Hi, everyone! Thanks for subscribing to SemperViernes. I'd like to extend a special welcome and greeting to readers outside the United States—it's great to have you here! As the sun sets here in Oakland (okay, it set a couple hours ago), I'm both grateful for this chance to share excellent content about the future, and am also ruing the day I committed to only sending three links per issue. I think it makes more sense to choose three topics I focused on, and to share 1-3 links per topic (I'll try to vary the time commitment so you can choose which makes sense for you). If you want to see the runner-up content, or if you encounter any paywalls, let me know.
First
I haven't found a better mid-level, mid-length explainer on quantum computing than this beautiful animated-scroll piece from the Financial Times. Took me about 20 mins to read (not including the twelve (12) new-internet-tab tangents, which might just be a me thing). I usually find that I end up being most motivated to learn the hardest material I can find (hence studying Chinese and Arabic in college), and I've loved learning about quantum computing (slowly) over the past few years (qubit by qubit?). McKinsey says that quantum sensors, computing, and communications together will comprise a $106 billion industry by 2040, so I'm paying attention in a long-game manner on this one. Please note that not only do I a) not love the clickbait-y headline; the article is also b) not even really about the 'breaking' of the internet or, more specifically, how our current digital data encryption methods could (read: will eventually) be rendered obsolete by quantum computing. Instead, the article helped me solidify my understanding of bits, bytes, and qubits, and clarified my sense of the computing relevance of quantum-state particles, phenomena I find both enthralling and poetic (their non-interfered-with state reminds me vaguely of the Taoist concept of 自然...anyone?). The article also taught me in simple terms about trapdoor functions and RSA algorithms that use prime factorization, which helped me get why encryption methods desperately need an update (their maze analogy worked well for my learning process here). Interestingly to me at least, they also quote a quantum computing exec at one point as talking about quantum computers built "in countries like China and at Google," which struck a chord within the Poli Sci major part of my brain. I guess Google does function like a country in some ways, and certainly wields comparable (formidable) power, so it was interesting that those two entities (China and Google) seem to have been in the same file folder, or category, in that exec's brain.
Second
You've probably heard of Geoffrey Hinton, the University of Toronto professor emeritus and "godfather of AI" who left his role as engineering fellow at Google Brain recently. He mentored one of the cofounders of OpenAI (of ChatGPT fame) when the cofounder was in grad school, and he won the 2018 Turing Award (the Nobel Prize of Computing, essentially) for his role in pioneering deep learning. Hinton has been making the media rounds recently to, as he says, sound the alarm about the existential risk AI poses to the future of the human species. Light stuff! I watched several interviews with Hinton, and to honor the several mochas I drank this week, I'm recommending three interviews of varying duration for you to choose from: tall, grande, and venti (I know, I'm circumventing the "three links only" rules I set up for this newsletter; how very AI of me). All three options are very powerful and thought-provoking; I most strongly recommend the 39-minute venti version of Hinton's thoughts, which he shared at MIT Technology Review's EmTech Digital 2023 conference last week. Although some of Hinton's analogies are kind of a miss, his explanations are overall quite clear and helpful, and he highlights some tremendous benefits of AI (flood and earthquake predictions, climate change monitoring, advancements in medicine and biotechnology). I appreciate that Hinton actively avoids getting caught up in the question of AI sentience; he seems to suggest that if we're at risk of being manipulated by AI that humans can no longer control, we probably can't afford to nitpick further. Across Hinton's media appearances, his concern feels consistently earnest to me. I tend to respect people, too, who admit to not having all the answers (this is how I operate in college counseling as well), so I appreciate when he says gingerly, "it's not clear there is a solution." Hinton is asked about his sense of responsibility (regret) for getting AI to this point and somewhat demurs (makes sense). One of the more quotable lines is when he posits, "It's quite conceivable that humanity is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence." Woof. If a smaller portion is in order (your order?), here is the 'tall' eight-minute PBS NewsHour interview with him (well-phrased, efficient questions) and here is the 18-minute 'grande' interview with Amanpour & Company. Feel free to watch all three for deeper understanding and to, like I did, receive the grand Zillow tour of the entire first floor of Hinton's house (neutral tones; nice).
Third
If you're looking for something lighter, you've come to the right place. Taylor Swift's Eras tour is, according to Axios (who I wish would summarize things just a little bit less), having a major positive effect on the local economies of the cities where she performs. Not super surprising, but it sounds like this is happening at an unprecedented level across the US. Because the Axios piece is such a featherweight, I recommend pairing with this quick Bloomberg exploration of "Swiftonomics" from this past November 2022 (probably five minutes total between the two). See if you can spot the lyrical reference that some mastermind found a way to include in the Bloomberg one. Not only does the Eras tour's economic impact confirm that people are still going to concerts (perhaps to seek out what Émile Durkheim called collective effervescence); it also reminds me that as increasing automation potentially leaves people with more free time, humans are going to need a good amount of entertainment. If TikTok and Netflix trends are any indication, we will also probably have ever-increasing expectations for said entertainment's complexity and level of multisensory stimulus. So, from a college counseling perspective, as we enter an uncertain world with deepening AI integration, it could make sense for students to consider a career in [live] entertainment as being somewhat reliable, and to think about building skills for jobs in hospitality, logistics, finance, sales, marketing, performing and creative arts, and (of course) CS and engineering, all within the context of the entertainment industry.
