The Monday Mix (05/06/2023)
Hi friends,
Another week and no rain. It’s bizarre to say but I’m almost getting used to continuous warm days in England. A sentence I never thought I’d write. The funny thing about living here is that even if the weather is great, which it has been for three weeks now, people will still complain. Which is kind of what I’m doing here. I shouldn’t be complaining, given that most summers are nowhere this nice.
However, it does feel weird to have not seen rain for at least three weeks in England. I can’t ever remember that happening before. It does make perfect weather for getting out more, which is what I’ve been doing, playing football with friends and cycling more. It also means reading books outside in the sun, which is always pleasant too!
Here’s what I want to share this week.
Bizarro World
This is a fun piece about a woman breaking the world record at Tetris. I didn’t realise there was a world record for Tetris before I read this piece, but you learn something new every day. It’s amazing to think that there are probably some inconsequential things we are better at than most people. Even if it’s something as seemingly mundane as Tetris, I think a lot of us would be more than happy to say we held the world record.
Turncoat Drone
A story about an army drone turning on its operators and killing them went viral on Twitter last week and had the site in a frenzy. This was until it became the idea, this was a thought experiment and not something that actually happened. I don’t know whether AI is as powerful as is claimed. I don’t think Large Language Models like ChatGPT are that sophisticated. They’re just getting the next probable in a sentence, rather than thinking for themselves. The potential for AI to cause harm is real, but at this point it’s us, humans, who are the biggest problem when it comes to AI.
Albatross
You’ve likely seen the image this article is based on before. A dead albatross lying on a beach with its insides full of plastic. It’s an iconic image, and that highlights just how wasteful we are as a species. Not only is our obsession with plastic getting worse, it’s affecting animals in nefarious ways. Hopefully, governments around the world can come to an agreement on scaling back plastic production, which will stop this problem at its source.
Music
An epic piece of music by the Greek composer Vangelis that was part of Ridley Scott’s film 1492. I’ve heard this piece on and off for several years but never found out what it was called. Nor did I realise Ridley Scott had made a film about Columbus, which, according to reviews, is not that good. Well, the below definitely is good, if not great.
Book I’m reading - Regenesis by George Monbiot
I’ve just started this book about food production and how it can be done without harming the planet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many references in one chapter. The second chapter has over 180 references alone! I read Monbiot’s Feral a few years ago and was impressed by his arguments. Regenesis is interesting so far and I’m intrigued to see what he says the solutions are to feeding people in a warming world.
Quote I’m pondering: – “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” – Virginia Woolf
That’s all for this week.
Until next time,
Tom