The Thinker's Digest #7

Your fortnightly dose of brain food

Author

Nishant Bhide
October 16, 2023

Dear Thinker,

The concept of the Metaverse is dead. Hype and promise reached its zenith in 2021 and culminated in Facebook rebranding its entire company. Since then, it’s been downhill. Billions of dollars have been poured in but a virtual world like the one in Ready Player One, seemed like a distant dream.

Re-enter Zuck.

While the world pretty much gave up on the Metaverse, Zuck continued developing his vision. Since then, machines have gotten smarter, the world has become more accepting of wearable tech and Apple has entered VR. Capitalising on this wave, Zuck, in an interview with Lex Fridman (today's headlining article) re-ignites the Metaverse and gives us a glimpse of the future. It looks like we might be closer than expected.

All this computational power, needed to run these machines of the future, has to reach all parts of the world. In the second article, we look at how that happens.

We close this week’s digest by looking at an invention that was crucial to our progress as a species and finally a possible cure to one of the world’s deadliest viruses. Enjoy!

Brain Food

For most people, the Metaverse is like a video-game where one has a digital identity. Characters are animated and the interactions are largely game-like. For us, it still resembles an advanced version of something like DOTA or SIMs. However, what it actually aims to be is something way beyond that. This interview gives a sneak-peak into what the Metaverse might be: something more like an alternate reality.

This interview features next-gen photo-realistic avatars of both speakers (Lex Fridman and Mark Zuckerberg). The quality and the motion tracking of the avatars is astounding. The lag and pixelation is almost gone. The speed at which the tech is improving is insane. Things are going to get wild pretty soon!

The obvious thought is that most of our telecommunications are running through satellites. That seems a lot more high-tech than a cable running for thousands of miles from one country to another. Well, surprisingly, 99% of international data is transmitted by wires at the bottom of the ocean.

In-fact we’ve been using this method since 1858! We still haven’t been able to find a faster and more cost-efficient method. Transmission speeds in the newer cables can reach up-to 200 TB per second! This article explains how the cables are laid and how they transmit data across continents. Sometimes the simplest solution can solve the most complex problems.

It feels like every time I meet someone I hear about a new allergy. From nuts to pollen to the sun, I am quite sure you’ll find that collectively, we are allergic to everything we consume. But what is the reason for this sudden rise in allergies ? This article digs deep into the functions of our immune system and why it might be the reason for all our numerous allergies.

The printing press has been one of the most important inventions of humanity. Without it, information would’ve never scaled, knowledge would’ve remained with the elite and civilisation wouldn’t have progressed this far. The age of the internet multiplied this scale by thousands and led to one of the most prosperous times in our civilisations history.

Unfortunately, the rise of digital media is leading to the demise of print media. Surprisingly, payments-giant and Silicon Valley darling, Stripe, just started a good-old printing press. Nostalgic attachment or strategic expansion ? This article charts the history of the printing press and Stripe’s latest venture.

The word pandemic only makes me think on one thing. Im sure you’re thinking of the same. Sadly, pandemics have been happening long before COVID but people hardly take notice of things outside the developed world.

AIDS, however has been on the few viruses that has been in the collective conscience. For decades, a cure looked impossible. Millions of dollars and years of experiments later, we are finally close to multiple. This article looks at the various cures in development.

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Here are some earlier posts to give you a sense of the topics covered in this newsletter -