Kickoff For August 26, 2024
Over the next several weeks, you'll probably notice a weird and (I hope) wonderful mix of articles in editions of The Monday Kickoff. I'm trying to get through a backlog of older articles while at the same time reading more recent ones. So a lot of different ideas and directions will be bashed together.
With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:
The search for the random numbers that run our lives — Wherein we learn how much we rely on randomly-generated numbers in our lives (whether we realize it or not), and about some of the unlikely places in which people find sources of randomness to generate those numbers.
From the article:
The list of things people have turned to in the pursuit of random numbers is deliciously odd. One software engineer realised when out walking on a wet day that the raindrops falling on his glasses might provide a suitable source of randomness, so he simulated the patterns via a short piece of code as an experiment. Someone else tried capturing the activity of bubbles in their fish tank as a basis for random number generation. Another approach relied on the unpredictable behaviour of a kitten, its movements having been captured on a webcam.
The big idea: why your brain needs other people — Wherein we learn that there's another take on the idea of the so-called second brain: that the way in which we fully form thoughts, memories, and ideas is through interactions with others.
From the article:
Consider those times when the presence of others has reminded you of an appointment, a name, or simply encouraged you to focus your attention differently. Our relationships provide a context in which to think, and a reason to think. We deliberate with one another to arrive at important decisions, talk through ideas to test them out. These processes are embedded in our political institutions. Democracies presume that significant moral and political decisions are best made through interpersonal processes of debate, rather than being left to individuals.
Gladys West: The Hidden Figure Behind GPS — Wherein we learn about the various struggles that the mathematician and programmer faced, but whose work creating accurate models of the shape of the Earth helped lay the foundation for the navigation system that the world has come to rely on.
From the article:
West’s career at Dahlgren lasted 42 years. By the time she retired in 1998, all 24 satellites in the GPS constellation had been launched to help the world keep time and handle navigation. But her role was largely unknown.
How Soon Might the Atlantic Ocean Break? Two Sibling Scientists Found an Answer—and Shook the World — Wherein we learn about an ocean current system called Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), it's importance to regulating climate systems, and about the research into why (and when) the AMOC will collapse.
From the article:
Even so, a shutdown would trigger, as one paper put it, “a profound global-scale reorganization” in Earth’s climate systems. The effects would be devastating—plunging northern Europe into a deep cold spell, crushing food systems, condemning big regions to drought. It’s so, so bad.
The Composer Has No Clothes — Wherein we learn a bit about plagiarism and outright theft in the world of classical music, and the efforts of music buff Tobias Broeker to uncover the originality (or lack thereof) of the works of composer Tristan Foison.
From the article:
A reader familiar with the French music scene in the twentieth century would have found Foison’s credentials implausible. One with even basic common sense would have realized he sounded too good to be true. If he could be jet-setting across Europe to work with the world’s great orchestras, why was he teaching piano in suburban Atlanta?
The Odds That Aliens Exist Just Got Worse — Wherein a pair of geophysicists weigh in on the possibility of the existence of life in the rest of the universe from the perspective of geology and conclude that it's even less unlikely that technologically-advanced civilizations exist.
From the article:
Does it really matter that the probability of receiving a communiqué from deep space has just become a little slimmer? It might turn out to be a good thing if it causes us to look down with new reverence at the beautiful, bountiful, mysterious planet right under our feet.