1. A bit of evolutionary biology. I'm really intrigued by a new perspective piece from Steve Frank that explores connections between how natural selection creates systems that generalize and recent work in machine learning about the surprising capabilities of massively overparameterized systems.

Generalization as the great leap in evolvability: insights from machine learning

Abstract. Natural selection encodes learned information in the genome. Learned solutions may be tuned specifically to past challenges, failing in altered e

academic.oup.com

Digital Threat Modeling Under Authoritarianism Today's world requires us to make complex and nuanced decisions about our digital security. Evaluating when to use a secure messaging app like Signal or WhatsApp, which passwords to store on your smartphone, or what to share on social media requires…

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts. Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵

My dad was tortured by the Gestapo for 4 days and thrown in a concentration camp for being in the Norwegian Resistance. Growing up, he would tell me things he learned in the Resistance. I thought, I'm never going to need this stuff. Here's some of those things #Thread

That’s such an “awkward gesture.”

Few people even know about this; when people are asked in surveys how child mortality has changed the majority says it has stagnated or increased. If you consider that many don't know about humanity's biggest achievement, then it's not surprising that many are so pessimistic about our future.

Every word here. We have journalistic organizations which will tell the truth in this moment, and we should amplify them. www.theverge.com/24282022/kam...

A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for school shootings and measles

Trump doesn’t care about any of this.

theverge.com

if you've cancelled your subs to the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times, give us a look; we don't cover American politics and the rise of authoritarianism like mewling pissbabies so it's a really good alternative newrepublic.com?blinkaction=...

The New Republic

Founded in 1914, The New Republic is a media organization dedicated to addressing today’s most critical issues.

newrepublic.com

For those looking for an alternative to liberal U.S. media like NYT and WaPo, you might consider contributing to the Guardian. While a British newspaper, it has a serious U.S. team that publishes the Guardian U.S. edition, which has excelled in uncovering anti-democratic actions by G.O.P.