Well, Collision, some are definitely of interest to me - comments
interspersed.

On 15/4/23 21:35, Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk
(via tml list) wrote:
>
> Hope they're of interest.
>
>
> tc
>
>
> *
> *
>
> *
> *
>
> *New Scientist 25.3.23*
>
> <snip>
>
> Far-sighted thinking, Richard Fisher, pp.46-49
>
> embracing the long-term perspective
>
>  - not read this yet, but suspect many politicians should
>
You'll need to change their incentives first.
>
> Why the universe is just right for life, Thomas Hertog, pp.38-41
>
> featured cover story with the author’s research work with Stephen
> Hawking.“Of all the universes that could exist, ours is spectacularly
> well configured to bring forth life”.“Numerous features in the laws of
> physics that render the universe just right for living things.Twiddle
> ever so slightly with any of these and habitability would often hang
> in the balance.”author notes Stephen H “wasn’t keen on idea of a
> multiverse.”
>
> It gets complicated but I think the idea is that instead of studying
> the history of the universe against a stable background of fixed laws
> of nature, they take a quantum outlook reading the universe’s history
> from within and the ‘laws’ developing.(Also some discussion of a
> holographic universe)
>
42.

Of course, the one I really want to read, doesn't want to let me read it.

Isn't that selection bias, namely, the anthropic principle?

"Why is it so?"

"If it wasn't, there'd be no one to ask that question."

> **
>
> *New Scientist 8.4.23*
>
> Information can survive a black hole, Leah Crane, p.8.
>
> Stephen Hawking’s paradox (possibly) solved by taking into account
> quantum gravity.But testing is hard
>
> -now it is, but maybe something for Scholar: Field Researchers to do
>
Well, in "A Brief History Of Time", Prof Hawking did say "black holes
ain't so black".
>
> Material impervious to radiation could be used in spaceships, Alex
> Wilkins, p.9.
>
> “A crystal that can resist incredibly high doses of radiation could be
> used to build durable electronics for space travel or nuclear reactors.”
>
> -and the start of crystaliron armour?
>
Or at least a way to make computronium point and laugh at particle beams.

"In the event of radiation, this dustbin will keep your garbage atom free."

"What rubbish."

> AI text detection is mathematically impossible, Alex Wilkins, p.13
>
> A mathematical proof says detecting whether a body of text has been
> written by a human or an AI model like ChatGPT is impossible – tools
> that paraphrase AI generated content drastically reduce a watermark’s
> effectiveness and because outputs of language models will become far
> more mathematically similar to human speech as the models improve
>
> -more work related, but may be of interest
>
Sounds similar to generative adversarial networks.  An arms race between
a generator network that generates candidate outputs, and a
discriminator, which aims to tell real from fake, with both being
trained on real data.  If the discriminator rumbles the fakes reliably,
it wins, if it doesn't, the generator wins. Update, mosh, rinse, repeat.
>
> Ultra-tough battery survives hammering and being run over, Alex
> Wilkins, p.16
>
> A flexible battery made from hydrogel can withstand blows from a
> hammer, being run over by a car and temperatures as low as -77°
> (-106.6°F).It could be useful in phones or wearable electronics.
>
> The hydrogel acts as “a conductive electrolyte inside a battery.In the
> hydrogel, long molecules are linked in a network that can hold water
> and is flexible and resistant to freezing”.
>
> Created by mixing “two liquid polymers made from plastic polyvinyl
> alcohol, and slowly adding zinc and potassium ions to form salt
> crystals to make the hydrogel conductive”.Then sandwiching the
> hydrogel between a zinc anode and conductive polymer cathode to make a
> thin battery that might be suitable for wearable electronics.
>
> -I’m still wondering how ‘fair’ it is to inflict a battery failure on
> PC comms, say, at a critical juncture
>
If they've abused the kit, not maintained it, etc etc, I see that as
fair game for Dread God Finagle and his mad, Guinness-swilling, prophet,
Murphy.

In the (non-Trav) game I'm currently running, I've had PC to PC
transmission of HIV-2, via strategic bleeding.

> Humans may not yet have hit the biological limit of our lifespan,
> Clare Wilson, p.19
>
> -good news for anagathics
>
Anagathics, yes, orthogonal to senolytics.
>
> Biggest explosion ever keeps baffling astronomers, Leah Crane, p.19
>
> the BOAT (brightest of all time) event GRB221009A – more energy than
> the entire sun being converted into pure energy – but models to
> explain it are failing.arXiv, doi.org/j4dp <http://doi.org/j4dp> and
> doi.org/j4dr <http://doi.org/j4dr>
>
> -what have the PCs been up to now?
>
Someone's fond of a good banger...

"We acknowledge the Universe for timing this burst to arrive at Earth
after the invention of GRB monitors but during our active research careers."

> <snip>

Alex