Shruti Rajagoplan: “In August 2022, I gave a talk titled “Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy,” about the impact of freezing the electoral constituency sizes India based on population numbers from the 1971 census. The Indian population has grown, and its internal demographics have changed significantly in the last half-century, which has led to malapportionment, which is the asymmetry between the shares of electoral constituencies relative to the shares of the population for given geographical units (usually states). Malapportionment is quite severe in India. At the extremes: In Bihar, one Member of Parliament (MP) represents approximately 3.1 million citizens. An Uttar Pradesh MP represents approximately 2.96 million citizens. A Tamil Nadu MP represents approximately 1.97 million citizens. And a Kerala MP represents approximately 1.75 million citizens. Consequently, India is no longer living up to its fundamental constitutional principle of “one person, one vote.””
Richard Langlois: “The laissez-faire economists [around the turn of the 20th century], and often even their opponents, did not think in terms of an efficient equilibrium of prices, quantities, and number of firms; rather, following Adam Smith, they had a dynamic view of competition as active striving. Active competition took place along many margins, including both innovation and entry. The result of active competition would be not an efficient allocation of resources at any moment in time but rather a dynamic process of economic growth. They key to a healthy economy was thus freedom of contract, which meant both freedom from legal restraint, especially restraint on entry, and the freedom to engage in innovative economic arrangements. In the formulation of the day, this could be assured if there was potential competition – if the door were left open for others to enter markets and to innovate along technological, organizational, and even contractual dimensions.” [via CafeHayek]
Microsoft: “Current large language models (LLM) can often persuasively mimic correct expert response in a given knowledge domain (such as my own, research mathematics). But as is infamously known, the response often consists of nonsense when inspected closely. Both humans and AI need to develop skills to analyze this new type of text. The stylistic signals that I traditionally rely on to “smell out” a hopelessly incorrect math argument are of little use with LLM-generated mathematics. Only line-by-line reading can discern if there is any substance. Strangely, even nonsensical LLM-generated math often references relevant concepts. With effort, human experts can modify ideas that do not work as presented into a correct and original argument. The 2023-level AI can already generate suggestive hints and promising leads to a working mathematician and participate actively in the decision-making process. When integrated with tools such as formal proof verifiers, internet search, and symbolic math packages, I expect, say, 2026-level AI, when used properly, will be a trustworthy co-author in mathematical research, and in many other fields as well.”
WSJ: “Autocrats are proving more resilient these days. A regime survival playbook of sorts has emerged, with states combining lethal force and widespread arrests to halt protests, targeting opposition leaders with selective killing, jailing and exile, and allowing disaffected populations to leave. Regimes from Belarus to China to Venezuela have also been cooperating more closely to withstand diplomatic pressure from the West, get around economic sanctions and employ increasingly sophisticated surveillance technologies to keep track of dissidents. In recent years, authorities in Belarus, Cameroon, Cuba, Hong Kong, Iran, Thailand, Nicaragua and Venezuela have all managed to put down widespread popular protest movements. The incentives for dictators to leave power have also changed. In the past, a strongman might have been coaxed to take his millions of dollars to a cushy exile in southern France or the Caribbean. But that has become less possible with the rise of the International Criminal Court and the prospect of lifetime jail sentences.”
