Organ Transplant Rule Change

NPR: "Are you an organ donor? Here are some rule changes you may want to know". 

I am signed up as an organ donor, and I am not bothered by these rule changes. I do understand that some prospective donors might be.

Duo Review

"The iPhone Duo is a messy, expensive good time"

Space Debris

Market analysis of space debris.

New Type Of Diamond

"Scientists Discover a New Cousin of Diamond That Was Thought To Exist Only in Theory"

Creative Use Of Prediction Markets

"LA restaurant group used $60,000 Dodgers bet to hedge playoff risk".

Some key points from the article:

* The group, ⁠which operates 25 bars, many of ​them near the Dodger Stadium, made a $60,000 ​trade on Kalshi if the team did not advance 

* The position returned nearly twice ​the original stake, Kalshi ​said, helping make up for business the ‌bars ⁠would have received from additional playoff games 

* The trade points to a small but growing use ​of prediction ​markets ⁠by businesses seeking protection against risks that conventional ​financial products may not cover

Open Source Update

"Creator of free Adobe clones unveils open-source Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications"

Siri AI Privacy Tips

"How to Limit What Apple's New Siri AI Can Access in iOS 27"

Better Atomic Clock

"Scientists Just Built the World's Most Accurate Clock". (Via H.R.)

Conscious AI -- Or Not

Anil Seth: "The Mythology Of Conscious AI"

Hsieh Forbes Column: The Robot Phlebotomist Will See You Now

My latest Forbes column is now out: "The Robot Phlebotomist Will See You Now"

Why I Like My "Dumb" Fridge

"Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges"

Pinker On AI Risks

Steven Pinker: "An Open Letter to Scott Alexander". 

tldr; The dangers of AI are real, but doomerism may be counterproductive.

Light Posting

Due to various personal obligations, posting will be light for a few weeks.

iPhone Security Tips

"This iPhone Feature Makes It Much Harder for Thieves to Ruin Your Life"

Rheumatoid Arthritis Update

"Scientists Used Cancer Therapy To Reset Rheumatoid Arthritis". (Via H.R.)

China And AI

"China dismisses AI slowdown calls and blasts 'fearmongering' from U.S. tech leaders". 

Prediction: China will have nothing to do with any proposed "AI pause". US politicians who think we will reach an international agreement on this are deluding themselves.

Damasio On Consciousness

"Does Consciousness Require a Body?"

Taxonomy of Omnicidal Futures Involving AI

Given all the recent drama about "AI will kill us all!", I thought I'd mention this 2025 paper by Critch and Tsimerman laying out a helpful conceptual framework for discussion: "A Taxonomy of Omnicidal Futures Involving Artificial Intelligence"

Potential Versus Actual Infinity

Joel Hamkins: "Potential versus Actual Infinity". Link to the transcript.

Fermat Again

Anthropic: "Formalizing Fermat's Last Theorem"

We are sharing the first complete computer-checked proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Claude worked largely autonomously over 11 days to write the proof in the Lean programming language. Below, we describe how the formalization was done and share some thoughts about what this work could mean for research mathematics.