Jun 21, 2023 5 min read Link Roundup

May/June links: AI debates, Apple Vision, Rubik's cube record-breaking

Interesting stuff from May and June, 2023

"A man trapped in virtual reality, digital art."

Greetings from Bend, Oregon!

We're here in Deschutes County through the beginning of July, before journeying up the west coast to the Seattle area. Bend is a lovely town. It's chock-full of hip breweries, dog-friendly restaurants with patios, sunny river floats, hiking, biking, skiing, camping, fishing. It combines a lot of what we love. Fiona and I are more than a little tempted to move here.

We decided on the Pacific Northwest for our summer to be close to the Cascade Range, where I have a series of climbs planned. I started with Mount Rainier at the beginning of June:

From the past month

A couple weeks ago, I finished Mark Twight's Kiss or Kill, which is a compilation of his essays on climbing. He has a way of cutting to the core of things. Most are not easy reads because he's in your face, shining a light on your weakness. This one in particular haunts me:

Twitching With Twight

What’s your problem? I think I know. You see it in the mirror every morning: temptation and doubt hip to hip inside your head. You know it’s not supposed to be like this. But you drank the Kool-Aid and dressed yourself up in someone else’s life. You’re haunted because you remember having something m…

Mark F. TwightMark F. Twight

Hoel: It’s not possible to make a good social media site:

Mark Andreessen on why AI will save the world:

The sci-fi writer Ted Chiang on ChatGPT:

The trouble with covering AI as a journalist:

Apple Vision Pro early access review:

A fantastic take on where Apple Vision is headed: "Just like you, your SecondSelf sometimes needs to take a wellness break. Scheduled firmware updates take place on the first Monday of every month between 2 and 3 am. During the firmware update, you may experience vivid dreams of elk charging across a snowy plain, of steam curdling from the nostrils of an infinite herd of elk, of tracking the elk with a stone-tipped spear, bone-thin, ravenous, of the snow melting and the grass sizzling around your burning feet of fire, of hot blood gushing from the hide of an elk...

Do not remain awake during the firmware update":

Speaking of Apple products, I was recently alerted that there exist a whole line of airplane TV adapters for your Airpods, so you don't have to use the shitty headphones they give you as you board. Genius: