Nick Merrill

I direct the Daylight Lab at the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. This newsletter is my work as I do it: more than half-baked, less than peer-reviewed.

The hottest Substack posts of Nick Merrill

And their main takeaways

Merrill's razor

275 implied HN points • 23 Oct 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics
  1. Merrill's razor: Do not blame malice, when it could be explained by anxiety or depression.
  2. Consider mental health: Understanding depression or anxiety can change the way we interpret actions.
  3. Be empathetic: Instead of assuming the worst, try to understand the underlying issues.

First, the burning sandalwood

39 implied HN points • 31 Oct 23
📚 Literature Poetry
  1. The speaker reflects on moments of awakening and awareness in daily life.
  2. Nature imagery and sensory experiences are used to evoke a sense of presence.
  3. The poem explores themes of sleep, realization, and the beauty of the natural world.

Why dream?

58 implied HN points • 14 Jul 23
📖 Philosophy Dreams Consciousness Technology Spirituality
  1. Ancient beliefs about dreams varied - some thought they were divine visitations, others viewed them as projections of the unconscious.
  2. Modern computational theories of dreaming focus on adaptiveness and imagination, suggesting dreams help learning and problem-solving.
  3. Computational accounts of dreams may overlook the importance of reflective consciousness in understanding the mind.
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Will AI replace 'knowledge workers'?

78 implied HN points • 12 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Language Models Automation Future of work
  1. AI may replicate work of 'knowledge workers' but many of these jobs may never have been necessary in the first place
  2. Uncertainty about AI replacing jobs is at the core of the discussion, and it's linked to broader societal structures
  3. There could be a possible third path towards liberation for people among the discourse around AI and knowledge work

Taiwan & the internet during world war

58 implied HN points • 02 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Internet Networks Security Infrastructure
  1. Undersea cables are critical for the world's internet infrastructure, and cutting them can have severe global consequences.
  2. China has strategically designed its internet infrastructure to minimize the impact of cutting undersea cables on its own internet.
  3. To mitigate the risk of internet disruptions from undersea cable attacks, global efforts are needed for wartime BGP routes, local networking investments by countries like Taiwan, and the development of a reliable LEO satellite internet network.

The language of command

39 implied HN points • 28 Jul 23
🕹 Technology AI Computers Programming Ethics Research
  1. In bureaucratic contexts, commands are linguistically coded, associated with power relations.
  2. Computers operate on commands, reflecting cultural stories about labor discipline and efficiency.
  3. AI challenges the traditional power dynamics associated with commanding computers, raising existential questions for users.

The ocean, the flood

19 implied HN points • 09 Apr 23
🕹 Technology AI Internet Climate Ethics Environment
  1. The internet and AI are interconnected, each influencing and shaping the other.
  2. The relationship between the internet and war is intertwined, with each being a cause and an effect of the other.
  3. Human impact on the climate is tied to the myth of human dominance over nature, reflecting in our actions and environmental consequences.