Weekend Reads #449
A collection of cross-disciplinary thoughts, perspectives, and opinions
If it were an industry, money laundering would be the third biggest business in the world, behind commercial property and ahead of pensions. A Chinese gang sends drugs to the UK. British drug dealers sell the drugs for cash. British drug dealers give the cash to Chinese students. Chinese students buy luxury goods from Bicester Village. Chinese students ship the goods back to China, where they’re sold and the money given to the drug dealers. Bullough estimates that the Bicester trade is worth £2 billion a year, just from tourists arriving by train. ‘I reckon the luxury watch trade is 80 per cent money laundering. - Link
“They assume London can generate it without much attention. That is a policy mistake,” he says, criticising a “lack of curiosity . . . on why London’s productivity has tanked”. - Link
How 12 creative people are using—and not using—artificial intelligence. - Link
Kevin Kelly - To distance yourself from the machines, aim to be as improbable as you can be. - Link
“Find Your Way and Be Great at It” — John Rotonti - Podcast
Nature created the perfect little reproductive package when it invented the egg. Science, slowly, is learning to match it. - Link
Carlo Rovelli - How can we know now what we would understand if we were to understand something we do not currently understand? - Link
Gunners Champions of England! - Link Link Link Link Link
Nobody quite recovers from being a child: the asymmetry of power between parents and children always leaves a trace - Link
The emotional and practical skills of adulthood can only be learned from (appropriate) levels of discomfort and stress - Link
