# Progress links and tweets, 2023-02-22

**Announcements**
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*   [Introducing Speculative Technologies](https://www.spec.tech/library/introducing-speculative-technologies), a private DARPA-like research organization. See also coverage in [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/johncumbers/2023/02/15/ben-reinhardt-is-on-a-mission-to-make-sci-fi-a-reality/) and [Ben Reinhardt’s AMA on the Progress Forum](https://progressforum.org/posts/ukhmKgcDgwJSPxMmq/ama-ben-reinhardt-speculative-technologies)
*   [I’ll be speaking on how to write about progress at the Thesis Festival this weekend](https://interintellect.com/thesis-festival-line-up/)
*   [Day One policy memo on enabling faster NIH funding timelines](https://www.dayoneproject.org/ideas/enabling-faster-funding-timelines-in-the-national-institutes-of-health/) (via [@LNuzhna](https://twitter.com/LNuzhna/status/1625893512519483392))

**Opportunities**
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*   [Convergent Research is hiring a Director of Development](https://jobs.lever.co/convergentresearch/6dced504-89b3-499a-a9ac-20e22cf38489) (via [@AGamick](https://twitter.com/AGamick/status/1625487040619114496))
*   [Dwarkesh is looking for help with his podcast](https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp/status/1625952908067078144)

**Links**
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*   [A case for more techno-optimistic storytelling](https://www.notboring.co/p/tell-good-stories)
*   [Patrick Collison interviewed by Reid Hoffman](https://greylock.com/greymatter/micro-pessimism-macro-optimism/)
*   [David Deutsch interviewed by Naval Ravikant](https://nav.al/david-deutsch)
*   [Marc Andreessen interviewed by Dwarkesh Patel](https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/marc-andreessen)
*   [OpenAI will let you “define your AI’s values”](https://openai.com/blog/how-should-ai-systems-behave/)
*   [“Most of the rank and file at the NRC are not anti-nuclear”](https://jackdevanney.substack.com/p/its-the-system-not-the-people)

**Queries**
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*   [Is there a historical price series for moving a cubic meter of dirt?](https://twitter.com/andreamatranga/status/1627317432548470786)

**Quotes**
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*   [Why was the wind never used on roads? Why no carriages or wagons with sails?](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1627073243466313728)
*   [When Carnegie hired a staff chemist: “great secrets did the doctor open up to us”](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1627365767560798208)
*   [Why corporate R&D in the 1980s was mediocre compared to Bell Labs and GE](https://twitter.com/eric_is_weird/status/1627040000981467136)
*   [“Even the aspiration” to sustainability is dangerous, says David Deutsch](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1627374629730877443)
*   [Francis Bacon with the understatement of the millennium](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1627074198630969346)
*   [“It can be done”](https://twitter.com/_brianpotter/status/1626239770916687874)

**Tweets & retweets**
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*   [*The Martian* as one of the only tech positive films out there](https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1627009692420435969) (@brian_armstrong)
*   [Katalin Karikó has received enough awards to fill a cabinet](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1625957524779270168)
*   [Why is it so expensive to build transit in the US? Summary findings](https://twitter.com/ericgoldwyn/status/1625154466772131842)
*   [LLMs are just a massively scaled up version of the “travesty generator”](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1626342906201088002)
*   [Toolformer lets language models use tools like web search, calculators, and APIs](https://twitter.com/0xmaddie_/status/1624540530649464832). Original paper [on arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.04761)
*   [“Within a decade solar will be cheap enough that CO2 will be the best place to get carbon.”](https://twitter.com/TerraformIndies/status/1625930004508057601) And [how that will change the economy](https://twitter.com/TerraformIndies/status/1626333279170494464)
*   [Quantifying healthspan in dogs for longevity research](https://twitter.com/celinehalioua/status/1625556381620371456) (@celinehalioua)
*   [Spy balloons have a long history](https://twitter.com/WarHappened/status/1625261645944455175)

[![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fo4WMMgXoAE2wAL.jpg)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fo4WMMgXoAE2wAL.jpg)

**Charts**
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*   [CGO poll: people think social media is important for policy discussions but avoid being political online](https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1625616632025325595)

[![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fo9ZfJ2WIA0tpFe.jpg)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fo9ZfJ2WIA0tpFe.jpg)