“I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.” -- Richard Feynman
One of the most confusing things about our imagination is when it takes us to a place we can’t go to physically.
We know the universe is vast and that the odds of other inhabitable worlds are extremely good. We also know that the sun will ultimately explode and die, rendering life on this planet impossible. So for our species to survive we will eventually have to travel.
While we believe these things to be true, our ability to do anything about them is supposedly limited by the laws of physics. On the other hand, quantum mechanics, suggests none of those constraints are immutable -- that space and time and consciousness are all more or less constructs of our imagination.
Thinking too hard about all this will take us around the circle Feynman so eloquently described. There seems to be no escape.
But some of us yearn to break away from the constraints that bind us to our current reality. That includes the journalists stuck covering reality in its gritty detail every day. That is where some combination of art and fiction may provide relief, as our most imaginative impulses take the form of music, dance, painting, sculpture, film, novels, short stories, poems and more.
These help deliver an alternative future to us. Meanwhile, predicting it is, at best, a crap shoot.
The book “Super Forecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction,” by Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner, describes a massive effort by an army of volunteers to forecast global events. According to this research, once they given the best evidence, about two percent of those involved prove to be “super forecasters,” able with uncanny accuracy to figure out what is going to happen next about almost anything.
Note to self: I’m not one of them.
HEADLINES:
Iran reviewing US proposal as source says both sides moving toward memo to end war (CNN)
Oil plunges, markets surge on report U.S. and Iran near deal to end war as gas prices jump past $4.50 (NBC)
Gasoline costs 50% more in the US than before the Iran war (AP)
We’ll Miss OPEC When It’s Gone (NYT)
Iran war amplifies divisions within both parties over U.S.-Israel ties (WP)
A Dangerous New Attack on Press Freedom (Atlantic)
Takeaways from Indiana, Ohio and Michigan: Trump’s flex pays off and Democrats win special election (PBS)
Trump’s Indiana Victory Is the Wrong Kind of Good News for Republicans (Newsweek)
Poll finds broad rejection of religion-related messages from Trump, Hegseth (WP)
CNN founder Ted Turner, a pioneer of cable TV news, dies at 87 (CNN)
Ancient island in Scottish loch found to rest on hidden timber base (Heritage Daily)
The Intercept didn’t just publish a story about ICE — it drove it around JFK (Nieman)
How a deadly hantavirus outbreak unfolded on a cruise ship for weeks before it was identified (AP)
Purported Epstein Suicide Note Is Released (NYT)
This furry AI companion may replace your dog (Morning Brew)
Why AI Agents are either the best or worst thing we’ve ever built (YouTube)
Anthropic’s Claude Managed Agents can now “dream,” sort of (Ars Technica)
Giving Up Too Much Work (Onion)
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