The fact that we conclude that the universe has the laws it has is a consequence of the fact that we have consciousness the way we have consciousness.
— Stephen Wolfram, "Stephen Wolfram: Complexity and the Fabric of Reality | Lex Fridman Podcast #234"
For example, what they're doing with video games. They control what type of video games and how many hours a day kids can be on video games, operating in that way because they believe that's good for the society, and that's very controlling. In the United States, I think probably most parents would say, leave it to me and it's a matter between me and my kids. The same thing has to do with data. In other words, in the United States, who controls the data? Does the company control the data? Do you individually control the data? And so the inclincation would be to figure that out, but nobody would say that the government is going to control the data, becuase of our inclination of really anti-government control. In China it would be that the government will control the data because that's going to be best for the society and it depends who you trust, but that's, so that difference in philosophy is very much at the heart of that.
— Ray Dalio, "Ray Dalio: Money, Power, and the Collapse of Empires | Lex Fridman Podcast #251"
Because we've not really had a major, like a world war, or something like that in a while, and obviously we'd like to not have world wars. There's not been a cleansing function for rules and regulations. So wars did have some silver lining in that there would be a reset on rules and regulations after a war. So World Wars I and II there were huge resets on rules and regulations. If society does not have a war, and there is no cleansing function or garbage collection for rules and regulations, then rules and regulations will acumulate every year, 'cause they're immortal, theres' no actual, humans die but the laws don't.
— Elon Musk, "Elon Musk: SpaceX, Mars, Tesla Autopilot, Self-Driving, Robotics, and AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #252"
We're so lucky to have those creatures in the world.
— Lily on a squirrel
Ellen shrewdly advised her husband to exploit the offer, and she urged him to consult with other university presidents, especially Daniel Coit Gilman at Hopkins, as a bit of self-advertising.
— John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson
Whisky barrel chips.
— Kelly
Ghislaine Maxwell turns to sketch court sketch artist Jane Rosenberg.
— Image caption, Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters, via @tau_au
It's like something I would build in The Sims and get bored way too quickly because it would take them too long to get upstairs.
— Lily on a house
I have dreams about mosquitoes that don't bite.
— E*
Wilson attributed his lifelong growth primarily to that desire to control: "I want to feel that I'm in control, that I cannot be driven out of it, that I cannot be stopped, that I will be well regarded for being in it, and that entails control, and control means ambition, it means constantly extending one's reach, renewing, extending, innovating.
— Richard Rhodes, Scientist: E. O. Wilson: A Life in Nature
As often with human conflict, what looked from one side like naked aggression looked from the other side like necessary expansion and reform.
— Richard Rhodes, Scientist: E. O. Wilson: A Life in Nature
Ladies Lounge
— Painted words on door
Ms. Galyna said no white spots.
— Isaac to Mason while he was drawing a picture
And I believe in things that exist.
— Devin N. Morris, "Books, Community, and Collaboration: An Interview with Devin N. Morris," BAR
Piles of sticks are just so nice looking. God it's so easy to be an artist.
— Lily
I can't think of anyone who has had a better year than the QR code. What a comeback.
— @GraceMulvey1 via @imajs
Her Weibo account in early November of her relationship with Mr. Zhang lasted for all of 20 minutes before Chinese censors erased it. But the news quickly spread online.
— Chris Buckley, "Chinese Tennis Player Denies Sexual Abuse Claim, Raising More Questions," The New York Times
I can't believe you have three sinks here.
— Isaac
It was nowhere near as thrilling as the sham battles I had watched as a boy at Van Cortlandt Park.
— William Yale via Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia
It appears this earnest search of insight also had the effect of delaying the special agent's discovery of the one simple truth to be found amid the thicket; no one else knew what was really going on either.
— Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia