Assorted Links

Always start with politics: Cross-race cooperation, and the consequence of imperialistic units is laughter.

Sorry.

Before my ranting begins, some positive outlook: Whereever in the world you live, it was never so easy to found a US company.

Cash is evil (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Journalists are guessing at reasons, and arrive at negative interest rates. Privacy barely enters the mind. At least we have a first row seat to the rebirth of the total state.

For now, we can hope for technical solutions, but keep in mind armed men. ZCash (HN) is becoming ready for testing, it seems.

Vanguard’s index funds are so efficient, they should pay taxes for profits they don’t have, because efficiency is unfair to the tax collector.

Dark Pools or why public markets are good; and Free trade may cost.

Some cities in the US are expensive.

Practical Ethics, End of The World Edition.

The European Go champion was beaten 5:0 by AlphaGo (HN). In just two days, Lee Sedol will try getting a better grasp on AlphaGo’s strength.

Maybe we should worry (rssc). The OpenAI project also has not yet laid out what they really plan to do with regard to AI safety. See some subthread during an OpenAI AMA. A friendly interview for some general background.

Less end of the world, more immediate.

A reminder to the hot new thing of last month, the Zika virus: Making abortion illegal works wonders (German), like protecting your nation by bad means accelerates science (German).

Laws and international treaties are great, as long as you can chose to not give a fuck. So, let’s ignore the UN report on Assange’s status.

In a totally unrelated case, the US government tries working towards its purpose, etc..

In another totally unrelated case, people using Tor do not expect privacy w.r.t. US law (HN). Bad luck also: maybe you really shouldn’t. Taken with all those human biometrics that we often forget about, we are always just a step away from defeat.

Australia improves the well-being of its citizens (and tourists).

I am… getting tired.