Low-background reading list

In this page you’ll find a curated list of blog posts and other internet resources. These items have not only been something interesting to read, but in many cases something I’ve gone back to multiple times for their impact they have had on me. Also, since the internet will likely become increasingly flooded with AI generated content, a hand curated list like the “search engines” from before the Google era is more valuable than any algorithm. Hope you enjoy this list.

The title of this page is a reference to the analogy between low-background steel and generative AI

Blog posts (mainstream)

• The Sixth Stage of Grief Is Retro-computing (Archive link): this assay by Paul Ford will resonate with anyone who grew up in the wacky world of early personal computers. Even if that is not the case, the core message about the human meaning of sharing technology makes it worth it.
• They Have To Be Monsters (Archive link): if you need proof that not all tech founders are a plight to humanity, then you should follow Jeff Atwood and his work in making the internet a civil and helpful place. The key ingredient for that is empathy, and this post will challenge you to do that in the most difficult scenario you can imagine.
• Sheryl Sandberg and the Crackling Hellfire of Corporate America (Archive link): don’t be fooled by the title of this excellent piece by Caitlin Flanagan; this article is not just about Facebook’s COO, but a plea to consider what we might lose in the pursuit of success.
• Scott And Scurvy (Archive link): it’s easy to fall for the narrative that Western society is based on rationality, and that progress follows a straight, ever-increasing line. This post will use the case study of scurvy to challenge this view, leaving the reader wondering which other current phenomena we are completely misunderstanding. An entertaining companion to Against method.
• my year as a hot girl for hire (Archive link): another take on empathy in the internet age, from a very particular perspective.
• No Evidence of Disease (Archive link): this will not be an easy read, and it will test your ability to prove empathy, and most importantly to trust other people. I know my ability to trust others has been eroded due to this article, and so I hurge you to think twice before you jump in. I personally think it is worth it, but you may have a different view.
• Everything I, an Italian, thought I knew about Italian food is wrong (Archive link): as an Italian living abroad I am constantly being told how amazing our food culture is, which is a bit depressing knowing how fossilized and impermeable to change this culture is. Turns out most of the beloved dishes are in fact recent inventions, and “true” Italian cuisine has a deeply rooted in rural and poor background. This profile of Alberto Grandi and his important work to dispel these myths is a great primer into the subject. If you understand Italian you can also find a long interview here.
• Doordash and Pizza Arbitrage (Archive link): the 2010s and their near-zero interests rates have been a weird, fat decade for startups; food delivery apps and their terrible business model are probably the most interesting example. I have brought up the hilarious story described in this piece when I want to sound smart at parties (and never succeeded to do so obviously), and you should too.
• How Do You Like We Now (Archive link): continuing on the theme of making stories from the world of finance not only interesting, but also unbelievably funny, I could not omit something from the extremely prolific Matt Levine. Pretty much any of his daily columns is worth reading if you want an accessible description of sophisticated finance delivered with the best dry humour you can imagine. This piece about the WeWork saga is a classic.
• You Don’t Need Millions of Dollars (Archive link): for people born after the 2000s it might be difficult to imagine developing software technologies outside of the umbrella of giant tech companies or well-funded startups. The history of Id software (the creators of the seminal videogame Doom) and John Carmack is a good example of what can be accomplished with the right combination of talent and dedication. If you feel inspired by this blog post and played Doom you should also read Masters of Doom.
• What’s expected of us (Archive link): this clever short SciFi story is merely a placeholder to get you interested in the work of Ted Chiang, a brilliant writer who has recently published a series of interesting pieces on AI and its potential impact on society, like “ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web” (Archive link), and “Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?” (Archive link).

Blog posts (niche)

• What Happens at the End of Infinite Jest? (Archive link): obviously a giant spoiler to DFW’s post-post-modern novel (I believe this is the right definition!), written by the late Aaron Swartz. I linked this post to the Italian translator of the novel on Twitter and I am extremely proud to report that his mind was blown away.
• Pax Americana: The Infinite Spiral of Violence (Archive link): if you have a low opinion of “American” comic books, it means that you have not read anything from Alan Moore or Grant Morrison. Watchmen in particular is the demonstration that language of comics can be used to tell a story in a very unique way. Grant Morrison wrote a short story using the same “language”, which this post elegantly analyzes.
• The Infinite Space Between Words (Archive link): few realized how the movie “Her” was a cyberpunk story that would turn into reality a decade later. We still haven’t got to the point at which language models will get bored and will disappear (but one can still hope!), but this post will explain why that is likely to happen some day. Still a better outcome than the Paperclip maximizer.
• Things I Won’t Work With: Dioxygen Difluoride (Archive link): this link is also a placeholder to lure you into the fascinating blog “In The Pipeline”, which makes chemistry and pharamaceutical development an accessible and fun read.
• OUR COMRADE THE ELECTRON (Archive link): the fascinating story of the inventor of the theremin, with a delightful and surprising end.

Blog posts (in Italian)

• LA GRANDE GARA DEGLI SPUNTI (Archive link): ovviamente e’ impossibile non citare uno dei piu’ longevi blog in Italiano, e l’incredibile estate del 2015 con la sua divertentissima “gara degli spunti”. Ci sono moltissime perle, ma lo spunto sci-fi vincitore merita una menzione speciale: copernico, copernico2, nano, e il riassunto finale.
• I santi (Archive link): un altro esempio della rilevanza di Leonardo nella “blogosfera” italiana; questa lunga (e in costante espansione) lista di rivisitazioni delle vite dei santi regala sempre molto divertimento.
• Obey your pacchetto VIP (Archive link): un altro blog molto longevo, questa volta dedicato alla musica. Questo evergreen (putroppo non piu’ online!) esplora il distopico mondo dei concerti e dei loro “pacchetti VIP”, usando i Metallica come “main characters”.