Complex systems require humility

On this, our 321st Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss AI, Iran, Trump, emergencies in the state of Washington, and stories from the Covid era. Anthropic, which makes Claude, announced that they are halting the release of their latest model due to unexpected capacities it has revealed. We discuss trade-offs, exploration, and game theory as they pertain to bats and planes, cats and humans, and LLMs. Then: did Trump make a genocidal threat against Iran? And: what emergency in the state of Washington could possibly apply to college tuition, out-of-state militias, accurate representation of sex on government IDs, and responding to pandemics? Answer: all the legislature has to do to make their ideas referendum-proof is declare that they are responding to an emergency—they do not even have to say what the emergency is. Finally: our memories of the Covid Era have begun to fade and morph, but it is important that we keep them alive.

*****

Our sponsors:

Xlear: Xylitol nasal spray that acts as prophylaxis against respiratory illnesses by reducing the stickiness of bacteria and viruses. Find Xlear online, or at your local pharmacy, grocery store, or natural products store.

Caraway: Non-toxic, highly functional & beautiful cookware and bakeware. Save with Caraway’s cookware set and visit http://Carawayhome.com/DH10 to for an additional 10% off your next purchase.

Puori: Amazingly clean and safe supplements and protein powders, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

*****

Mentioned in this episode:

Bret on Trump on Iran: https://x.com/BretWeinstein/status/2041543705325347266

Glenn Greenwald on Lebanon: https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/2041906094818156646

Nguyen op-ed in Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/im-not-a-millionaire-i-dont-think-we-need-a-millionaires-tax/

Nguyen on X: https://x.com/VietQNguyen

Nguyen’s WA tracker: https://picsterola.github.io/wa-ec-tracker/#/

Covid Era Stories: https://naturalselections.substack.com/s/covid-era-stories

The Symptoms I Carry: https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/the-symptoms-i-carry

Support the show