• How Long Can Toyota Put Off Figuring Out EVs? The world’s No. 1 automaker has kept its focus on hybrids and gas-guzzlers, for better and worse. (Businessweek)
• The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman: He thought he’d make millions of dollars selling solar panels door-to-door. The reality was much darker. (Wired)
• AI hallucinations can’t be stopped — but these techniques can limit their damage: Developers have tricks to stop artificial intelligence from making things up, but large language models are still struggling to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. (Nature)
• New Superconductive Materials Have Just Been Discovered: Three exotic new species of superconductivity were spotted last year, illustrating the myriad ways electrons can join together to form a frictionless quantum soup. (Wired)
• Why America is in an alcohol recession: Last year was a terrible year for the industry. This year, millions of Americans are participating in Dry January — the tradition of abstaining from booze for an entire month. And the alcohol industry is waking up to a nasty hangover. Global data firm IWSR found that the United States’ year-over-year alcohol volumes fell 2.6% in 2023 and 2.8% for the first seven months of 2024; beer volumes declined by 2.9% last year and wine by 4.4%. (The Hustle) see also Cannabis Cocktails Are Growing Quickly, But the Law Might Stop That Soon: THC-infused hemp drinks are all the rage, but legal questions loom. (Businessweek)
• The truth about fiction: What distinguishes fiction from nonfiction? The answer to this perennial question relies on how we understand reality itself. (Aeon)
• Does One Emotion Rule All Our Ethical Judgments? When prehistoric predators abounded, the ability to perceive harm helped our ancestors survive. Some researchers wonder whether it fuels our greatest fights today. (New Yorker) see also Top 10 tips to avoid ‘Brain rot’ The word of the year is “brain rot”. That says a lot about how we’re feeling as a society. Kind of crazy, but honestly makes all the sense in the world. (Reddit)
• How does cosmic inflation fare when put to the ultimate test? Cosmic inflation, proposed back in 1980, is a theory that precedes and sets up the hot Big Bang. After thorough testing, is it still valid? (Big Think)
• Twenty Lessons On Tyranny From the Twentieth Century: These lessons are the openings of the twenty chapters of a 2017 book On Tyranny, lightly edited since to account for the Big Lie, the coup attempt, the war in Ukraine, and the risks we face in 2024. The lessons remain the same. (Thinking About…)
• The evolution of the NFL quarterback has come to pass — and run: Jayden Daniels (Illustration by Michael Domine/The Washington Post;AP) Jayden Daniels has entered a league in which throwing passes is just half of the expectation for the most important position. (WaPo)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Mike Freno, Chairman and CEO at Barings. The firm is owned by Mass Mutual, and half of its $431 billion in invested assets are from the insurance giant, with the rest coming from institutional investors.
