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How to be a wise optimist about science and technology?Other

by Michael Nielsen

1 person

Runs global health R&D at Open Philanthropy; writes about the science and medicine that could exist and does not
loved

Nielsen reads as a scientist holding those tensions seriously, alive and vivid, while believing intellectual progress and reconciliation between them is possible.

Roundup post of science writing from the last two years that stuck with him

blog.jacobtrefethen.com ↗·2025-06-09Wrong?

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.

The small bar beside a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.

The bar shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Full and green is recent. It drains, and turns amber and then grey, as the post gets older.

What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The bar is empty after about:

A striped bar means the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no bar.