Read Before Monday

Last week of February, eh! That was fast... This week we start with Alice Hamilton which fought against industrial lead poisoning long before the world was ready to listen, proving that progress often means battling resistance until hindsight catches up. Meanwhile, the Gorton typeface, a silent workhorse of urban design, shows how even the most overlooked details shape our daily lives. On the darker side of technology, the loneliness epidemic is fuelling GenAI-powered romance scams, turning emotional vulnerability into a billion-dollar fraud industry - surprise, surprise! And speaking of illusions, chatbots are now the digital age psychics, convincing users of intelligence where there is only statistical prediction. But not all these new ventures are cautionary tales! For example, Jeff, the Tetris-playing AI, is a proof to ingenuity, even if it can still be bested by something as simple as sparkly visual effects - really!

Welcome to another #RBM! This week I cover the march of progress, whether in science, technology, or culture, which is both relentless and reflective. Emmy Noether’s theorem, once a revelation tying symmetries to conservation laws, remains fundamental to physics despite the barriers she faced as a woman in academia. Delphi, a programming stalwart, reaches its 30th year- a rare feat in tech - continuing to serve a dedicated user base even as newer languages dominate. Then the Video Game History Foundation’s digital archive breathes new life into gaming’s past, preserving magazines and development footage, though the absence of playable classics leaves a lingering gap. Meanwhile, there's a call for a return to decentralised content distribution - like the once-beloved RSS - which highlights the tension between digital freedom and the convenience of centralised platforms. And in psychology, the rise and reassessment of stereotype threat theory exemplifies the self-correcting nature of science, reminding us that even the most influential ideas must withstand the test of time and scrutiny. In other note, I'll be posting here on Linkedin about TimeSeries and TimeSeries Foundation Models, so if that interests you, let me know and ping me a message.

Another interesting week! Lets review recent advancements across diverse fields, which underscore the transformative potential and inherent challenges of integrating advanced technologies into society. Starting in healthcare, FIBRESOLVE's FDA authorisation for AI-driven diagnostics exemplifies the critical interplay between interdisciplinary expertise and the need for careful oversight to mitigate concerns over opacity and data privacy, while addressing resistance within the radiology community. In parallel, efforts chronicled by Dr. Shailee Jain in UCSF Magazine reveal ambitious progress toward a "silicon brain"- an artificial neural network that, by synthesising diverse data from fMRI and single neuron recordings, aims to decode thoughts, restore speech, and create personalised brain models for revolutionary neurological treatments. Meanwhile, a Reuters Institute study exposes a complex global landscape in which the anticipated impacts of Generative AI on news media are met with low public trust, particularly in the UK, highlighting the broader societal caution toward these transformative tools. This blend of optimism and scepticism is further echoed in Virginia Postrel's reflections on mid-20th-century futuristic visions that once promised a world of technological marvels but eventually gave way to concerns over pollution and societal limitations, and in the innovative concept of microarchitectural weird machines presented in Communications of the ACM, where computing through hardware side effects challenges conventional detection methods and opens new avenues for obfuscation.

January always feels like the longest month of the year! But we're in February, finally! This edition starts with a moral crisis... or a tool? The Vatican’s Antiqua et Nova takes the cautious route, warning of AI’s impact on free will and human dignity. Speaking of transformative tools, lets remember the Quantel Paintbox, that once ruled TV graphics before Photoshop wiped it out - yet another reminder that no technology stays on top forever. Then, there's Celso Martinho’s Amiga 1000 restoration, echoing that nostalgia: preserving the past while upgrading for the future. Meanwhile, DeepSeek isn’t looking back - it’s making AI models cheaper and faster with Multi-Head Latent Attention and MoE, prioritising efficiency over sheer scale. Finally, Venture Alchemists and The Tech Coup argue that Silicon Valley’s unchecked power threatens democracy, but the real issue isn’t tech’s dominance - it’s our failure to regulate it effectively, right?

January blues are more like January innovations - that's what it felt this month with everything happening and we still have one week to go! 2025 is going to be clearly "China, China, China". Lets start with DeepSeek’s development of the their R1 model showcases how innovation thrives under constraints, with efficiency-focused techniques like Multi-head Latent Attention enabling them to rival industry giants despite limited resources. This mirrors China’s broader tech-industrial strategy, where interconnected industries such as EVs and electronics create self-reinforcing ecosystems that drive innovation and economies of scale, albeit with sustainability concerns. Then I'll match that with nostalgia! First with how Clive Sinclair’s ZX80 and ZX81 computers similarly democratised technology, inspiring a generation despite their quirks, while Toshiba’s Visicom COM-100 struggled to gain traction due to limited offerings in a fast-moving market. Finally, in software, Tony Marston’s critique of Domain-Driven Design underscores the balance between complexity and simplicity, reminding us that the right tools, whether in AI, industry, or development, must align with the problem at hand to truly deliver value.

TikTok ban and its consequences have been all over the news, which begs for so many questions that I might do a #NowAboutThis video, when things calm down. This is a big precedent for everything. It’s about the larger societal shifts we’re navigating; starting with the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, for example, which promises to redefine public services and economic growth, yet feels like a mix of bold ambition and cautious optimism, leaving practical implementation hanging in the balance. Meanwhile, the Reuters Institute’s predictions for AI in journalism highlight the tension between efficiency and integrity, underscoring how transparency is now non-negotiable in a world grappling with trust deficits. Similarly, by exploring our "anti-social century" it reveals how technology designed to connect us has paradoxically amplified isolation. Even the rediscovery of ELIZA, the first chatbot, reminds us how far we’ve come, and how much the basics still matter. Whether it’s AI summoning Silicon Valley aspirations to Culham - what? - or the quiet power of a rendering book that bridges science and art, this week stories share a common thread: technology’s potential to revolutionize lives depends on our ability to wield it thoughtfully and responsabily.