The Nonlinear Library LW - Progress links digest, 2023-11-24: Bottlenecks of aging, Starship launches, and much more by jasoncrawford
Nov 25, 2023
24:00
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Progress links digest, 2023-11-24: Bottlenecks of aging, Starship launches, and much more, published by jasoncrawford on November 25, 2023 on LessWrong.
I swear I will get back to doing these weekly so they're not so damn long. As always, feel free to skim and skip around!
The Progress Forum
A paradox at the heart of American bureaucracy: "The quickest way to doom a project to be over-budget and long-delayed is to make it an urgent public priority"
Why Governments Can't be Trusted to Protect the Long-run Future: "No one in the long-run future gets to vote in the next election. No one in government today will gain anything if they make the world better 50 years from now or lose anything if they make it worse"
What if we split the US into city-states? "In The Republic, when his entourage asks the ideal size of a state, Socrates replies, 'I would allow the state to increase so far as is consistent with unity; that, I think, is the proper limit'"
The Art of Medical Progress: "These two paintings offer a hopeful contrast. Whereas we begin with pain and suffering, we move to hope and progress. The surgeon stands apart as a hero, a symbol of the triumphant conquering of nature by humanity"
More from Roots of Progress fellows
Bottlenecks of Aging, a "philanthropic menu" of initiatives that "could meaningfully accelerate the advancement of aging science and other life-extending technologies." Fellows Alex Telford and Raiany Romanni both contributed to this (via @jamesfickel)
Drought is a policy choice: "California has surrendered to drought, presupposing that with climate change water shortages are inevitable. In response, the state fallows millions of farmland each year. But this is ignorant of California's history of taming arid lands"
Geoengineering Now! "Solar geoengineering can offset every degree of anthropogenic temperature rise for single-digit billions of dollars" (by @MTabarrok)
A conversation with Richard Bruns on indoor air quality (and some very feasible ways to improve it) (@finmoorhouse)
To Become a World-Class Chipmaker, the United States Might Need Help (NYT) covers a recent immigration proposal co-authored by (@cojobrien). Also, thread from @cojobrien of "what I've written through this program and some of my favorite pieces from other ROP colleagues"
Opportunities
Job opportunities
Forest Neurotech is hiring, "one of the coolest projects in the world" says @elidourado
"Know someone who loves to scale and automate workflows in the lab? We want to apply new tools to onboard a diverse array of species in the lab!" (@seemaychou)
The Navigation Fund (new philanthropic foundation) is hiring an Open Science Program Officer (via @seemaychou, @AGamick)
ARIA Research (UK) is hiring for various roles (@davidad)
Fundraising/investing opportunities
Nat Friedman is "interested in funding early stage startups building evals for AI capabilities"
A curated deal flow network for deep tech startups: "We're looking for A+ deep tech operator-angels. E.g. founders & CxOs at $1b+ deep tech companies, past and present. Robotics, biotech, defense, etc. Who should we talk to?" (@lpolovets)
Policy opportunities
"In 2024 I will be putting together a nuclear power working group for NYC/NYS. If you understand the government (or want to learn), want to act productively, and want to look at nuclear policy in the state, this is for you!" (@danielgolliher)
Gene editing opportunities
"I'm tired of waiting forever for a cure for red-green colorblindness. Reply to this tweet if you'd be willing to travel to an offshore location to receive unapproved (but obviously safe) gene therapy to fix it. If I get enough takers I'll find us a mad scientist to administer the therapy. This has already been done in monkeys (14 years ago) using human genes and a viral vector that is already used in eyes in hu...
I swear I will get back to doing these weekly so they're not so damn long. As always, feel free to skim and skip around!
The Progress Forum
A paradox at the heart of American bureaucracy: "The quickest way to doom a project to be over-budget and long-delayed is to make it an urgent public priority"
Why Governments Can't be Trusted to Protect the Long-run Future: "No one in the long-run future gets to vote in the next election. No one in government today will gain anything if they make the world better 50 years from now or lose anything if they make it worse"
What if we split the US into city-states? "In The Republic, when his entourage asks the ideal size of a state, Socrates replies, 'I would allow the state to increase so far as is consistent with unity; that, I think, is the proper limit'"
The Art of Medical Progress: "These two paintings offer a hopeful contrast. Whereas we begin with pain and suffering, we move to hope and progress. The surgeon stands apart as a hero, a symbol of the triumphant conquering of nature by humanity"
More from Roots of Progress fellows
Bottlenecks of Aging, a "philanthropic menu" of initiatives that "could meaningfully accelerate the advancement of aging science and other life-extending technologies." Fellows Alex Telford and Raiany Romanni both contributed to this (via @jamesfickel)
Drought is a policy choice: "California has surrendered to drought, presupposing that with climate change water shortages are inevitable. In response, the state fallows millions of farmland each year. But this is ignorant of California's history of taming arid lands"
Geoengineering Now! "Solar geoengineering can offset every degree of anthropogenic temperature rise for single-digit billions of dollars" (by @MTabarrok)
A conversation with Richard Bruns on indoor air quality (and some very feasible ways to improve it) (@finmoorhouse)
To Become a World-Class Chipmaker, the United States Might Need Help (NYT) covers a recent immigration proposal co-authored by (@cojobrien). Also, thread from @cojobrien of "what I've written through this program and some of my favorite pieces from other ROP colleagues"
Opportunities
Job opportunities
Forest Neurotech is hiring, "one of the coolest projects in the world" says @elidourado
"Know someone who loves to scale and automate workflows in the lab? We want to apply new tools to onboard a diverse array of species in the lab!" (@seemaychou)
The Navigation Fund (new philanthropic foundation) is hiring an Open Science Program Officer (via @seemaychou, @AGamick)
ARIA Research (UK) is hiring for various roles (@davidad)
Fundraising/investing opportunities
Nat Friedman is "interested in funding early stage startups building evals for AI capabilities"
A curated deal flow network for deep tech startups: "We're looking for A+ deep tech operator-angels. E.g. founders & CxOs at $1b+ deep tech companies, past and present. Robotics, biotech, defense, etc. Who should we talk to?" (@lpolovets)
Policy opportunities
"In 2024 I will be putting together a nuclear power working group for NYC/NYS. If you understand the government (or want to learn), want to act productively, and want to look at nuclear policy in the state, this is for you!" (@danielgolliher)
Gene editing opportunities
"I'm tired of waiting forever for a cure for red-green colorblindness. Reply to this tweet if you'd be willing to travel to an offshore location to receive unapproved (but obviously safe) gene therapy to fix it. If I get enough takers I'll find us a mad scientist to administer the therapy. This has already been done in monkeys (14 years ago) using human genes and a viral vector that is already used in eyes in hu...