Paal Skjetne

Good overview

Revisado: 04-26-25

I liked the part on Jellyfish and Fredrik Dahl, it is often passed over in favor of the later high profile "Go" moment. I had the pleasure of playing against one of the earliest prototypes of Jellyfish, beating it twice with my stupid moves. I was such a poor (unorthodox) player that the program didn't get it 😁.

I still think "The Nvidia way" is a slightly beyter listen.

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Crickey, what a story.

Revisado: 03-21-25

Sad to see that good ideas and ambition are also subject to ruin by power.

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Poor story

Revisado: 01-21-25

Sorry Phillip, I did not like this one bit.

I loved Flow, Branches and Shapes, they are among my all time favourites. But this one just confused me!

The author (from a position of authority as a member of the Nature editorial board, but not on his personal field of expertice) uses the old story telling trick of creating tension between the "old" view and this "new" view to pull the reader into his narrative.

And it is true that our understanding of DNA and how cells utilize this molecule of heredity has advanced enormously in the last 25 years. That DNA's role is much more complex and dynamic than was initially thought back in the 50's, 60's and 70's should not come as a surprize. We started by thinking that there might be something transmitting information from generation to generation, then identified the substance, deciphered how it encoded proteins, figured that the junk code encoded regulatory functions, and as of lately we have been able to show how configurable yet robust living systems are and that certain characteristics of cellular and multicellular life is emergent.

Biochemists have pointed this out for decades that much of the biochemical pathways are surprisingly similar. They couple together in reconfigurable pathways depending on local states. That is a given for life (as biochemical pathways are the essence of life). That spatial and mechanical states also couple into this should not come as a surprise (as all organisms are constrained by these states).

That DNA contains the recipes to create the tools that on scales orders of magnitude larger than the primary molecules result in emergent behaviour is of course surprising, but if you have ever looked at the field of biophysics or complex systems this should again not be a surprise. And indeed this has been pointed out over the years.

The author creates a tension with a paradigm that went out of fashion in the early 90's of e.g., humans sharing 98% of its genes with chimps. This is correct if you look at the gene part of DNA, but only about 2-3% of DNA codes for proteins. The rest was thought to contain junk because we could not make sense of it. Once we could (make sense of it), it opens up this very fascinating story of integration, feedback, re-usable themes and emergent dynamics and function. It is by no means "The end of the machine". We are finally understanding the basic themes for constructing life, concepts that can be re-used and re-purposed to create complexity. That this happens in a mostly liquid or soft condensed matter state where thermal noise can be harvested to drive processes in a very energy efficient manner is by no means new.

I feel the wonderful story of how life works could have been told in a much more structured way. There is no need to tear down the old insights, just because they could not move beyond the existing knowledge frontier at the time. The author seems to tear everything down to just build it up again, pretty much as it was, but with some small tweaks and additions. It is very confusing.

If you are looking for deep, and well structured reads on this topic I would spend my time on books by Nick Lane (e.g., Power, Sex, Suicide - a tour de force on cellular evolution) or Max S. Bennets "A brief history of intelligence". Complexity by M. Mitchell Waldorp is also good.

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On a crusade to tell us that plants are intelligent

Revisado: 11-29-24

A lot of interesting facts about plants, and how the tapestry of life is a set of interdependencies - but plants cannot see, and cannot think. They like us respond to a changing environment and threats. These responses are adaptive, but have been selected for through natural selection. And Darwin NEVER coined "survival of the fittest", Herbert Spencer did 1864, Darwin later used it as a popular (Victorian shorthand) for natural selection. But it oversimplifies. Also some of the ideas quoted predate atomic theory, and cellular theory.

I would have loved this book if it had not strayed of into the metaphysical realm. I really liked the chapters on the leaf morphing Chilean plants.

For me this is however a return, I wanted it to correct it self, landing on its feet like a falling cat but no ...

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Very detailed on the US permitting process

Revisado: 08-05-24

The coverage is very US centric. I just read VOLT and it is much more holistic and balanced, with a wester/european view. There is a lot of background on proposed US projects and the ongoing discourse between stakeholders. It gives depth too those familiar with those projects, but I think it is at the expence of looking at an even bigger game.

With respect to narration it is turbine NOT turbin ...

If you want to read about US permitting - read this book, if not I would recommend Volt, even if it is a couple of years older.

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Must read for understanding the green transition

Revisado: 07-31-24

Gives a balanced view of the challanges related to raw materials extraction, raw materials markets, geopolitics and environmental aspects. It primarily focuses on lithium, cobolt, nikkel and copper.

Good narration.

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Military history

Revisado: 07-02-24

I was looking forward to this book, but was disappointed. The book is a summary of popular re-tellings of decisive millitary battles and campaigns, and sprinkled with the role that disease has played in determining the outcomes. Little on mosquitos in general or their biology. If you have not read much it might be an interesting book of history, but if you are well informed this book becomes gruelling boring and a waste of time.

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Too shallow

Revisado: 06-28-24

I was looking forward to this, but I'm not sure why I feel dissapointed. Topic is interesting, but somehow the I feel everyting is too superficial

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True heros and heroins

Revisado: 06-05-24

Over the years I'v seen the "corporate images" of Patagonia in stores and brochures, and noticed ther pledges to work for a sustainable industry, but I never knew the deep and passionate back story of the founder and his buddy Dough (who founded The North Face and co-founded Esprite) whom this book is all about. We need driven people like them to salvage wild places both for humanity and nature as a whole.

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For some a strong emotional state can kill you

Revisado: 05-26-24

A lot of literary quotes - some repeated over and over again, from the days before humanity had the means or was allowed by religion to fully explore the human body and decide on organ function and interplay. The author tries to create a tension between the brain and the heart as the seat of the soul paraphrasing old texts. He sites one syndrom (there are at least two versions of it, but sites only one briefly at the end) that relates to how emotional state can have a detrimental effect on cardiac function. It is in implicit in a holistic systems approach that such couplings must exist but it is not properly addressed here.

A pitty, I'll be returning this one for having wasted my time.

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