Don't edit the soul by hand
Plus: The search for instant coffee and a universal clock. (#570)
This is David, the human with a soul and a heartbeat you trust for your weekly dose of internet magic. As every Friday, I'm here to help you make sense of what’s happening, and imagine what could be. It's great to have you. This issue comes with a special section of tools I use and recommend. But first, the usual recommendations on what to read, watch and listen to. Let's take a look.
1. From skeptic to true believer: How OpenClaw changed my life
I haven't yet brought myself to setting up my own AI with a «soul and a heartbeat», but this podcast episode finally made me understand what's beneath the hype around Openclaw. Advice to keep in mind: «Don't edit the soul by hand.»
Lewis CarrollGhost Reak Publications
2. What Will Trigger the Next World War?
This was interesting to listen to, and clearly not comforting: defense expert Peter Apps on today's geopolitical fault lines and why the potential for global escalation might be greatest once Donald Trump leaves office.
Gregory Shushan
3. On Losing a Daughter
«However unique and precious your own loss feels, you realize that you’ve simply joined the limping thousands—millions—whose lives have been devastated by the routine catastrophes that befall someone, somewhere every second of every day. From them we learned what to expect: There would be no “healing.” No return to who we were. Those people died at the exact moment our child did.»
Content notice: Sudden death of a child, intense grief, suicidal thoughts, and medical/funeral details. It may be distressing for some readers. If you feel comfortable reading it, it's worth your time and energy.
Danielle Crittenden
4. The Clock
What would a clock have to look like to be universally understood without any explanation? You can ponder the question first and then see the clock be created and explained bit by bit.
Senko Rašić
Related, from the archive: this amazing visual explanation of how a mechanical clock works.
5. A brief history of instant coffee
It's easy to dismiss instant coffee as the worst kind of coffee. However, after reading this, you can't help appreciate the human ingenuity and decades-long tenacity that made this undeniably practical form of coffee possible.
Benjamin Stubbing and Oscar Sykes
I'll consider it my latest addition to my collection on in-depth profiles of the stuff our modern world runs on.
Tools I use and recommend
- Readwise Reader – the GOAT. I couldn’t use the internet (or write this newsletter) without it.
- Snipd – made me switch podcast players after years. Killer feature: the «AI DJ» that picks the highlights of an episode and guides you through them.
- Raindrop – where I store (and find again) every link I’ve ever deemed save-worthy, more than 20k so far.
- Mono – probably the best tool if you are using AI casually and still figuring out how to become a power user. Gives you full access to all common models, but you pay only the price of one.
- Monologue – the tool that finally made dictation part of my everyday workflows. I use it mostly for text messages and for longer text input for large language models.
- Tally – nothing comes close for creating surveys. Rich in features, simple to use, very generous free plan.
If you sign up for these tools, I might get a commission. However, only tools that I wholeheartedly recommend made the list.
What else?
Instant-gratification links that make you go wow! or aha! the moment you click.
- NASA dropped more than 12,000 photos from the Artemis II mission? Hook it to my veins.
- This is super interesting to explore: a comparison of the main image each language version of Wikipedia picked for the same topic. See: parent, computer, tree.
- The kind of TikTok video that has me stop swiping instantly. So relaxing to watch.
- 1-dimensional chess. Give it a try.
- This was so stressful to watch. Fellow kids of the 80s will understand.
- Fancy fencing – this new technology makes fencing look like a light saber fight.
- Bohemian Rhapsody, but every word is a real place.
Books for curious minds
Some new ones as I read them, some older ones that continue to inform how I look at the world and myself.
What a moving story, both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Buy it here.
A gem from the archive
David Bauer
The Weekly Filet archive offers more than 2800 hand-picked links since 2011, like this one. You can search by interests, explore collections or shuffle for a gem.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. I wish you a nice weekend and hope to see you again next Friday!
— David