7 Kinda Genius Links of January, 2025
Stop scrolling.
Here are the seven most fascinating stories I read this month.
New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection by Stephen Nadis at Quanta Magazine
It doesn’t take long for the math here to escape me, but the central innovation is communicable in prose: by accounting for randomness and discounting history, an algorithm for sorting books can actually be more inefficient. If I understand this correctly, it means that, at least in the domain of book collections, the past is not only not predictive of the future, but actually a hindrance to planning for it.
Norman Foster Empire of Image Control by Ian Parker in The New Yorker
I live with an architect, so have a hazy-lidded awareness of the brightest names in the field. And Norman Foster is among the first rank, both in profile and prolificacy. I also know that for architects of this stature, there is considerable, let’s call it creative infrastructure that makes the work possible. But I had no idea of the scale:
Foster was the first in the profession to dismantle the distinction between two kinds of architectural success: that of the architect-auteur (giving furrowed attention to a few exceptional projects—cathedrals and concert halls) and that of the big, anonymous corporate practice (designing the malls, towers, hospitals, and rail stations that fill up much of the space that remains). Foster’s production line spits out dozens of structures every year. These will include hospitals and rail stations but also, say, a luxury yacht, or an open-air chapel, for the Vatican, on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
Humanity’s Last Exam
This is a project from a non-profit called The Center for AI Safety and an AI startup called Scale. The goal is to develop very hard, deep-expert level questions to test the reasoning abilities of advanced AI models. One example:
Hummingbirds within Apodiformes uniquely have a bilaterally paired oval bone, a sesamoid embedded in the caudolateral portion of the expanded, cruciate aponeurosis of insertion of m. depressor caudae. How many paired tendons are supported by this sesamoid bone? Answer with a number.
This is not an answer I can do readily, but presumably a research-caliber ornithologist could. The most powerful AI models currently score between a 3 and 9% correct rate (interestingly, the bombshell DeepSeek model had the highest score), so there is plenty of room for improvement.
But the most interesting piece here to me is the kind of questions the group is looking for: “HLE tests structured academic problems rather than open-ended research or creative problem-solving abilities, making it a focused measure of technical knowledge and reasoning.” This is useful shorthand for understanding both what AI is and will be blazingly good at—and where its weaknesses will remain. Knowledge retrieval and reasoning within closed logical systems will be (and already are) near miracle-level fast. Open-ended, creative, and research-focused pursuits will be ours for a while. I think.
The Making of Nickel Boys by David Canfield in Vanity Fair
Still no place close by for me to catch The Nickel Boys, but I don’t mind waiting. The novel the film is based on was on my ballot for The New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the Century list, and from the moment the film was announced, I was excited. A pretty straight-forward adaptation would have been notable, but this film is up to something even more daring, which is in the spirit of Whitehead’s larger literary project:
“We only see what Elwood and Turner see, with the whole ensemble (also including Hamish Linklater and Fred Hechinger as employees of the school) typically tasked with looking direct to camera. Produced by Plan B’s Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (The Tree of Life, Moonlight), along with co-writer Joslyn Barnes, the film’s avant-garde approach is cannily balanced by its moral urgency and aesthetic rigor. Like last year’s The Zone of Interest, it all but reinvents the language for movies about a particular, dark historical chapter, and seems primed to spark conversations about both its content and its form.”
Libraries of Matter by Virginia Postrel in Works in Progress
I have no particular need to visit a library of…stuff. But I have never seen natural rubber. Or an Aerogel. Or probably most of the 10,000 materials collected in the Material Connexion in New York City (and elsewhere). Damn if it doesn’t sound fascinating:
Visiting the library gives students a chance to experience materials they’ve only read about in books. Art and art history majors explore samples of pigments and paper. Engineering students fondle ultra-lightweight aerogels. One student squeezed so hard that the aerogel exploded. (The library preserved the broken sample so that students could see the aerogel’s internal structure.) When the Penn Museum of anthropology and archaeology mounted an exhibit of artifacts and garments made from fish leather, the library supplied contemporary samples that visitors could safely feel for themselves. ‘I’m trying to make sure it’s as interdisciplinary as possible’, says Carroll.
NBA greats think this D-II coach is a basketball genius. So why don’t you know who he is? by CJ Moore in The Athletic
Jim Crutchfield, head men’s basketball coach at Division II Nova Southeastern, exudes strong early Bill James energy. Someone obsessed with the game, but not really of it. Someone possessed of a clarity of vision that seems mad to others, but painfully obvious to him. The central insight of Crutchfield’s trapping, sprinting, rebounding-focused style is so simple it hurts: if you get more chances to shoot than the other guy, you usually win. And he does.
Threads of Resistance by Gemma McKenzie in Aeon
This survey of “craftivism” is a little on the academic side, but I am here for the stories of women using crafting in unexpected, clever, and downright subversive ways. I keep thinking of Lorina Bulwer, held as a “lunatic” at the Great Yarmouth Workhouse, who channeled her anger, confusion, and desperation by sewing dense, rambling, and disarming accounts of her life:
While some sentences are vitriolic and difficult to decipher, others are statements about her life and experiences. Included are declarations of her rage:
I HAVE WASTED TEN YEARS IN THIS DAMNATION HELL FIRE TRAMP DEN OF OLD WOMEN OLD HAGS
In addition are statements that allude to abuse and raise questions about the behaviour of medical professionals:
I MISS LORINA BULWER WAS EXAMINED BY DR PINCHING OF WALTHAMSTOW ESSEX AND FOUND TO BE A PROPERLY SHAPED FEMALE
I am always interested in what other people find fascinating. Links of your own are more than welcome in the comments.