Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Back from east coast, time to play catch-up

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Copper from Smithsonian

I’ve made it back from my trip to Washington DC. The Smithsonian Institution is quite a fun place to visit, especially if rocks are your ilk. Be sure to check out the wonderful mineral collection at the Natural History Museum. I only wish the Global Volcanism Program would have a more interactive (and visible) spot in the museum itself.

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Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Couldn’t COVID-19 have originated in a Chinese lab?

In theory, scientists could’ve produced a deadly virus that accidentally infected lab workers. In practice, we know that didn’t happen.

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The Future

Kevin Kelly points a new way forward into the Age of AI

One of the most original and optimistic thinkers in America sketches some big ideas about what’s possible with AI in the next 25 years.

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High Culture

The cinematograph, the “noematograph,” and the future of AI art

Hugo-winning author Ken Liu explores what early cinema and Chinese poetry can teach us about AI’s potential as a new artistic medium.

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The Future

A dozen reasons to read Peter Leyden at this critical juncture in history

The latest from Peter Leyden’s “The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050”, an essay series published by Freethink.

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Starts With A Bang

4 key steps to transform the USA back into a scientific nation

We’ve wasted our time and resources ideologically policing and punishing each other for far too long. Here’s a better route to prosperity.

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Guest Thinkers

Chaiten Eruption, Day 7

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