Open Thread 215

...

This is the weekly visible open thread. Odd-numbered open threads will be no-politics, even-numbered threads will be politics-allowed. This one is odd-numbered, so be careful. Otherwise, post about anything else you want. Also:

1: The effective altruist movement is offering $100,000 prizes to each of the top five new EA-aligned blogs this year. If you were thinking of writing a blog that touches on EA topics (x-risk, progress, global development, moral philosophy, AI, etc) now’s a pretty good time.

2: Comment of the week: Steven Ehrbar gives a theory I’d never heard before for why US invaded Iraq: to unpin US garrisons in Saudi Arabia. There were also good comments on Zulresso, but I’ll probably spin them off into a separate Highlights post.

3: Other people I missed who correctly predicted the Ukraine war: Erusian, Aleksandr Nevzorov (link in Russian).

4: Errata: swni corrects part of my description of Ramanujan’s mathematical process from What Are We Arguing About When We Argue About Rationality. Probably not important enough to stick in the Mistakes file, but I’ll stick it here.

5: There was an ACX Grants winner that I didn’t describe too clearly on the announcement post because they were still in stealth mode. They’ve asked me to post the following update:

Spellcheck Health is looking for an expert in genetic editing (CRISPR etc.) to ask questions of, and possibly join their startup project. Looking for practical expertise with modern techniques, especially with CRISPR variants that can handle multiple long edits. Deep interest in human gene therapy for curative, longevity, and general optimization purposes a huge plus. Please email Michael at spellcheckhealth@icloud.com if interested.