Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer – No Rules Rules
Pretty strong boundary conditions need to be fulfilled in order for this scheme to work; including broad acceptance of a high level of interpersonal ruthlessness.
Determining the value function is a difficult problem that is nonetheless key to safely and effectively using reinforcement learning
Brian Christian – The Alignment Problem
The analogies between human and machine learning strategies are skillfully narrated, but rather drawn out.
Almost any country can hack its way to power, posing a threat to political systems and essential infrastructure world-wide
Nicole Perlroth – This is ho they tell me the world ends
Although the writer clearly picks sides, she does not shy away from the role of the US in the cyber arms race.
It is the responsibility of white people to end discrimination and assure racial equality
Layla Saad – Me and white supremacy
The “just shut up and listen”-attitude is refreshing, but will not convince anyone who is not already on the reader’s side and even antagonize many potential supporters of her cause.
Ongoing advances in technology make that ethical norms develop incredibly fast
Filled with highly interesting statistics about the evolution of public perception on ethical issues.
Arguing by analogy, one has to conclude that animals have emotions
Frans de Waal – Mama’s last hug
Especially interesting are the behavioral experiments, reminiscent of the line of argument in Moral Tribes
Internet billionaire brings down internet media outlet through overt legal action
Peter Thiel’s war on Gawker Media shows that money is a decisive factor in the US legal system.
Theranos’ downfall shows a reality distortion field gone wrong
What seems to have started as entrepreneurial over-confidence ended in a web of fraud and lies.
The safe space for humanity is in between the social foundation and the ecological ceiling
Kate Raworth – the doughnut economy
The idea of challenging the implicit assumptions of traditional economics is not new, yet the emphasis on framing the debate is valuable.
Debt has its origin in inequality, suppression, and war
At first the polemic style is charming, but over-all the writer’s objective to crush the system by his brain power is poorly executed and overlooks too many credible alternative lines of argument.
Joshua Greene – Moral tribes
Ethics can be studied as an Empirical science and the evidence supports Utilitarianism.
Inventive and entertaining variations on the Trolley problem are used to identify what drives decision making on ethical dilemmas.