Hat in hand

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Anthropic researcher quits over understated AI threat; specific type of pour can lead to sweeter-tasting coffee; and art thieves acting with inspiration from the Louvre heist…🦹

Let’s get into it!

 Most coffee drinkers prefer the classic drip method or the much more complex concoctions produced by various extravagant machines on the market today. For those looking for a less bitter and naturally sweeter cup, though, it may be worth trying the pour-over method.

The pour-over is like the drip, but there’s a lot more manual work involved. Funnelling the filter over the coffee pot and pouring the water via a goose-neck kettle is the standard method, and when done right, the coffee can be less bitter and even have sweeter notes without any added sweetener.

There are several steps to getting it right, but the most important is that the water is poured into the centre of the grounds in a straight line. This is what makes the goose-neck a fundamental aspect of the pour-over; it allows the water to fall like it’s coming out of the tap.

Anecdotal studies have suggested what causes the sweet to pop and the bitter to recede is the the flow rate of the water and the angle and height at which it’s poured.

Large companies often see themselves culturally as ocean-faring vessels or even rocket ships on route to the stars. It helps provide the imagery that motivates every employee to attend to their specific role—to always be at their station aboard the ship.

One neuroscientist says that we are the CEOs of our own brains.

The analogy certainly works to an extent. CEOs sit atop massive organizational flow charts, much too far from the bottom to have a real sense of what’s going on at the ground level. A good CEO must trust their department heads to manage their part of the ship, and ensure the proper work is being done to maintain efficiency and productivity in each field.

Does the conscious mind have any idea what’s going on at the ground level of the “memory formation” department? What about the blood sugar regulation department?

Can any person directly experience what’s going on in their head while reading an article that causes them to think analogously and produce reports from the memory and problem-solving departments to understand the various comparisons?

Where the analogy fails, however, is that the brain’s CEO and the brain cannot be separated. They’re one and the same, and are destined to succeed or fail together.
 

Four thieves made off with over $100 million in Napoleonic jewels from the Louvre last October, and while they were ultimately arrested, most of the take remains unaccounted for.

Experts say the incident almost served as a clarion call to thieves everywhere that museums are open for their kind of business, and a recent string of similar high profile heists seems to confirm it.

"My best guess is that perhaps the Louvre was a news hook, not just for the media, but for criminal gangs that saw the opportunity to steal valuables and get away with it,” said Anthony Amore, an art theft expert and investigator based in Boston.

Just this week, thieves cut the fence and climbed in through the window of the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, making off with four of the impressionist’s works, many of which have previously sold for tens of millions.

Another example at the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum near Parma, Italy in March saw millions worth of Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse works stolen, which were ultimately recovered after the suspects were arrested.

The short answer is obviously “no.” While the phrase “greed is good” has been immortalized, most people can agree Gordon Gecko’s brand of selfishness rots the soul.

However, that doesn’t mean selfishness is itself a vice. In fact, going out of one’s way to put everyone else’s wants and needs can be a form of soul crushing, and psychologists and philosophers alike have always emphasized the importance of prioritizing the self.

Perhaps more to the point is the fact that “the self” has a natural predisposition to, for lack of a better term, assert itself. While some modern thinkers have spent lifetimes constructing schools of thought that advocate for the suppression or denial of emotions like greed, anger, lust, or power, the Ancients and those who carry their torches today think otherwise.

As axiomatic as altruism has become in modern society, it remains just as axiomatic that everything should be taken, done, and experienced in moderation. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung identified the suppression of thoughts and feelings as the cause of most neuroses.

Moderating—but not suppressing—the parts of oneself that are conventionally deemed selfish is the way to achieve what Jung called “individuation,”—the harmonization of the psyche, and the unburdening of the soul.

Just one #1

There are one-hit-wonders, and then there are hit bands who only ever scored one #1 hit on the charts. Find out if you know which hits they are, with today’s trivia 😎 🎶