Links (84)

First commercial-scale fusion plant plans announced, to be built in the early 2030s Roger Penrose's biography Renaissance Philantrophy (and within, a link to recent research on wearable cortisol trackers!) Bringing Elon to a knife fight Google Willow, their new quantum chip Something I long suspected: Most of senescent cells are immune cells (hence immune rejuvenation should also solve cellular senescence) This year in biology: 2024; of particular interest is the brain control of bodywide inflammation throu…

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Laura Deming on understanding Interesting uses of AI The memes of the wealthy Elon dreams and bitter lessons Nabeel on Palantir Scott reviews Deep Utopia Meditation, considered harmful There is no placebo effect Dwarkesh interviews Gwern Restoring fertility with iMSC transplantation in monkeys Profile of James Fickel, a not very well known crypto backer of many impactful projects in the longevity space The King and the Golem, by Richard Ngo A recent study in monkeys claimed metformin works to slow down agin…

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Lots of interest in gene editing startups but in practice they don't do that well: Few diseases can be corrected through gene editing, hence valuations of such companies, despite FDA approvals, are low. Compare with addressing shared causes of multi-morbidity like aging or obesity. If you want to work on the former, at Retro.bio we are hiring :) The decline of social status of stay at home moms as cause of fertility decline (via Scott Alexander) Why can't the US build ships Isaak Freeman's journey to learn …

Burning Man

On August 25th I found myself sleeping under a tent at Black Rock City (BRC), the temporary city where Burning Man takes place. It was my first time going. A month before that I had no plans to get there though earlier in the year I had thought of going but made no definite plans. I thought well, perhaps next year, which is what I had also thought the year prior. But then, two weeks before the event, a conversation with a friend that was looking for someone else to go with changed that. Ultimately, to go to…

Links (81)

Jean Hebert, who proposes the stepwise replacement of brain tissue, has now joined ARPA-H Why does Ozempic cure all disease Scott Alexander on Nietzschean takes on morality, with an additional take from David Chapman, You should be a God-Emperor Radiant, company started by ex-SpaceX engineer to PBMs: a key player in the fuckupedness of the american healthcare system Via Scott Alenxader's links, powering airplanes via microwaves. I had this idea back in 2021. Blue Origin's factory Using toxoplasma for deliv…

Links (80)

AI companies need to make a lot of money for the current market state (NVIDIA going to the moon) to make sense. Right now it's far from that. Interview with the current co-CEO of Netflix Lambda School, a scam A tour of Starfactory, with Elon Advantages of incompetent management Ben Kuhn on trust and growing teams Mehran's Steak House: making of Why haven't biologists cured cancer? The occurrence of cancer seems to continue to raise exponentially even in old age, contrary to what was previously thought Using…