Quanta

I feel so unbelievably lucky that I live in the age of the internet. The world is an endlessly fascinating place and I love the fact that I can explore so many facets of it instantly, painlessly, and through so many diverse media.

If I lived 50 years ago I would have had to rely on whatever books the local library happened to stock and whatever experts I was lucky enough to come into contact with in order to satiate my curiosity about the world. A few generations before that and I would have been lucky to even know how to read.

Now, I walk through life with a supercomputer in my pocket that not only gives me easy access to the sum total of human knowledge, but it also is able to deliver that knowledge in the form of books, articles, podcasts, videos, interactive courses, and pretty much any other format that people have figured out how to transmit digitally.

It’s 2:45 in the morning and I have just discovered Quanta Magazine. It’s a free online science magazine with articles about the latest developments in physics, mathematics, biology, and computer science. I’m going to force myself to go to bed soon because discovering a goldmine like this could easily keep me up well past sunrise if I don’t put a lid on it.

Our exploitation of technology has put us on a collision course with all kinds of existential threats from climate change to the threat of AI-fueled job loss or worse but right now it means that I can learn about whatever I want whenever I want and for that I will be eternally grateful.