Front Running the Big Bang (Issue #182)
Alien life in the universe, Google anti-trust deep dive, the history of beards, and lots lots more…
Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
Another season 2 instalment…
This is a first. I’ve prepared this week’s newsletter a few days ago. As has been the case in recent weeks I keep being forced into putting the newsletter together early because they keep putting me through starvations and accompanying that they cut off water and electricity, so in order to ensure something gets sent out I prepare it in advance. The thing that’s different this week is that next week is already shaping up to be a mega starvation week. They are already subtly and non-subtly saying they will completely cut off electricity and washing water, maybe even drinking water, and they’ve been doing this in collaboration with the police. So it’s looking pretty darn bad at the minute.
So even though this week’s newsletter hasn’t even gone out yet, it will be out in a couple of days, I’m going to put together the newsletter for the following week now. Yep that’s right I’m preparing the weekly newsletter more than a week in advance. Yes it absolutely is getting ridiculous beyond belief now. Who knows what will happen, I certainly don’t. I do know that anytime I do anything whatsoever it somehow gets echo’s back at me, and creates all sorts of issues, and the universe hates me even more than it quite clearly already hates me, but I don’t really have any choice. I run a newsletter and my priority is to publish a dam issue every dam Saturday.
That being said the news cycle is really not conducive at all to my predicament, because the past 2 days it’s all about the Trump - Harris debate. That’s basically the only thing in my feeds. I’m finding it all rather dull to be honest, it’s just two politicos trying to get under each other’s skin. Almost as boring as poker. Since this issue won’t get published for at least 9 days, that whole story will have moved on by then, so what’s the point in even adding any of that? I’m just going to skip all that.
I do have 3 pods that are unrelated though and actually make quite a good combo: Alien life, Google anti-trust, and the awesomeness of beards. So science, tech and facial hair. All these things are cool now and will still be cool in 9 days time. Unless of course aliens do actually make first contact before then, but even if that happens there’s a chance the aliens might read the newsletter. Win win win.
First is an Into the Impossible episode about whether Earth is unique and what the odds are that alien life exists somewhere out there. I’m actually only about 8 minutes into that one as I write this, but so far it’s pretty great.
Then there’s an Ed Zitron discussion with Jason Kint to talk about the crazy complicated Google anti-trust case. It’s kind of mind boggling how complicated it is, and just goes to show how big these houses of cards we build have become. I really wonder how equipped the legal system is at dealing with such cases, and how it’s going to handle the AI revolution that we are rapidly entering. I kept feeling like the wheels are going to start falling off of the whole legal system thing as I was listening to this. A bit like my life right now to be honest.
And finally a series on the history of beards. Fits in perfectly really especially because Zitron’s show logo is a strange psychedelic skull, and beards famously grow out of skulls, even if life is just so darned impossible all the friggin time. Impossible skull beards.
You see that’s the kind of analysis and synthesis that keeps people coming back to this newsletter week in week out.
Right, as usual world willing, I’ll add some more content at the end of the week. No blog posts yet because next week literally hasn’t happened yet, not much I can do about that at the minute.
I’m going to end up writing 52 newsletters next week aren’t I?
Might as well just write the restaurant at the end of the universe edition. Pretty sure there will be aliens in that one.
Update 1: Just realised while scheduling this that it will go out on my birthday. Happy birthday me!
If you want to help the newsletter or indeed the universe, chances are pretty high that I’ll still be having major problems with the universe, and still trying my best to replace my hosed laptop. Any donation would be amazing, and will likely reduce the amount of crazy merge conflicts you will encounter in the future. You don’t need to have a beard to donate. :)
https://markjgsmith.com/donate
Update 2: It‘s Friday now, listened to some awesome pods this week. I added 9 podcasts to the selection.
Update 3: I added 4 blog posts!
Sparrow people https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/09/19/sparrow-people
Matt Walsh on racism, social media, US politics & the strange world of professional cuddlers https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/09/19/matt-walsh-on-racism-social-media-us-politics-and-the-strange-world-of-professional-cuddlers
Slavery, the bible, and the changeability of institutions https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/09/19/slavery-the-bible-and-the-changeability-of-institutions
Punish yourself so you can be nice to yourself https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/09/20/punish-yourself-so-you-can-be-nice-to-yourself
Yeah bit of a strange blogging week to be honest.
Update 4: Last minute addition, Kevin and Alex are back with Diggnation! Old school internet stuff while drinking beer. Brought a smile to my face at the end of a strange week. Love it.
Update 5: It’s Saturday morning, I got assaulted last night which wasn’t much fun, plastic cup full of red soft drink thrown directly at me hiring me square in the face. I had been quietly minding my own business. Kind of proves the point I’ve been making. In fact it’s worse, even if I punish myself before I am nice to myself, I still get punished. Whatever world, today’s my birthday and I have enough money to buy some food. Happy days. Happy birthday to me and all :)
Podcasts
Is Earth Unique? Mario Livio and Jack Szostak on the Odds of Alien Life (Into the Impossible Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/324783?episode=27635680544
The Department of Justice V Google Ads: Part 1 (Better Offline Podcasts) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/6793395?episode=27572877419
History’s Greatest Beards: From Egyptian Queens to Medieval Conquerors (Part 1) (The Rest is History Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/1365765?episode=27558715529
Will AI Kill Democracy? | Yuval Noah Harari (Bankless Podcast) https://www.bankless.com/will-ai-kill-democracy-yuval-noah-harari
Gregory Aldrete: The Roman Empire - Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome Ep#443 (Lex Fridman Podcast) https://lexfridman.com/gregory-aldrete
Do You Need A New iPhone? + Yuval Noah Harari’s AI Fears + Hard Fork Crimes Division (NYT’s Hard Fork Podcast) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/podcasts/do-you-need-a-new-iphone-yuval-noah-hararis-ai-fears-hard-fork-crimes-division.html
Human agency, optimists and trillionaires with Keith Tear Ep#2191 (Keen On Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/240566?episode=27843676018
Are We Living in a Simulation? Nick Bostrom (Into the Impossible Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/324783?episode=27981892142
Unchained with Phil Geiger Ep#139 (Citadel Dispatch) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/1365851?episode=27984633299
Obernolte: Sorry California, DC will set the AI agenda (Politico Tech Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/398960?episode=28009482329
Fed Rate Cut: Is It Too Late? | Macro Alf (Bankless Podcast) https://www.bankless.com/fed-rate-cut-is-it-too-late-macro-alf
Matt Walsh Ep#2204 (Joe Rogan Experience Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/6786106?episode=28025132592
Bank Fraud, Animated Crushes, Deepfaked Memories, and Hippy Glen (Diggnation Podcast) https://www.diggnation.show/bank-fraud-animated-crushes-deepfaked-memories-and-hippy-glenn
That’s all from me…
Best regards,
Mark
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Have a great weekend and a fantastic next week!