Week 14 of 2025- W142025
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my current or any previous employer. This blog may also contain links to other websites or resources. I am not responsible for the content on those external sites or any changes that may occur after the publication of my posts.
End Disclaimer
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
— Zen Kōan
Got to the top of Hacker News again- Still have no idea how that algo works, but thank you everyone for reading.
An image of an archeologist adventurer who wears a hat and uses a bullwhip
AIML
Bored of it -“I’m bored of it.”
AI 2027 - ”We predict that the impact of superhuman AI over the next decade will be enormous, exceeding that of the Industrial Revolution.”
Anthropic: Reasoning models don't always say what they think -
“ can we actually trust what models say in their Chain-of-Thought?”
Studio Ghibli has few legal options to stop OpenAI from ripping off its style -
“The legal arguments against generative AI companies can be boiled down into two points.”
AI Agents: Less Capability, More Reliability, Please -
“Why is booking flights the 'Hello World' of AI agent demos?”
An AI Solution in Search of a Problem, Creates a Problem -
“Anyway, beyond how these summaries look, there are other issues”
Painting
Death’s Head Hawkmoth, 1744, August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof
Cyber
The “S” in MCP Stands for Security -
“Let’s explore the actual security risks currently lurking across MCP implementations”
Crypto
Crypto's quiet workhorse is finally going mainstream - stablecoins
Markets
WSJ: Here’s the iPhone. Here’s the iPhone With Tariffs.-
Bloomberg: Car Supply Chains are Global: Ford Is as American as Apple Pie. Or Is That Honda?
“So the first thing it’s really important to understand is that the ‘Big Three’ so-called American companies — GM, Ford, Stellantis — they’re not really American companies.”
Morningstar: Tariffs Are a Self-Inflicted Economic Catastrophe -
NYT: The Gen X Career Meltdown - h/t CAH
“Just when they should be at their peak, experienced workers in creative fields find that their skills are all but obsolete.”
“Historically, IPOs and M&A have been the dominant exit paths for venture backed companies. Some years IPOs dominate, other M&A dominates, but in 2024 secondaries captured the super majority.”
The Hollywood Reporter: The Incredible Shrinking Studio Chief -
“High-flying execs are dropping like flies right now — at Amazon MGM, and possibly at Warner Bros. — turning what was once the most coveted job in Hollywood into one of the riskiest.”
NYT: Has the Decline of Knowledge Work Begun? -
“The unemployment rate for college graduates has risen faster than for other workers over the past few years. How worried should they be?”
Misc
The Atlantic: You Can Do Leisure Better, Seriously -
“If you think of personal time only as “not work,” you could be missing out on truly enriching experiences.”
The blissful zen of a good side project -
“It doesn’t matter what the project is; it matters that it is.”
One Last Ride for Antarctica’s ‘Ivan the Terra Bus’-
“After more than 30 years as an iconic fixture of the polar research station, this beloved bus is bidding farewell to the southern continent.”
Podcast
Had this Fridman one up here for like a month- Still one of the best I’ve listened to.
Please send me suggestions- Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST) is also very high on the signal to noise content ratio scale.
5 hours. Watch. the. whole. thing.
The ratio of useful/interesting information per minute in this one is terrific.
Shows
Severance - For me, smartest, most thought-provoking show I’ve watched in a while.
Games
SKYJO- Had good friends of ours show us this game. Easy to learn and very playable. I found myself shouting out SKYJO!!!! a lot during the games. Feels good saying it.
Crokinole - Buy a set, thank me later. I have this starter one (affiliate link). Super fun.
Podcasts for a Road Trip
The Superhero Complex - superpower-less humans get dressed up in costumes and fight crime in Seattle
Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen
Books
My Favorite Business Mischief Books
4 books I’ve read and 5 books I want to read
AI and ML Reading List: My Favorites