Richard Heil
rjhj.bsky.social
Richard Heil
@rjhj.bsky.social
Retired science nerd, software engineer and wannabe polymath...
Amazing state of AI research.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SykH...
I read Mary Meeker's 340 Slide AI Deck—Here Are the Top Takeaways
YouTube video by AI News & Strategy Daily | Nate B Jones
www.youtube.com
June 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I found this very interesting, useful and perhaps most importantly (oddly) hopeful!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfek...
The Terrifying Theory of Stupidity You Were Never Meant to Hear – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
YouTube video by Philosophy Coded
www.youtube.com
June 1, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Everything you see, hear or read may not be real or true (Duh?).

Develop and exercise critical thinking skills to reason about the world for yourself and interact with others to develop useful (real..ish) models of the world.
May 31, 2025 at 2:46 PM
My initial reaction to this weeks AI progress, Google's VEO specifically, was we are cooked.

But on reflection, diving into other's review and critique I believe two things to be true (and frankly always were).
May 31, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Its hard to argue the progress in Ai isn't going exponential... This entire video is AI generated.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PSh...
The Prompt Theory: 9 Minutes Straight of Google Veo Prompts
YouTube video by Putchuon - "Put You On"
www.youtube.com
May 31, 2025 at 2:37 PM
As the USA apparently seeks to turn inward and isolate itself (even alienate itself) from the rest of the planet... China eagerly seeks to fill and even expand the gap. BRICs is a much bigger deal than most American realize. They can do (well) without us...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRPH...
BRICS Just Won the Trade War (You Won't Believe What USA Did)
YouTube video by Cyrus Janssen
www.youtube.com
January 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The US risks losing leadership and market share in the migration to sustainable electrification of everything. We drill-baby-drill at our own short term emotional peril.

www.thecooldown.com/green-busine...
Mining company places $400 million order to transform its enormous fleet: 'We will need to swap out hundreds of pieces'
Fortescue, an Australian mining company, purchased $400 million of mining equipment from Chinese manufacturer XCMG.
www.thecooldown.com
January 27, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I found Colossal, Impossible Geometry with Desert Drifter
YouTube video by thePOVchannel
www.youtube.com
January 6, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Richard Heil
Guess which ‘one’ hasn’t figured it out yet?! 👇

Just one guess. 🇺🇸
December 18, 2024 at 10:27 AM
Missing from our discussions of China and what our policies/positions should be vis-a-vis seem to overlook they are a powerful culture clearly coming into their own. We need cooperation not competition (which we will lose). They are innovating & leading either way

ourworldindata.org/data-insight...
China is the largest contributor to global patent applications, substantially ahead of other countries
China’s patent applications have grown rapidly in recent decades, as shown in the chart. Chinese applications surpassed US applications in 2010, reaching over 1.4 million in 2021. According to this da...
ourworldindata.org
December 17, 2024 at 7:04 PM
Another perspective, though if you cut through the incumbent FUD and look at the data its easy to see the transition to a profoundly new electrical energy future is underway. The US and Europe need to be much more serious about competing with China. China is ALL in.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXwG...
Welcome to the Era of Energy Disruption | Gerard Reid | TEDxBerlinSalon
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
www.youtube.com
December 17, 2024 at 5:35 PM
Probably the best image illustrating the profound, rapid positive change occurring in our energy transition to renewables. It's happening... fast www.youtube.com/watch?v=edAd...
December 17, 2024 at 5:32 PM
A counter-point in the debate against those arguing we need the capitalist profit motive in health care... the best hospitals are non-profits: Mayo Clinic, St. Jude, Cleveland Clinic, Mt Sinai, Dana Farber Cancer research, Dr's Without Borders and many, many more. Single Payor can/does work.
December 16, 2024 at 3:21 PM
An interesting side effect of our transition to renewable energy appears to be many new insights into earths resources and geology. Huge Iron, Gold, Lithium and more resources being found via modern tech.
www.earth.com/news/supergi...

www.energy.gov/lpo/thacker-...

www.earth.com/news/geologi...
"Supergiant" gold deposit find claims to be the world’s largest discovery ever
In early examinations of a recent gold deposit discovery, it appears to meet the criteria of what experts called a "supergiant" deposit.
www.earth.com
December 16, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Electric transportation is clearly the future, America should lead not shirk from the opportunity. No better stat illustrates our future than real owners satisfaction. Don't let the intense FUD by vested interests dissuade you.

electrek.co/2024/12/10/a...
After buying an EV, less than 1% of drivers go back to gas-powered cars
Once you go electric, you almost never go back to a gas-powered car. According to a new survey from the...
electrek.co
December 16, 2024 at 2:44 PM
It's wonderful we have fundraisers for children's hospitals and care... but wouldn't universal health care be a better more consistent, equitable and efficient method for funding over peoples charity?
The festival will feature 550 trees, all decorated and donated by volunteers. All the items on sale have been donated to Primary Children’s, and the proceeds go to the hospital. Last year, the festival raised $3.4 million.
Utah’s Festival of Trees returns with homemade gifts and tons of fudge
Festival of Trees, the annual fundraiser for Primary Children's Hospital, runs this week — selling handcrafted gifts, decorated Christmas trees and a whole lot of fudge.
www.sltrib.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Just crazy what SpaceX has and is accomplishing.

Eric Berger's Falcon 9 history book 'ReEntry' is a detailed telling of the many great engineers and technicians efforts and accomplishments behind this new space age.

arstechnica.com/space/2024/1...
Falcon 9 reaches a flight rate 30 times higher than shuttle at 1/100th the cost
The Falcon 9 rocket is truly delivering on the promise of rapid, reusable launch.
arstechnica.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:32 PM
SpaceX has launched the SAME Falcon 9 booster rocket now 24 times- two dozen times! Still, after nearly ten years since landing the first orbital rocket no other company - or country -has even done it once/ SpaceX does it almost daily, over 400 times now.

www.space.com/space-explor...
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches on record-breaking 24th flight (video)
Liftoff happened at 5:13 a.m. ET on Wednesday (Dec. 4).
www.space.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:30 PM
Bookmarking this to delve more deeply into... fascinating details on global financial metrics & trends
www.ft.com/content/1201...
Why America’s economy is soaring ahead of its rivals
The country’s outperformance is rooted in long-term productivity growth that is the envy of the developed world. Could Trump’s policies endanger its lead?
www.ft.com
December 3, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Richard Heil
Spending a month on Bluesky has created a whole new model of a fight we need to be having right now. Not liberal vs. conservative or whatever, but respect vs manipulation.

I am tired of being manipulated everywhere I go. That’s why I like it here, I feel like I’m in charge for once.
November 27, 2024 at 3:57 PM
Another helpful inciteful view into where we are, how we got here and potentially some insight into where we go next.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Pn...
Populism, Media Revolutions, and Our Terrible Moment
YouTube video by vlogbrothers
www.youtube.com
December 1, 2024 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Richard Heil
The deep historical forces that explain Trump’s win
The deep historical forces that explain Trump’s win
Our research shows that political breakdown, from the Roman Empire to the Russian revolution, follows a clear pattern: workers’ wages stagnate, while elites multiply In the days since the sweeping Republican victory in the US election, which gave the party control of the presidency, the Senate and the House, commentators have analysed and dissected the relative merits of the main protagonists – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – in minute detail. Much has been said about their personalities and the words they have spoken; little about the impersonal social forces that push complex human societies to the brink of collapse – and sometimes beyond. That’s a mistake: in order to understand the roots of our current crisis, and possible ways out of it, it’s precisely these tectonic forces we need to focus on. The research team I lead studies cycles of political integration and disintegration over the past 5,000 years. We have found that societies, organised as states, can experience significant periods of peace and stability lasting, roughly, a century or so. Inevitably, though, they then enter periods of social unrest and political breakdown. Think of the end of the Roman empire, the English civil war or the Russian Revolution. To date, we have amassed data on hundreds of historical states as they slid into crisis, and then emerged from it. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2024 at 2:24 PM
Fascinating talk on complexity, about software .... and life

youtu.be/czzAVuVz7u4?...

Also, Handmade cities is an eclectic group of views on development
Why Can't We Make Simple Software? - Peter van Hardenberg
YouTube video by Handmade Cities
youtu.be
November 30, 2024 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Richard Heil
The clearest picture of Jupiter by Juno Spacecraft
November 26, 2024 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Richard Heil
More of my wonderful colleagues from @ucsusa.bsky.social are getting active here. Here's a UCS starter pack. 🧪🌎
go.bsky.app/T1uaYUD
@ucsclimate.bsky.social
November 25, 2024 at 9:06 PM