Software Update V.2
Quantum computers, electric memory therapy, psychedelics, a masterpiece, and scraps of flash.
Hello, and welcome to V.2 of The Human Ingenuity Feed’s Software Update.
Thank you for being here.
I’ll always strive to be transparent; and with The Human Ingenuity Feed still being a babe in arms, plans are but moving targets.
I’ve consulted with paying subscribers (whom I consider stakeholders and to whom I have a responsibility), and we’ve agreed to keep access to Software Updates open for a while longer.
My intention is that more people can take more value from these updates, and for this Feed’s mission to be clearer for anyone first entering this space as they delve into our shared reality.
With that, we’re cleared for liftoff.
Here we go.
The World Without
Spinning Globe
The latest on Human Ingenuity.
Should We Build Quantum Computers at All?
Emma McKay, quantum physicist turned quantum skeptic, says we probably shouldn’t. Her skepticism is not only understandable, it’s necessary: human technological development has been fraught with misuses and abuses of its potential.
The lowest-hanging fruit, as always, relates to the atomic bombing of Japan: one can only imagine what world we would be living in (and how much better off our environment would be) if E=MC2 had only ever lived within nuclear power stations.
McKay’s argument is one I’m fully behind with: technology should be thoroughly investigated - particularly with respect to its second, third, and even first-order effects - before anything is put to any widespread use.
And no, sometimes not even its direct effects are correctly measured.
She also mentions the issue of research funding, and how it almost always comes from either private interests (with a look towards commercialization and future profits) or institutional actors. Adding insult to injury, these institutional actors (such as governments) mainly focus their investments on the possible military applications of research first and foremost.
The U.S.’s budget for 2022 allocates $715 billion for military spending alone. That’s almost as much as the $766 billion it’s spending on Medicare.
Brain Stimulation Leads to Long-lasting Improvements in Memory
The Holy Grail: non-invasive, electrical brain stimulation has been proven to produce measurable effects on memory. These effects can last for up to a month after the electrical stimulation itself. The dream of every student, business owner - likely of every human who has ever left their car keys in the ignition or on the wrong side of the lock (I have… several times).
When thinking of this, I recall certain elements: how memory is more akin to a biased narrative than an actual, factual recording of events; how the ability to forget is such an integral part in pushing through suffering and traumatic experiences; how easy it is to drive the slope of human improvement towards human enhancement or even transhumanism; how this could further the gap between the haves (that can purchase the technology to better themselves) and the have-nots.
I am reminded of the social implications; of how improved memory could draw-out and even generate conflict. But perhaps it could also reduce it, as we recall moments of partnership other than the reason that’s making our blood boil right now.
I am reminded of Neuralink (Future Issue™).
I recall the terrifyingly beautiful Black Mirror episode, “The Entire History of You” (S1E3, Netflix) and the danger of perfect recall.
What does it mean to be human, and where is the line to be drawn?
Is there even a line?
What say you?
The High-Stakes Race to Engineer New Psychedelic Drugs
Psychedelics — particularly, psychedelic research — were one of the victims of the well-intentioned but misguided “War on Drugs”. But as time as passed, and democracies around the world have warmed up to the idea that drug addiction is a disease and not a criminal offense (which has garnered much more positive effects on second-order crime than any war ever would), the walls around research have started to crumble. Portugal, by the way, was one of the first countries to adopt this view. It’s one of the things we should be proud of.
Research on psychedelics is a burgeoning field, and has opened the doors to questions on whether they can be potential treatments for addictive behaviour, healing of traumatic experiences, and ego dissolution. But even as the benefits of controlled psychedelic experiences garner more and more supporters — and research funding — other powers are waking up to this new reality.
It’s not just Nature that despises vacuums. Private companies have started sneaking in through the cracks, paying huge amounts of money to support research into new drugs - some of them psychedelics - that could wring profits from the new situation. The age of psychedelic capitalism might soon be upon us.
Once again, adequate research is needed before any such product should be commercialized. And by adequate research, I mean multi-year trials that accompany a subset of users, studying how their lives are carried out, what the effects on trauma processing and on their social behaviour are, among other elements.
With the advent of other intake technologies - such as drug-releasing contact lenses - the stage is set for non-invasive dosing or microdosing of psychedelics or antidepressants to be available for the wider population.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World has always been the more likely dystopia to transpire — despite the strong and actual weaponization of language as covered in George Orwell’s 1984 (Future Issue™). Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, narrating his experiences with various mind-altering substances, also comes to mind.
The question, as always, isn’t “Can we do it?”.
Human ingenuity can.
The question is “Should we do it?”.
Passive Quality
Content for nurture, not mindless consumption.
Watch: Zima Blue (Love, Death & Robots S01E14, Netflix)
My search for truth is finished at last. I’m going home.
I don’t have the words to describe this.
Zima Blue, based on a short-story by sci-fi author Alastair Reynolds, is a masterpiece.
This 20-minute episode has more substance on human nature, philosophy and the birth of myths than many other longer-form mediums.
It’s a tour-de-force on mankind’s search for meaning and the nature of being human; and as far as I’m concerned, one of the most well-executed pieces of entertainment both from a sense of art direction and character development.
An ingenious take on the circularity of finding one-self - on excavating our core from the layers imposed on us by expectations: our own; other’s; and society’s.
I still can’t believe that out of the thousands of content one can be exposed to (and the sadness of the trillions more one never gets to know even exist), I had the good luck of discovering this.
Please watch it.
Let me know how it went.
Read: The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker
The world is a daunting place. The subversion of the scientific process and truth through ideology is a process that’s been going on for decades now. In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker makes a case against the idea that everything is a social construct or a manifestation of the ideas of the ruling class, and that the mind is a plasticky substance that only owes its form to its surrounding environment.
Through a clear and concise writing style that’s rooted in real science, Steven Pinker shows that post-modernism and hard-left ideas aren’t based on true science; that arguments and facts have been undermined by a pitchfork-based “Us vs Them mentality”; and that genes are much more important to human nature (newsflash) than the misguided would want to believe.
Just this week, I had an… Interaction of sorts on whether policing should or shouldn’t be abolished. Naturally, it shouldn’t. My argument, essentially, was that policing is a necessary evil; that only privileged ones could, from the top of their silent and peaceful ivory tower, demand its abolishment when it’s the least privileged that have to contend with higher crime rates. To abolish it would mean the abolishment of the court and justice systems as well, leaving us back in an age where the strong (or the ones with the biggest stick) prey on the weak.
Yet I was astounded that the arguments levied at my points weren’t real arguments; what I was told was that “the police is a weaponized arm of the ruling interests”, and that “everything is ideological”. The source amounting to nothing more than a “Because I say so; trust me bro.”
For goodness sakes. In The Blank Slate, I read these “arguments” being levied at scientists in the 1960’s.
Sixty years ago.
What exactly have we beeing doing with our time and education?
The World Within
Tech Writing
Intel Factories in China Shut Down to Conserve Electrical Power
Prioritizing survival over production capacity, Intel is but one Sichuan-based manufacturer that has seen production halted within its facilities. All high-output, high-energy consumption factories in the Saigon High Tech Park in Sichuan were shuttered last week to preserve power that could be channeled towards fighting the rising temperatures. Temperatures were 10 ºC above average, already making this the hottest summer in 60 years.
Bitcoin Falls Under $21.4K, Traders Lose $600 Million
Newfound uncertainty around inflation renews market trembling: according to data from Coinglass, last Friday’s downturn led to Bitcoin traders losing an estimated $600 million in liquidations in 24 hours. It marks the sharpest decline in over two months as expectations of a hawkish fed and more aggressive measures against inflation have reduced investor confidence.
Fiction Writing
“Could” is as Distant as the Sun
This short-story was born back in 2015, and its firestarter was simply “We could have been in love”. I don’t think I was particularly inspired when I decided to convey a story that played on the expectation of “could”. The idea was for it to tell of a world where there was more love than most of us find in our lives.
It’s a narrative reflection on wasted opportunities. At the same time, it questions whether they should remain just that: opportunities.
I’ve spruced up the original tale according to the me that lives in 2022. It’s interesting to notice the differences and similarities in writing across time. It’s not that I disliked what I had; but I just felt it was somewhat lacking. The metaphors weren’t strong enough, nor were the bonds between both characters.
I like it more now.
The Meeting - Flash Fiction from “The Universe”
The Universe is… an amalgamation of thoughts, dreams, cyberpunk and existential philosophy. It’s a setting of sorts. A world that stands on its own.
The Meeting too was written in 2015 (also fleshed out for its recent publishing), and surfaced from the prompt “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
I enjoyed the coldness of it; the lack of trust in anything outside ourselves.
I played with evocative storytelling; there’s barely any description of events, but there’s just enough context, I hope, that the reader can grasp the sort of society we’re in.
In the first version, the main character in this piece was nameless. I decided it worked against the story, and wanted to find a name that offered enough layers of meaning.
Thus Cain was reborn.
I also wanted to try something that brought the reader into the story; to feel like more than just a casual observer with no impact to the story.
I don’t know if I succeeded.
Only you can say whether it did or not.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
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That’s all for this week, folks. Take care.
And remember: keep being curious, keep thinking - but most of all, keep being human.
Best,
Francisco