Новости за 22.08.2016

Accessible discussion of quantum computing, and what it will do for us soon when it moves from the laboratory to the desktop. “Over the next five to ten years, once we get up to something like a few hundred quantum bits, we’ll be able to solve problems you couldn’t solve on a classical computer”. Quantum computers are particularly good at finding patterns in very large data sets, so Wall Street will be a natural early market. Also, they can simulate black holes and time travel

Philosophers discuss ancient and modern views of Stoicism. “There is nothing in Stoicism that says you cannot pursue wealth, health, education and all those sorts of things. There was nothing wrong with material possessions, as long as you never, ever traded those for virtue … If you can use your wealth for good, you’re fine from a Stoic perspective, there’s nothing wrong with that; but if you keep accumulating wealth for the sake of it, then you’re definitely not a good Stoic”

On the balance of power between companies and workers. “Although employees are reliable by design, they cannot be trusted in making decisions that entail serious tradeoffs. Nor can they face emergencies unless they are in the emergency business, say firefighters … Those who use foul language are sending an expensive signal that they are free – and competent. Cursing today is a status symbol, just as oligarchs in Moscow wear blue jeans at special events to signal their power”

The founder of Gawker bows out, and reflects on lessons learned. “The chief rule of establishment journalism is the one that recommends against pissing off billionaires. Gawker did overextend itself, as an enterprise. We were internet exceptionalists, believing that that from blogs, forums and messaging would emerge a new world of unlimited freedom to associate and to express. As our experience has shown, that freedom was illusory. The system is still there. It pushed back”

On the psychology of post-Soviet Russians. “I would divide the Soviets into four generations: the Stalin, the Khrushchev, the Brezhnev, and the Gorbachev. I belong to the last of these. It was easier for my generation to accept the defeat of the communist idea because we hadn’t been born yet when it was still young, strong, and alive with the magic of fatal romanticism and utopian aspirations. Everyone thought of themselves as a victim, never a willing accomplice”