I like to say that AI is like a friend who doesn't know anything about the issues that just happens to read a set of random news articles over the last six months and tries his best to regurgitate what he heard in an authoritative tone. They don't understand context, timelines, etc. Just that it sounds kind of right.

Even if you forced everyone to the polls, people would still be voting based on emotional appeals, "gut" reactions, and negative emotions. It's just that those who were too lazy to act on those emotions are now being forced to act on them in the polls.

If you have a washing machine at home and the hookup for a toilet, cloth diapers are not that much more difficult than disposables. Both my kids used cloth with little issue. Solids can be easily washed off. If we still had affordable services to launder diapers, even better. I would still use disposables during travel when washing services aren't convenient or available. That said, there is the interesting question of balance - which is "worse" for the environment, the solid waste from disposable diapers versus the increased water usage for cloth diapers?

"Life, uh, finds a way."

Lower classes also have their own culture and system of social niceties: think about all the ways of showing respect, disrespect, social cues, unspoken expectations, etc. These social niceties are an intrinsic part of communication in the human species. I think what you're referring to is that upper classes have intentionally created a separate system that they use to identify and block out the lower classes.

I can't wait until law enforcement and intelligence agencies across the globe start knocking to buy, or legally "compel" Neon to hand over all that data. The content alone is worth a lot, but then to train their own tools to mimic voices of individuals? Such a massive treasure trove of now publicly available data that falls into the "What could possibly go wrong?" category.

A lot of this is just the standard translator's dilemma - while you can technically find words that translate near directly from one language to another, unless you understand the culture behind the language, you're not necessarily communicating. Just look at an Internet forum like Reddit. There are written social cues and inside jokes in various subreddits that if you're not familiar with can be confusing. You see that confusion even further in broader forums where broader segments of society or different nationalities may mix and people are constantly missing cues (sarcasm, jokes, joy, frustration, etc.). Trying to straight translate languages is a lot lot like that but even more complicated since the cultural differences are even greater. I think for a lot of English-as-a-first-language speakers on the Internet, they don't fully appreciate how much Anglo-Commonwealth-American culture English as a second language had to absorb to even participate in English language forums. Mind you, it's easier for them since Anglo-Commonwealth-American culture is globally dominant, but it's still a lot of effort.

I don't think people appreciate that this is the normal cycle of the Chinese tech innovation ecosystem, and one that supports the Chinese government's goal of rapidly creating a world class capability at any expense. If you think of the classic program triangle of cost, schedule, and capability, they sacrifice cost to accelerate schedule and capability. It is actually a very effective system for achieving their goals, taking the best of competitive markets but with strong state supervision and macro capital inefficiency.

This is how the cycle goes. The central government gives direction on broad technologies and industries it wants to promote. Local and regional government investment funds and private capital flood the market to support dozens if not hundreds of startups not just to make money but to demonstrate commitment to the central government's vision. You create a hyper-cutthroat market (described by one scholar as a massive gladiatorial game) with rapid advancement and tremendous innovation albeit at a cost of substantial waste in terms of capital wasted on unprofitable, excess capacity that the domestic economy can absorb. These firms then flood the global market at cut-rate prices to try and survive but bankrupting all non-Chinese firms on the market in the process, leaving China dominant in the market. In the meanwhile, you get to a point where inevitably, most of those firms go bankrupt or consolidate into a few winners which the government puts into a "gilded cage." These firms are national champions promoted and protected by the central government in exchange for supporting government priorities and initiatives.

We've seen this in multiple markets, from microelectronics to e-VTOL to drones and now EV's. With EV's, China had at one point over 200 brands fighting tooth and nail. In the end, only a few will survive, but they will be much stronger with tremendous scale. That's what we're seeing now is the inevitable culling down to a few national champions like BYD.

But do we even have "water cooler" moments anymore since so many people are now working from home?

There is an incorrect assumption that a space program isn't an inherently military endeavor. Space has been militarized from day 1 when Sputnik went online, and both China and the United States see it as an inevitable battlefield and are actively preparing for a conflict there. Government space programs inherently have a military aspect, and nearly every commercial space firm is actively involved in military space applications. The "New Space" firms in all countries are no exception.

And in completely unrelated news, ICE raids Anthropic's headquarters to verify visas of its foreign-looking workforce.

It's the problem where a generally true statement has been overly simplified and turned into a near religious mantra, leading to inevitable disappointment and disillusionment. It is true that on average, a college-educated person will make more money over their lifetime than someone who has no college education. However, there are a lot of caveats. What school did you go to? What did you major in? For a lot of majors, did you go to graduate school? Did you intern while in college? Do you have family or friends who have gone to college? Ending your education with just an undergraduate degree in anthropology from a tier-three college with no meaningful internships sets up a very low probability of finding a good job with a strong starting salary upon graduation. Yet when giving advice, well-meaning but poorly informed advisors just repeat the mantra of going to college even if the person may not be ready, hasn't thought through what they want, or does not have the family history to advise on what to get out of college. Yes, their odds in general are better, but is that particular individuals odds good? I find this particularly frustrating for ill-prepared kids, many who are the first in their family to go to college, who are pushed in with little advice or support, and then inevitably drop out with a mountain of debt.

The irony is that the very thing we celebrated the Internet for in the early days, it's ability to bring together niche interests and organize marginalized voices, is also its greatest weakness and probably its downfall. So assume you're in favor of LGBTQ+ rights. Yes, the Internet was a blessing to the movement, helping the community organize and build a voice. People who may be closeted were now able to explore their identities and ideas with others online even if they lived in communities that may have marginalized or silenced them. They could mobilize and take action on a scale unimaginable decades ago.

Now replace LGBTQ+ rights with something else, like racial supremacists or violent extremists from across the political and religious spectrum. The Internet has been a blessing to them, helping their communities organize and build a voice. People who may have secretly harbored those views were now able to explore these ideas with others online even if their communities frowned upon their beliefs and tried to silence them. They can now mobilize and take action on a scale unimaginable decades ago.

As the article pointed out, the UK and the European Union already changed their regulations for reporting to be on a biannual basis. So the move would actually bring the United States in closer alignment with Europe.

It's no different from the evolution of every media format. You start with some higher quality, high brow content experimenting with the medium then realize that its easier, less risky, and more consistently profitable to sell cheap "drugs" like reality television programming, angry talk radio, neverending sequels, generic pop music, risque social media posts, etc. Podcasting is no different.