Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, was launched on 15 January 2001, and according to this history of Wikipedia (via, where else, Wikipedia, of course!), the English version of this wonderful website (en.wikipedia.org) now contains almost six million articles. (See table … Continue reading →

Meet the new boss; same as the old boss! Decree 349, one of the first laws signed by Cuba’s new president dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel when he assumed power in April 2018, went into effect on 7 December 2018. (Here is … Continue reading →

Science fiction writer William Gibson is reported to have said, “The future is already here–it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Be that as it may, check out the short videos below the fold explaining two futuristic Google projects: a fleet … Continue reading →

Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has just published a beautiful short essay in the journal Science in which he reviews a new game-playing algorithm called AlphaZero, a chess program that programs itself! Below the fold is an extended excerpt from … Continue reading →

That beautiful quote is from “King of the Night” (see video below), a short but poignant documentary about Imad Khachan, the owner of Chess Forum, the last remaining chess shop in New York City. (Hat tip: Kottke.)

Sorry to rain on everyone’s H.W. parade, but here is my three-part eulogy for one of the most morally despicable presidents of all time: Sara Boboltz, via Huff Post: George H.W. Bush White House Once Ordered Drug Buy from Teen … Continue reading →

Note: This post concludes our review of Tyler Cowen’s new book “Stubborn Attachments.” Although we have expressed deep skepticism about moral discourse (especially utilitarian or consequentialist theories of ethics), we have also taken the position that if we must talk … Continue reading →

Note: This is our penultimate post reviewing Tyler Cowen’s beautiful new book “Stubborn Attachments.” Thus far, we have focused on only one aspect of Tyler Cowen’s new book: the novel claim that we may owe moral duties to future generations. … Continue reading →