a few links

[spoonless]

Is the Efficient Market Hypothesis equivalent to P=NP? Bizarre (and probably wrong) but intriguing idea:
http://arxiv1.library.cornell.edu/abs/1002.2284

Nice visual representation of 2011 budget breakdown:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html

The Dalai Lama on Technological Change:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CgZ2qkRSpo

I have a ticket to see the Dalai Lama speak in person 2 months from now in Indiana. I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. In the above link, he sounds a lot like a transhumanist when he says he thinks one day humans should be improved by becoming part machine and "that would be good". Out of context I can't tell what exactly he means by that. But it's an interesting comment.

Comments

[onhava.livejournal.com]

I suspect on thermodynamic grounds that this is false; the energy gap between the lowest and next-lowest energy configurations decreases exponentially in system size.

Indeed, Scott Aaronson did the experiment with soap bubbles (scroll down the page a bit) and found they often get stuck in local minima, just as one would expect.