010: Psychometrics, optogenetics, and Rich Barton's playbook
Greetings! I’ve been thinking on how to restructure my blog/newsletter combo. I’ve decided to exclusively stick to sending out weekly links here, and exclusively leave blog posts up on my blog. I’ll of course link to any new posts by me in the newsletter.
FINANCE
Investing in charities (scihub). The role of the stock market in philanthropic ventures in the Victorian era, and the impact of financialization on philanthropy itself.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
A history of psychometrics (scihub). There’s a great section in there on the IQ test and how the US military used psychometrics in the 20th century. Also some great explanation of the current models used in the field.
A history of optogenetics. The author, Ed Boyden, recently did a podcast episode with Tyler Cowen. I highly recommend listening to that (or reading the transcript).
Facial Recognition is the plutonium of AI. On why facial recognition is dangerous and needs to be controlled regulated like nuclear waste is.
The DoD declined to renew its contract with JASON. JASON is a group of ~40 independent researchers that advise the government on various topics, from nuclear to AI.
RANDOM
The Rich Barton playbook is underrated. If you don’t know who Rich is, he founded Expedia, Glassdoor and Zillow, and just announced a few weeks ago of his return to Zillow as CEO. It’s uncommon to hear of someone start three multi-billion dollar companies, but Rich has managed to do that by bringing information to the masses and dominating search.
Morgan Housel with a new piece on how people’s personal experiences shape the way they think about risk and reward.
Loonshots (book). I just finished reading this book, and I highly recommend it. If you want to understand how to manage teams and encourage crazy ideas that transform industries, this is the perfect reading material.