There's this practice called Circling1
that I do sometimes. I remember before I did it the first time I tried to get a sense of what it was like: Why do people do this? Are there mistakes that I can learn to avoid? There wasn't much I found written that I found that useful, with the exception of this post from Aella and this other one from Tasshin Fogleman.
[1]. Circling is a registered trademark so one can find similar practices by other names like Relatefulness (in the Bay Area)
When I explain Circli…
An inside view via 19 cameras of the NYC restaurant Crown Shy (which I recommend, get the gruyere frites and the roasted short rib)
Curtis Yarvin's recent interview [transcript]. The interviewer's reaction near the beginning sums up part of mine "I'm asking you what you had for breakfast and you go "Well, since the dawn of time!!, just answers"+"I find the depth of background information obfuscating, instead of illuminating". Though I could see how his style of storytelling could be…
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…
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…
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 …
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…