Let's be Fwends #137:

A Change of Environments

I don't see the habits that Become me

~Page Hamilton, Milquetoast

Welcome to Let's be Fwends number 137. It's a week late, my apologies, but yesterweek was not particularly strong in the "interesting stuff" department, and it's my habit (topic foreshadowing) to not bore you with sub-par material just to make sure I keep my publishing schedule, which is totally arbitrary anyway. Be honest, how many of you know that I send this email every other Wednesday? Yeah, I thought so.

In any case, today we dive into how organisations can change environments to enable unlearning, check in with the state of fusion power (which is just 20 years away for the last 70 years), how the work behind AI also looks like, consider the question if it makes any difference whether you reach the height of your abilities early or late in life, and finally get introduced to sport nobody – literally, nobody could hate.

Looks like this week is really trying to make up for its pal last week, which was such a let down.

Alright, let's go.

Environments, Habits, Unlearning

The United States military had a big drug addiction problem during the Vietnam war. 15% of servicemen in Vietnam were addicted to heroin. Yet after rehab, only 5% of them became addicted again - compared to 95% of addicts who got their addiction while living at home. Your environment is such a huge influence on your habits that changing it significantly improves your chances to get rid of old habits, and acquire new ones. How can I make this fact work for me, you're wondering. Glad you asked. By deliberately changing your environment to support unlearning.

Will We Ever Get Fusion Power?

Maybe you've read the news about ITER, a fusion test reactor, being delayed for a couple of years because manufacturing to specs is hard. And it this case, it truly is. This article is laying out all the details why building a fusion reactor is so darn difficult. It also explains what fusion actually is, and how it differs from fission, the thing all our current nuclear reactors are using to generate power. (Actually, to heat water in order to generate steam, which drives a turbine, which generates electricity.)

The Humans Making AI Happen

There's a quip remarking on the substantial amount of human labor needed for current AI products: The true meaning of "AI" is actually Indians.

But that joke oversees that creating and verifying AI training data is no joke for the people who are doing it, part of an economic ecosystem that spans across the whole global south.

"Many tech companies (...) do what they can to hide the reality of how their products are actually made. They present a vision of shining, sleek, autonomous machines – computers searching through large quantities of data, teaching themselves as they go – rather than the reality of the poorly paid and gruelling human labour that both trains them and is managed by them.

Just like when you think "people keeping the internet running" you should think "boats, underwater cables and hard work", when you think "making AI possible" you should think "hours of hours of menial, poorly paid work".

Late Bloomers

"They are the ugly ducklings of human achievement, who, over the decades, turn themselves into swans."

I have no idea if I am a late bloomer, but there is one trait I definitely share with them: Crankiness in old age.

It's a thought well worth being entertained in a society that worships youth and early accomplishment: That not everyone immediately hits a home run and some just take more time to build something meaningful. And if that looks substantially different from the things young people build.

I for one, would love to see a "60 over 60" (looking at you, Forbes, with your "30 under 30").

The Only Football You'll Need Today

Already experiencing withdrawal after the end of the European Football Championships? Don't fret, here's the only football you'll need today, or ever again, actually: Discofoot, the perfect combination of football and disco. The rules? Just like football, but you're not allowed to run or walk. Only to dance.

That's it for this 🕺 edition 🕺 of 🕺 Let's 🕺 be 🕺 Fwends 🕺. Dance on! 🪩