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I’m not enough of a scholar of international affairs to possess a highly differentiated opinion on Taiwan. Superficially, a PRC invasion of Taiwan seems analogous to the Russian invasion of Ukraine: the PRC brands Taiwan as a renegade state, just as Putin brands Ukraine as “little Russia.” The historical antecedents are very different, and the historical case for amalgamating Taiwan with the PRC is certainly stronger. That said, Taiwan currently wants independence and Xi plans for an eventual takeover. Most of what I read these days discusses a military takeover of Taiwan. That made little sense to me. How could the PRC justify the billions required to defeat Taiwan and the billions more to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure when they could simply build it on the mainland and outcompete Taiwan?   Eyck Freyman writing in Foreign Affairs envisions a crisis, not a war, as the path to takeover. “It begins not with missiles but with cutter ships. One morning, dozens of Chinese coast g...

  From the book "Money Without Borders": "In Switzerland, another country without a central bank, in its case until 1906, the authorities instructed banks to limit gold conversion by keeping only one teller window open, having tellers count out notes slowly, and encouraging tellers to be as rude as possible."

"L ife is essentially a game of turning energy into kids." From "The Exercise Paradox" by Herman Pontzer, PhD

I retired nearly two years ago. I’ve occasionally been asked if I miss working, and the answer is a hard no. I liked my job, and I was well-compensated, but by the time I retired, I was ready for it. Partly, this may be owing to having taken the five-year phased retirement path, which afforded me the opportunity to transition. It also helped that my wife had retired two years earlier. Certainly, life is very different. I live in a different state, far from all the friends in St. Louis. The house still feels more like a rental after leaving the house in St. Louis we lived in for 35 years and overhauled during that time. I still need Siri for directions to most destinations outside of the most routine. My lifestyle is changed considerably. I don’t play my guitar or banjo anymore. I had to give up cycling due to sciatica, although I’m outdoors walking in nature nearly every day for 1.5-2 hrs. I’ve replaced the musical instruments with photography. On the other hand, I still wake up betwee...

From a friend who has worked at the NIH for many years: “ Can AI help doctors make better decisions? At NIH, we brought together scientists and clinicians from across the country to explore exactly that. Their consensus was that with continued research, ethical and responsible guardrails, and strong collaboration, AI could become a helpful and powerful tool for healthcare. Imagine tools that help doctors spot problems earlier, personalize treatments, and ease clinical workload, without replacing the human touch. Recommendations of the workshop participants included:    * Build AI that is useful, safe, and protects privacy.  * Improve health data systems so AI works better.  * Make sure AI works for all communities.” In radiology, AI has already made significant inroads in speed and accuracy of interpreting images. But recent research suggests some refinements need to be made: “ “We find that different radiologists, indeed, react differently to AI assistance — some ar...

Gallons of digital ink are spilled weekly about how AI will be a job-destroying juggernaut. But it’s far from clear that all jobs will be vulnerable and on what time scale the AI replacement will occur. “ Who gets laid off first? Writers and editors are at the greatest risk, the report says — 57 percent of such jobs are destined for the chopping block. Maybe they should have learned to code.   “But the coders come in at second place, with 55 percent likely to be pink-slipped. And the hits keep coming. Mathematicians, website developers, database architects, even atmospheric and space scientists are all in big trouble.     “At least journalists catch a break. They’re broken out in a separate category from other writers and given a decent shot at survival. Only 35 percent of these jobs will be AI’d to death.   “Whose jobs are secure? “The three safest jobs are if you are a human dishwasher, if you’re a floor finisher, or if you are a technician in a surgical room,” sai...