I didn’t expect too much from this list, so I almost didn’t read it. Don’t make the same mistake. I found it both empathetic and actionable. It’s understandable to hope for larger movements and more powerful actors to «do something». But in doing so, the author argues, «we miss the opportunity to be the lonely voice for justice in our own community, the person who makes it a little easier for a second and third and fourth lonely voice to start perking up by our side.»

What a great episode, for introverts and extroverts. If you’re an introvert, you’ll feel seen in this conversation with Susan Cain. You’ll hear a lot of helpful advice on how to thrive in contexts where extroversion is favoured. Not by becoming more extroverted yourself, but by leaning into the unique strengths of introversion. If you’re not an introvert, you should still listen to this episode. It will help you see potential in people where you might have missed it.

Humans, eh? We invent this amazing thing called the internet. Then we invent this amazing thing called artificial intelligence. And what do we do with it? Create stupid fakes, flood the internet with it, and the algorithms we created love it. This is a sobering analysis of where things stand. «There is a near total collapse of the information ecosystem and thus of reality online. […] Many users seem to have completely lost the ability to tell what is real and what is fake, or simply do not care anymore.»

While the web is getting polluted with AI-generated garbage, the race towards artificial general intelligence is real. The Biden administration’s AI advisor believes AI could exceed all human cognitive capabilities within the next 2-3 years. Which means: during Trump’s presidency. Obviously, other experts disagree with this timeline, but even if it’s unlikely yet possible, it’s a scenario to take very seriously.

An article on how we could transform Mars into a second home for humanity – that doesn’t mention Elon Musk? Count me in.

Foreign aid is always an easy target for people arguing that the state is wasting money on the wrong people. This analysis shows that the world isn’t spending all that much on foreign aid, even though it’s usually a highly effective investment in making lives better. It comes with this fascinating (and frankly: depressing) finding from a survey in the US: On average, respondents estimated that the government spends 31% of its budget on foreign aid. They think it should be far less, more like 10%. Which…is still ten times of what the US actually spends on foreign aid (before Trump and Musk, that was).

Something I never thought of: When Disney brings its movie franchises to their theme parks, special effects need to be recreated with actual, physical engineering. Or imagineering, as they call it. This is a fascinating tour of their R&D lab, featuring lightsabers, robots optimised for cuteness and a metal Spider-Man that can be catapulted across buildings.

Q: Then how does this end?A: Who thinks it’s going to end?David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, speaks to historian Stephen Kotkin. Insightful.

This hit close to home. All these struggles and doubts Adam describes are mine, too. And what a wonderful, empowering video he’s turned them into. On accepting that you’ll never be a specialist, on embracing that you’re a generalist. Where not sticking to one thing isn’t failure, but your way of moving forward. In an ever-repeating cycle of «learn, build, grow, and then move on to the next challenge». Where your superpower is hiding behind what you might perceive as a weakness.

We’re taught to…um…avoid them, but what if those small…um…seemingly superfluous interjections are actually at the heart of language itself, and something that sets human language apart from artificially generated speech? An appreciation post for the «traffic signals to regulate the flow of conversation».