Weekly Filet #167: Hello Universe, Where Is Everyone? And more.
Based on the numbers, apparently there should be 1 billion Earth-like planets and 100,000 intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. Which poses the question: Where is everybody? This article presents an array of existing theories in just the right amount of detail. Very insightful. My favourite theory: Higher civilizations are here, all around us. But we’re too primitive to perceive them.
→ The Fermi Paradox (Wait But Why)
Fascinating musings on artificial intelligence by Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion during the critical years in which computers challenged, then surpassed, human chess players.
→ The Chess Master and the Computer (New York Review of Books)
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism is doing a great job in keeping track of US drone attacks. Their comprehensive coverage is worth spending some time with, take their latest report on the first half of 2014 as an entry point.
→ Six-month update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia (TBIJ)
Mind-bending reverse perspective paintings. Make sure to check out the creepy cute T-Rex as well.
→ Optical illusion painting changes its perspective as you move around it (Sploid)
Facebook's experiment that had them tinker with the moods of hundreds of thousands of people has provoked a firestorm. A well-balanced assessment of what has happened and what should be done now.
→ What does the Facebook experiment teach us? (Medium)