In 2014, I took a weekend break to York. York is a lovely city in the north of the UK, with an ancient cathedral, quaint cobbled roads, and an interactive Viking experience. It was a great weekend. But when I first got off the train there, I was hungry and disoriented. I’ve never … | Continue reading
For thousands of untold generations, humanity has pondered our cosmic origins with a sense of awe and mystery, as though it were akin to pondering the nature of God. But over the course of the 20th century, a clear picture emerged as supported by an overwhelming suite of scientif … | Continue reading
A rising tide, in the phrase popularized by JFK, lifts all boats. It’s a vivid allegory for the president’s preferred path to general prosperity. But its sunny optimism hides a more sinister aspect of the ebb and flow of the open seas. If you’re caught out on the foreshore of a p … | Continue reading
Vinod Khosla has seen dozens of technology disruptions over his 40+ year career as a technology founder and investor. But AI, argues, is different. “I’ve seen technology reshape our world repeatedly,” Khosla — the billionaire co-founder of Sun Microsystems — writes in a recent lo … | Continue reading
When it comes to dimensions, most of us intuitively understand the notion that space possesses those properties. You can move forward or backward by any amount you desire in any of the three dimensions — up-down, left-right, or forward-backward — in which motion is possible. It’s … | Continue reading
In 1986, the USS Lexington aircraft carrier was operating at night in the Gulf of Mexico when it received a distress call from a U.S. Coast Guard dispatcher. A boat had capsized and up to 20 people were in the water, suggested an initial report. Aviation Rescue Swimmers Bill Gibs … | Continue reading
Ukrainian-American Semyon Dukach arrived in the US as a child refugee in 1979 and graduated from MIT in the early 90s. After building his reputation in startups and angel investing — not to mention a side hustle in professional blackjack following his exploits with the MIT Blackj … | Continue reading
With such large numbers of planets, moons, stars, and galaxies present within the observable Universe — so many of which have been confirmed to have similar raw ingredients to those found in our own Solar System — it seems inevitable that alien life must be out there somewhere. H … | Continue reading
When does detachment cross the healthy border? People often say, “Don’t take things to heart.” “Accept without pride. “Let go.” But at some point, this becomes too much. But where? How do we know? – Jiri, Czechia A fantastic question, Jiri, and one that has been on my mind recent … | Continue reading
Here on Earth, all living organisms obey certain rules and laws, and are subject to the phenomenon of evolution, including (and often, primarily) through the process of natural selection. Organisms, in terms of: the functions they can perform, the structures they possess, and the … | Continue reading
It is arguably the most important single question in US politics today: How can the United States halt its downward spiral into extremism, gridlock and cross-partisan hatred? For many advocates, a critical piece of the answer is the electoral reform known as ranked-choice voting. … | Continue reading
The germ of the idea that would eventually turn into Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Anne Applebaum’s new book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, came to her on a 2020 trip to Venezuela, a country long plagued by dictatorship, economic coll … | Continue reading
The investor John Huber posted a smart essay earlier this month about a recurring theme in this newsletter: how to consistently generate good ideas. John’s answer is simple: write more — and get more reps in. “The more I write, the more I think,” he says. He continues: Key quote: … | Continue reading
No matter what you do in the Universe or how you do it, the overall entropy within our cosmic horizon always increases. Even when we go through the effort to put things in order — assembling a puzzle, cleaning our houses, even (yes, it’s possible) unboiling egg whites — it will s … | Continue reading
In 1934, aspiring writer Arnold Samuelson set out to meet his literary hero, Ernest Hemingway. His plan was, to put it mildly, ramshackle. Without so much as an introductory letter, the young man hitch-hiked his way from Minnesota to Key West hoping that the famed author would sp … | Continue reading
On the eastern outskirts of Albania’s capital Tirana, a golden dome peeps across concrete walls topped with razorwire. This small compound, the world headquarters of an obscure Islamic sect, feels like it’s been transplanted from Jerusalem, where strict security and spiritual dev … | Continue reading
When a customer, an employee, or a senior leader has set their sights on a certain course of action and then runs into obstacles that make it slower, harder, more frustrating, we call this Organizational Friction. Many times, that can be a bad thing, but best-selling author and o … | Continue reading
When most of us think of AI, we think of chatbots like ChatGPT, of image generators like DALL-E, or of scientific applications like AlphaFold for predicting protein folding structures. Very few of us, however, think about physics as being at the core of artificial intelligence sy … | Continue reading
In a new study, MIT physicists propose that if most of the dark matter in the universe is made up of microscopic primordial black holes — an idea first proposed in the 1970s — then these gravitational dwarfs should zoom through our solar system at least once per decade. A flyby l … | Continue reading
During a trip to war-torn Ukraine in September 2023, Ohio-born historian and author Timothy Snyder couldn’t help but notice Ukrainians describing their collective dream — an end to the war with Russia — as “de-occupation” as opposed to “liberation.” This term, he reflects in his … | Continue reading
When I first encountered the term inclusive leadership, sometime in the 2000s, it seemed like the perfect way to describe my philosophy: I wanted to connect all my stakeholders to the meaning and impact of our work. I sought to achieve high performance, delivering shareholder val … | Continue reading
Kevin Kelly believes we need to build a better future for our descendants. To achieve this, he argues, we must radically rethink nearly every aspect of how we live: how we build businesses, invest, spend our time, structure governments, and envision the future itself. Of course, … | Continue reading
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the scientific community. Seeking to see back farther in space and earlier in time than any other astronomical observatory in history required a novel design and a series of new techno … | Continue reading
Within the next few years, an AI assistant will take up residence inside your head. It will do this by whispering guidance into your ears as you go about your daily routine, reminding you to pick up your dry cleaning as you walk down the street, helping you find your parked car i … | Continue reading
The Milky Way, like all spiral galaxies, spins about its axis. A galaxy that was governed by normal matter alone (left) would display much lower rotational speeds in the outskirts than toward the center, similar to how planets in the Solar System move. However, observations indic … | Continue reading
Kaelynn Partlow wears many hats: author, autism advocate, content creator, and registered behavior technician (and that’s just to name a few). At only 27, her journey of self-discovery and personal growth offers a candid glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of living with aut … | Continue reading
The first and most important question for any leader is: what ought I to do? Of course, a clear strategy can guide you in deciding what you ought to do. But which strategic objectives should you choose in the first place? And what means ought you to take to achieve your objective … | Continue reading
For over two decades, Ian Brooke has wanted to build his very own airplane – one he entirely designed from engine to airfoil. Now, he’s getting that opportunity, and it just so happens that this craft could revolutionize air travel as we know it. The 34-year-old Brooke is CEO of … | Continue reading
Our ability to imagine is an awesome power. But since it uses the same brain machinery as other thoughts and perceptions, and because we can remember what we imagine, we face a serious problem: How can we make sure we can tell the difference between memories of things that happen … | Continue reading
It’s hard to imagine, but it was only five years ago, in 2019, that humanity feasted our collective eyes on the first direct image of a black hole’s event horizon. Thanks to the technique of very long baseline interferometry and the power of arrays of radio telescopes stitched to … | Continue reading
Earlier this year, a hacker masquerading as an open source developer almost pulled off the biggest hack in history. If not for the heroic efforts of a lone Microsoft engineer, almost every computer powered by Linux, including most of the world’s servers, would have been “backdoor … | Continue reading
For the 1939 New York World’s Fair, a ride was advertised for the Amusement Zone whisking visitors on a “rocket trip” to Venus. Upon arriving on our neighboring planet, ridegoers were to be greeted by animatronic dinosaurs. A company with experience building such marvels had been … | Continue reading
When I was 14 years old, I got into trouble. I didn’t steal anything or assault anyone, but I did something far worse in the eyes of Mr. McDonald: I hadn’t done my homework. And so, sullen and indignant, I was given a school detention. I was to report to Room E in the Work Block … | Continue reading
Our Universe, as best as we understand it, hasn’t been the way it appears today forever. While today’s Universe is filled with rich structures like a cosmic web littered with galaxies, each one containing stars, planets, and enormous possibilities for inhabited worlds, if we look … | Continue reading
On the moon, there is no normal. There is no wind, no rain, no erosion. Nothing flies overhead, and nothing green strains toward the sky. There are no daily rhythms like those we experience on Earth—no chirping of crickets, no sunset breeze. Time itself seems to stop, or at least … | Continue reading
Chapter 4, Section 1: The Well-Lived Life The per-capita GDP of Canada has increased about thirty-fold over the last two centuries, from $1,441 in 1820 to $45,530 in 2022 (adjusted for inflation).1 This is an enormous increase. Are Canadians enormously better off? That is, we’ve … | Continue reading
The genomes of most modern humans contain up to 4% Neanderthal DNA. Scientists have now determined where much of that exchange likely happened: the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Around 28,000 years ago, give or take a millennium or two, the Neanderthals let out their last breath. The … | Continue reading
A few weeks ago, my colleague Arne Alsin shared ten personal insights from his 40+ years as an investor, calling it “the greatest game in the world.” “The thrill is in the hunt, not just the victory,” he writes. “Every day brings a new challenge, and that’s what keeps it fresh.” … | Continue reading
Although time might seem to pass slowly in some instances, it’s important to remember that our Universe has been around for a long time. It’s been 13.8 billion years since the hot Big Bang, and our entire cosmos has evolved by quite a large amount over that duration. As of right … | Continue reading
Americans need to talk more about politics. That may seem a ridiculous claim to anyone who has spent any time scrolling through social media, listening to vox-pop reporting, or telling their conspiracy-loving uncle that no, they don’t want to read his literature concerning all th … | Continue reading
Strategic thinking has always been a critical skill at the top: Leaders must be able to recognize emerging challenges and opportunities, establish the right priorities, and critically mobilize their people to adapt to the many changes that are going on. Michael Watkins, author of … | Continue reading
Most of us don’t realize it, but our own Solar System is constantly being bombarded in a cosmic game of pinball: where temporary, interloping objects speed through the paths normally reserved only for the planets and their moons. Objects originating from: the asteroid belt, the K … | Continue reading
We are in the early 1900s, and a French chemist (also an artist and decorator), Edouard Benedictus, has a banal accident in the laboratory: He drops a flask. Only this time, it doesn’t shatter. The pieces of glass remain stuck together, like a mosaic. Intrigued, Benedictus delves … | Continue reading
For more than 20 years, NASA’s search for life on Mars has hinged on a single, simple strategy: Follow the water. It makes sense. Every living thing on Earth — or every known life form, at least — needs water to survive, so tracing the course of past Martian rivers and lakes coul … | Continue reading
Do you know which letter was the last one to be added to the English alphabet? Or which instrument was invented to sound like a human singing? Or what is the name of the galaxy that our planet Earth is part of? I had no idea about the answers to the first two questions. I found t … | Continue reading
A recent study from MIT/Sloan found that a toxic culture is by far the strongest predictor of employee attrition and is ten times more important than compensation in predicting turnover. Employees themselves have never been as clear as they are now about the importance of their i … | Continue reading
During lockdowns everyone had to deal with issues ranging from noise, interruptions, and the stress of multitasking to isolation, uncertainty, and the disappearance of comforting routines. These interfered with the ability to focus. The brain can spend energy trying to filter out … | Continue reading
One of the biggest cosmic puzzles in the entire Universe is dark matter. If we take for granted that we know: the laws of physics (the Standard Model plus general relativity), the origin of our Universe (the hot Big Bang preceded by a phase of cosmic inflation), and the contents … | Continue reading