micahzenko - Network

Notable new study of how frequent generative AI usage hinders critical thinking."The findings revealed a significant negative...

Notable new study of how frequent generative AI usage hinders critical thinking.

"The findings revealed a significant negative correlation between frequent AI tool usage and critical thinking abilities, mediated by increased cognitive offloading."

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/1/6

Thoughtful excerpt of a new MIT Press book containing 101 maxims for creatives. "The human brain is hardwired for pattern...

Thoughtful excerpt of a new MIT Press book containing 101 maxims for creatives.

"The human brain is hardwired for pattern recognition."

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/eliminate-the-nonessential-and-other-advice-for-artists/

NBER on women's integration in military:"We find that integrating women into previously all-male units does not negatively affect...

NBER on women's integration in military:

"We find that integrating women into previously all-male units does not negatively affect men’s performance or behavioral outcomes, including retention, promotions, demotions....However, there is a wedge between men's perceptions and performance. The integration of women causes a negative shift in male soldiers' perceptions of workplace quality, with the effects driven by units integrated with a woman in a position of authority."

https://www.nber.org/papers/w33235

In the annals of Cold War nuclear-exchange wargames, this one was new to me. Some mazing reporting and vital lessons to be learned from...

In the annals of Cold War nuclear-exchange wargames, this one was new to me. Some mazing reporting and vital lessons to be learned from William Langewiesche.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/02/magazine/nuclear-strategy-proud-prophet.html

"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice...

"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something — because it is always before one's eyes.) The real foundations of his enquiry do not strike a man at all. Unless that fact has at some time struck him."

--Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (1953), p.129.

"Instinctively, people love to codify things, and make them numerical, and turn them into optimization problems with a single right...

"Instinctively, people love to codify things, and make them numerical, and turn them into optimization problems with a single right answer. Because the second you acknowledge ambiguity, you now have to exercise choice. If you can pretend there’s no ambiguity, then you haven’t made a decision, you can’t be blamed, you can’t be held responsible."

Some powerful insights in this essay: https://behavioralscientist.org/are-we-too-impatient-to-be-intelligent/

Fascinating deep-dive on the Monty Hall Problem. Or, why 90% of people make bad probability decisions....

Fascinating deep-dive on the Monty Hall Problem. Or, why 90% of people make bad probability decisions.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-almost-everyone-gets-the-monty-hall-probability-puzzle-wrong/

https://www.theonion.com/news-happening-faster-than-man-can-generate-uninformed-1851601466

https://www.theonion.com/news-happening-faster-than-man-can-generate-uninformed-1851601466

The New Yorker is on to something. The nouns change, but the hustle endures.

The New Yorker is on to something. The nouns change, but the hustle endures.

35 top scholars share their favorite memories and lessons from the life and scholarship of Daniel Kahneman. Truly inspiring and...

35 top scholars share their favorite memories and lessons from the life and scholarship of Daniel Kahneman. Truly inspiring and thought-provoking.

https://behavioralscientist.org/remembering-daniel-kahneman-a-mosaic-of-memories-and-lessons/

"A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from...

"A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth." --Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), p. 62. #RIP

I was fortunate to offer my thoughts to this solid piece on the wisdom of applying red teaming methods to generative AI models....

I was fortunate to offer my thoughts to this solid piece on the wisdom of applying red teaming methods to generative AI models.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/red-team-ai-llms

Today, the Pentagon released a report that determined there is no evidence of aliens or alien technology. Two key findings:--"AARO...

Today, the Pentagon released a report that determined there is no evidence of aliens or alien technology. Two key findings:

--"AARO found no evidence that any USG investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial
technology."

--"AARO found no empirical evidence for claims that the USG and private companies
have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology."

https://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/08/2003409233/-1/-1/0/DOPSR-CLEARED-508-COMPLIANT-HRRV1-08-MAR-2024-FINAL.PDF

Notable new finding in NBER, which reemphasizes the reality of decreasing global poverty."We reconfirm the findings of the literature...

Notable new finding in NBER, which reemphasizes the reality of decreasing global poverty.

"We reconfirm the findings of the literature that global poverty and inequality have declined dramatically between 1980 and 2019. Finally, we find that within-country inequality is falling on average, and has been largely constant since the 1990s."

https://www.nber.org/papers/w32203

This is one of the craziest hacks that I have ever seen. "Your fingerprints can be recreated from the sounds made when you swipe on a...

This is one of the craziest hacks that I have ever seen.

"Your fingerprints can be recreated from the sounds made when you swipe on a touchscreen"

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/your-fingerprints-can-be-recreated-from-the-sounds-made-when-you-swipe-on-a-touchscreen-researchers-new-side-channel-attack-can-reproduce-partial-fingerprints-to-enable-attacks

Today, GM's self-driving unit, Cruise, released a law firm's investigation into a Oct. 2023 incident, where a San Francisco...

Today, GM's self-driving unit, Cruise, released a law firm's investigation into a Oct. 2023 incident, where a San Francisco pedestrian was dragged under an autonomous vehicle Cruise car for 20 feet, after that pedestrian had been struck by a driven Nissan. An incredible and powerful study in poor culture and leadership, terrible judgment, and cascading crisis response failures.

https://getcruise.com/news/blog/2024/cruise-releases-third-party-findings-regarding-october-2/

Fascinating insight: Coin toss results are not 50-50.New study based on 350,757 tosses found, "The flipped coins....landed with the...

Fascinating insight: Coin toss results are not 50-50.

New study based on 350,757 tosses found, "The flipped coins....landed with the same side facing upward as before the toss 50.8 percent of the time."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-destroy-illusion-that-coin-toss-flips-are-50-50/

A totally unsurprising finding from new NBER study: U.S. news coverage is becoming more and more negative."Using text from 200 million...

A totally unsurprising finding from new NBER study: U.S. news coverage is becoming more and more negative.

"Using text from 200 million pages of 13,000 US local newspapers and machine learning methods, we construct a 170-year-long measure of economic sentiment at thee country and state levels... Interestingly, news coverage has become increasingly negative across all states in the past half-century."

https://www.nber.org/papers/w32026

The nefarious habit of providing information rather than analysis. Brilliant recent New Yorker cartoon by Barbara Smaller.

The nefarious habit of providing information rather than analysis. Brilliant recent New Yorker cartoon by Barbara Smaller.

Insightful new article in the latest edition of the CIA's in-house journal. This piece examines the U.S. Intelligence Community's...

Insightful new article in the latest edition of the CIA's in-house journal. This piece examines the U.S. Intelligence Community's efforts to produce a challenge mechanism, or "Devil's Advocacy," to support the development of more-sound analytical products. Many new details on the history of alternative analysis, including why it often fails to overcome bureaucratic hurdles.

https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/studies-in-intelligence/studies-in-intelligence-67-no-4-extracts-december-2023/analytical-tradecraft-instituting-devils-advocacy-in-ic-analysis-after-the-arab-israeli-war-of-october-1973/