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Professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS and co-author, with Abraham Newman, of Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Technological development trajectories often display increasing returns, which entrench early paths and crowd out alternatives.

  Their words

  What we do know from economics, is that trajectories of technological development are often associated with increasing returns.

  The Acemoglu Wars Are All About AIprogrammablemutter.com

Writer on learning and skill acquisition; author of Ultralearning and Get Better at Anything, known for the MIT Challenge and the Year Without English.

• Our reading nowkorrents.com

  Struggling with a hard problem before being shown the answer is not always the best way to learn; a hint or a worked example can beat floundering.

  On changing their mind

  If you had asked me this question in the lead up to my 2019 book, Ultralearning, I would have said no. I was a strong advocate for doing hard problem solving and the associated mental effort it requires as a way to learn difficult skills.

Fellow at the Manhattan Institute writing on crime, drugs and policing; writes The Causal Fallacy.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  The social harms attributed to homelessness come from people being unsheltered, not from their lacking a permanent home.

  Their words

  Read this in the context of Christopher et al., and the reasonable conclusion is that many of the problems associated with homelessness are the result of unsheltered homelessness.

  thecausalfallacy.substack.com

Writes on effective altruism, energy and the arithmetic behind arguments people repeat — including how much electricity a chatbot query actually uses.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  The American states with the fastest electricity load growth saw prices fall rather than rise.

  data centersenergyAmerica

  Their words

  A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found that state-level load growth from 2019 to 2024 — including growth driven by data centers, manufacturing, and electrification — was associated with lower average retail electricity prices, not higher ones.

  blog.andymasley.com

President of the European Commission since 2019; previously Germany's defence minister.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Ukraine's war effort should be financed by a Reparations Loan raised against immobilised Russian assets, repayable only once Russia pays reparations.

  Russia

  Their words

  This is Russia's war. And it is Russia that should pay. This is why we need to work urgently on a new solution to finance Ukraine's war effort on the basis of the immobilised Russian assets. With the cash balances associated to these Russian assets, we can provide Ukraine with a Reparations Loan.

  enlargement.ec.europa.eu

Independent AI policy researcher; led policy research at OpenAI from 2018 to 2024, latterly as senior adviser for AGI readiness.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  As AI systems become more capable, the danger of false or unverifiable safety claims grows, pushing competing companies toward cutting corners.

  Their words

  As AI gets more capable, the risks associated with mistaken claims, fraudulent claims, or too-vague-to-be-verified claims will increase, and a cloud of suspicion between competitors could drive corner-cutting (indeed, this is happening already and could get worse).

  milesbrundage.substack.com

Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI; previously president of Y Combinator.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  People who create valuable data deserve to be compensated when models are trained on it, and artists should be able to opt out of having work generated in their style.

  Their words

  I think the question behind that question is, do people who create valuable data deserve to have some way that they get compensated for use of it, and that I think the answer is yes. I don’t know yet what the answer is. People have proposed a lot of different things. We’ve tried some different models. But if I’m like an artist for example, A, I would like to be able to opt out of people generating art in my style. And B, if they do generate art in my style, I’d like to have some economic model associated with that.

  youtube.com

Economist at George Mason University. Writes Overcoming Bias on prediction markets, signalling and the far future, and wrote The Age of Em and The Elephant in the Brain.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  Many people refuse to act on falling birth rates because raising them is associated with people they consider enemies.

  Their words

  They do not want to give such enemies the satisfaction of admitting they have a point.

  Five Fertility Failsovercomingbias.com

Economist; former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  A central bank can eliminate a self-fulfilling ('sunspot') debt crisis simply by credibly committing to buy as many bonds as needed at the low interest rate.

  interest rates

  Their words

  This is precisely the role the central bank can play. By announcing that it stands ready to buy the bonds that investors want to sell at the price associated with the low interest rate, and credibly indicating that it has deep enough pockets to buy whatever is needed, it can eliminate the bad equilibrium.

  Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu

Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals, and creator of Omarchy.

• Our reading nowkorrents.com

  Cryptocurrency deserves to be dismissed: its problems outweigh its promise, and the trustless world it offers is not one worth wanting.

  crypto

  Their words, before

  One of the reasons I've never cared for crypto currencies is that the associated utopia of trustless society had zero appeal to me. I don't think the world is better off by erasing the need to trust in our transactional counterparts, so turning these transactions into pure computing always struck me as a regression.

  Their words now

  But wherever this leads us next, it's clear to me now that I was too hasty to completely dismiss crypto on the basis of all the things wrong with it at the moment. Instead of appreciating the fundamental freedom to transact that it's currently our best shot at protecting.

Media theorist and writer; author of Program or Be Programmed and Team Human, and host of the Team Human podcast.

• Usesrcmnd.app

  TextEdit

  Their words

  Articles happen in Word, but I'm leaving it behind more and more, and just writing in Textedit to save myself all the time and energy associated with Microsoft.

  usesthis.com

• Usesrcmnd.app

  Scrivener

  Their words

  I write my books and comics scripts in Scrivener. Articles happen in Word, but I'm leaving it behind more and more, and just writing in Textedit to save myself all the time and energy associated with Microsoft.

  usesthis.com

Civil engineer and land use planner, founder and president of Strong Towns, author of Escaping the Housing Trap. Argues that the American pattern of development since the Second World War does not generate enough wealth to maintain the infrastructure it obliges cities to keep.

• Our readingkorrents.com

  The American suburban pattern of development does not pay for itself: a city takes the cash from new growth and, with it, a maintenance bill it can never cover.

  America

  Their words

  Put these two characteristics together and you have a key insight; Cities routinely trade near-term cash advantages associated with new growth for long-term financial obligations associated with maintenance of infrastructure.

  The Growth Ponzi Scheme, Part 1strongtowns.org