What I am Reading Today

A cyber attack takes down important telescopes/Science.org

Large media outlets (insert any name) are always keen to lament the changing direction of society away from science and the scientific method. Yet, the same media establishment seems uninterested in covering a story with significant scientific implications. A few days ago, a “cyber incident” disrupted telescopes funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Hawaii and Chile. There’s still no clarity on when these issues will be resolved. The incident occurred on August 1st, 2023. This warrants further investigation

The oceans have a fever/Australian Broadcast Corporation

Hurricanes and tropical storms in Southern California? Wildfires spanning most of Canada? This isn’t normal. Or, perhaps, it’s becoming our new normal due to rapidly escalating climate change. And the situation is about to worsen. Why? Because our oceans are heating up. This means that the ocean’s temperatures have been rising to unprecedented levels. The warmer the oceans, the more powerful the weather systems become—resulting in heavier rainfall, increased heat, and more frequent storms. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer in science, there’s no escaping the impacts of climate change. But don’t take my word for it; you’ll soon hear from your insurance company.

Musk’s Shadow Rule/The New Yorker

If you have followed Elon Musk as closely as I have (and read Ashley Vance’s biography), everything in this New Yorker profile of the richest guy on the planet should be familiar to you. The general theme of the article is that Musk has the U.S. government (including NASA and DOD) by the cojones. My big takeaway from this lengthy piece is that much of Musk’s vision of the future has been shaped by science fiction and video games.

The best part of the article has a few zingers from fellow billionaire (though with fewer billions) LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. “His whole approach to A.I. is: A.I. can only be saved if I deliver if I build it,” Hoffman recalled about Musk’s conflict with OpenAI. Hoffman told author Ronan Farrow that, in some ways, Musk’s attitude is like Louis XIV’s: ‘L’état, c’est moi.'”

And yes, it does reinforce the point I made about why he bought Twitter, aka his Bully Pulpit. All things considered, there are a handful of new details, and it is actually a flattering profile.

RIP, John Warnock/Adobe

As someone who uses Lightroom, Photoshop, and many products from the Adobe family, I can’t help but thank John Warnock and his co-founder Charles Geschke for starting and nurturing the digital creative revolution. Those two were as fundamental to the success of digital photography, desktop publishing, and digital creation as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were to personal computing. I salute the great engineer, but more importantly, a great human being.

Microsoft’s Winning The War of AI (attention)/FastCompany

Microsoft, thanks to a thoughtful and long-term strategy adopted by its chief executive, Satya Nadella, has done a good job of positioning itself as the face of AI. While it is unclear what role the company will eventually play in the consumer domain — one thing is for sure, it will be signing many big corporate deals. AI will help it finally beat AWS in the cloud game as well. Satya and Microsoft get the Fast Company treatment, which also means, no really tough questions or skepticism. Cue Satya (or some other Microsoft leader) to speak at the next FastCompany event.