The best articles of 2020 (according to my readers)

Every week I send out a newsletter on the things I've found most interesting in the intersection of tech, politics, international relations and more...

These were the articles that readers clicked on most in 2020, in order of popularity. All ten are worth your time and, I think, highlight something distinctive about the world in 2020. Enjoy!

1 - “On Cultures that Build” (TiB 120) - TiB favourite Tanner Greer on what it takes to create a society where people believe that new things can and should be built

2 - The Unified Theory of the 2020 Election (TiB 140) - An interview with data scientist David Shor - and, in my view, the best and most prescient analysis of American politics this year

3 - State of AI (TiB 135) - Ian Hogarth and Nathan Benaich on the most important developments in artificial intelligence of the last 12 months

4 - ”Quick thoughts on GPT-3” (TiB 124) - Founders Fund’s Delian Asparouhov offers the best short summary of OpenAI’s GPT-3 and why it’s an exciting moment for machine learning

5 - Keynes on Newton (TiB 122) - An extraordinary speech that Keynes wrote on Newton’s place in history in 1942

6 - “Deep Learning for Scientific Discovery” (TiB 114) - Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and machine learning researcher Maithra Raghu on the uses of AI in science

7 - “Winning or losing against COVID-19?” (TiB 116) - Interview with epidemiologist Mark Lipsitch from back in May on the always interesting 80,000 Hours podcast

8 - On Progress and Historical Change (TiB 117) - Superb essay by historian Ada Palmer on how progress happens (from 2016 and worth a re-read at least one a year)

9 - Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley’s War Against the Media (TiB 123) - The most balanced, thoughtful discussion of the simmering conflict between tech and the media

10 - Seeing Like an Algorithm (TiB 136) - Brilliant essay by Eugene Wei on the design decisions that have made TikTok so successful