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Reposted by Ben Waber

京都民俗学会 @kyotominzoku.bsky.social · 5h

【展示会情報】世界へのまなざし―江戸時代の海外知識―（国立公文書館東京本館）

8代将軍吉宗が書籍の輸入制限を緩和したことにより流入した海外の新しい知識は、どのように江戸時代の人々に受け入れられたのか、内閣文庫の資料を中心に紹介。
観覧無料、12月7日（日）まで。
www.archives.go.jp/exhibition/

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 8h

Last was “The Enlightenment” by Anthony Pagden, who provides an interesting but esoteric tour through Enlightenment thought, examining the different strands of inquiry and debate that took place across the Western world

Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (5/5)

The Enlightenment by Anthony Pagden: 9780679645313 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS One of our most renowned and brilliant historians takes a fresh look at the revolutionary intellectual movement that laid the foundation for ...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 8h

Next was “Kluge” by Gary Marcus, who plays many of social psychology's greatest hits. The chapter on linguistics is weirdly the standout here

Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (4/5)

Kluge

How is it that we can recognize photos from our high school yearbook decades later, but cannot remember what we ate for breakfast yesterday? And why are we i...

www.harpercollins.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 8h

Next was a compelling talk by Xinwei Shen on distributional causal inferences at the UW department of statistics www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ3W... (3/5)

Xinwei Shen - Seminar - "Distributional Causal Inference: from Estimation to Simulation"

YouTube video by UW Department of Statistics

www.youtube.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 8h

First was an interesting talk by William Yang on synthesizing task-driven datasets at the Athena NSF AI Institute www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyvp... (2/5)

William Yang seminar

YouTube video by NSF AI Institute - Athena

www.youtube.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 8h

It was this kind of day for a Bostonian Canadian Thanksgiving, and while hunkering down inside I listened to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/5)

My medium-sized, short-haired black dog curled up tightly amidst blankets.

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 18h

Insane take www.wired.com/story/progra...

Programming in Assembly Is Brutal, Beautiful, and Maybe Even a Path to Better AI

Whether your chip is running a vintage computer game or the latest DeepSeek model, it’ll reward you for speaking its native language.

www.wired.com

Reposted by Ben Waber

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 18h

The Friends of BLS steering committee is sponsoring a member webinar noon to 1pm ET Thurs, Oct 23.

We aim to build nonpartisan support for a strong BLS & need your perspectives & energy.

Former Commissioners @ericagroshen.bsky.social, William Beach, & @erikamcentarfer.bsky.social will...
#EconSky

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Reposted by Ben Waber

Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 1d

Made by @aaup-penn.bsky.social member!

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Masae Ohsugi @ohsg1m.bsky.social · 1d

これ面白かった。秘匿性が高い通信アプリの筆頭格であるsignalのMeredith Whittaker（元Googleの研究者）のインタビュー。

GoogleやMicrosoft、Apple等々のテック企業は基本的にユーザーの個人情報や利用情報などのプライバシーを餌として利用することを通して利益を上げていることや、その最たる例として昨今のAI技術が使われていることを解説している。私たちがネット上で日々交わしているあらゆるメッセージは、常に誰かに利用されるリスクに晒されており、それに対して人権としてのプライバシーが主張される。

youtube.com/watch?v=8BUU...

【あなたのチャットはもう"晒されている”】1億人のメッセージアプリ・シグナル代表メレディス・ウィテカー／巨大テック「無料」の裏に“監視ビジネス”／ChatGPTは個人情報を「食い尽くす」【1on1】

YouTube video by TBS CROSS DIG with Bloomberg

youtube.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 2d

Last was "Elite Capture" by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social, who lays out a compelling case that powerful people/institutions tend to twist even structures meant to amplify the influence of marginalized groups. Highly recommend

Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (4/4)

Elite Capture

A powerful indictment of the ways elites have co-opted radical critiques of racial capitalism to serve their own ends.

www.haymarketbooks.org

Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 2d

Next was "The Catalyst" by Thomas Cech. This book provides an accessible introduction to what RNA is, its connection to different biological processes, and role in current and possibly future medical treatments

Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (3/4)

The Catalyst

One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2024 “Lively and entertaining.… Biology will never be the same.” —Adrian Woolfson, Wall Street Journal<...

wwnorton.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 2d

First was "Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World" by @samuelmoyn.bsky.social, who tracks the development of ethical frameworks and then the concept of "human rights," splitting time between philosophical and historical developments

Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (2/4)

Not Enough — Harvard University Press

“No one has written with more penetrating skepticism about the history of human rights.”—Adam Kirsch, Wall Street Journal“Moyn breaks new ground in examining the relationship between human rights and ...

www.hup.harvard.edu

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 2d

The black walnut is definitely ready, and while eyeing the local edible flora I listened to books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/4)

Ripe black walnut fruit on a tree in front of a field with forest beyond on a sunny day.

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Reposted by Ben Waber

Luke Yoquinto @lukeyoquinto.bsky.social · 3d

CHOTINER: So let me get this straight. Anti-racists are the real racists, is that correct?
THIEL: right.
CHOTINER: and the anti-fascists?
THIEL: right, they’re the real fascists
CHOTINER: So now you’re saying Greta is the Antichrist.
THIEL: …
CHOTINER: I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 3d

The tech billionaire and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel says the antichrist is ... Greta Thunberg www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Ben Waber

Alex Hanna-ween @alexhanna.bsky.social · 2d

"In reality, the industry probably needs a revenue range that is closer to the $320 billion to $480 billion range, just to break even on the capex to be spent this year."

The Pleasure Vice Principle (he/him/his) @hannibaltabu.bsky.social · 3d

I saw the dot coms crash from a front row seat. AI is running out of money way faster.

The evangelism is insecurity from people who made the wrong bet. I’ve seen it before. futurism.com/future-socie...

AI Data Centers Are an Even Bigger Disaster Than Previously Thought

An investment manager realized he made a crucial mistake — and that his grim prediction about AI investments may not have been cynical enough.

futurism.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 3d

AIを訓練するためにゲームが非常に役に立ちますので、ゲームのアルゴリズムを理解するために吉渡叶教授が京大での講演が参考になります www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhgJ...

京都大学情報学研究科2025年度公開講座　数理と情報の交差点「ゲームの勝者を判定するアルゴリズム」

YouTube video by Kyoto University / 京都大学

www.youtube.com

Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 3d

Last was "Vietnam: A New History" by Christopher Goscha, who does a good job centering Vietnam itself in this history, rather than the various international powers that have interacted with it over the centuries. Highly recommend

Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (4/4)

Vietnam

The definitive history of modern Vietnam, lauded as "groundbreaking" (Guardian) and "the best one-volume history of modern Vietnam in English" (Wall Street J...

www.hachettebookgroup.com

Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 3d

Next was the last day of the @nber.org economics of executive compensation conference. I highly recommend the whole day, and I especially liked the talk by John Barry on human capital, competition, and mobility in the managerial labor market www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRH-... (3/4)

NBER Economics of Executive Compensation

YouTube video by NBER

www.youtube.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 3d

First was an interesting talk by François Blot on neuronal diversity at @oistedu.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sh4... (2/4)

Francois Blot: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Neuronal Universe - (TSVP Talk at OIST)

YouTube video by Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST)

www.youtube.com

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 3d

I really felt the first bite of fall today, and while bundling up I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/4)

A selfie of me in front of a hedge on a sunny, clear day. I'm a middle-aged, bald, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I'm wearing glasses with thick black rims and a zipped up blue sweater over a black shirt.

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Reposted by Ben Waber

Unseen Japan @unseenjapan.com · 3d

Japan's most popular online marketplace is only available in a handful of other countries. That's all about to change. Mercari is slowly rolling out a worldwide app that will let anyone buy anything sold in Japan from anywhere.

buff.ly/Qe96uf3

Japan Shopping Giant Mercari Eyes the Global Market With New App - Unseen Japan

unseen-japan.com

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Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 3d

chat is it a good idea to raise tariffs on the toy maker before Christmas

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 3d

oh no

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 3d

"novel forms of life"?! Hahaha

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 3d

These are all flagrant lies, unsourced yet printed in a newspaper that allegedly fact checks things. The rest of it is meandering panic-bait that treats jail breaking LLMs. They don’t even describe the virus! They just said someone made one. Bullshit!

One answer is to look at the data. After the launch of GPT-5 in August, some thought that A.I. had hit a plateau. Expert analysis suggests this isn’t true. GPT-5 can do things no other A.I. can do. It can hack into a web server. It can design novel forms of life. It can even build its own A.I. (albeit a much simpler one) from scratch.

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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 3d

I smell an economics paper incoming...

Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 3d

So this is an interesting move by the SEC to let companies IPO without SEC review during the shut down - what's interesting is

www.thecorporatecounsel.net/blog/2025/10...

Corp Fin’s Updated Shutdown Guidance: Getting that IPO Across the Finish Line : TheCorporateCounsel.net Blog

www.thecorporatecounsel.net