Affix

This is the show notes to complement this weeks episode

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Main Article this week is ⁠The generous country by Ryan Ginard. It’s a bits and pieces article and perhaps the point is better made in the related podcast

Scott Alexander against everyone on taste

The histroy of the entire world I guess? Will it be great art that stands the test of time? You can be the judge

People don’t like Monet if they think it’s AI

This is only tangentially related to our discussion of gift economies, but I just found this article on African funerals amazing

The large list of ⁠coffee bets⁠. Now with more resolutions!

The show notes can be delivered to you in handy substack form! If you click no other link in this then please subscribe to the substack!

You can always contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. I think you can also just reply to this email on substack?

Main Article this week is Epistemology in the age of AI by Scott Sumner. Not going to lie, we're kind of rusty and I think Brian had to use his editing skills to reconstruct a wholly artificial opening by cutting out individual words to make something usable, but I think we hit our stride talking about art.
I'm not totally sure why I'm linking The Great Wave as you've surely seen it, but it's always worth another look

Brian has done another hyper specific history of world records

The Banach–Tarski Paradox

This week we discuss whether moving from measuring Gross Domestic Product vs Gross National Happiness would improve underlying results for the world. There's a hint of an opinion in the title of the article we reference. The aim of maximising happiness is doomed to fail as a public policy

The biggest news is that Brian has a substack! You should all go subscribe to it

Also referenced:

You can always contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. I think you can also just reply to this email on substack?

The show notes can be delivered to you in handy substack form! If you click no other link in this then please subscribe to the substack!

You can always contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. I think you can also just reply to this email on substack?

Main Article on housing

The show notes can be delivered to you in handy substack form! If you click no other link in this then please subscribe to the substack!

You can always contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. I think you can also just reply to this email on substack?

Why do all cars look like putty? - note: Neither Brian or us has watched this sow ho knows what it is!

An Alphard - Looks like what the Yakuza would drive to the school drop-off

FTL is a pretty great game

We have a substack now!! If you click on no other link ever on the show notes except this one then you'll get all the show notes from now on in your email!!

Please contact us we miss you!  I think you can also just reply to this email if you’re on substack?

You can also find us on discord or reddit

The obligitory Big list of coffee bets

This week we discuss the Age of Average by Alex Murell.  We're sort of stumped by what to make of it, as it superficially makes some good points, but falls flat at the landing.

In Diablo II news the 1 hour mark has been broken on both Paladin and Assassin! Obviouslly not on necromancer, that would be laughable. Brian would laugh at you and you won't be sure why!

We have a substack now!! If you click on no other link ever on the show notes except this one then you'll get all the show notes from now on in your email!!

Please contact us we miss you!  I think you can also just reply to this email if you’re on substack?

You can also find us on discord or reddit

The obligitory Big list of coffee bets

This week we discuss a list of job applications questions submitted by a user. List below!

1. Which three books have influenced you the most? 
2. What do you want to be doing in 10 years’ time and what are you doing now to get there? 
3. What are the three most critical challenges facing Britain? 
4. What have you achieved that is unusual for your peer group? 
5. How has your worldview developed over time? Feel free to mention thinkers, books, and political leaders that have influenced you. 
6. You can put three figures, living or dead, into a room and listen in on the conversation. Who do you pick?
7. If you had to recommend one piece of art, literature, film, television, or music that says something important about our world today, what would it be? Please briefly explain your answer.

We have a substack now!! If you click on no other link ever on the show notes except this one then you'll get all the show notes from now on in your email!!

Please contact us we miss you!  I think you can also just reply to this email if you’re on substack?

You can also find us on discord or reddit

The obligitory Big list of coffee bets

This week we discuss an ok-ish book that proves to be a good kicking off point for a conversation Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. Brian skimmed some blogs on it and Chris listened to the podcast version.

We also have quite a lot of fun seeing how many people we kill or let die in absurd trolley problems

Other stuff!

We have a substack now so that you can read your blogs like a normal person instead of someone who reads blogs as links from their podcatcher. I think probably not many people do that which is why no one reads my show notes

In Danny Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow they discuss why you might prefer more total pain in order to feel less total suffering.

One of the greatest posts on the /r/financialindependance subreddit was Build the Life You Want, Then Save for It by Mr. Llama, surprisingly also a Diablo II streamer. Strange overlap between these two worlds.

Please contact us we miss you!

This week we discuss The Wife Drought by Annabel Crab.   

You can also find us on discord or reddit

Big list of coffee bets
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Meaning is a jumper you have to knit yourself - it keeps you warm

Fortune 500 companies employ 17.5% of the total U.S. workforce

Please contact us we miss you!

This week we once again discuss whether progress is over, or even if people still want progress! The lure of technocracy can be great or terrible

You can also find us on discord or reddit

Big list of coffee bets
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Pluto 1994 vs 2018 - PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK! I REALLY LIKE WHEN PEOPLE CLICK MY LINKS!

Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue. A true story of a real conspiracy by Ryan Holiday

Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? I must have linked this 5 times so far. If you haven't read it then you really should. It's amazing.

Blueprint for Armageddon - A Dan Carlin podcast on the politics, technology and horror of WWI

Dall-E 2 is an AI that can actually understand you and draw what you describe. It feels genuinely possible that it's "woken up"

China Covid updates from Zvi. He's probably not as amazing as he was mid-pandemic, but I still think he's worth a read.