Bob Ewing

Husband. Father. Coach. Founder of Subscribe to my Substack Talking Big Ideas:

[Mgoes (bio/acc 🤖💉) @m_goes_distance]

most people have no idea how bright the future of humanity is getting

gene edited human embryos just hit 100% efficiency with zero detectable chromosomal abnormalities

that is basically RIP to genetic diseases on a casual Friday

we're not even mentioning:

- that the first human trial to reverse cellular aging reports results by end of 2026
- the clinical longevity pipeline has never been fuller
- AI is compressing years of drug discovery into months
- the capital flowing into all of this is accelerating faster than any point in history

this is just a glimpse of what the next 6 -18 months looks like

bio/acc

[WeRateDogs @dog_rates]

This is Ramsey. He is a mail delivery dog. Shipping is free, and while packages might not be handled with care, they are handled with enthusiasm. 14/10

[Tolkien World @TolkienWorldG]

On this day in 2003, Andy Serkis accepted Gollum’s MTV Movie Award for Best Virtual Performance and turned it into one of the greatest acceptance speeches ever.

It was so good it won a Hugo Award the next year for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

[Paul Anleitner @PaulAnleitner]

When Top Gun: Maverick came out in 2022, I remember realizing the entire culture was about to shift.

There was no political preachiness.

No cynical “deconstruction.”

Sincerity without an ounce of “irony poisoning.”

Like a sudden mass-realization of all we had been missing.

[Dean W. Ball @deanwball]

I am honored to have signed on to this letter. This is an urgent priority for near-term action by Congress. Biotech is advancing rapidly on its own, and I—and many others—believe the “Mythos moment” in AI/bio is coming soon. It is time for action.

[sid @immasiddx]

During your life, you will meet a lot of people like Raj.

It is important that you ignore them.

[Science Simplified @Scivf4]

A 3D model of the solar system, driven by the sun's gravitation pull.

The solar system does not look like a flat spinning mobile. The sun hold 99.8% of the mass in the solar system and it's gravity keeps every planet , asteroid and comet locked in orbit around it.

[Robert Wilkinson @robertwlk]

40 years ago today, l asked my childhood sweetheart, my best friend and the most gorgeous woman l know to marry me.

All three said no.

[Jason Crawford @jasoncrawford]

I signed this. I don't want a world where people can press a button and get smallpox. Let's get ahead of these threats before they do real harm:

[Ethan Mollick @emollick]

🚨I have a new book coming out October 20: Co-Existence!

It is about how we live & work with AIs that are sometimes (but not always) smarter than we are. And it has a cool cover.

You can pre-order: https://t.co/Ti5jo6ksfI
And here is a post with context: https://t.co/YpWvCG4dUD

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

John Stuart Mill spoke Greek at three and was smarter than all y’all.

[Maryrose (Milkovich) Ewing @maryrosemilkovi]

The difference is TC is confident enough to get straight to the point.

Should you thank the people who invited you to speak? Yes.

Should you make your speech (and their event) worse by putting those thank yous at the beginning of your remarks? No.

[Brian Potter @_brianpotter]

Many folks have observed that it takes much longer to build infrastructure in the US than it used to.

But what about the time it takes to plan infrastructure?

This week on Construction Physics, I look at trends in planning times for US bridges. https://t.co/p6wXRrW5pB

[Jason Crawford @jasoncrawford]

Active optimism, not complacent optimism

[Dan Goldin @dansgoldin]

Woke up thinking about the late John Glenn. This is me with him just after he landed at Kennedy Space Center onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95) to become, at age 77, the oldest person to orbit the Earth.

One day, during my 6th year as NASA Administrator, John Glenn paid me a visit at my office in Washington, D.C.

He sat down and explained that he had been studying the effects of space on aging bodies, and he wanted me to send him to space so he could run experiments on his body.

At the time, John Glenn was a revered Senator of Ohio for 24 years.

But, he had been a hero to me and to America ever since he successfully became the first American astronaut to orbit the earth in 1962.

Up until then, the Soviets had been leaping ahead of us in space. They launched the first man, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961. And then they once again beat us by keeping a cosmonaut in space for a full day.

On Feb. 20, 1962, at 40 years old, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth during the three-orbit Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, aboard the spacecraft he named Friendship 7.

At the time, I was about to turn 22 and I had just started as an ion plasma engineer at NASA Lewis in Cleveland, Ohio. On that day, I remember the hope and confidence John Glenn instilled in all of us to take space on as a country and beat the Soviets to the moon.

In fact, John Glenn became so much a hero to our nation that President Kennedy felt that we couldn’t risk losing him and declared that he would never go to space again.

So now decades later, here I was as NASA Administrator being asked by this American hero to reverse President Kennedy’s decree and risk sending him back to space again… this time at age 77!

I told Senator Glenn that he would need to pass the same physical exam standards the younger astronauts took – 20/20 vision, whether naturally or with corrective lenses, and a sitting blood pressure not to exceed 140/90.

He passed. But what most don’t know is that this is also me grabbing him by his flight suit from behind to prop him up, because he had lost his sense of balance from disrupting the equilibrium in his ears while in space 😛.

I couldn’t have our American hero stumbling around with all the press and crowd watching him!

I thank John Glenn for energizing America and our confidence to reach the heavens. He also always championed space and technology, in public and private spheres – especially during my brutal battles as a newbie Administrator on The Hill.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

@bobewing202 Thank you, Bob!

[Maryrose (Milkovich) Ewing @maryrosemilkovi]

If you want to emulate @tylercowen's substance-packed style, start by eliminating your banal opening ramble

[Bob Ewing @bobewing202]

@glukianoff I’m continually impressed by how well you handle combative people and respond to illiberal ideas. You’re a good model for the rest of us.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

Free speech is how societies create knowledge.

Not because every idea is true, but because claims have to be challenged, criticized, tested, and forced to survive contact with reality.

Used well, AI could extend that process by helping us expose errors and test assumptions.

[Paul Anleitner @PaulAnleitner]

The author of Project Hail Mary wrote his first book (The Martian) on his blog, and publishers didn't want it.

Backrooms made 100 million this weekend, and it was created by a YouTuber.

The old gatekeepers of culture are falling away.

Now's the time to go make something.