“Monthly Roundup #9: August 2023” by Zvi

What a month. So much to cover.

What this post does not cover beyond this introduction is the biggest news story of the month, a potential room temperature superconductor.

If this discovery is real, it could be transformative. Think of the potential. We could be so back. Chances are that instead it is over, but even a small chance of something this big is huge. Even if it ends up being all over, it was amazing to see people around the world come together and do science to this to try and actually figure out something physical and real. Even in failure, we are so back.

What I am not going to do is pivot to suddenly becoming an expert on physics or get into the weeds myself. There is no need for that, I work fast and it would be fun but there are limits [...]

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Outline:

(01:40) Bad News

(06:26) Tech No Longer or Not Yet Calling Itself Artificial Intelligence

(13:01) Government Working

(28:07) Money Stuff

(33:19) Sadly, FTX

(34:04) Good News, Everyone

(42:57) While I Cannot Condone This

(43:47) In Medical and Health News

(53:05) Lying About the Lab Leak Hypothesis

(58:26) Doing Science To It: Marinara Edition

(01:03:13) While I Cannot Condone This

(01:13:32) Sports Go Sports

(01:24:49) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game

(01:35:49) The Lighter Side

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First published:
August 7th, 2023

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZvqTqSdmTQEKAmmmX/monthly-roundup-9-august-2023

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.