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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Browser daily newsletter [31 Oct 2012]

31 October 2012
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 Best of the Moment

How Do You Raise A Prodigy?

Andrew Solomon | NYT | 31 October 2012

Parents of prodigies explain. One likens prodigiousness to disability. And Ken Noda has a great insight into how musical prodigies are able to express (adult) emotion in their playing, and why so many go on to have midlife crises Comments

Hacking The President's DNA

Andrew Hessel et al | Atlantic | 25 October 2012

"The US is collecting the DNA of world leaders. These genetic blueprints may provide the basis for personalised bioweapons that take down a president and leave no trace." Starts with a fictional scenario, moves on to the facts Comments

Literature Is Not Data

Stephen Marche | LA Review Of Books | 28 October 2012

"Big data is coming for your books. Artificial intelligence has already changed health care and pop music, baseball, electoral politics. And now, as an afterthought to an afterthought, the algorithms have arrived at literature" Comments

The Case For Price Gouging

Matthew Yglesias | Slate | 30 October 2012

Democratic and Republican politicians joined arms to warn against sharp price hikes by merchants in light of Hurricane Sandy. They may have meant well but, says Yglesias, what they did is actually counterproductive. Here's why Comments

Siren Call Of Central Asia

Yaroslav Trofimov | WSJ | 29 October 2012

Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, emerges as "sin city" for Afghans seeking fun. It's not Bangkok. But morals are a lot easier than in Kabul. Tajik and Dari languages are very similar. And a bit of money goes a long way Comments

The Love Bot

Robert Ito | Pacific Standard | 30 October 2012

"There are robots that comfort lonely shut-ins, assist patients suffering from dementia, and help autistic kids learn how to interact with their human peers." People are coming to love and trust robots. Are we ready for this? Comments

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