DNA storage a
reality: DNA, a robust, dense, and power-free conduit also happens to be
incredibly small, can now be synthesized to store digital information. EMBL-EBI
overcame the hurdles of manufacturing and difficulty in reading/writing and
developed a coding scheme that delivers a result that can last almost forever.
Many practical aspects remain to be solved, but the commercially viable model
is ahead. [Note: $12,400 a megabyte at this point, but man, I cannot wait to
store all knowledge within my person]…Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130123133432.htm
Efforts are under way
to improve macroeconomic models: 2 ways to go about it, first way is to
improve the industry standard, the DSGE model, by putting bank into the models
and realistically representing the sector. The second way is to experiment with
“agent-based modeling”—a way to depict evolutionary structure in an actual
economy. [Note: the contentment of casting elegant theories into predictive
apparatus may result in some distorted models]…Source: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21569752-efforts-are-under-way-improve-macroeconomic-models-new-model-army
How America’s top
colleges reflect the country’s racial evolution: In 1980, 80% of the
country was white; today, less than 65% of the country is white. As for elite
colleges: the white % is below national average, black % is way below national
average, Hispanic % is in-line, and Asian % is massively over with a glass ceiling.
[Note: Fairness comes in all flavors.]…Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/how-americas-top-colleges-reflect-and-massively-distort-the-countrys-racial-evolution/267415/
Not everyone is
living longer: Conditional on high school dropouts, the life expectancy of
white working class men fell by 3 years from 1990 to 2008, and that of white
working class women by 5 years. [Note: there might be adverse selection there;
genetically and physically, are dropouts less fit (in a medical sense) then
they were earlier? That’s a valid question]…Source: http://www.agingsocietynetwork.org/differences-in-life-expectancy
The shallows: what
the internet is doing to our brain: At the beginning, the internet brings
forth portal, in which we searched for truth, for meaning, and for
transcendence. It was an exploration that took use beyond ourselves to know the
world, and ourselves, more fully. Now, it reinforces our biases rather than
challenging them, and subverts the act of searching in its most meaningful
sense. What’s more, such is an age of bright, dazzling, digital flow—one that
leaves little space for the mind through slow, quiet contemplation.
Note: greater access to knowledge is not the same as greater
knowledge, plethora of facts and data is not the same as wisdom, breath of
knowledge is not the same as depth of knowledge, and multi-tasking is not the
same as complexity. I believe that the most meaningful and rewarding aspects of
our lives require time and depth. The internet broadens our resource, but runs
the danger of cornering our thinking and acting in discontinuous, brief bits.
One must be aware of such danger.
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