Splitting Infinity

Splitting Infinity is a Substack focused on innovative solutions for societal progress, legal system improvement, scientific advancement, and environmental sustainability. It explores the intersection of technology, policy, and science to propose changes in areas ranging from market regulation, legal reforms, and renewable energy to space governance, income distribution, and public health.

Legal System Reform Scientific Research Methods Market Regulation Environmental Sustainability Income Distribution Space Governance Renewable Energy Public Health Technological Innovation Public Goods Funding

The hottest Substack posts of Splitting Infinity

And their main takeaways

Expiring laws to stop legal rot

138 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Legal system
  1. Refresh laws every few decades to keep them up-to-date to prevent legal systems from becoming more complicated and dysfunctional over time.
  2. Consider implementing a system where every law automatically expires 20 years after being signed to ensure critical laws are constantly reviewed and outdated ones are modernized.
  3. An independent body could help identify laws that have passed their prime, addressing the issue of legal 'rot' while leaving truly valuable laws intact.

Some Thoughts On Using Auctions For Land Valuation

59 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
💰 Finance Taxation Property Real Estate Economics Auctions
  1. Auctions can be considered as a method for assessing land values without the need for state-run assessments, allowing the market to determine the value of land.
  2. The use of auctions for land valuation can ensure transparency and fairness by providing everyone with the opportunity to bid on a piece of land publicly.
  3. While auctions may introduce some complexities like bargaining over home prices, they can still lead to reasonably accurate land valuations and generate significant tax revenue.

Notes on Writing

138 implied HN points • 16 Dec 23
📚 Literature Writing Editing Advice Process Reading
  1. Writing every day is crucial to improve and establish a habit.
  2. Write about topics that genuinely interest you, not what you think others want to read.
  3. Simplify your writing by omitting unnecessary words and continuously refine your work.

Some results on income distributions and total utility

59 implied HN points • 28 Jan 24
🔬 Science Mathematics Statistics Economics
  1. The type of income distribution models used like Pareto or lognormal can impact total utility calculations in economics
  2. There is an interesting relationship observed where the degree of inequality doesn't directly correlate with total utility in certain scenarios
  3. Introducing more risk-averse utility functions can bring the focus back on the importance of inequality in calculations

The Pareto frontier approach to science

59 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
🔬 Science Research Exploration Innovation
  1. Creating new possibilities in science can be more valuable than just focusing on practical or purely exploratory research.
  2. The Pareto Frontier approach in science involves pushing frontiers by inventing solutions that lie at the cutting edge of various parameters.
  3. By extending the frontiers of knowledge in a field, we not only enable practical applications but also broaden the horizons of future innovators.
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Recycling Atoms With Supercritical Water

59 implied HN points • 27 Dec 23
🔬 Science Chemistry Renewable Energy Waste Management
  1. Supercritical water can break down organic matter like sewage, paper, plastic, and food into simple molecules, helping in recycling and generating energy.
  2. Using supercritical water can address the issue of a potential future carbon shortage by breaking down carbon present in waste into simple molecules.
  3. Supercritical water enables a wide range of chemical processes like producing green hydrogen, desalination, and supporting different chemical reactions, offering potential for creating sustainable systems.

Links #8

19 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Immigration Climate change Fertility Nuclear Energy
  1. Increased immigration to the U.S. can bring significant economic benefits, with estimates projecting a boost of $7 trillion to US GDP and $1 trillion to federal tax revenues if sustained over the next decade.
  2. Climate change mitigation costs can be reasonable, with projections indicating that offsetting 1.2 degrees of warming by 2100 could cost around $432 billion, showing that effective measures are possible at a manageable cost.
  3. Pro-natal policies to encourage fertility growth may require substantial financial incentives, estimated at $283 billion per year to achieve replacement fertility, but alternative approaches could potentially be more cost-effective.

Links #6

39 implied HN points • 22 Dec 23
🔬 Science Mechanics Animal Welfare
  1. Being an Honest Broker is important in a community to prioritize honesty and fairness.
  2. The connection between evolutionary theory and Newtonian mechanics is intriguing and may lead to new ideas.
  3. Exploring measurable animal welfare can lead to uncomfortable questions about balancing welfare across species.

Links #7

19 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Community AI Language Models Blockchain Scientific research
  1. In a post-scarcity society, communities of hobbyists can lead to significant innovations driven by leisure time and interest rather than necessity.
  2. Drug discovery challenges stem from a lack of understanding of diseases and biology, proposing an alternative approach focusing on experimental drug use and patient data collection.
  3. Language models are scaling down for efficient inference, suggesting that combinations of smaller models may outperform training larger ones.

Clean Tech Will Do Far More Than Stop Climate Change

39 implied HN points • 08 Dec 23
🔬 Science Renewable Energy Batteries
  1. Clean technologies like renewable energy can reshape industries by providing cheap and abundant energy sources.
  2. Batteries can help with renewable energy intermittency, reduce reliance on the grid, and have a positive impact on human health by enabling electrified transportation.
  3. Desalination technologies have the potential to provide significant amounts of fresh water, support ecosystems, and even create new lush environments with the help of cheap solar energy.

Unlocking Precision Fermentation Via Protein Engineering

39 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
🔬 Science Biochemistry Biotechnology Genetics Synthetic Biology
  1. Yeast, especially in precision fermentation, can be genetically modified to produce a wide range of chemicals, biologics, and medicines by augmenting their genes.
  2. The main challenge in precision fermentation is reducing costs, particularly in the purification process where proteins are separated from complex solutions.
  3. Novel techniques like self-cleaving tags and self-aggregating proteins offer promising solutions for purifying proteins in a cost-effective and efficient manner, potentially eliminating the need for expensive purification methods like column chromatography.

Markets Don't Work Without Individual Rights

39 implied HN points • 20 Oct 23
  1. Markets require individual rights to function properly. Trade and rights combined create the foundation for human progress.
  2. Key rights like property rights, right to life, self-defense, and freedom of movement are crucial for enabling exchange in markets.
  3. Rights and markets are deeply interconnected - markets enhance the value of rights, and rights make markets possible. Together, they enable human flourishing and increase cooperation and trust.

Delivering a Revamped Mailbox

19 implied HN points • 28 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Automation Robots Shipping Supply Chain Innovation
  1. Automation of the supply chain is crucial for lowering shipping costs and reaching more people at a lower cost.
  2. Innovative mailboxes can revolutionize how goods are delivered, making it bidirectional and enabling easier access to global markets for home producers.
  3. Automated mailboxes have the potential to streamline product returns, recycling, and extend the sharing economy to every household item.

Links #5

19 implied HN points • 20 Nov 23
🔬 Science Technology Climate Biology Physics Health
  1. Developing countries like Nigeria and Rwanda are adopting advanced technologies like cryptocurrency and drone networks, showcasing potential for growth.
  2. Innovative solutions like pneumatic canopies for climate control are being considered for equatorial megacities facing heatwaves due to climate change.
  3. Advancements in technology such as gondola systems for cities and improved desalination methods show promise for future urban development and sustainability.

Adapting Land Value Taxation to Space

39 implied HN points • 17 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Taxation Natural resources Assessment Resource Management
  1. Taxation is essential for governance and must be adapted for effective government in space as the celestial realm sees more activities and developments.
  2. Principles of taxation like efficiency, sufficient revenue, practicality, tolerance, clarity, and locality should guide the design of tax systems in space to ensure fairness and viability.
  3. Georgism, with its focus on land value taxes, can offer a balanced solution for taxation in space by encouraging development while discouraging rent-seeking behaviors.

Virulence Management

19 implied HN points • 04 Oct 23
🔬 Science Evolution Immunity Infections
  1. Evolution plays a crucial role in the development of pathogens where they adapt quickly to evade the immune system.
  2. The level of virulence of a pathogen depends on a tradeoff between its ability to spread and the health of the host.
  3. Virulence management is an approach that aims to make pathogens evolve into less harmful strains through changing the evolutionary context in which they exist.

Links #4

19 implied HN points • 03 Oct 23
🔬 Science Technology Research Innovation Materials Algorithms
  1. Featured topics include a New State Solution for Israel and Palestine, companies in technology, and innovations throughout history.
  2. Specialized teams can offer higher-quality and healthier food efficiently than home cooking, potentially changing kitchen dynamics.
  3. Research highlights advancements in electron beams, extreme bandit problem solutions, and potential uses of superoscillation technologies.

Instead of targeting welfare, charge after-the-fact

19 implied HN points • 18 Sep 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Welfare Taxation Social programs Privacy Concerns
  1. Consider charging people for welfare aid after they have received it, managed by the IRS on tax day. This could streamline the process and save on administrative costs.
  2. Using the IRS to handle welfare targeting can provide a more cost-effective and efficient way to assist those in need, by utilizing existing data and payment systems.
  3. Implementing a retroactive welfare eligibility system could help quicken aid distribution and potentially increase tax revenue, while also maintaining accountability and transparency.

How Rich Would 1 Billion Americans Be?

1 HN point • 21 Feb 24
🔬 Science Economics Population GDP Immigration Growth
  1. The idea of having 1 billion Americans and its impact on the economy has not been seriously considered before.
  2. Estimating the wealth of 1 billion Americans shows potential for tremendous wealth growth, sparking discussions around growth-oriented policies.
  3. Maintaining sustainable growth over the long term can significantly transform the world, emphasizing the importance of steady progress.

The Public Goods Funding Landscape

0 implied HN points • 15 Oct 23
🔬 Science Cryptocurrency Funding Cryptography
  1. Public goods are resources that are nonexcludable and nonrivalrous, and modern technology is making some private goods resemble public goods.
  2. Mechanisms for funding public goods face challenges like the free-rider problem and impossibility theorems regarding efficiency, incentive compatibility, individual rationality, and budget balance.
  3. Different mechanisms like assurance contracts, Vickrey-Clarke-Groves mechanism, quadratic funding, lotteries, and the Lindahl process aim to address the public goods funding problem, each with its own strengths and challenges.

The High Potential of Satellites

0 implied HN points • 26 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Space Communications Cryptography Imaging
  1. The value of industry in orbit will be enormous, with falling launch prices enabling new possibilities for Earth in areas such as communications and ecosystem management.
  2. Satellites can revolutionize communications by providing fast, ubiquitous space internet and increasing the speed and accessibility of various applications like stock exchanges and online gaming.
  3. Satellites have great potential for enhancing security through the use of cryptography, as they offer secure platforms for encryption methods like quantum cryptography and relativistic cryptography.

Links #2

0 implied HN points • 18 Aug 23
🔬 Science Energy Microbiology Genetics Biotechnology Health
  1. Proximity to friends can enhance happiness; a startup is aiding in buying houses near friends for this reason.
  2. People tend to use tools to act more rationally, shown by the study on people's behavior and commitment systems.
  3. Generosity exists even with high financial stakes; many spend significant amounts on others and charities when given money.

Modular Peptide Nanotechnology

0 implied HN points • 25 Aug 23
🔬 Science Proteins Energy Efficiency
  1. Proteins can be used in nanotechnology for various functions like constructing structures and manipulating light.
  2. Designing peptides separately for specific roles can speed up the protein design process by reducing costs and enhancing iteration capabilities.
  3. Combining specialized peptides into modular proteins offers new functionalities like staining cancer cells or filtering specific molecules from wastewater.

Links #3

0 implied HN points • 07 Sep 23
🔬 Science Biology Physics Engineering Computing Research
  1. The use of genetically modified neurons to improve MRI imaging of the brain by producing protein-based contrast agents is an intriguing idea.
  2. Real hedge funds do not seem to use certain advanced algorithms for portfolio selection despite proven performance improvement.
  3. FPGA's are versatile hardware that can be programmed for various computational tasks and have applications in fields like antennas, random number generation, and hardware security.

Links #1

0 implied HN points • 14 Jul 23
🔬 Science Physics Biology Medicine Technology Research
  1. Research is exploring deriving spacetime from simple quantum models, potentially changing how we understand gravity and space.
  2. Innovations like ultrasound for gene therapy and brain imaging are showing promise in medical advancements.
  3. Focusing on specialized models for deep learning tasks could lead to safer and more efficient AI development.

Turning Airplanes into Air-busses

0 implied HN points • 13 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Innovation Transportation Aviation Automation Regulation
  1. Consider redesigning airports to focus on passengers and not luggage, which can lead to faster, more efficient travel experiences.
  2. Building a network of small airports with small planes can save time and offer convenient regional travel options for passengers.
  3. Encourage innovation and competition in the airline industry to lower prices, enhance quality, and make air travel more accessible for consumers.