In World Order, Henry Kissinger chronicles three monumental events that forever altered Europe’s landscape: the Peace of Westphalia, the French Revolution, and the Treaty of Versailles. Each event remade Europe’s politics and people, shifting them from a continent of warring dynasties and religious allegiances to a web of nations bound by the tenuous threads of … Read more
In Lost, Episode 3, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 face a grim reality: stranded on a mysterious island with no apparent chance of rescue. Amid the chaos, Sayid, the former soldier and communications officer, uncovers a chilling truth—a distress transmission that has been looping for 16 years, a haunting signal that offers little hope … Read more
The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman (co-founder of Deep Mind) is a sweeping and provocative exploration of the transformative potential – and existential risks – posed by the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology. Drawing on a wealth of research and insider knowledge, Suleyman argues that these technologies represent not just incremental … Read more
This chapter from The Perfect Weapon provides an in-depth look at Chinese cyber espionage activities targeting the United States government and corporations in the early-to-mid 2010s. It reveals details about specific hacking groups, major breaches, and the U.S. government’s attempts to curtail this activity. At the center of much of this activity was People’s Liberation Army Unit … Read more
Imagine you’re playing a really advanced video game, so advanced that the characters in it think they’re real. Now, what if our whole world was like that game, and we were all just characters in it? That’s the basic idea behind the simulation argument. Nick Bostrom, a philosopher, says we should consider three possibilities about … Read more
“The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis is a profound and thought-provoking work that delves into the intricacies of human nature, temptation, and spiritual warfare. Written in the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior tempter, the book offers a unique perspective on the moral and … Read more
Eliezer Yudkowsky’s “Staring Into the Singularity” hits you like a lightning bolt with its bold assertion: AI will soon outstrip human intellect, catapulting us into an unknown future. But is this techno-prophecy a guaranteed trajectory? Ray Kurzweil certainly thinks so. “The singularity is near,” he proclaims, envisioning a convergence of AI, nanotech, and biotech driving … Read more
In the realm of cyber warfare, the boundary between science fiction and reality is rapidly dissolving. Nitro Zeus, a code name for a massive cyberattack plan by the United States against Iran, is a stark reminder of this shift. This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario; it’s a glimpse into a present where cyber operations can … Read more
Picture this: It’s the day before Christmas Eve, 2015. The lights go out across western Ukraine. Not because of a winter storm or a blown transformer, but because of something far more sinister. Something that would make even the most hardened cybersecurity experts lose sleep. This wasn’t just another power outage. It was a wake-up … Read more
Scaling describes how one property of a system changes if a related property changes. The scaling mystery in biology concerns the relationship between an organism’s body mass and its basal metabolic rate—the average energy used while resting. Metabolism, the conversion of food, water, air, and light to usable energy, is fundamental to all living systems. … Read more