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Engineering Intelligence (AI/Genetic)

There has been a plethora of reports recently about genetics and intelligence, which is leading people to start planning designer babies. Cue the usual responses–sign me up! Vatican signals outrage! My child is just fine as he is… More to the point, I would argue that we don’t need to worry. Intelligence is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Don’t get me wrong. I do think intelligence is good. Country’s being run right now by people who are NOT, but that didn’t seem to prevent them getting there, did it? So intelligence clearly isn’t a required criteria for manipulating your way into power. Still, I do think more intelligence is generally better. I just don’t think people who are designing It or describing It know what It is, and, moreover, I don’t think fiddling with It is getting us to the utopia we’ve envisioned. Let me provide a few cases in point, starting with AI, the leaning into genetics, criticality, pronatalism, and other influencer fad topics.

AI Still Not So Much

In the interest of full disclosure, I freely admit that I now use an AI (called Perplexity) extensively for online research. This is because search tools have been co-opted by advertising models and bots. Ask a simple question, and one answer will have a few facts in it, perhaps not what you asked, and then there will be 49 clones. You can’t google things anymore. But search tools are free, and, as I always remind people, you do get what you pay for. Or as my wife says, we’re not the customer; we’re the content.

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Ascending to Ballhalla

The WNBA announced this past Monday that the professional women’s basketball league will expand to 18 teams. Nearly two years ago, when they announced a Northern California franchise, it was shrouded in mystery. It would be a year before they announced the next franchise to Portland or the team name. However, this week, four more teams were confirmed. The timing of this sudden bloom of teams is no accident.

The Valkyries can claim some credit, though that credit should be shared. It’s definitely due to the players; absolutely the coaches; partly the owners; unquestionably to the growing fan base, in the Bay Area, and in general; to the WNBA of today; to all the US Women’s Olympics teams back to 1976; and to all the women’s basketball players, across the six professional leagues that did not survive; in the industrial leagues that lasted for years before, during, and after the wars, in dimly lit, humid gymnasiums with cramped locker rooms, where the locals cheered madly for their wives and daughters and sisters and neighbors. For this success story, there are a lot of shoulders to stand on.

Perhaps you don’t give a fig about basketball. You have plenty of company. However, you don’t have to enjoy basketball to appreciate the success of the Valkyries, a bunch of no-names, who play fiercely with such joy, in front of fans who have yearned for a team that represents them. It’s good for basketball. It’s good for women. It’s good in general. Let me tell you why, with a little history, business, and sociology. This is not (really) about basketball.

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Pushing the Boundaries of Dinosaur Knowledge

Kajmeister’s calendar is ready and waiting!!!!

In honor of World Dinosaur Day, I’ve decided to inaugurate the first ever annual World Dinosaur Day post. I’ll start by reminding you, dear reader, that I have written a book all about paleontology, The A to Z Dinosaurs, full of fun little tidbits about these magnificent reptiles. With that sponsor’s message out of the way, let’s talk about some of the latest dinosaur research. I’m going to call it DRAMA, INDUSTRY, MAGIC! That is, drama among the paleontologists, industrialists helping out their scientific friends, and magical new technology uncovering hidden secrets.

World Dinosaur Day was designated as such by cartoonist Joe Wos back in 2016. Wos is a well-known illustrator who helped found a small cartoon museum in Pittsburgh, had a website, was noted as a visiting cartoonist to the Schulz museum here in Northern California–the guy does a lot of things. Lots of ideas. Lots of projects. Museum now closed; website gone; lots of 404 links. He’s available for speaking events but has not, according to his personal site, said much about dinosaurs. However, his Dinosaur Day idea caught on, and museums and educators have enjoyed pitching a tent on it, even if Joe seems to have wandered away. Thanks anyway, Joe Wos! Who wouldn’t want another excuse to celebrate dinosaurs?

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