Welcome to Friday,
Here is what I’d like to share this week:
Predictions for the year 2050. These are not, as the author points out, pie in the sky dreams of the sci-fi variety. Instead this is a list of incremental predictions as to where the world will be in twenty-nine (!) years, based on existing and widely used technology balanced with an understanding of human behavior. Overall, rather bleak – deftly summed up by one commenter as “[making] Schopenhauer look like Pollyanna” – but a reasonable, and fascinating thought experiment.
The Bat-Tailed Godwit , a fascinating shorebird from New Zealand, can cover more than 7,000 miles in a single flight. In September of this year, one male flew for 239 consecutive hours, covering more than 8,100 miles.
“What does LSD have to do with the Ancient Greeks?” The lost psychedelic cult of Ancient Greece.
“[U]nless you realize how different present philosophy is from past philosophy, you won’t even have the mental mechanism to expand your search space large enough to capture something worthy of participating in the future.” Scott Alexander on reading the history of philosophy backward.
We’re seeing more evidence of positive outcomes from teaching phonics rather than “balanced” learning. North Carolina elementary schools will retrain their teachers to teach young readers phonics, after one teacher’s students vaulted from 52% to 59% reading at grade level, compared with 56% to 57%, over the same five year period.
Currently reading: Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillian
Enjoy your weekend.
