"In a sense, the leaked Iranian cables provide a final accounting of the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq. The notion that the Americans handed control of Iraq to Iran when they invaded now enjoys broad support, even within the United States military. A recent two-volume history of the Iraq War, published by the United States Army, details the campaign’s many missteps and its “staggering cost” in lives and money. Nearly 4,500 American troops were killed, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died and American taxpayers spent up to $2 trillion on the war. The study, which totals hundreds of pages and draws on declassified documents, concludes: “An emboldened and expansionist Iran appears to be the only victor.”

we observe only one point in the distribution, because that's the most likely outcome. that spreads most in the environment, for example ending up with the most photons hitting our eyes.

"But there’s a second condition that a quantum property must meet to be observed. Although immunity to interaction with the environment assures the stability of a pointer state, we still have to get at the information about it somehow. We can do that only if it gets imprinted in the object’s environment. When you see an object, for example, that information is delivered to your retina by the photons scattering off it. They carry information to you in the form of a partial replica of certain aspects of the object, saying something about its position, shape and color. Lots of replicas are needed if many observers are to agree on a measured value — a hallmark of classicality. Thus, as Zurek argued in the 2000s, our ability to observe some property depends not only on whether it is selected as a pointer state, but also on how substantial a footprint it makes in the environment. The states that are best at creating replicas in the environment — the “fittest,” you might say — are the only ones accessible to measurement. That’s why Zurek calls the idea quantum Darwinism."

"One of the most remarkable ideas in this theoretical framework is that the definite properties of objects that we associate with classical physics — position and speed, say — are selected from a menu of quantum possibilities in a process loosely analogous to natural selection in evolution: The properties that survive are in some sense the “fittest.” As in natural selection, the survivors are those that make the most copies of themselves. This means that many independent observers can make measurements of a quantum system and agree on the outcome — a hallmark of classical behavior."

but it's all so natural, of course

"Riedel says we could hardly expect otherwise, though: In his view, QD is really just the careful and systematic application of standard quantum mechanics to the interaction of a quantum system with its environment. Although this is virtually impossible to do in practice for most quantum measurements, if you can sufficiently simplify a measurement, the predictions are clear, he said: “QD is most like an internal self-consistency check on quantum theory itself.”

we're all Bayesians now

"This experiment therefore shows that, at least for local models of quantum mechanics, we need to rethink our notion of objectivity. The facts we experience in our macroscopic world appear to remain safe, but a major question arises over how existing interpretations of quantum mechanics can accommodate subjective facts.

Some physicists see these new developments as bolstering interpretations that allow more than one outcome to occur for an observation, for example the existence of parallel universes in which each outcome happens. Others see it as compelling evidence for intrinsically observer-dependent theories such as Quantum Bayesianism, in which an agent's actions and experiences are central concerns of the theory."

"the system of making capitalism work well for most people is broken" - Ray Dalio

I agree with the points, with a small difference. I summarize the points as:
1 - abundance of capital warps incentives
2 - fiscal deficits in growth periods are a recipe for disaster
my phrasing of #2 makes total sense, but not because of his rationale of "where will we find the money to support growing debt loads?" which contradicts #1. more debt would actually help balance the overubandance of investment capital, while capitalising on historically low rates.

"Listen, I have enough trouble tracking my real-life social obligations and long-term grudges, I can’t do it with a bunch of elves or space marines as well."

reminds me of this: "When you are young and free to play games, you can't afford a good PC. When you are finally an adult who can buy whatever he wants, you have no time to play anymore."

is this just inter-generational whining? or a new phenomenon from a generation of gamers growing up. the gamer demographic is now older than ever, and the industry is starting to adapt?

intelligence is no safe-guard against the bias of self-interest

"criticism reflects those who never reconciled themselves to European monetary union — but were quiescent so long as that union’s prime institution acted in German rather than the collective interest"

very relevant suddenly

"The phrase is now used to express the idea that a ruler's wish can be interpreted as a command by his or her subordinates."

the return of hedge funds and the liquidity of ETFs? best of every world?

"“People are looking around for areas to generate some kind of return that is better than what the traditional fixed-income market is offering,” he said."

Privacy Commissioner of Canada's guidelines for fingerprint use

Covert collection: People should be informed if their personal information is being collected.
Cross-matching: Personal information should only be used for the purpose for which it was collected.
Secondary Information: Personal information should only be collected for a clearly identified purpose.

smell test:
Necessity: Is the measure demonstrably necessary to meet a specific need?
Effectiveness: Is it likely to be effective in meeting that need?
Proportionality: Would the loss of privacy be proportionate to the benefit gained?
Alternatives: Is there a less privacy-invasive way of achieving the same end?

guidelines for implementation:
record only summary information
use only for verification, not identification
store locally, rather than in central databases

Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
floccinaucinihilipilification: trying to put a firm estimate on certain things is essentially worthless

many unintended consequences of the misuse of metrics that Muller cites are the following:
Inducing people whose performance is measured to divert their efforts to what gets measured;
Promoting short-termism (as in Wall Street's obsessive preoccupation with quarterly earnings reports at the expense of companies' long-term health);
Discouraging innovation and risk-taking;
Sidetracking nonprofit staff members (or corporate employees, for that matter) from focusing on the mission that motivates them; and
** Forcing employees to spend time logging data instead of doing their jobs
Muller concludes The Tyranny of Metrics with a useful checklist of ten questions that any manager should ask when considering the application of metrics at work.