your science briefing for 05.09.2025

The broligarchy announces itself immune to automation, messing with minds to learn how we see the world, the MAGA war on fluoride escalates, and more...

Jobs for me, but not for three, says Marc Andreessen, the tech oligarch and AI hype man who authored the techno-optimist manifesto, which was really more of a list of demands by a deranged sci-fi fan with no ability to differentiate reality and fantasy. Among his proclamations of how AI will take over the world, in what is now a classic Silicon Valley Singularitarian trope, he maintains that his job — rich guy with money that he gives anyone he thinks can multiply it — could only be done by humans, and more specifically, humans like him. Which seems bizarre as AI trading and investing algorithms are already real things that exist… (Business Insider)

Comedy icon George Carlin once jokes about having “vuja de,” the distinct feeling he has never seen something before despite knowing otherwise, an inverse of deja vu. It turns out that yes, a reverse deja vu does happen. It’s called jamais vu, and scientists interested in how we process conscious thought found a way to induce it on demand in an attempt to explain both phenomena. Since our brains usually work on inference, it seems that when our minds see something that no longer matches expectations, or when things seem to get a little too still and quiet, we snap to attention and reset our perception of reality as far as our minds are concerned… (ScienceAlert)

I don’t know about you, but as a night owl, I find the fact that morning people simply took over the world while we were sleeping quite frustrating, especially because this puts us at risk of accidents and injuries. But, did you know there aren’t just morning people but people who barely even need to sleep? A mutation in a gene named after the result of an angry cat tripping over a keyboard and failing in rage, hSIK3-N783Y, allows adults to sleep as little as three to six hours a night with no ill effects. A recent study at UCSF was even able to confirm this using a mouse model by modifying the same gene and watching their new sleep-wake cycle… (Nature)

In more cyberpunk dystopia news, a court approved the use of generative AI to make a victim impact statement during sentencing for a road rage shooting in Arizona. The video features a digital recreation of the victim speaking in a simulation of his voice in front of a white screen. Citing the power of the statement delivered by a digital ghost, the judge added a year to the sentence being sought by the DA. If the act of virtually resurrecting the dead and using them as emotional avatars seems a tad worrying and potentially prone to abuse, other judges agree and want to form a committee to study the use of AI in court proceedings and its legal repercussions… (ABC 15)

First, the forces inspired by MAGA Nurgle himself came for fluoride in water starting in Utah, ignoring studies showing the full impact of such bans on children’s teeth. But it just isn’t enough, apparently, and so Texas AG and bipedal corruption scandal buried thanks to partisan pressure, Ken Paxton, is going after Colgate and Proctor & Gamble. Their crime? Making toothpaste for children with fluoride. Then — gasp! — marketing this toothpaste as a way to reduce cavities, as per hundreds of studies which say that fluoride in toothpaste does, in fact, reduce cavities. But hey, in the MAGA world, facts and science are the enemy, as is, apparently, public health… (Daily Beast)