New Scientist

Is the universe conscious? It seems impossible until you do the maths

The question of how the brain gives rise to subjective experience is the hardest of all. Mathematicians think they can help, but their first attempts have thrown up some eye-popping conclusions

Ars Technica

US approves Google plan to let political emails bypass Gmail spam filter

Plan came after GOP complaints, but FEC says it doesn't violate ban on contributions.

A step towards quantum gravity

In Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravity arises when a massive object distorts the fabric of spacetime the way a ball sinks into a piece of stretched cloth. Solving Einstein's equations by using quantities that apply across all space and time coordinates could enable physicists to eventually find their "white whale": a quantum theory of gravity.

IEEE Spectrum

3D-Stacked CMOS Takes Moore’s Law to New Heights

3D stacked CMOS could deliver the next decade of Moore's Law.

Nature

Development of vanadium-based polyanion positive electrode active materials for high-voltage sodium-based batteries - Nature Communications

The development of high-capacity and high-voltage electrode materials can boost the performance of sodium-based batteries. Here, the authors report the synthesis of a polyanion positive electrode active material that enables high-capacity and high-voltage sodium battery performance.

All That's Interesting

The True Story Of The Time Mr. Rogers Sued The KKK — And Won

The cardigan-clad television icon Mr. Rogers was known as much for his anti-racism as he was for his good neighborliness.

Medium

Real-time Automated Fact Checking for Presidential Debates

The boom in social media as a source of information has caused the creation of information echo chambers that have made the American public…

Switch to a circular economy could protect the environment while generating more value

In 1924, a cartel of lightbulb manufacturers including General Electric and Philips agreed to artificially limit the lifespan of their products to about 1,000 hours, down from 2,500. The scandal, revealed decades later, came to epitomize the linear consumption model of making, consuming, and then discarding products that took hold during the Industrial Revolution and has been dominant ever since.

the Guardian

The west’s wealth is based on slavery. Reparations should be paid | Kehinde Andrews

If the countries that became rich by exploiting human flesh paid their debts, the world would be a radically fairer place says Kehinde Andrews, associate professor in sociology at Birmingham City University

Sexual assault in the metaverse is part of a bigger problem that technology alone won't solve

As Meta (formerly Facebook) expands access to its virtual reality (VR) platform, disturbing accounts of women being sexually assaulted and harassed in its metaverse are also racking up.

Rich nations caused climate harm to poorer ones, study says

For decades, environmental activists along with some government officials and scientists have argued that rich countries should pay the most to address climate change, and even pay poor countries reparations, because industrialized nations have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases.

O’Reilly Media

Artificial Creativity?

Models like DALL-E dissociate ideation from implementation. Do we care?