’s name on a big platinum monolith. People will remember it more than the new $200m comp sci building with the generic nouveau Spanish villa facade.
U of Chicago is going to merge humanities departments and downscale its language offerings in part because...the institution spent too much money on construction projects. Its endowment: over $10 billion. Are there any leaders in higher ed who *want* to save the humanities?
Our dreams of the future are still just this, but with the phone right up against our eyeballs
introducing Waves, camera glasses for creators. record in stealth. livestream all day. pre-order now.
When you pulled out your phone to record that sick concert at The Sphere — did you ever once later go back and actually watch that video, that is, watch it to finally experience it, not to upload it for engagement farming?
Ari is exactly right about this, as well as about the more general trend of just craving any and all intermediation from genuine experience
It's part of our duty as citizens to have some grasp of the systems our forebears built, because we have to maintain them for the next generations, and all of these systems are always one generation from collapse. thenewatlantis.com/publications/h…
Go ahead and scoff at this, but it is just the perfection of how we've already been living imperfectly for a couple decades: the real world as inferior to content, and at most a vehicle for content.
introducing Waves, camera glasses for creators. record in stealth. livestream all day. pre-order now.
Stepped on a rake this morning slamming it square into my face with considerable injury and great pain, then stepped on 20 adjacent rakes doing the same thing 20 further times. I guess we're just at that stage of capitalism
Our viral-hit "How the System Works" series fits well under the "Forget the jetpack, where's my house?" theme I think the Abundance folks should be hitting. New installment out today:
If you think the power system must run itself by now, you're wrong. Behind every nicely toasted bagel is a vast network of generators, transformers, computers, wires — and, yes, people making sure the juice flows exactly where it needs to go. What could possibly go wrong?
Today, the folks @tnajournal have lifted the paywall on the new installment in "How the System Works"--my series about the systems that undergird our days, that have vastly improved life for billions of people, and that--arrgh!--we seem to be forgetting about paying attention to.
In a new essay, Charles C. Mann (@CharlesCMann) covers the vast network of generators, transformers, computers, wires — and, yes, people — running our nation's power grid: thenewatlantis.com/publications/h…
If you think the power system must run itself by now, you're wrong. Behind every nicely toasted bagel is a vast network of generators, transformers, computers, wires — and, yes, people making sure the juice flows exactly where it needs to go. What could possibly go wrong?
Senior poverty during the Great Depression tells us nothing about America of 2025. We have tons of wealthy retirees and Social Security benefits that are up to 2-3X what you get in other nations. Meanwhile, kids can’t afford homes and the Navy falls apart.
Social Security was created because in the 1920s, there were grandparents who were eating dog food just to SURVIVE Means-test Social Security all you want, raise the taxable earnings cap—but DO NOT cut the program, and do not force people to work until they’re 75
This is still just posting, but the point at which lots of people really will pick inflatable bananapig over chemotherapy just to stick it to Anthony Fauci is pretty close now.
As recently as a couple years ago, this comic still registered as a joke — you knew the guy didn't really believe his shtick and would pick the chemo. Today...
They did this for some class at my high school, but with very large potatoes
Some big CHILDREN OF MEN energy here:
Humans doing AI alignment research, as seen from the perspective of AI:
Artist David Bowen created an extraordinary project in which he gave a live plant control using its own bioelectrical signals. This is how it looked
“The dark secret of Stewart and Colbert’s pastiche of conservative infotainment was that it only worked because their liberal audience wanted the same thing, adjusted for taste. ‘Anyone can *read* the news to you. I promise to *feel* the news *at you*.’” thenewatlantis.com/publications/h…