Noah Smith

Worth of a person →

Published 10 Days Ago  ·  All posts on Jul 9

Why should what you produce, rather than what you consume, be the most important thing about you? Why shouldn’t the fact that you race boats or watch anime or drink matcha lattes be what defines your identity? Why should I call myself a “writer” rather than a “science fiction fan” or a “rabbit dad”? Just imagining introducing myself as the latter makes me cringe a little. But why?

~ Noah Smith, from You are what you consume

An as-usually great deep dive into the value of a person. Of course, we all known—right?!—that a person is intrinsicly valuable; The challenge I face all the time is feeling like I should do, and in particular create value others would trade with me for… decade after decade, I just can’t seem to shake that.

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tl;dr: It’s the lack of housing →

Published November 29, 2024  ·  All posts on Nov 29  ·  

So let’s go on a journey in which I will examine the validity of six common claims we hear about homelessness and the solution to our homelessness crisis: housing, housing, and more housing.

~ Noah Smith, from Everything you think you know about homelessness is wrong

slip:4unope1.

“But wait,” I hear you protest, “it’s more nuanced than that!”

Yes, yes, okay, fine. Again, this time with more nuance:

It’s the lack of affordable housing.

And how might we solve that root cause?

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Vernor Vinge →

Published June 18, 2024  ·  All posts on Jun 18  ·  

But what really made Vinge the father of the Singularity was his fiction. His 1981 novella “True Names” created many of the tropes about artificial intelligence and virtual worlds that have now become standard. It’s such a tour de force that top computer scientists felt compelled to write a series of essays exploring its ideas, and it’s often considered the founding work of the entire cyberpunk genre.

~ Noah Smith from, Go read some Vernor Vinge – by Noah Smith – Noahpinion

slip:4unopo1.

Note to self: Go read some Vernor Vinge.

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