Hello there, reader! And welcome to another issue of Kat’s Kable, the 350th, in fact. It’s nice to reach another milestone, and I also realized today that in three weeks, the Kable will turn nine! A surreal number, to be honest. I used to joke earlier about how my newsletter outlasted my PhD, and now it should be in fourth grade, ha. Anyhow, ten good things to read, as always. Given that Pocket is shutting down in ten days, I’ve been busy working my way through my list there - and now I have just three articles left there. Whelp. The Kable has outlasted Pocket, what even.
If you liked anything you read, or if you just wanna say hi, you can always just reply to any of the emails I’ve sent!
If you got this from a friend and want to subscribe, here’s the link.
1. The Bitter Lesson - Essay by Rich Sutton
I recently stumbled upon this 2019 essay by Sutton, a Canadian computer scientist. He talks about a “bitter lesson” that everyone in AI needs to learn, which is that general methods for specific problems are better than domain-specific methods, because they’re able to use overall advances in the field better. Basically, a general method is going to be speeded up optimally due to model advancements, Moore’s law etc. and a domain-specific one won’t.
2. The dark side of the Moomins - The New Statesman
I read Tove Jansson’s Moomin stories a few years ago, and I think I’ve shared about them on the newsletter too (My search for the real Moominland in issue #209). This is more commentary on how the Moomin stories are a postwar commentary on the state of the world, and what I found weird? interesting? is that not only did Jansson detest her characters, she detested her readers even more! What does that make us?
3. Good conversations have lots of doorknobs - Adam Mastroianni’s Substack
I’ve shared this piece back in issue #301, but I’m sharing it again because I came across it now and really liked reading it once more. Good conversations are good because they have lots of affordances that people can grip to enter and re-enter conversations. This way, even when givers and takers talk, both feel satisfied at the end of a lots-of-doorknobs conversation.
4. #MumbaiMirrored: The city Manto loved and lost - Mumbai Mirror
I’ll be honest - I tried to read some of Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories last year, and I found them too depressing. I did enjoy this essay about his life, though, and how the city of Bombay played a critical role in his life as as journalist and author.
5. I should have loved biology too - Nehal Udyavar’s Substack
Recent post that I serendipitously stumbled upon about how Nehal started to love biology - not because of the way it was taught in school, but because of amazing writing she encountered (in particular Siddhartha Mukherjee!).
Stories of science can elicit all kinds of emotions: joy, sadness, enchantment, heartbreak, optimism, valiance, apprehension, intrigue. I find, however, that one theme seems to be consistent among the characters: curiosity. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, of course, but what I hadn’t anticipated was how infectious it could be. Just reading about these scientists — their history, theories, efforts, mistakes and unwavering dedication to truth — kindled an active curiosity in me.
6. How Kerala Got Rich - Aeon
Kerala was one of India’s poorest states 50 years ago, and now is one of the richest. There are four dominant forces that shaped this - Kerala’s reintegration with the global economy, remittances from those in the Gulf, strong welfare policies from longstanding leftist government(s), and private investment from individuals and businesses, mostly from remittances. I learnt quite a bit reading this essay.
7. Things I Won’t Work With: Dioxygen Difluoride - Derek Lowe in Science
Very fun and pretty short read on dioxygen difluoride - I didn’t know how absolutely destructive it is… even by fluorine compound standards.
And yes, what happens next is just what you think happens: you run a mixture of oxygen and fluorine through a 700-degree-heating block. “Oh, no you don’t,” is the common reaction of most chemists to that proposal, “. . .not unless I’m at least a mile away, two miles if I’m downwind.” This, folks, is the bracingly direct route to preparing dioxygen difluoride, often referred to in the literature by its evocative formula of FOOF.
8. A Love Letter To People Who Believe in People - Swiss Miss
I loved this! Tina Roth Eisenberg aka Swiss Miss writes about all the people who helped her on and guided her along her journey.
If I trace all the defining moments of my life back to their beginnings, I can always find a person with this fan state of mind: someone who believed in me, opened a door, or illuminated a new path just by being who they are.
This is a love letter to all the people who believe in us and nudge us in new directions with their enthusiasm.
9. My Obsession - Wired (via Internet Archive)
OMG. 1999 article by William Gibson (yes, the William Gibson) about eBay, of all things. Amazing and fun.
I thought I was immune to the Net. Then I got bitten by eBay. When I was a young man, traversing the ’70s in whatever post-hippie, pre-slacker mode I could manage, I made a substantial part of my living, such as it was, in a myriad of minuscule supply-and-demand gaps that have now largely closed.
10. Inside arXiv‚ the Most Transformative Platform in All of Science - Wired (via Internet Archive)
Well, after a bunch of older pieces that I’ve somehow been reading this past week, a more contemporary one.. I used arXiv a lot when I was in grad school and of course I would, as it served as the fastest way to learn about and share scientific results. To be honest, I’d always thought of it as just a list, but obviously it’s a lot more than that, which is what clearly comes across in this interview + profile of Paul Ginsparg, who created arXiv just about 35 years ago.