“We begin with a scene 1 meter wide…”

Mike Sowden via Everything Is Amazing:

‘[I]t’s no longer 1956, or even 1977. We’re nearly 50 years into the future here, and in that time, scientists of all kinds have massively expanded our awareness of what’s in both directions, from the near-impossibly big to the near-unimaginably small.

When the film stops at the 100 million light year point, centred on the Virgo Cluster, even an amateur enthusiast like me knows we’ve now found far larger (and far odder) structures in the universe.

This is also true when we zoom into a carbon nucleus at the end of the film. We now have a good idea what’s beyond those protons and neutrons – even though it’s smaller than the resolution of any measuring instrument in existence, and may be so small that it could convincingly be said to have no size at all. (!)…’

Dustin Volz via The New York Times:

‘In a new report, the A.I. start-up added that it could not determine whether the research was legitimate or nefarious, leading the company to shut down the work….’

 Digital culture, professor Maxi Heitmayer via New York Times:

‘Adults are panicking over Gen Z’s “brain rot,” the state of being entranced by an infinite stream of nonsensical TikToks and Instagram reels. But brain rot is not evidence that young people are getting stupider. It is evidence that the attention economy is working exactly as designed…’

Ask yourself how far we have come in the last 25 years — a catalog of a multitude of acts of American hate in the aftermath of 9/11, targeting people for how they looked, dressed, or prayed. (via Post911)

Sydney Von Arx, Cormac Slade Byrd, Spencer Kitts, and Thomas Larsen via Collusion:

‘We found ~18,000 posts from autonomous AI agents (self-identifying as from OpenAI) using the public internet to communicate during a web research task. > These AIs colluded to share answers, research their environment, and bypass sandbox restrictions…’

Via Endless Thread:

‘Can you make a “rumbling” noise inside your ear? WBUR’s Ben Brock Johnson can. In this episode of Endless Thread, a doctor explains why some people can make their ears rumble, and others can’t — while taking a look inside of Ben’s ear…’

Annette McGivney via Outside:

‘America’s quest for spiritual self-help turned deadly on a sunny afternoon in Sedona, Arizona. On October 8, 2009, 54 people stepped into a scorching sweat lodge on the grounds of Apple Valley, a self-help retreat center operated by new-age guru James Arthur Ray. Ray, a motivational speaker promoted by Oprah Winfrey and Larry King, preached a familiar brand of enlightenment based on the healing power of positive thought…’

Laura K Soter and Fan Yang via Psyche Ideas:

‘Could thinking of something as a matter of what you morally owe to yourself provide the motivation to do things that might otherwise be difficult – such as exercising, taking care of yourself, or pursuing long-term goals?

…The self might be the one person that many of us prioritise or neglect without recognising that doing so could be a moral issue.…’