What I Learnt Today

May 20th is International World Bee Day.

We could not survive without bees. 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend on them for pollination, as does more than 75% of the world’s food crops.

Bees provide a number of archetypal examples of important models.

The bee and the flower have a mutualistic relationship. The bees get to eat, and the flowering plants get to reproduce.

Richard Dawkins says the hive shows the ‘Selfish Gene‘ at work. All the bees in a hive are brothers and sisters. Their behaviour is determined by the genes they carry. When a bee stings and sacrifices itself, they are protecting their own genes as carried by their siblings. It is endurance of the gene that drives behaviour – the bees are the servants of their genes (as are we)

A recent article on the Illusion of Certainity by Rory Sutherland refers to the Waggle Dance as an example of the need for risk and innovation if we are to progress. When a bee finds a good source of nectar, it returns to the hive and waggles its bum to give directions to the other bees. (Really! See David Attenborough below). Luckily, not all bees follow the instructions.

Rory Sutherland writes :

– Bees seem to have spotted this trade-off between narrow and broad-scale efficiency 20 million years ago. Although most of them follow the waggle-dance (exploiting what is already known), a significant minority do not. These R&D bees explore at random, seeking nectar and pollen from sources as yet unknown. Most of these journeys are individually wasteful — but every now and then they pay off hugely in the form of a new find. Indeed there would be no bees without this ‘inefficiency’; hives would end up starving to death.

– Bees are still around because they are part deterministic and part probabilistic in their behaviour. They use their ‘evidence-based’ waggle-dance data-model up to a point, but correct for the fact that it is incomplete, temporary and weighted to the past. Institutionalised humans obtain a false sense of certainty by assuming that life is one big waggle-dance: that what is optimal in a one-off transaction in a certain present is also optimal at scale, in an uncertain, long-term future. Even insects have figured out this is dumb. Like Socrates, bees know how much they don’t know.

What I Learnt On 20th May in other years

20th May 2011 WisdomWall: Louis XIV on Leadership

It is important and useful to have a reliable source of curated news.

I depend on The Squiz, which arrives in my email inbox each morning just after six am.

If you prefer, you can have it read to you as a podcast.

The Squiz was established by Claire Kimball in 2018. She still gets up at 3.30am to sort out the wheat from the chaff so I don’t have to. Thanks very much Claire. 40000 subscribers agree.

You can sign up and see if it suits you. It is free.

If you’d like a US flavour to your news, you may enjoy NextDraft. Editor Dave Pell is the absolute master of the headline pun. Whereas The Squiz remains apolitical, NextDraft has very stong opinions. Do not sign up if you are a fan of the president.

Extract from the Squiz today

CHINA BACKS A DELAYED CORONAVIRUS REVIEW

China will support a look into the global response to the coronavirus crisis after it is brought under control, China’s President Xi Jinping has told the World Health Assembly overnight. Telling those gathered for the online meeting that China has been “open and transparent” about the outbreak, he said his country would support an investigation led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) “conducted in an objective and impartial way” – but only when the dust has settled. The motion, which will be put to the vote tonight, seeks to start the inquiry ASAP.
BACK IT UP A BIT…
This started with Australia’s call for an independent investigation into the genesis of COVID-19 and the actions of China and the WHO to contain it. That was recrafted by the European Union into a motion that has been put to the 194 member states of the Assembly (which is the WHO’s decision-making body) that didn’t name China. Instead, it called for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the “international health response to COVID-19″. Momentum built yesterday when a group of more than 50 African nations said they would support the proposal taking the number of members behind it to more than 120. And WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he’s all for an inquiry to start immediately.
SO IT’S A GOER?
Well, we’ll see… It’s expected to happen, but you never know until it actually does. There are concerns about the start date and access, and Australia has continued to advocate for the granting of ‘weapons inspector-like powers’ to the investigating body to ensure vital evidence isn’t missed. But Xi has sought to smooth the way with a commitment of US$2 billion over two years in aid. And he’s offered to share any vaccine as soon as one becomes available. Meanwhile, the US Health Secretary Alex Azar took a thinly veiled swipe at China as well as accusing the WHO of “failing to obtain the information that the world needed.” The US will support the motion when it’s put to the vote with US President Donald Trump retweeting a post by SBS listing some nations that support the push for an inquiry saying “We are with them!”

Extract from NextDraft Today

HOW’S IT HANGING?
This pandemic is the story of our lives and we’ve reached the cliffhanger. The next installment in this inaction adventure features the plot twist that will reveal an Everest-size foreshadowing of what’s to come. Nuances will be cast aside as we learn the answer to a question that can be boiled down to this: What Will Happen In Georgia? As reported in WaPo, many protagonists are confident, including the state’s governor: “In this grand gamble, Georgia has gone first, with Gov. Brian Kemp dismissing public health experts who’ve warned that opening too soon could cause a catastrophic surge of deaths, placing his faith instead in the citizens of Georgia to make up their own minds about what risks and sacrifices they were willing to accept.”

What I Learnt On 19th May in other years

19th May 2011 Waterslides

Mark Manson in his Monday Newsletter reminds us

Vladimir Lenin said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.”

Get ready. Our technocratic future will be here much sooner than we thought.

Suddenly everything is different.

What changes do you think will stick?

What I Learnt On 18th May in other years

18th May 2012 Why Rugby Has Backs

18th May 2011 Just as well she said “yes”: Part One

Unfortunately, an outbreak of a deadly virus in Sydney has caused chain-reaction outbreaks in Jakarta and Los Angeles. Time is up for Millie and I to save the planet. We’d cured one of the four viri causing pandemics – but it wasn’t enough.

Perhaps the planet will have better luck next game.

Pandemic – the game – was designed by Matt Leacock and launched in 2008. It has since spread like a virus and sold more than 1 million copies in 27 languages.

According to my local games expert – Liam at Unplugged Games, Lismore – Pandemic has been so popular it is now very hard to come by. We have the special 10th Anniversary Edition, which comes in a replica tin first aid box and has special Petri dishes, wooden play pieces and 3D characters. Go Liam.

Pandemic is unique in that it is a co-operative game – all players pool their special skills in their efforts to cure the viri. A parable for our times. You may be a scientist, dispatcher, quarantine specialist, operations expert, or medic. You all win or lose together in a race against time.

The gameplay is fast, and each game is pleasingly quick. Too quick for us at the moment, but we will improve.

The world is depending on it.

What I Learnt On 17th May in other years

17th May 2011 Netspeak: Common Language Search

I’ve just finished a 9km ride around Central Park, New York.

In the last 30 days, I’ve also cycled around London, Innsbruck and Yorkshire. And I’ve competed (unsuccessfully) with thousands of fellow cyclists on circuits through the islands, jungles and volcanoes of Watopia.

Zwift allows cyclists (and joggers) to explore, train, interact and compete in a massive virtual world. As you get more experience, and complete more workouts, you level up, and unlock new bike gear that your avatar can wear. You can select from a huge range of workouts, join organised rides and races, or arrange to ride with your (real) friends. You can speak with other players while you ride.

The faster and harder you pedal, the faster your Zwift character moves. There are some pretty steep hill climbs in Watopia, and lots of designated sprints.

Fulgaz is an Australian company that provides virtual cycling routes with real video footage (“More reality less virtual”) You can explore the French countryside following the Tour de France, greet Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, or ride up the very steep Osborne St in Manly Fulgaz also has a virtual personal coach – Bernard – who offers a wide range of workouts that incorporate high intensity sprints.

For the full experience, you need a stationary bike (or a trainer for your real bike) that can communicate with your laptop, iPad or Apple TV via Bluetooth. Your rpm and Watts of work are converted to the virtual athletes speed and power. This technology is called ANT+, so you will need a bike or trainer with that feature.

‘Smart’ trainers are also available. These provide a more immersive ride by increasing or decreasing the resistance of the bike depending on the steepness of the ascent or descent in the virtual world.

You can use Fulgaz on any bike, without the bluetooth smarts, and enjoy the video movie as you ride. In this case, the speed won’t respond to your change in effort – so you can feel free to dwardle along without extending the duration of the ride.

The Global Cycling Network is Cathy’s preferred video workout companion. You can participate in workouts lead by British and international professional cyclists, with varying degrees of intensity / sprints / hill climbs. It is like a YouTube spin class.

Zwift and Fulgaz have a monthly subscription fee. The Global Cycling Network has no charge,

At the start of lockdown, we bought a Concept2 Bikeerg. Concept2 are better known for their rowers, and the Bikerg is a similar solid bit of gear that looks like it will withstand the next 10 pandemics. It has ANT+, but not the smart resistance.

Give me a thumbs up next time you overtake me in Watopia.

What I Learnt On 16th May in other years

16th May 2014 I told you I’d be ready in five minutes…

16th May 2011 What makes an elite athlete?