The possibility of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine with a DMZ. How the ‘diploma divide’ destroyed support for the Democrats. Can we shape AI for better not for worse? The lure of longevity. How forgetting can in fact help our brain function.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
James Stavridis, Ukraine and Russia Can Find Peace With a DMZ
(Bloomberg, 20 November 2024)
At a time when none of Trump’s national security appointments gives Ukraine a sense of security, NATO’s former supreme allied commander thinks that the chances of negotiation next year are increasing. He sees the Korean War as a possible model for a cease-fire. It would mean three things: (1) Ukraine’s forced acceptance that it will lose 20% of its territory – Crimea and Donbas – that Putin won’t return. (2) A meaningful cease-fire created by forging a demilitarized zone between territory held by each side, like in Korea. (3) The provision of security guarantees for Ukraine so that Putin can’t just re-invade (gifted article, 6-8 min).
Click here to read the full article
David Brooks, Voters to Elites: Do You See Me Now?
(The New York Times, 6 November 2024)
The columnist’s take on why it went so well for Trump and so wrong for the Democrats. He offers a counterpoint to the “it’s the economy stupid” theory and attributes the Democrats’ defeat to the fact that “society worked as a vast segregation system, elevating the academically gifted above everybody else. Before long, the diploma divide became the most important chasm in American life.” In his opinion, this chasm “led to a loss of faith, a loss of trust, a sense of betrayal.” His conclusion: “Donald Trump is a monstrous narcissist, but there’s something off about an educated class that looks in the mirror of society and sees only itself” (gifted article, reads in 5-7 min).
Click here to read the full article
Henry Kissinger, Craig Mundie, and Eric Schmidt, Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope and the Human Spirit
(YouTube, 19 November 2024)
How can we harness the transformative power of AI to elevate human flourishing while safeguarding the values that define us? In Genesis, Kissinger, Mundie, and Schmidt explore the pivotal choice we face—whether to preserve humanity’s independence as we know it or to build groundbreaking partnerships between humans and machines. Through discussions on discovery, security, politics, and beyond, they ask: can we shape AI to reflect the best of us, or will we be shaped by it? In this 12 min. video, they distill the content of Genesis (free access).
Click here to read the full article
Nateisha Scott, 2025’s hottest trend? Living longer
(Vogue Business, 14 November 2024)
What’s more covetable than anything else? Living longer. According the ‘Top Global Consumer Trends 2025’ published by Euromonitor (a market analytics company), longevity is a key consumer trend that will dominate the wellness sector in 2025. A rising number of consumers are investing in “preventative, specialized solutions” to live healthier and longer. The key beneficiaries: the smart devices and apps that track fitness and health, and the supplement market (with a special focus on NAD+, a supplement supposed to reverse ageing) (metered paywall, reads in 3-5 min.).
Click here to read the full article
Sven Vanneste, The evolutionary benefits of being forgetful
(The Conversation, 4 November 2024)
Reassuring words from a professor clinical neuroscience! Forgetting is part of our daily lives and often seen as a sign of memory impairment. But it doesn’t have to be, because we all need to be able to forget all the unimportant details to create memories. From an evolutionary standpoint, forgetting old memories in response to new information is undoubtedly beneficial. This is why sometimes, forgotten information is not permanently lost, but rather inaccessible. Different forms of forgetting help our brain to function efficiently (free access, 5-7 min).
Click here to read the full article
