The true silent majority
+ One of the most moving articles I've ever read (#404)
No intro this week, let's get straight to it:
1. Inside the Growing Movement to Do the Most Good Possible
Effective Altruism seems fairly straightforward: As a human being, you care about others, and it makes sense to maximise the effectiveness of what you're doing or giving. It gets interesting when you take it to the extremes: How much money should you keep for yourself, when it could save lives elsewhere? And why just care about people living elsewhere, when there are billions, maybe trillions of future people that deserve our support? In his upcoming book «What We Owe the Future», William MacAskill calls them «the true silent majority». This cover story of the latest TIME Magazine is a great introduction to Effective Altruism and the people behind the movement.
Naina Bajekal/Oxford, U.K.
2. What counts as the life of the mother
This is, without hyperbole, one of the most moving articles I've ever read. Incredibly brave of the author to share these intimate experiences. A reminder that — despite recent medical advances — bearing a child remains startlingly dangerous, and that any policy that neglects the wellbeing of the pregnant person is simply cruel.
Annie Lowrey
3. The History of User Interfaces
A visual timeline of user interfaces, the ways humans interacted with computers from 1973 to 2007. I'm amazed by the thought that one day, my kids will look back at my cutting edge smartphone of 2022 the same way I look at these primitive user interfaces.
4. How Are We Tracking?
John Doerr's «Speed & Scale» is one of my favourite books on the climate crisis — because it is laser-focused on developing an actionable plan for solving it. He proposes action in 10 key areas, with 47 concrete objectives, each with measurable key results. Now there's a tracker for each of these objectives where you can see what is being achieved and where progress is too slow or even off course (select «Show Summary» for a better overview).
5. Road to nowhere: China’s Belt and Road Initiative at tipping point
The «Belt and Road Initiative» is China's grand plan for cementing its influence around the world. With investments of almost one trillion dollars in 149 countries, it's a huge undertaking. And things are not going according to plan. This Nikkei Asia piece is the first of a three-part series, a comprehensive effort to take stock of the Belt and Road Initiative nearly a decade after it began.
Staff Writer
What else?
- Wikienigma — like Wikipedia, but for things humans don't know yet
- Eames' famous «Power of Ten», recreated using artificial intelligence
- Ear candy: Blogothèque session with Jacon Collier
- The Future Library — one piece of writing per year, all to be published in the year 2114
- The countries of the world neatly aligned, rather than randomly spread all over the planet
- A seven-day pop-up newsletter I can't wait to read: Walking TOKIO TŌKYŌ TOKYO (by Craig Mod, obviously).
Thanks for reading. See you next Friday!
— David 👋