Can I become faster and smarter?

Peter Cochrane: I just cannot work any faster or smarter - I seem to have exhausted every degree of freedom, every element of efficiency improvement I can muster.

Interesting reading

Here are some articles from the past week that I've found interesting:

Collapsitarianism: No finds the Future attractive any longer. The only thing left to believe in is collapse. That's not boring! The end of civilization would be terribly exciting, and unlike any future we could imagine, probably more likely.

From New Scientist: Is time an illusion?

Girls and maths: Several months back, I wrote a post critiquing a feminist publication that attempted to show there were no sex differences in mathematics.

Space: Earth-like planets in our galactic neighborhood

Space: Will we live on mars?

IQ and wealth: This terrifying book by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen, shows us the elephant in the room of politics: the difference between have and have-not nations is intelligence.

Intelligence: How brain games don't work

Will wikipedia fail?

A cyberlaw professor argues that Wikipedia is doomed. The online encyclopedia will need to choose between being "high quality" and "open," but both choices are fraught with risk.

The books which defined the way we think

Their own ideas, in their own words, neatly honed into little half-hour or so reads

Ten people who predicted the financial meltdown

Ten people who predicted the financial meltdown

Interesting reading

150 scientists and thinkers answer the question: "What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?"

Interesting reading

110 best books: the perfect library

Sexual competition means alienation

If you are a man, dressing like a 14 year old boy isn't impressing anyone

Men born before around the mid-20th Century tended to dress far more smartly. Even in retirement, sitting in front of the TV for much of the day, I remember my Grandfather would always wear a shirt and tie. In the above article, the author describes how one man objected to the idea of men wearing suits as they 'highlight gender differences'. All the more reason for men to dress in a suit and tie!