Kickoff for April 22, 2024
This week, an even more interesting mishmash of links than usual. Links that reflect my state of mind as much as the topics that have caught my attention. Things happen that way, sometimes. I get it and I embrace it.
With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:
Skylab 4: 50 years since the first ‘mutiny’ aboard a spacecraft — Wherein we learn a bit more about a work stoppage in orbit and why what happened wasn't really the revolt that some reporters at the time made it out to be.
From the article:
The mission got off to a rough start. Perhaps affected by the reprimand, the astronauts started making small mistakes and falling behind in their experiment program. It didn’t help that Houston was trying to micromanage every minute detail, which frustrated the three men.
The problem of thinking in straight lines — Wherein Kit Yates explores the reasons for, and potential dangers of, linearality and offers some advice to avoid linearality bias.
From the article:
Although most of the time we are unaware of them, many of the most important relationships that we experience every day are nonlinear. But we have the idea of linearity drilled into us so early on and so often that sometimes we forget that other relationships can even exist.
The strange story of the grave of Copernicus — Wherein we learn about the search for the famed 16th century polymath's remains, and how forensic scientists believe they've identified those remains.
From the article:
There were several unsuccessful attempts to locate Copernicus’s remains, dating as far back as the 16th and 17th centuries. Another failed attempt was made by the French emperor Napoleon after the 1807 Battle of Eylau. Napoleon held Copernicus in high regard as a polymath, mathematician and astronomer.
Between the Algorithm and a Hard Place: The Worker's Dilemma — Wherein we learn about how algorithm-powered apps, and the rigid rules behind them, put undue stress on the workers whose employment (casual or otherwise) relies upon them.
From the article:
While algorithms can do many impressive things, they cannot handle the gray areas that require human problem solving that we all frequently face in the working world. Uber and AmazonFlex have been able to automate a layer of management on their platforms because there is a lot of routine in the work – but the workers I’ve interviewed over the last few years also demonstrate that a significant part of their day is spent negotiating with the automated management tools and deciding how to get their jobs done.
The Magic of the Blackboard — Wherein we learn why a decidedly ancient and low-tech tool helps mathematicians and physicists unleash their creativity.
From the article:
A blackboard, then, is a stage for stand-up theorists. But the process doesn’t end there. What follows is like a relay race, according to Forrest Sheldon, a junior fellow at the Institute. “You take it in turns. One of you has started writing out a problem. But at a certain point, the other one grabs hold of the chalk, like a baton.”
POSSE: a better way to post on social networks — Wherein David Pierce looks at a more decentralized way to publish online and posts to/engage with social networks — a way, though, that's more than a bit too techie for the masses at the moment.
From the article:
The idea is that you, the poster, should post on a website that you own. Not an app that can go away and take all your posts with it, not a platform with ever-shifting rules and algorithms. Your website. But people who want to read or watch or listen to or look at your posts can do that almost anywhere because your content is syndicated to all those platforms.
Inside the Crime Rings Trafficking Sand — Wherein we're introduced to the world of sand trafficking, and learn why and how it happens, and about its impact on the environment.
From the article:
The environmental impacts are substantial. Dredging rivers destroys estuaries and habitats and exacerbates flooding. Scraping coastal ecosystems churns up vegetation, soil and seabeds and disrupts marine life. In some countries, illegal mining makes up a large portion of the total activity, and its environmental impacts are often worse than those of legitimate operators.
Will ChatGPT Soon Replace Editors? — Wherein Christina Behe argues that AI tools won't replace writers and editors because of the interpersonal element to these activities that ChatGPT can’t (or at least can’t yet) replicate.
From the article:
Of course, writers might wish to forgo dealing with editors altogether by simply asking ChatGPT to edit their text—cutting out the middle man. But I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, to come up with a prompt that would generate a satisfying result.
Kafka Agonistes — Wherein we learn, through his diaries and aphorisms, a bit more about the Bohemian writer, someone who wasn't what many of us believe him to be.
From the article:
If we think of Kafka as a kind of purist or literary saint, our mistaken impression is due largely to Brod’s interference, his careful censorship of the diaries and other works, his regularizing of Kafka’s prose into a standard High German. He smoothed Kafka’s rough edges, rearranged his chronologies, narrowed the range of Kafka’s sensual fantasies, and omitted passages that might have raised questions about his own character