Links - January 31, 2017
The Trump Administration has been giving me lots of reasons to read on topics that I otherwise would not read about. I want to spend less time on social media trying to parse truth and facts out of the endless stream of articles, but it feels like I have to.
- Every day, there’s an all new you Robert Sapolsky - SavannahNow
The future exists, and we have a lot ahead of us. Let’s remember that.
- Standards Persist Drew Bell - Track Changes
A story of weather reports, demonstrating path dependence1000. “Choices we agree on now are going to stick around, and get baked into the foundational brick of our biggest, most critical systems. Be careful what you toss in there!”
- Continental Rift Joshua Kucera - Roads & Kingdoms
Borders, names, in-groups and out-groups, are all arbitrary, and more fluid than we generally think. Herodotus spoke of the divide between Europe, Asia, and Africa 500 years ago: “I cannot conceive why three names [Asia, Europe, and Africa] should ever have been given to a tract which is in reality one.”
- Time to Take a Stand Sam Altman
What is your red line?
- Rules for a constitutional crisis Lawrence Lessig - Medium
The Consitution, Senate, Congress, are all institutions, and institutions are just people. We don’t live in a world of self-enforcing mechanics and contracts. We live in a world where rules and expectations put in place by people are enforced by people.
- How Donald Trump Could Build an Autocracy in the U.S. David Frum - The Atlantic
We’ve seen this before around the world. Let’s use those lessons.
- How To Get Your Green Card In America Sarah Matthews - BuzzFeed News
This was originally published a full year before the election. Coming here legally is not an easy process. Even though Oman and Costa Rica are so different, I see myself, and echoes of my experience in the US in a lot of these stories.
- I'm Loyal to Nothing Except the Dream Jeff Atwood - Coding Horror
What is a nation anyway?