- Radical honesty makes it easier to live. It's surprising how truths come to you through a pen and a piece of paper, or phone notes. The only step left then is sharing your truths with the world. Believe me, taking the first step is almost a guarantee of success in this.
- Trying to find the right answer or be attractive— you get the idea—eliminates the chances for you to be yourself. You are the right answer.
- Keep in mind that no one knows what they're doing, and you'll allow yourself to do anything you ever wanted.
Quench-2, or my new explorations in a blog format.
Photos
Texts
1. Bridge recombination, discovered by the research group led by Patrick Hsu (Arc Institute), allows precise DNA insertion into specific spots in the genome without cutting it, and can lead to safer gene editing. This new method is making a shift in biology and opening up exciting possibilities for programmable genome design.
"As we stand on the brink of this new frontier, I'm reminded of a quote from Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." With bridge recombination, we're not just editing the genome anymore. We're writing it. And that, my friends, is pretty close to magic." - Patrick Collison on Twitter
2. Alibaba's large language model, Qwen, is currently ranked as the #1 open-source model on Hugging Face's LLM Leaderboard,
outperforming competitors such as OpenAI, Meta and Mistral.The large language models of the Chinese ecommerce giant have attracted more than 90,000 B2B users.
3. Apple Watch is becoming doctors’ favorite medical device.
The watch is being used by doctors for conditions like heart disease and
post-surgery recovery, even though it hasn't been specifically approved
by regulatory bodies like the FDA.
5. How to engineer cells to grow faster.
Biology research takes time. Cloning a piece of DNA, which is fundamental to molecular biology, can take days or even weeks. If cells could grow faster, it would enable more experiments, more iterations, and more opportunities to achieve breakthroughs in a shorter time frame. I'm eternally fascinated by the next frontiers in science.
6. A little (?) behavioral fact which has a bit reshaped how I see non-verbal communication.
"He
said something along the lines of: I’m going to change the psychology
of people not looking at the pennies differences between buying on
Amazon versus buying somewhere else.
And I think that completely changed the mentality. It was brilliant. It made Amazon the default."
8. The footage of the Roman Empire (by @midaiartwork). Looks nice! Would you teletransport?
Heard/Seen
1. Tony Blair - Learning from Lee Kuan Yew (21:27), Dwarkesh Podcast. I'm fascinated by the reforms Lee Kuan Yew implemented.
2. Excerpt from the "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"
by Werner Herzog. Chauvet Cave in France is a cave with some of the best-preserved
cave paintings in the world, as well as other evidence of
Upper Paleolithic life. It's estimated to be 36,000 years old. What compelled them to paint? What did they feel, and what did they want to share?
Thoughts/Quotes
1. Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.
Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are
unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.
―
Noam Chomsky, an American philosopher sometimes
called "the father of modern linguistics" and a major
figure in analytic philosophy.
2. I do not believe in political movements. I
believe in personal movement, that movement of the soul when a man who
looks at himself is so ashamed that he tries to make some sort of change
- within himself, not on the outside.
―
Joseph Brodsky, a Russian-American poet and essayist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987.
3. It's not an adventure until something goes wrong.
―
Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, an American rock climber, environmentalist and philanthropist.
Questions
1. When is it reasonable to adapt your beliefs for others, and when should you stay the same?
2. Any exciting ideas you'd like to share? I'm always curious to talk at dashamandryka@gmail.com
Music
Excitement
I'm excited you read me. The biggest reward would be hearing back. Or if you share Quench with friends.
До скорого!
- Dasha