Evolutionary Theories Explain Persistence of Homosexuality
A FAQ: Why are some people gay given that it reduces reproductive output and hence should have been selected out long ago? (The puzzle isn't homosexual attraction or sex, but avoidance of heterosexual mating opportunities.) Steve Stewart-Williams reviews the theories and evidence. https://t.co/fAUQT1ez50
Satisfice, Don’t Over‑optimize: Shortcuts Cost More
An old and worthy insight from the Nobel laureate and originator of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, Herb Simon: Don't spend 15 minutes figuring out a shortcut that will save you 10 minutes. Information-gathering and decision-making themselves have costs, so...
Evolutionary Psychiatry Reframes Disorders by Function, Not Symptoms
Evolutionary psychiatry: Illuminating disorders by the ultimate functions of emotion and thought patterns, not an inventory of symptoms. Overview essay by one of its pioneers, Randolph Nesse - 2023 - World Psychiatry - Wiley Online Library https://t.co/x7TOk0V0u2
Ozon's Adaptation Accidentally Exposes Camus' Banality
When I was assigned Camus's L’Étranger when I was a 17-year-old college student, I thought it was dreadful, reaffirmed when I re-read it 50 years later for a BBC radio program. Not surprised, then, by Jaspreet Singh Boparai's review...
Evolution Shows GLP‑1s Can’t Substitute Exercise
No pill for exercise: My friend and Harvard colleague, the biological anthropologist Dan Lieberman, invokes evolution to explain why GLP-1s can’t replace physical activity https://t.co/hhN9gCZZmP
NYT Essay Blames Fertility Drop without Any Data
The innumeracy of narrative journalism: Long NYT essay on the fertility decline blames it on uncertainty due to rises in mortality, inequality, unemployment, work vulnerability, poverty, etc., without citing a single datum on how any of these have changed over...
AI Risk Stems From Human Recklessness, Not Innate Malice
First of 2 essays by @mboudry which I think nail the problem of AI existential risk: Neither malevolence nor lethal means to an end are natural products of intelligence, though they could arise if anyone was so stupid and reckless...
Write Clearly, Persuade Powerfully: Judge Weinzweig’s Lawyer Tips
Advice for lawyers (or anyone else) on effective writing, by Judge David Weinzweig (author of Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing).
AI‑driven Publishing Scams Flood Authors with Fake Compliments
I am targeted by several publishing scams a week, promoting book clubs, reading groups, influencers, publicity campaigns, list placers... all using AI-generated bullet points flattering my books. Yesterday it was "Terry Gross" (with a gmail, not https://t.co/d9oKSNqtTQ email address)...
Exploring Humanity's Need to Matter on Nonzero Podcast
On the Nonzero podcast, Robert Wright chats with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about mattering and The Mattering Instinct. https://t.co/yNuPTJVyFh via @YouTube
Liberal Democracy Remains Best Guard for Freedom and Prosperity
Review of "The Revolutionary Center": For all its troubles, no system better protects freedom, affluence, thought, and security than liberal democracy. https://t.co/F8qlsTaF3t via @WSJBooks
AI Hallucinations Reveal Machines Think without Real-World Grounding
As an avid cyclist, I was amused to see ChatGPT's “powerful new image engine" draw a bicycle with the "brake" label pointing to empty space where brakes are sometimes found on other bicycles. The point of these AI fails (regularly...
Swedish Edition of “When Everyone Knows” Arrives October
The Swedish translation of When everyone knows that everyone knows will be published by Fri Tanke ("Free thought") this October. https://t.co/doXjKpofar
AI‑induced Psychosis Is Rare, Says Harvard Psychiatrist
What to make of ‘AI psychosis’? — Harvard psychiatrist John Torous warns against the panic that LLMs are literally making people mad: "I feel comfortable saying that AI as a catalyst of psychosis is very rare." https://t.co/T9dEfQ22in
Exploring Time's Arrow and Our Mattering Inst
Time's Arrow and the Drive to Matter (discussion of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and Rebecca Goldstein's The Mattering Instinct @platobooktour), by one of my longtime favorite writers, Virginia Postrel @vpostrel https://t.co/wG8NgKiJ9g