Books
Superintelligence, by Nick Bostrom: Finally dusted this off after it sat on my mental “need to read this” shelf for a few years. I thought this book would include technical information for why humans may create better-than-human artificial intelligence in the near future; but it’s really more like a hyper-detailed thought experiment. If we were to build superintelligence, how could that go wrong for humanity depending on how the it was designed? How can we ensure that the goals of AI programs align with human values? Nick Bostrom takes us on an exhaustive exploration of these and other hypotheticals, in a way that is dense, zany, and brilliantly prescient. However long it takes to build superintelligence, and I think it will be a pretty long time, the people then will be really glad that Bostrom wrote this book now.
Podcasts
The Rewatchables: One of the most underrated aspects of continuing to pay up for a monthly Comcast package is the joy of stumbling upon old movies running on TNT, FX or another cable network on Friday and Saturday nights. Things you’ve seen a million times, that you usually wouldn't intentionally watch from start to finish, but really enjoy watching for half an hour or so. Well, now there’s a podcast designed to enhance and elongate that wonderful feeling. Bill Simmons and other Ringer writers go deep on Point Break, Silence of the Lambs, The Departed, and other movies that really never get old.
TV
Curb Your Enthusiasm: This show is like maple sugar candy; decadent, cloying, you can only have a little piece at a time, but so, so good. Larry David’s grotesque behavioral contortions are matched only by how egregiously unreasonable everyone around him is. If you’ve been really busy and are struggling to switch to relaxation mode, the excruciating awkwardness of every interaction on this show will seize your attention in a way that most TV shows don’t. Really happy that new episodes are coming out tonight.
The Defiant Ones: If you’re like me and rapping along to Eminem, Dr. Dre, and 50 Cent were an indispensable part of not hating your life in middle school, this is a must-watch. Also if you’re a lot older than me and Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Stevie Nix, or Tom Petty are exciting figures for you. This is a raw, rhythmically-edited visual documentation of the careers of Dre and Jimmy Iovine, his business partner, who together were instrumental in all of these artists’ careers, and many others comprising like 50% of global music culture since the late 1970s. Skip over the second half of the last installment, which is basically a commercial for Beats by Dre.