2022-03-19 04:12:00 I love this story: https://t.co/17tPRT48ff 2022-03-19 04:08:48 @curiouswavefn @ambimorph I must say, if she married you after that, then I think it's probably a good match Crypto more to my taste, tbh! Though, come to think of it, I have a squib of an NMR paper, hmm. (https://t.co/cmwfki6iw7, was a fun way to procrastinate a thesis) 2022-03-19 03:51:20 Sadly, it seems that no-one has yet asked if it's been replicated. Standards these days, tsk tsk. 2022-03-19 03:33:05 @vgr Do bunnies make trails? 2022-03-19 02:50:02 @ambimorph That's very sweet! 2022-03-19 02:34:45 One of my fave CA quotes: https://t.co/WX15A0h9Tw 2022-03-19 02:18:02 Fascinating: https://t.co/m9jCE8vYFm 2022-03-19 02:14:23 Also this: https://t.co/21bSlCnHBP 2022-03-19 02:13:21 This is wonderful: https://t.co/OxhuyaS27Y 2022-03-19 02:12:25 This, for instance, is just great: https://t.co/Cy9kYTIs6o 2022-03-19 02:10:55 The replies and QTs on this are quite a spectrum of humanity! Some are absolutely adorable, reminisces of papers-read-aloud-past! Though, er, opting in does seem rather essential. https://t.co/0v150ebvYI 2022-03-19 01:49:38 @lesleyseebeck A quote that has really influenced me is this one: https://t.co/WX15A0h9Tw (And the Google Plus discussion which followed, which I have somewhere in my archives, but is no longer online :-( ) 2022-03-19 01:44:33 Of course, "buying US News and making the ranking methodology worse" is quite a possible outcome of such a venture. Confidence that you could improve the ranking methodology != ability to improve the ranking methodology. It seems distinctly possible they'd be anticorrelated 2022-03-19 01:30:01 @lesleyseebeck Lovely, thanks for sharing! AFAICT, everything from CA had a special stimulating quality. He was so very thoughtful! 2022-03-19 01:21:35 Interesting suggestion. There's a (natural) hunger for rank orders: it's the easiest way to make decisions [eg "where should I apply?"] At the same time: there is so much power in structural diversity, and that is often suppressed by dominant rank orders... https://t.co/byuTzXebsv 2022-03-19 01:16:21 Rest in peace, Christopher Alexander. Incredibly imaginative and original and thoughtful. Loved his "A Pattern Language": https://t.co/qxODrBX0xN https://t.co/clmlN7YCq3 2022-03-18 18:43:49 Reminded of Cormac McCarthy: "The ugly fact is books are made out of books." Read Schumpeter on creative destruction recently, and it's striking just how much his work was made out of Marx. https://t.co/KeQO0sHCdX 2022-03-18 18:41:49 @pmarca I hadn't realized Cormac McCarthy was echoing Marx: "The ugly fact is books are made out of books." Sorta true of tweets, too. 2022-03-18 17:26:21 @henryfarrell @CASBSStanford Congrats! (And what a remarkable place!) 2022-03-18 05:16:01 @redblobgames @kanjun This is great Amit! 2022-03-18 04:42:04 Interesting epigram: https://t.co/YiR2COg55j 2022-03-18 04:40:51 @sebpaquet He certainly was. Astounding body of work. 2022-03-18 04:38:52 @sebpaquet I've searched several times on Phil Agre's name over the years... 2022-03-18 04:38:23 I enjoyed this interview with Dorit Aharonov: https://t.co/d9jul3PJuY (by @Liv_Lanes & 2022-03-18 04:01:34 @Marco_Piani Be sure to read the third tweet in the thread too, in exculpation! 2022-03-18 04:00:49 @metasj @vgr Very good. 2022-03-18 03:44:40 @vgr The scene in tSoD where Dirk accidentally gets on the bus is one of the funniest things I've ever read. 2022-03-18 03:43:10 @vgr I've found the DG books have really grown on me. Parts are just marvellous. Very sad "The Salmon of Doubt" was not finished. 2022-03-18 03:34:57 @vgr Varying from positive to very strongly positive. Chunks are lazy, and reads as though it was composed in a hotel room in two weeks (ahem). But so much of it is terrific that I'm willing to forgive the lapses... You? 2022-03-18 03:33:17 To be clear: I don't _dislike_ Star Trek, I just don't have a whole lot of baseline! 2022-03-18 03:26:51 @zhaphod HHGTG, OTOH, was great. And Dirk Gently. And Last Chance to See. And... 2022-03-18 03:26:10 @vgr Ah, some correlation then. I have quite a mixed response, meh on some things, and very much enjoying some things. I would have been amazed if it turned out you hated the things I liked, and liked the things I'm meh on. 2022-03-18 03:20:03 @vgr Curious how you respond to Gaiman's other stuff? 2022-03-18 03:14:16 While I'm alienating people, I may as well mention: I didn't much like Terry Pratchett's books, either. Absolutely loved "Good Omens", though. 2022-03-18 03:11:21 I don't think I've seen an episode of Star Trek since I was [single digit] years old. 2022-03-17 23:12:52 Love seeing pioneers, in any form, joining Twitter! https://t.co/9WHzAzG6bB https://t.co/AFU1Upm10f 2022-03-17 11:25:51 @zooko @ArtirKel @nickcammarata @csvoss Bleh. 2022-03-17 03:29:11 @daniel_dsj2110 That quote is a simplification of what he says though - there's a lot of context about particular ways in which (some) people (sometimes) use Twitter. And there he has an interesting point, whereas the quote is overreaching. 2022-03-17 03:13:27 "The true measure of a post-scarcity world is one in which we can eat a 100% ice cream diet." - @kanjun 2022-03-16 22:54:33 @SpencrGreenberg Littlewood's comment is amusing (the Darwin here is probably the grandson of Charles): https://t.co/UZU04DwsHg 2022-03-16 14:57:40 WhatsApp or Signal groups following dinner or parties or brunch or workshops (etc) are one of my favourite little improvements to life over the last decade. They take just a few minutes to create 2022-03-16 04:54:39 @john_c_doherty @nickcammarata I didn't mean it as a joke, just an option. I'm not American, so your "our" excludes me. And yes, exit is sometimes a good choice. 2022-03-16 02:43:25 So you look at: https://t.co/D0hNh88bYY Now you (a) browse down the list 2022-03-16 02:43:24 One fun thing I've done: run cross-disciplinary workshops, and found people to invite in something like this way. You think, say, "Oh, maybe it'd be fun to have programmable matter people there, but I don't know any locals". 2022-03-16 02:38:51 @NonMurkyConsqnc Thanks. I could write thousands of tweets about it, I'm afraid. On the plus side, I'd have a small-but-dedicated band of twitter followers at the end. 2022-03-16 02:30:12 In the department of really unusual hobbies, browsing the top-cited Google Scholar authors in fields I know nothing about, and then traversing the coauthor graph: https://t.co/cRrTfV14XG 2022-03-15 20:00:28 @devonzuegel This is from a letter Feynman wrote Watson about the book. It's a personal letter, but doubles as one of the most beautiful book reviews I know: https://t.co/6mpyaCpJQl 2022-03-15 19:38:21 @luispedrocoelho @nickcammarata . @kimmaicutler put it well here, IMO: https://t.co/8QrKtHDaF3 2022-03-15 19:33:56 @nickcammarata Move to a better governed country. Australia is very nice. I didn't understand why Americans so much more strongly distrust their government until I moved to the US. Then it was "Oh, I get it." 2022-03-15 19:23:38 @stephenclare_ @StefanFSchubert @tylercowen Thanks for the link. I'll be curious if someone [especially an outsider] does a systematic review of EA efforts. It seems like a fairly clear test of EA orgs & The obvious question "how early did they fund mRNA vaccines?" is unfortunately not quite appropriate. 2022-03-15 19:13:49 @StefanFSchubert @tylercowen Curious: how "effective" (tm) was EA work on pandemic preparedness? 2022-03-15 19:11:12 @gwern That's a rather outre ouvre ouevre suggestion! 2022-03-15 19:06:33 @gwern Also, let me donate the missing "e"... 2022-03-15 19:05:56 @gwern He has a fascinating ouvre in general: https://t.co/Z26oWTPEGJ 2022-03-15 18:53:55 @krisgulati The efficient market economists wouldn't notice it was there 2022-03-15 18:52:34 Littlewood strikes me as quite correct https://t.co/GQqem5ELYW 2022-03-15 18:50:13 https://t.co/EFC8euhXCZ https://t.co/riz77NCsCX 2022-03-15 18:48:42 @gamercow @Aella_Girl This study is amusingly plausible: https://t.co/ox6mt6j1qe 2022-03-15 18:46:20 @gamercow @Aella_Girl Yeah, I'm sure ethics classes reduce atrocity by.... um, is this thing on? 2022-03-15 18:36:36 @devonzuegel I enjoyed "The Double Helix" (Watson's account of the discovery). James Watson, not John Watson :-) 2022-03-15 17:33:08 And this fascinating thread on the (early) history of AI: https://t.co/GctxmX5IEy 2022-03-15 17:31:44 Also fun to consider juxtaposed with this! https://t.co/A6BlEgh3Rv 2022-03-15 17:21:53 Fun to consider juxtaposed with @karpathy's pinned tweet: https://t.co/Yf7rHXOWfD 2022-03-15 17:20:21 This was a really fun post. Interesting to see how relatively little has changed: https://t.co/hfFnrGeiab 2022-03-15 03:37:37 Fascinating: Lewis Hamilton is just about to finish changing his name to incorporate his mother's maiden name (Larbalestier). https://t.co/MMl6KM1bXe 2022-03-15 02:27:23 I will say this: the thread has made me think the main problem the nuclear industry has is the arrogance of many advocates. Interesting to contrast to airline safety people, who have a very different (& 2022-03-15 02:23:37 I'm muting notifications. There were many thoughtful replies. But also a huge number of the variety: "My opinions are obviously correct, and people who disagree are idiots". It's useful for me to have witnessed this, but has crossed over to just being unpleasant. 2022-03-15 02:20:11 Extraordinary graph: https://t.co/QUb6tXYCQn 2022-03-15 01:43:01 Brilliant trailer for "A Topiary", an unmade film by Shane Carruth: (ht @LauraDeming ) https://t.co/U577LF9iKX 2022-03-14 21:13:10 @gwern @ArtirKel @nickcammarata @csvoss Only works on all replies to the thread, AFAICT, so it's kinda a nuclear option. Though sometimes appropriate... 2022-03-14 21:12:34 @moskov @albrgr @ftxfuturefund Maybe pagerank for funders is optimal... 2022-03-14 20:46:25 I'll bet you can make a browser plugin that pipes this stuff to YT, and then integrates it into your YT experience... 2022-03-14 20:09:12 It appears to be roughly ten zillion times better than the YouTube feed. 2022-03-14 19:58:50 And here's how to do it with people you follow: https://t.co/tAZn4H2Oxk ht @peteromallet 2022-03-14 19:54:58 @ArtirKel @nickcammarata @csvoss There's an interview where Mitchell says he watched a first cut of the movie initially with trepidation, & Er, rather afield from Chelsea's initial tweet! 2022-03-14 19:50:10 @peteromallet Yup. Curious: when you do that, what search string then appears in the search query? That I probably can replicate... 2022-03-14 19:49:29 @ArtirKel @nickcammarata @csvoss Hmm. Not really switching, so much as _realizing_ or _discovering_ such a deeply felt sense. It was wildly disorienting. I don't think it's quite what Mitchell intended 2022-03-14 19:46:04 @peteromallet I have no option to filter for "People you follow" 2022-03-14 19:45:28 @ArtirKel @nickcammarata @csvoss I found the same. I didn't understand the movie until ~50 mins in. At that point, shocked epiphany. Upon finishing, immediate rewatch (and it was vastly better) (Spoilers, but the epiphany was switching to a deeply felt sense that "there is just one character in this movie.") 2022-03-14 19:40:33 @ArtirKel @nickcammarata @csvoss My favourite scene in one of my favourite movies: https://t.co/BbzzMWx0GX 2022-03-14 19:34:10 Basically, make a list of people who you think are likely to have good taste in videos, and then search it periodically for videos. Seems to work far better than YT does for discovering interesting new things... 2022-03-14 19:21:52 A way of improving Youtube's crummy browsing: https://t.co/zmdQrpJOiJ (Only works for lists AFAiCT.) 2022-03-14 18:59:46 @stepien_przemek @EnergyJvd I am certainly pro-nuke in spite of such people, not because of them. 2022-03-14 18:58:57 @stepien_przemek @EnergyJvd Yes. It's curious how many posters seem unable to even conceive of a deep and sympathetic understanding for views they don't hold. 2022-03-14 17:02:38 I love the idea of doing this with very high speed trains travelling in reduced air pressure tunnels (which I guess now gets called a hyperloop, though the concept is centuries old). Potentially much faster than air travel, though the infrastructure cost may be prohibitive. https://t.co/3XyjIBr7fC 2022-03-13 22:23:49 @gravity_levity I suppose I should add that there are caveats to that. (Sometimes high overhead is appropriate). But as a default, it seems really bad. 2022-03-13 22:17:04 @gravity_levity High overhead rates are a disaster for science, IMO. 2022-03-13 20:32:18 @sir_deenicus @khinsen I know it well. A book by a technocrat for technocrats. Not at all what I am talking about. 2022-03-13 18:42:26 Interesting way of dealing with collaborators. (I take Gelman's point, but am not sure it's the most constructive way of addressing the issue. Of course, his co-author wasn't addressing it constructively, either.) https://t.co/6W3w95g1kT 2022-03-13 18:11:23 @mollyfmielke I don't actually quite know what this means :-) But it sounds interesting! Something I dislike about much Silicon Valley culture is the defacto 1 hour time to meet. Feels like a manager culture thing. I prefer 15 mins, 30 mins... or multi-hour. Sometimes 5 or 10 hrs is right! 2022-03-13 17:04:17 @rsnous (I'm sure you've seen people who keep their entire file system under version control, things like that. But it should be possible to go much, much further.) 2022-03-13 17:03:48 @rsnous I've wondered about this - a self-tracking computer that can literally recreate its own state for its entire history. I don't think this should be so hard to do. It'd be pretty much an unboundedly recursive self-modifying Quine, if you catch my drift. 2022-03-13 16:52:46 @johncarlosbaez I'm reluctant to second guess other people's choices. Physics, especially theoretical physics, is a vanishing fraction of the world budget, and has delivered a huge number of benefits. [Wow. I'm never the one making this argument with other physicists. The frisson of novelty!] 2022-03-13 16:46:03 @visakanv @DistractedAnna @thebestestpie relationship be (far) better for _all_ parties than any would have been on their own. Applies to every type of relationship AFAICS. (I aspire to this, though I often fall well short.) 2022-03-13 16:44:22 @visakanv @DistractedAnna @thebestestpie I like your description. The (practical) experience I've had of people practicing radical candour is that they're usually not as kind as I think would be good, both for them and for their loved ones. You want to be with people who will insist that the... 2022-03-13 16:25:38 @tessafyi Thanks for sharing. 2022-03-13 16:23:55 @tessafyi Maybe it's the vivid reminder that grief and loss is somehow part of our common humanity? I don't know. But I find it deeply moving, and makes me feel less alone. 2022-03-13 16:23:07 @tessafyi Me too. I've reread that sequence during some very difficult times. The beginning here, too, cuts to the heart. Both shame & 2022-03-13 16:15:48 @visakanv I didn't connect to the personal story _at all_. I thought it was cliched and silly. But the idea of civilization saving itself by re-engineering spacetime is one of the most beautiful things ever committed to screen. Secondarily, the visuals and music are astonishing. 2022-03-13 16:14:12 @visakanv I love many things about this anecdote. One thing especially: the bit of the movie Nolan cares about doesn't work for me, and I love it anyway. I find there to be something really moving that an artistic work may fail, on the artist's terms, and move others anyway. 2022-03-13 16:11:37 @visakanv @DistractedAnna @thebestestpie "Kind but frank" is an interesting superpower. Surprisingly hard to develop, I think perhaps because it's much easier to think in one frame than two. 2022-03-13 12:57:20 @koalalesque I meant something in depth. But at least I now understand your tweet (& 2022-03-13 12:53:41 @evolvable @peterrhague Curious: are you not aware just how much that 10 years (and 1.5 C) was driven by politics, not science? The AOSIS have been surprisingly effective 2022-03-13 12:46:05 Reading the replies has been eye opening. I hadn't realized quite how oblivious many technocrats are to the lack of trust many people have in technocracy. "We know best, here's our for-and-against assessment, now be good little peasants" isn't a convincing argument. 2022-03-13 12:39:30 @MariusHobbhahn @Simon__Grimm Does it take a deep and sympathetic look at opponents' concerns? Judging by your response, I'm guessing it'll be the standard technocratic for-and-against almost completely oblivious to the point. 2022-03-13 03:50:49 Estimated capital expenditure by 2030 for net zero by 2050: (Ofc, there's lots of alternative ways of mapping out, but I found this interesting for scale.) https://t.co/3StJByHsoR 2022-03-13 03:48:04 I do enjoy the download nag page: https://t.co/f7bgSzfus5 2022-03-13 03:48:03 Interesting comprehensive report from the NAS, on accelerating decarbonization, free at: https://t.co/sxpHxHx5Jd https://t.co/wOkDCedMNr 2022-03-13 03:30:56 Gorgeous shots! https://t.co/ZtCWo37m1H 2022-03-13 03:27:50 The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu asked how they think about death. Their response is to fall over laughing as they tease each other ("he doesn't mind, he's a Buddhist, he believes in reincarnation!") https://t.co/U44T36Xnue 2022-03-13 03:16:02 @Meaningness @ArtirKel It's a worldwide graph, not one polity. Given that 30 years produced maybe a 25% increase in capacity, or about 18 months worth of change for renewables, I know where I'd put my money. (Speaking of which: anyone know a good ETF for renewables?) 2022-03-13 02:58:59 @tomaspueyo Doesn't seem very related to my tweet, at a quick glance? I'd love to see chapters on why people don't like nuclear, or what sets the level of trust people have in experts or governments or corporations, and how it breaks down. 2022-03-13 02:53:01 @curiouswavefn As you know, so many things like this happen: https://t.co/vgB4QPGtMK Or: https://t.co/fcsDP9ILp1 All x 1000. And I think it makes the relationship to "experts" a really interesting subject. 2022-03-13 02:49:44 @curiouswavefn In general, something I'd like to see is a detailed, nuanced account of the credibility of experts, bureaucracies, and companies. Things like Tuskagee [x 1000] make the problem incredibly hard. A few industries respond well (airline safety is amazing, for instance). Most don't. 2022-03-13 02:47:53 @curiouswavefn Interesting! 2022-03-13 02:33:13 @katgleason Really fascinating! So hard to fathom if the pattern had never been discovered before ("discovered" seems more right than "invented" here!) 2022-03-13 02:11:30 @tessafyi Also "A Civil Campaign" and "Stories of Your Life" are two of my favourites. So many quotes from ACC 2022-03-13 02:07:35 @Meaningness @ArtirKel Renewables have mostly been growing ~15% per year in recent years. Contrast: (These two facts, juxtaposed, basically made me arrive at the same position as Jose.) https://t.co/Wnih56WA2o 2022-03-13 00:50:52 Come to think of it, I'd love to hear an (anti) account of nuclear energy which isn't "opponents are misguided and ignorant about nuclear". Rather: a deep & 2022-03-13 00:12:43 @ArtirKel I'm (cautiously) optimistic about the battery cost curve.... if that continues, yeah! Battery prices dropped a factor 7-ish in the 2010s(!!!) 2022-03-12 23:55:31 (Alas, the misplaced apostrophe in my original tweet...) 2022-03-12 23:54:10 I'd love to hear a (pro) account of nuclear energy which isn't "opponents are misguided and ignorant about nuclear". Rather: a deep & 2022-03-12 21:41:51 Great collaborative story! https://t.co/kc3Xvjhs26 2022-03-12 21:32:43 This is extremely interesting: One tidbit (of many): each level in the video game Journey began(!) with a piece of music. The level was then designed around the music 2022-03-12 08:11:00 CAFIAC FIX 2022-01-25 02:30:35 @benskuhn A surprisingly large fraction of this book is about trying to program a thermostat: https://t.co/atqOk5fTPz 2022-01-24 16:29:15 @emmaconcepts I believe it was written by Alex Seaver (Mako). Though I can well believe it was written for Sting! 2022-01-24 04:24:55 @henryfarrell @kevinsimler I usually think of plot & 2022-01-24 04:03:42 @henryfarrell Thanks! The second time I read "Story of Your Life" I understood that Chiang had succeeded in evoking an alien consciousness. Not "the aliens'", but that of the narrator. It's one of the most shocking, extraordinary things I've ever experienced. 2022-01-24 03:59:09 @henryfarrell @kevinsimler Somewhere in my notes I have written: "Is Ted Chiang the best writer now alive?" I can't disagree with your usage! 2022-01-24 03:56:34 It's remarkable to experience greatness in near real time. Watching Messi or Federer at their peak. Chiang seems like that, to me. 2022-01-24 03:53:05 Ted Chiang: https://t.co/lJoMrMHOQX 2022-01-24 03:52:07 @henryfarrell @kevinsimler Beautiful! At his best the stories feel almost like Platonic discoveries. That's too strong, but... not entirely wrong. 2022-01-24 03:50:19 The whole comment is very interesting, including this excerpt: https://t.co/MRCsIJu196 https://t.co/IkR8Phb8q9 2022-01-24 03:43:18 @henryfarrell @kevinsimler I like that phrasing, but to riff: what kind of beings would we be if we could experience this thing that we cannot experience? 2022-01-24 02:29:18 One of the most successful stories evoking a consciousness (IMO) is Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life": https://t.co/0mhS22NtI2 Admittedly, I'm not sure how well it works at that if you're not comfortable with causal models & 2022-01-24 00:53:45 @solbeni721 @blairsmani This is staggeringly beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Watching Arcane now. 2022-01-23 22:29:31 @zara_k01 @nvpkp Wow. Very different, but I loved this, too: https://t.co/GMRJDmdFTF 2022-01-23 20:36:23 Reminded a bit of this: https://t.co/vSIb5OFhfM 2022-01-23 20:32:06 Interesting video essay: https://t.co/wPUajBamX5 2022-01-23 20:25:45 @sh_reya I can see why! 2022-01-23 20:18:27 Stunning and arresting: https://t.co/PNT8yGRXro 2022-01-23 18:59:30 @smc90 Gorgeous! 2022-01-23 18:53:23 @Liv_Boeree _Believe_ in the Bitcoin! Praise Satoshi! 2022-01-23 06:17:54 "The Beauty of" channel does a lovely job of remixing movies and their music. Eg Interstellar: https://t.co/uFnl9g5jQR 2022-01-23 06:01:49 Lots of marvellous mini examples in the replies and QTs here, the marriage of story and visuals and music: https://t.co/l4fuEmDQ9W 2022-01-23 04:41:39 @kevinsimler Incidentally, have you read Walter Ong? 2022-01-23 00:35:39 @ulkar_aghayeva @kevinsimler Ah, here's the essay: https://t.co/dadadMheSZ 2022-01-23 00:34:36 @ulkar_aghayeva @kevinsimler A few of my Bryne bookmarks: https://t.co/g5z9nPmjK9 Not, alas, including the essay on architecture. But I've really enjoyed everything of his I've read. I enjoy his music, but may actually prefer him as a writer! 2022-01-23 00:31:54 @ulkar_aghayeva @kevinsimler That's the book. It started as an essay on his blog (which is excellent), I believe, was then a TED talk and a slightly more highfalutin essay in some magazine (IIRC), & 2022-01-23 00:27:08 Highly recommend Kevin on the epidemiology of consciousness: https://t.co/JbfpOHTLtn https://t.co/nkeFkXjCMd https://t.co/oOzJ4LWdPQ 2022-01-23 00:22:50 @kevinsimler That was great, Kevin! David Byrne has an essay somewhere on the connection between music and architecture that you might enjoy (also: a book). I don't immediately see it. 2022-01-23 00:11:43 @kevinsimler The title: there's a thread to my PhD advisor, I believe. I believe Robin uses the phrase "outside view" (??) 2022-01-23 00:10:40 @kevinsimler Oh! I somehow haven't read that. Shall look forward to it! 2022-01-22 23:51:05 There's certainly Twitter-mind! The quality of a medium is, in this sense, about the quality of the state of consciousness it induces in you. 2022-01-22 23:49:57 An idea I love is that a medium of any depth creates a novel state of consciousness. There's Figma-mind and After Effects mind and org-mode mind, there's even Steven King mind or Star Wars mind. 2022-01-22 23:46:36 "Consciousness is contagious" One of the most striking phrases I've heard in some time! https://t.co/4PJ8kJ1LoL 2022-01-22 23:43:55 @kevinsimler @QiaochuYuan In this view, a work of art of any depth going viral is also a state of consciousness going viral. 2022-01-22 23:43:26 @kevinsimler @QiaochuYuan Fascinating: Google claims the phrase was said by Freud! (I wonder if you mean the same thing?) Related to the idea that works of art (books, movies, music etc) are all about creating novel states of consciousness. https://t.co/NqWsO2LiSa 2022-01-22 23:23:23 @kevinsimler @MatjazLeonardis Anyways, I can certainly see why Einstein was very compelled. Add in (3) that the theory is staggeringly beautiful, and in some sense "explains" the equality of gravitational and inertial mass (another miracle)... 2022-01-22 23:22:04 @kevinsimler @MatjazLeonardis Indeed, something like such a set of equations _must_ be true, given that Newton's law and Coulomb's law are both inverse square laws. Add in Lorentz invariance, and something along these lines must hold in the weak-field limit(??) 2022-01-22 23:20:53 @kevinsimler @MatjazLeonardis Something I don't understand is why E didn't just replace Newtonian gravity by something like Maxwell's equations, with the roll of charge played by inertial mass. This would, I presume, satisfy condition (a). It might even satisfy (b) [purely speculation, I expect not]. 2022-01-22 23:19:14 @kevinsimler @MatjazLeonardis I don't remember the history very well. Certain, E already knew that GR was: (a) compatible in the right ways with both special rel & The combination of those two things is amazingly convincing 2022-01-22 23:15:37 @kevinsimler @QiaochuYuan That's a really really striking phrase Kevin! What do you mean by it? 2022-01-22 04:47:28 @micahtredding KoG-complete made me smile. Very nice coinage! 2022-01-22 02:00:30 Useful universal prior update mechanism: https://t.co/V0xTHBcQN7 2022-01-22 01:51:16 @ambimorph @kevinsimler Heh. I _know_ what that transitive closure is ("Everything is true! And, therefore, also false!") 2022-01-22 01:50:37 @johncarlosbaez Ah, yes, welcome to the planet of the anti-inductivists, where past failure is indicative of future success... (I think I got that joke from @JohnASmolin, about 473 years ago?) 2022-01-22 01:47:06 @DylanTweed It was a joke. 2022-01-22 01:16:39 ' -> 2022-01-22 01:15:30 @kevinsimler @MatjazLeonardis https://t.co/RDRq0DMIdK 2022-01-22 01:15:18 Einstein, doubling down on his posterior: (The double entendre's write themselves really) https://t.co/d3X0fWrqHD 2022-01-22 01:10:57 An economist who has written 12 op-eds arguing for no minimal wage and then conducted a study whose conclusion is "we should increase the minimum wage " is much more convincing than one whose op-eds argue for a higher minimum wage. 2022-01-22 01:10:56 A more serious example: conclusions in journal articles are _far_ more convincing when authors have changed from a strong pre-committed position. 2022-01-22 00:59:28 The error messages would be amusing: "Hmm. Looks like you're sharing evidence confirming something you believe. Sure you want to do this?" Also, argument would be a hoot. "No! No! No! _You_ are correct, dear sir. Allow me to explain the flaw in my reasoning." 2022-01-22 00:56:15 It's surprisingly hard to talk about this stuff well. So easy to be smug: "_I_, of course, don't do this, unlike you plebs" (heh). Maybe that's why jokes are a suitable medium. 2022-01-22 00:56:14 So much of what we do and say may be paraphrased as "Ahah! Just as I suspected! More confirming evidence!" I amuse myself by imagining falsification twitter sometimes, just people sharing evidence things they believe are wrong. "Oops, I was wrong again!" 2022-01-22 00:50:30 RT @kevinsimler: @michael_nielsen brb updating my priors in light of this conclusion 2022-01-22 00:47:09 Motivated reasoning: just like standard Bayesian reasoning, but with a fixed posterior... 2022-01-21 15:06:22 Lovely collection of loosely related Jupyter notebooks, instigated by Peter Norvig: https://t.co/Fepe0hkh5R (cc @andy_matuschak ) 2022-01-21 05:31:57 @cosmotechnic Also: I learned Dvorak to procrastinate on writing my thesis... 2022-01-21 05:30:56 @cosmotechnic Long-distance relationship. Shocked this is not in the replies so far! 2022-01-21 05:02:45 @noahlt It's an adjustment for case numbers being 20 times higher than when I got my first shots. And I would have gotten that outdoors if I could... 2022-01-21 02:27:57 Also: "Common knowledge as a powerful tool of governance." Something can be true. Everyone can know something is true. But to get effective action may require everyone knowing that everyone knows something is true [etc]... 2022-01-21 02:24:34 "What principles survive bureaucratization?" From a conversation with @stuartbuck1 It's sometimes the difference between Michelin 2 stars and McDonald's food.... 2022-01-21 02:21:44 Anyone know good _outdoor_ place to get vaccine booster shots in San Francisco? 2022-01-20 04:38:02 E.g., if you and a partner agree to time-order: you apply g and a later time apply g^{-1} to some third party account, there is no change to your net worth But the 3rd-prty a/c changes... 2022-01-20 04:12:59 See also: https://t.co/3udPqhBgCO 2022-01-20 04:12:18 @vgr @qntm (As is perhaps evident, I'm perhaps too good at sniping myself...) 2022-01-20 04:11:24 @vgr Alas, I've been carefully avoiding being sniped by wordle & 2022-01-20 04:03:28 In particular, the commutator would be fascinating, a way of getting something out of pure temporal ordering. This seems like it might be useful as a co-operation mechanism? 2022-01-20 04:01:10 I believe Abelian groups would (probably) give pretty standard variations on existing economies (though maybe with interesting twists). Non-Abelian groups would, I expect, be radically different. 2022-01-20 03:56:19 If the underlying group is the positive reals, with operation multiplication, then this is a reasonable approximation to standard currencies & If the group is, say, the invertible 2 x 2 matrices (or, say, with det 1), it's a decidedly nonstandard economy. 2022-01-20 03:54:11 In general, if you use a shared ledger where a transaction applies some group element g to my account (recipient), and g^{-1} to yours (sender), that's pretty interesting. 2022-01-20 03:48:55 "What are you in for?" "I broke into somebody's house, and left a huge pile of cash on their bed!" 2022-01-20 03:48:15 @tweetsbenedict Yep. Sort of: how much worse does random noise make solving the cube? 2022-01-20 03:46:20 Oh, I'd forgotten, I wrote that post about non-Abelian money after an amusing conversation with my friend Ben about negative money. https://t.co/GIhFfbyOHL 2022-01-20 03:36:15 @tweetsbenedict Yup. Realized that immediately I hit send, along with a long sequence of other thoughts... 2022-01-20 03:35:13 To go back to the original, though, it's fun to think about rules for actual adversarial cubing competitions. No longer about dexterity, but actual combat, more like chess. 2022-01-20 03:32:53 @alicemazzy Also very cool! 2022-01-20 03:32:40 @alicemazzy @massconnect4 Oh, really cool! 2022-01-20 03:32:19 I should gather up my scattered notes. I did write very briefly about it in 2007: https://t.co/DPHW4GMUJW 2022-01-20 03:31:24 I didn't mention my motivation, but may as well - I've wondered for decades what happens if you make the units of currency a non-Abelian group (rather than Abelian, as usually). And was just playing around with adversarial games that can be played in a non-Abelian economy :-) 2022-01-20 03:29:13 A curious difference is that in the quantum case an error-correcting encoding is used, and we care about the representation (i.e., the vector space) 2022-01-20 03:27:31 The results about the Rubik's cube and the fault-tolerant threshold theorem for quantum computing are presumably both instances of some general result about adversarial games on general groups. 2022-01-20 03:25:33 It's quite similar to quantum error-correction, where you want to apply a particular set of group generator operations to achieve a desired group element, but a "demon" (nature) occasionally inserts adversarial noise. 2022-01-20 03:23:29 Fun to think about adding superselection rules: e.g., what if inverses are not allowed in the generating set? 2022-01-20 03:21:44 Interesting to think about coin tosses determining who moves. But, eventually, I will get a long run in a row, and I can use that to solve it. But I wonder if a better solution is possible? 2022-01-20 03:20:19 E.g., if I get an average of 1.1 moves to each 1 of theirs, say an extra move every 10 or so, then I'm also good. 2022-01-20 03:19:19 Interesting: if I get any _consistent_ excess, I can always undo their move, and use occasional excess to move toward a solution. 2022-01-20 03:17:54 Ah, if I get 2:1, then the answer is yes: I can undo their move, and do one of my own. 2022-01-20 03:14:48 Is adversarial Rubik's cubing a thing? If I get 2 moves, followed by 1 by an adversary, can I always win (& What about if I get 5 moves, followed by 1 by an adversary? Certainly can be done in 20, since you can solve the cube in 20! 2022-01-19 06:27:23 @seanmcarroll Ep. 1 certainly hooked me. 2022-01-19 06:22:38 I... don't understand Apple TV's rating guide. That's quite a bit more editorial comment than I expect! (FWIW, the first episode hooked me well.) https://t.co/bc14PpGTQM 2022-01-19 06:10:24 @jaltma @erondu All our base. 2022-01-19 04:49:40 @context_ing Ash Barty :-) 2022-01-19 04:33:05 Fascinating update on where Intel is at: https://t.co/kGsAaGOr9o Every time I read about Intel I am struck: I don't know what Intel wants its decisive competitive edge to be. This may be my ignorance. But I wonder if they have strong alignment around a clear vision of that edge? 2022-01-18 03:22:28 Since I'm on complexity theory, I certainly would not take a 1,000:1 bet against quantum computers being simulable in (say) quadratic time on a classical computer. 100:1? I'd need to think on it. 10:1? I'd take that bet! 2022-01-18 03:17:26 I wonder what are some good really *new* heresies? I like: "3SAT has a quadratic time solution". Or, far more weakly, P = NP. Call it the Goedel heresy (he apparently conjectured this). 2022-01-18 03:12:17 At least two people have commented that they were surprised by the quality of Einstein's writing Which, I must admit, gave me a chuckle. He was pretty bright! And a tad more thoughtful about science than the average! https://t.co/SkVsFI6il4 2022-01-18 03:04:51 Enjoyed this list. Several seem likely to switch to "conventional wisdom" soon (eg 46), & Interesting to ponder the rate of heresy change. https://t.co/F4gLItsija 2022-01-18 01:11:06 @simonsarris Really enjoy the use of Weil in this image! 2022-01-18 01:09:07 @ChanaMessinger Seems fine, though tricky to do without creating unfortunate side effects. Lots of context collapse on Twitter! 2022-01-18 00:46:13 @S_Flammia Interesting. Not enforceable in California, I believe. 2022-01-18 00:20:39 @RebeccaMVarney This may be my favorite tweet, though the whole story is so good it's hard to say. Thanks for sharing! 2022-01-18 00:04:56 @_joaogui1 Not in any sense beyond vague awareness, thanks for the pointer! 2022-01-18 00:03:48 @ch402 Like many elements of the Catholic Church, it's a clever prototype, in which many bugs remain. 2022-01-17 23:45:11 I mean... you literally say it out loud to a person who (in the ideal case) you respect tremendously, and to God. That's quite the accountability ritual! 2022-01-17 23:42:51 An interesting thing about the Catholics' ritual of Confession & It's a very clever design, IMO. 2022-01-17 23:40:24 A striking thread on sources of integrity: https://t.co/qdr2ASkmyO 2022-01-17 23:39:05 RT @seemaychou: Worth a read if you like thinking about the larger forces that shape science. Really appreciated @michael_nielsen’s general… 2022-01-17 23:38:53 @seemaychou Thanks Seemay! 2022-01-17 22:29:01 @economeager A useful idea, IMO, is to be very clear about whose good opinion you really do want. I don't always take this advice. I also like Christopher Alexander: https://t.co/AIZKleZHOZ 2022-01-17 22:25:38 @albrgr @economeager @visakanv Not publicly, no. It was surprisingly complicated. 2022-01-17 22:18:07 Enjoyed this (and the subthread quoted, on mRNA vaccine research): https://t.co/SshmbHCjAp 2022-01-17 22:16:15 @economeager @visakanv I gave up a tenured position, in part due to that pattern. I enjoy working on my own, & 2022-01-17 22:15:01 @utotranslucence Thanks, that sounds like fun! 2022-01-17 22:12:57 @paulg Einstein's remarks on motivations like that of Lewontin are quite striking: https://t.co/iHMPuiRYuC https://t.co/4NPC9I3v46 2022-01-17 08:11:00 CAFIAC FIX 2022-01-13 05:08:07 @joshuaforman @JocelynnPearl https://t.co/E0tBAN0ihz 2022-01-13 04:42:42 @BenRothenberg There's a distinct possibility he plays, wins, and then is booed extensively during the winning ceremony, with the coverage being of that, and "21 Grand Slams" a relative footnote. Strange to think about. 2022-01-13 04:03:32 @Thinkwert This is a very good tweet. 2022-01-13 01:47:13 Heh: this is something of a verbal meme: https://t.co/tJ6vYdIQdF 2022-01-13 01:30:25 Years ago I bought a recording of the Bible, narrated by James Earl Jones, entirely on the grounds that "Darth Vader Reads the Bible" was too good not to buy. He has a voice that is beautiful, but with undertones of extraordinary power & 2022-01-12 23:32:40 @Ben_Reinhardt @slatestarcodex @ch402 Small N seems like a good goal here. 2022-01-12 23:31:42 @sonyasupposedly Ofc, it's also possible that people are just a little embarrassed to talk about it now. But I don't think so - historians of science often seem to be pretty frank, and delight in things that would offend modern sensibilities. 2022-01-12 23:30:53 @sonyasupposedly A weird thing: a lot of the great early astronomers were also astrologers. But AFAICT I can't see a huge amount of overlap, it seems more to have been a "pays the bills" kind of thing. 2022-01-12 23:30:13 @sonyasupposedly I don't know - I don't much about alchemy or the early history of chemistry. Were the great early chemists informed by alchemy? 2022-01-12 23:27:11 @sonyasupposedly Funny, though, I think your "joke" has a lot of truth to it. It's pretty interesting IMO! 2022-01-12 23:26:05 @sonyasupposedly I'd love to know just how the amateur/pro split has changed over time, though. Really hard to measure. 2022-01-12 23:25:18 @sonyasupposedly Lots of fields start with pros. Well, except in some sense definitionally: no-one is a pro in a truly new field. But if, say, an optical astronomer with a background in rf had started radio astronomy, I'd count that as "started by a pro". 2022-01-12 23:14:18 @davidtlang It is generous use of "amateur". One of them had won the Nobel Prize, & 2022-01-12 23:06:54 The pattern is pretty interesting. For more recent examples you have things like John Sidles - whose background is sports medicine - co-inventing magnetic force resonance microscopy. 2022-01-12 23:00:36 Remarkable: arguably the first real signal source was (what we now know was) the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Talk about a discovery! Of course, it took decades to work all that out. https://t.co/TDNjcf03Ch 2022-01-12 22:56:04 I hadn't previously appreciated the extent to which radio astronomy started by accident, and with amateurs: https://t.co/pVIo9Dakdf 2022-01-12 17:34:53 @ch402 @microcovid I think it's one of the most common rationales, pre-dating the human race. But not often stated quite that way! 2022-01-12 17:32:14 @ch402 @microcovid "I'd love to come to your event, but my friend has also invited me to something with 3x the number of micromarriages. Sorry!" 2022-01-12 17:28:12 @ch402 @microcovid Ah, both of those are so great! 2022-01-12 17:00:17 I'm amusing myself by imagining a @microcovid-style micromarriage estimator... 2022-01-12 16:55:32 Marriage advice, @slatestarcodex & 2022-01-12 07:04:25 Mimetic desire is really helpful for social animals that would benefit from setting and achieving group goals. 2022-01-12 06:44:19 @BenRothenberg I can see why the Australian minister involved is waiting. More and more observations like this piling up is making it easier and easier to say "deport". Deeply unpleasant. He's lost me as a fan. 2022-01-12 03:28:54 @_awbery_ 2022-01-12 03:28:18 @_awbery_ There's so much sorta science awe clickbait, sorta gimmicks. But this is arising out of a deep understanding, the kind present in Darwin and Sagan and (the best of) Dawkins. I hope & 2022-01-12 03:26:29 @_awbery_ I can't know what's happening in her head. But I hope that not only is she having a profound religious & 2022-01-12 03:17:54 @_awbery_ I love the whole video, but there's a bit a couple of minutes earlier that I particularly love (at 17:28, it's the response of the woman singing in the audience). Here, with a little context: https://t.co/boYhkiDExx 2022-01-12 03:16:13 @_awbery_ Neither can I. 2022-01-12 03:15:32 @kevinsimler @_awbery_ Absolutely gorgeous. Hadn't seen it - thanks for sharing! 2022-01-12 02:56:26 This is a band who recorded a song about Eugene Shoemaker (of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fame): https://t.co/KXARFTXrDL 2022-01-12 02:51:05 I also love this comment from the lead singer of the band. https://t.co/Me3Ptqbd8J 2022-01-12 02:48:19 I enjoy, very much, the fact that the response of the audience here is a look of awed, respectful wonder. 2022-01-12 02:43:58 Imagine someone reading aloud the last paragraph of your scientific research work to finish a concert. In front of tens of thousands of fans. 150 years after you wrote it. Works surprisingly well: https://t.co/uAyq6io9q2 2022-01-11 20:12:45 47% / month corresponds to an annual rate of about 10,000% (!) 2022-01-11 20:08:46 https://t.co/nUQ4ziYDV9 2022-01-11 19:51:37 @vgr I'm amazed the mirror alignment is apparently slated to take 120 days(!!!) 2022-01-11 17:33:14 Just realizing I've, er, sort of compared EdTech research to a flea! As an occasional contributor to EdTech research, no such comparison intended! 2022-01-11 17:31:40 The evolution of top-50 keywords in edtech research over the last 20 years. Field macroscopes are fascinating. I feel a bit like I'm looking at Robert Hooke's astounding image of a flea. I don't quite know what I'm looking at, but there's something interesting there. https://t.co/eNiFQ4orqT 2022-01-11 17:14:18 @catthu @cstross Oh, thanks, that sounds great! Will let you know next time I'm in the area. Also, cc @timhwang, might be your kind of thing? Reactor trip! 2022-01-11 17:12:39 Interesting tweet & 2022-01-11 17:04:10 Fascinating tour of a nuclear reactor, by @cstross: https://t.co/HFTyzuqdxK https://t.co/g0Vm8xrawK 2022-01-11 08:11:00 CAFIAC FIX 2022-01-06 06:47:33 @Marco_Piani I'm afraid I think that's like worrying you left the laundry in the dryer, while your house is burning down. It's just not the relevant thing here. They're _printing money_, at taxpayer expense, in an absolutely ludicrous fashion. 2022-01-06 06:43:10 @johncarlosbaez @Marco_Piani It's 7k (I thought it was 3.1k at first, too). 2022-01-06 06:39:38 @Marco_Piani @johncarlosbaez That is not the high-order bit here for me. 2022-01-06 06:37:52 @zooko @pmarca It's all fun and games, until somebody gets Blocked. (Very amusing. Well, while I can still see them...) 2022-01-06 06:32:12 @pmarca I'm beginning to sense a theme. 2022-01-06 06:30:36 @johncarlosbaez Judging by their revenues and operating profit, they're (short-term) correct. 2022-01-06 05:35:29 Trident Bookstore in Boston was, IIRC, 6am to midnight with a great little cafe. But alas, the Internet (+Pandemic) has made that kind of thing so hard to maintain. 2022-01-06 05:30:33 Things I miss: the amazing Page 1 Bookstore in Albuquerque used to be open until midnight (IIRC) year-round, and 24 hours around Christmas. Civilization. https://t.co/MVXeyjdLth 2022-01-06 04:18:57 @corbett Curious: what do you mean by qualified reviewer? I wasn't aware some journals impose qualification requirements(?) 2022-01-06 04:18:09 @corbett I'll bet > 2022-01-06 03:17:46 On the velocity of discovery, & 2022-01-06 02:57:00 Oops, meant to ht @Meaningness for that last pointer! 2022-01-06 02:55:11 Heh. Taylor & I hear loan sharking is also a good business to get into 2022-01-06 02:51:47 One of my absolute favourite things in the world is that waves can move at a completely different speed than the particles making up the waves! Aside from the direct coolness, I love it because this happens all the time in collective systems, including collective human systems 2022-01-06 02:48:16 "So, where do you see yourself in 5 years?" "No idea - who will we be at war with?" Actually, kinda fascinating. 2022-01-06 02:46:51 ht @_thanksforthat for the pointer to the expedited refereeing 2022-01-06 02:46:07 Incidentally, I dislike the narrative "refereeing is unpaid labor". It's not quite false - there are genuinely unpaid referees - but most referees do it while being paid by their employer, effectively as part of the service part of their job It is, however, a screwed-up market 2022-01-06 02:46:06 Interesting model: pay faster for expedited peer review. I wonder if Taylor & Seems likely to backfire. https://t.co/1618d7MHVL https://t.co/JFkEKZU8Zh 2022-01-06 02:40:47 Lovely terse summary of the inscrutability of the future, from the 2001 US DoD: https://t.co/0NzM9HwrQb 2022-01-05 21:08:33 @earnmyturns Er, to be clear: I (strongly!) agree with you! 2022-01-05 21:07:54 @earnmyturns I wrote something (maybe?) similar to your point here: https://t.co/z3dWYwM1qo 2022-01-05 21:07:17 @earnmyturns There's a lot it fails to take into account: I think the essay is fundamentally wrong. But it's interesting. 2022-01-05 20:23:42 @JerusalemDemsas 30 seconds in, and she has them both... Harrison Ford usually hates being interviewed, too. 2022-01-05 20:13:43 @JerusalemDemsas That was great. It's not science, but I loved her cracking up Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling. She's delightful: https://t.co/zQKwXy5rZ5 2022-01-05 17:26:36 I like Y Combinator-the-startup accelerator, but it does make it hard to search for the fixed-point combinator in lambda calculus... 2022-01-05 16:53:02 A good essay from Holden Karnofsky, trying to better understand common patterns of innovation & 2022-01-05 16:20:48 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy You can see this point very clearly in this amazing presentation from game designer Brian Moriarty: https://t.co/TBFre9cHF9 And then consider sequels like "The Witness". 2022-01-05 16:18:51 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy Those are all asides: my core point remains that major new creative opportunities are discovered 2022-01-05 16:16:28 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy Yet more tangents: I don't think anyone would argue that men's tennis peaked from about 2005-2020. And arguably true of women's tennis too, though that's more down to one person (Serena). 2022-01-05 16:14:23 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy Some of that seems down to simple rule changes. Others to discovered possibility within the rules. Watching MJ do something ridiculous is probably more fun than watching Steph Curry (as great as Curry is), but SC is definitely the _better_ strategy, analytically. 2022-01-05 16:12:49 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy This one is really interesting. It's certainly clear that at some level today's basketballers are _better_. LBJ is a better athlete than MJ, etc. But I don't think they're quite as much fun to watch as in the 1980s. https://t.co/Lc9q48iyYX 2022-01-05 15:55:55 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy As an aside: at the time Ramanujan and Shakespeare weren't an answer to this question, either. Littlewood & 2022-01-05 15:51:14 @albrgr @tylercowen @patrickc @mattsclancy As I've said to you before, I think this classification is incomplete. Golden ages can be opened up, by new fields. Turing was working in what must have seemed an esoteric, obscure branch of logic 2022-01-05 03:16:28 @mickeykats Thanks Mikhail! 2022-01-05 01:24:10 @mxstbr Thanks! Happy birthday! 2022-01-05 00:29:04 @sebpaquet Thanks Seb, that is very generous of you! 2022-01-05 00:27:39 @krishnadusad Thank you, Krishna, for those very generous words! Very nice to hear! 2022-01-05 00:26:34 @micmelesse Thank you! That is very nice of you to say! 2022-01-05 00:25:45 @KyleCranmer Thanks Kyle. Didn't realize perihelion day was Jan 4! Though I guess that will (very slowly) change, and leap years (etc) might make it vary occasionally anyway... 2022-01-04 22:22:51 @_TamaraWinter Thank you Tammie! 2022-01-04 22:22:24 @AlexKontorovich Thanks Alex! 2022-01-04 22:22:11 @0xhexhex Thank you Claire, that is lovely to hear. 2022-01-04 22:21:31 @physicsdavid Thanks Dave! Congrats on the dissertation, that’s huge! 2022-01-04 19:54:52 @ctitusbrown "Mother, father, I want to introduce... she's getting away." I chortle, even now. Funnier than Austen, which is saying something. 2022-01-04 19:24:16 I can't resist putting the qualifying remarks in: https://t.co/rnxmvJglTk 2022-01-04 18:38:17 @MartinBJensen Thanks Martin! 2022-01-04 18:29:33 @emmaconcepts @stianwestlake Thanks Emma! 2022-01-04 18:23:35 Lois Bujold has a little passage on birthdays and other people's opinions that I think about each year. It's... not quite right - indeed, she makes qualifying comments elsewhere. But I think it's got a lot of wisdom. https://t.co/hzftQNf705 2022-01-04 18:00:06 @niftynei Thanks Lisa! 2022-01-04 17:59:50 @_inundata Thanks Karthik! 2022-01-04 17:59:26 @ATabarrok From cyclops to Happy Birthday . Thanks Alex! 2022-01-04 17:58:41 @kootsoop Thanks Peter! 2022-01-04 17:57:42 @imperialauditor Thanks! It's my Grandmother's (pre-pandemic) 90th. Last time I was together with a large chunk of the family, who are mostly in Australia. 2022-01-04 17:56:37 @nayafia Thanks Nadia 2022-01-04 17:55:35 @jennykaehms Thanks for the balloons Jenny! 2022-01-04 17:55:12 @davidtlang Thank you David, appreciate it! 2022-01-04 17:55:02 @curiouswavefn Thanks Ash! I attempted to reply with a metaphor in kind, but I, er, got a little washed away by the sea Island building is an ongoing process! 2022-01-04 17:53:40 @ulkar_aghayeva Thank you Ulkar! I'm moved and delighted by your comment. Here's to more opening of worlds! 2022-01-04 17:50:40 @mollyfmielke Thank you Molly, appreciate that very much! 2022-01-04 08:41:19 @yogeshTweep Thank you! Very glad you found it helpful! Good luck with your studies! 2022-01-04 08:03:37 @mayli thank you may-li! 2022-01-04 08:02:59 @sliminality Thanks Slim! 2022-01-04 08:02:49 @netlenochka Thank you Olena! 2022-01-04 08:02:39 @czgate Thanks Paige! 2022-01-04 08:02:31 @arghya_dutta_ Thank you! Delighted to hear they've been helpful! 2022-01-04 08:02:05 @AndreasAtETH Thanks Andreas! 2022-01-04 07:42:34 @maartengm Thanks! Indeed: Einstein's principle of general covariance implies that while a heliocentric view is very practical, in principle a geocentric view is on an equal footing. (This, er, tends to cause flame wars, so I may delete, since I'd rather not get into that here.) 2022-01-04 07:39:59 @auderdy Thank you Audrey! 2022-01-04 07:39:48 @mindspillage Thank you Kat, very kind of you to say. Likewise! 2022-01-04 07:39:25 @stianwestlake Thank you Stian! I appreciate the linguistically challenging (for me) but nice wishes. 2022-01-04 07:20:54 @l_constable @Inkyfool Funny, for a moment I thought it was Mark Forstater, whose modern version of Marcus Aurelius I enjoy. But I am quite mistaken! 2022-01-04 07:19:51 @l_constable @Inkyfool No, I haven't! Looks very interesting, thanks for the suggestion! 2022-01-04 07:17:53 @ArtirKel Thank you! 2022-01-04 07:13:41 @AIsakovic1 Thank you! 2022-01-04 07:13:35 @aladyonfire_ Thanks! 2022-01-04 07:13:28 @AshtearLucca Thank you! 2022-01-04 07:10:04 I am, in fact, a few minutes early (it's the 4th). Since I'm being asked: the photo on the left is from Sensorio, which is marvellous: https://t.co/xesXMhLB8G 2022-01-04 07:04:58 One more trip around the Sun completed. Or of the Sun around us (Today's my birthday!) https://t.co/1xGJQBrrJm 2022-01-04 02:26:37 @rcklss_abndn @ElodesNL But yeah, being able to laugh at yourself is very liberating. Still working on it! 2022-01-04 02:25:55 @rcklss_abndn @ElodesNL You were an engineer at a SaaS startup 30+ years ago? Didn't realize those were a thing back then, maybe I misunderstood you though! 2022-01-04 02:20:01 @rcklss_abndn @ElodesNL This (and the OP) are both great, very funny, & 2022-01-03 23:37:18 The entire article is fascinating: https://t.co/iPUKU1HNaN (Please don't bother the author or @ mention them or anything like that - I will immediately block anyone who does. I'm just trying to understand the plurality of modern attitudes to Bruno, and this was striking.) 2022-01-03 23:33:46 Fascinating apologia, from 2020(!!!) I mean, apart from murdering him by setting him on fire, he was really treated quite well, apparently... https://t.co/trzVQ4p5m3 2022-01-03 23:23:22 https://t.co/Mozmg0Wv6Q 2022-01-03 04:14:33 And as he points out, this is honestly close to Tolkien's actual view (This may be true of Frank Baum, too, come to think of it.) 2022-01-03 04:12:56 I really enjoyed @patio11's Wicked-style rewrite of Lord of the Rings, with Gollum as the actual hero: https://t.co/5SP8SeMSA2 2022-01-03 04:11:48 @ljxie I love this thread from @patio11: https://t.co/dF2FwtaMW6 2022-01-03 04:06:39 @ljxie Pfft, says Gollum! 2022-01-03 03:57:12 I'd never heard the terms "nescient" & 2022-01-03 03:55:29 Look at the list of places it's used! https://t.co/tZNdXSOprS 2022-01-03 03:53:28 I love the PIE root of science, skei, means to cut or split. Reductionism runs deep. https://t.co/GJZhn8zl1u 2022-01-03 03:52:35 https://t.co/QOTtOQ3aqG is dangerously addictive to surf. Also fun to realize how close lots of PIE roots are to modern usage. "leuk" -> 2022-01-03 03:49:34 @judell So much easier to start with a title... 2022-01-03 03:49:22 @judell No idea at all where the list is, though there's a fair chance it's lying around somewhere on my disk. Of course, most of the work is semi-conscious - out for a walk, and (bad!) ideas arise in hordes, flitting in an out of consciousness, get rolled around, variations tried... 2022-01-03 03:41:01 For, e.g., my book "Reinventing Discovery" I wrote out a list of > 2022-01-03 03:38:24 (All part of trying to coin a word. Sometimes terms come easily, but often it's like playing chess with an unbounded set of pieces, many of them unknown to you, on an unbounded board...) 2022-01-03 03:36:55 Other interesting learnings: the word pirate comes from the Greek peirates (for attempt or attack), which seems like a much cooler word. 2022-01-03 03:31:46 interscenius isn't bad, either. scenius is a surprisingly flexible word. 2022-01-03 03:22:02 I learned recently that most modern usage of the word root "meta" is wrong, as explained in this etymology. It's actually fairly close to "change", apparently, in the original Greek. https://t.co/ynQsP8ml4z 2022-01-03 03:19:08 metascenius 2022-01-02 19:49:06 @devonzuegel I guess - I'm not especially well informed - it's likely (> In which case avoiding the current wave is very valuable if you want to avoid LC 2022-01-02 18:53:18 RIP E. O. Wilson Ike Chuang and I began our book "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information" with a quote from Wilson's "Consilience": https://t.co/mhb28zqkVn 2022-01-02 18:51:41 @Patrici86543708 A little over 21 years ago I published a book (with Ike Chuang) which began with these words from Consilience: https://t.co/zaNBSfruCg 2022-01-02 04:18:18 Also on Instagram: https://t.co/P7YnQyy7q3 I feel like I'm doing advertising here, but I swear not - I just really enjoy his work! Always shocked to realize he's in LA, not NYC, since there's so much NYC vibe 2022-01-02 04:15:53 Also exuberant sensuousness. Gorgeous. https://t.co/KEg2Ah6UUc 2022-01-02 04:15:52 https://t.co/r3lyOmdGoA 2022-01-02 04:15:51 https://t.co/m5VgzQtN8T 2022-01-02 04:15:50 In general, I love @pascalcampion's depiction of cities, especially of rain and mist and night. It's fully of cozy and mystery https://t.co/SNjZHsnkTV 2022-01-02 04:09:53 Loving @pascalcampion's variation on "Into the Spiderverse": https://t.co/voFyl1CQO8 https://t.co/4HLtoFS4I2 2022-01-02 03:45:26 @ambimorph So I want a term that suggests a tight feedback loop between the two, rather than one depending mainly on the other. 2022-01-02 03:44:51 @ambimorph I just mean that if an outsider hears about "Applied Physics" [say], they might assume it "merely" takes the basic principles of physics and uses them in different context. In practice, applied physics often greatly changes our understanding of the principles 2022-01-01 23:51:35 @obrl_soil @Meaningness I kinda have the same problem with translational. It sounds nicer, though! 2022-01-01 23:33:02 @ChrsAWhte As in: outside the people within-or-near applied science it may give a misleading idea. 2022-01-01 23:32:12 @ChrsAWhte That's certainly true. I just mean that on a priori grounds it's not a very good term, and outside applied science it's misleading. 2022-01-01 23:20:48 @nikete Nicely descriptive! 2022-01-01 23:19:37 @StefanFSchubert Brief and badly misleading doesn't seem particularly desirable. 2022-01-01 23:17:52 @StefanFSchubert I don't know. I've been looking... 2022-01-01 23:14:49 The https://t.co/2IuM0XfNC9 synonyms are not particularly inspiring: https://t.co/zBJQJdctfX 2022-01-01 23:13:29 (I've grown to really dislike the pervasive nature of Vannevar Bush's linear model - this is, I believe, an example.) 2022-01-01 23:12:59 I don't like the term "applied science" It's too passive: "applied" makes it sound like you just draw casually on a body of existing results. In fact, very often "applied science" radically changes the sciences upon which it nominally depends 2022-01-01 21:11:33 https://t.co/lIsTfjBAEW 2021-12-31 19:34:14 @legalnomads Millions of dollars of cattle used to get stolen, back and forth, inside some of the main families in town. It was a wild place. 2021-12-31 19:30:51 @legalnomads That story really has everything. You could teach a (hilarious, entertaining) class about it. I lived briefly in Croydon, Australia, which at the time was possibly the cattle rustling capital of the world. This is pretty typical: https://t.co/OzigkjyhPy 2021-12-31 19:12:12 @legalnomads omg, that's great! So many wonderful lines. Reminds me of the Great Emu War in Australia! https://t.co/VdTp3bwZhG 2021-12-31 19:09:44 @mndoci Glad to see my mostly one-shot learning model of Deepak is pretty accurate! 2021-12-31 19:08:53 @legalnomads Sounds like a slippery case. 2021-12-30 18:59:32 @nvpkp I don't know the history, but it's hard to believe that wasn't regulatory capture. So nasty! 2021-12-30 18:55:29 @simonsarris @nvpkp Striking passage. I wonder what Burke would have said about 2008? His reasoning doesn't quite apply there. It's arguable it doesn't fully apply in student loans either - many of the relevant decisions are made when students are deemed still moral patients. 2021-12-30 18:47:41 @nvpkp I don't understand it very well, what the tradeoffs are, & My one strong opinion: the laws around bankruptcy not discharging student debt need to be changed 2021-12-30 18:18:15 @devonzuegel Yeah, I guess it would be a sort of durable ratio'ed. A related thing: I've found the ratio of lists someone is on to follower count an interesting metric. People on lots of lists for follower count seem to be especially valued by many followers. 2021-12-30 18:12:50 @ambimorph 2021-12-30 18:08:55 @devonzuegel Curious: how can you tell? 2021-12-30 05:23:16 @tlbtlbtlb @kanjun Very easy to do things to increase the mean or median, while not realizing that you're suppressing the right tail: https://t.co/IN7k9V9hBt 2021-12-30 05:20:42 @tlbtlbtlb @kanjun Quite agree. Just saying "tail-dominant" is a challenging argument to make bulletproof, though it's probably a reasonable simple model for many purposes For context: the first tweet was a Q, not advocacy. Most of my thread & 2021-12-30 05:12:30 @zooko (Visited Salt Lake City a few months back. Was amused to see the giant Mormon administrative building towering over the Temple. Middle management wins...) 2021-12-30 05:11:43 @zooko Yep. The Gospels are in many regards an astonishing moral achievement. The Catholic Church has a rather mixed record... 2021-12-30 05:09:47 @zooko Not what I mean. Ask the space aliens: do you think there are institutions which makes Earth 2021 morally better than Earth 2021 BCE? Not: what institutions give the powerful more control? 2021-12-30 05:08:11 @zooko Curious, though: I suspect they often come in pairs. You give the science / scientism example. And there are many others. 2021-12-30 05:06:44 @zooko I specifically didn't mean "'moral authority' [sic] for the purpose of controlling the populace", which is if anything of the opposite type. 2021-12-30 05:06:04 @zooko Ah, yeah, we meant in different senses. I was thinking: if space aliens were to view us, what institutions might they think of as conferring surprising moral authority on the modern age, as compared to prior? And there are a surprising number that are plausible (not bulletproof) 2021-12-30 05:01:33 @zooko Interesting to contrast with Desmond Tutu poking fun at the Dalai Lama's belief in reincarnation here: https://t.co/GYwpGgG8dW 2021-12-30 05:00:47 @zooko I meant (deserved) moral authority, where the deeper into it you go, the more respect you feel. I think you're talking about a kind of borrowed moral authority, as an act of acquiring power? Which science (theatre) is often used to do. 2021-12-30 04:52:11 @tlbtlbtlb @kanjun However, with that said: we think it's very plausible, and if so it really upends a lot of conventional thinking. Makes it much more analogous to VC or something like aircraft safety (also dominated by extreme tail events). 2021-12-30 04:50:21 @tlbtlbtlb @kanjun and I have a discussion of this is an essay we're writing. It's a little more subtle than this, because discoveries aren't (obviously) fungible or quantifiable, so it's hard to make the tail-dominant argument bulletproof. 2021-12-30 04:29:58 https://t.co/fqiVsW3w0o https://t.co/NwyXkXkkk9 2021-12-30 04:24:27 Was pondering the question: what moral authority (if any) does the modern age have that former ages lacked? And it occurred to me: we have institutions that enable "doubt and uncertainty and not knowing". It's an interesting source of authority. 2021-12-30 04:22:19 The reverse proudly in action: https://t.co/kIjdx26Ct6 2021-12-30 04:08:34 @mollyfmielke In what way does it remind you of our shared humanity? 2021-12-30 04:07:32 @seanmcarroll Maybe, eg the famous Feynman "no-one understands quantum mechanics" lines might have this quality? But I'm not sure I really buy it. Socrates seems like a counter-eg. Or the guy that runs the Universe in the Hitchhiker's Guide. (What a trio...) 2021-12-30 03:59:48 Expressed doubt and uncertainty has surprisingly strong moral authority. 2021-12-30 02:41:07 @gwern I know that wasn't you, but it's easy to imagine in your voice! So good! 2021-12-30 02:27:04 @zooko Interesting: this starts to bridge the duality I mention elsewhere in the thread. 2021-12-30 02:17:42 @coyotespike @zooko That's definitely true! 2021-12-30 02:16:24 @zooko That's John, no? 2021-12-30 02:13:34 @ambimorph I have, on occasion, entertained myself with the Bulwer-Lytton Laureates: https://t.co/QhtzLhTD3l 2021-12-30 02:11:12 @tasshinfogleman @QiaochuYuan @briandavidhall This is great, thanks for writing! If you're looking for typos at all, there's a small-but-significant-(to me) one: tweets can be 280 chars, not 240! 2021-12-30 02:06:24 @kanjun 2021-12-30 01:58:13 @vgr And here I was thinking it was a comment on the durability of my tweet... 2021-12-30 01:57:40 Ugh. As I wrote this, I thought "'Le Guin' or 'Leguin', better check". I thought it was the first. And managed to completely mangle the actual tweet. My apologies to her deeply honoured memory. https://t.co/KSgtoxdeyF 2021-12-30 01:55:03 @vgr Sorry, what are you talking about? 2021-12-30 01:50:52 @vgr Be the best you you can be 2021-12-30 01:48:33 @emmaconcepts I really like those final lines, very much. 2021-12-30 01:47:42 I like Le Guin's observation very much. As a writer, the question, then, is: is my world intriguing? And am I showing it so? https://t.co/KSgtoxdeyF 2021-12-30 01:45:21 "In 1928, when Eastman Kodak introduced 16mm Kodacolor — a well-known physicist remarked: “It’s impossible — but not quite!”" - Mascelli (Cinematography) 2021-12-30 01:34:52 @mattsclancy @ArtirKel Thanks for the pointer. 2021-12-30 01:32:50 "As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world." - Pinker (The Language Instinct) 2021-12-30 01:20:23 "First sentences are doors to worlds" - Ursula K. Le Leguin 2021-12-30 01:06:18 @KRoyMyers @mattsclancy If trying to optimize diff things, then you may be more interested in how the call shapes both the applicant pool, and what they apply for. 2021-12-30 01:05:33 @KRoyMyers @mattsclancy Eg if you simply use two different decision-making metrics, both trying to optimize for something conceptually similar, then you want randomization after application. 2021-12-30 01:01:33 @KRoyMyers @mattsclancy Yeah, that's tricky (As I try to make clear in the rest of the thread, there's a lot of problems with RCTs here. And the rest of the thread isn't 1% of the trouble IMO... Still, it's fun to consider what they _would_ show.) 2021-12-30 00:49:16 @MWCvitkovic @calebwatney What are you referring to? It's a decades-old idea, of course. 2021-12-29 22:39:20 @polotek An essay presenting a simple model on this theme: https://t.co/nMo9ki5NeD 2021-12-29 22:28:57 To say you "prefer" funding method A over funding method B is (usually) in part making an implicit assertion about the structure of knowledge as yet undiscovered. 2021-12-29 22:27:45 It's very similar to the problem of Humean induction (or it's modern ML version, the no-free-lunch theorem). 2021-12-29 22:26:17 It's challenging to say what is meant by a "better" method. What works better depends on the adjacent possible, on what remains to be discovered By definition, we don't yet know that In some situations, approach A may work better, while in others approach B, or C, or... 2021-12-29 22:19:58 @BrianNosek Thanks! 2021-12-29 22:11:59 @BrianNosek Nice! Do you have the results yet? 2021-12-29 22:07:32 @Hemaisphere Thanks. 2021-12-29 22:07:12 @tribsantos Processes which work well in one situation often fail badly in others. And the situation in science is always changing. This is part of why RCTs are such a weak method. 2021-12-29 22:04:24 On its own, this doesn't mean much. Maybe this was true in the 2010s, but will fail to be true in the 2020s. Maybe you did the study in psychology, but it won't hold in computer science. Etc etc etc etc, through a zillion variations - it's (very) weak evidence on its own. 2021-12-29 22:04:23 Just a followup: people often (hugely) overestimate what RCTs show Eg suppose you compared two assessment procedures, one based only on people's track record, the other based on the project being proposed. And you find "people-based" do way better! 2021-12-29 21:58:05 @tribsantos There is no best way. 2021-12-29 21:47:56 One well-known attempt at approximation is: https://t.co/ScYZG1WYd2. But I'm blanking on fully randomized interventions. 2021-12-29 21:47:55 Curious: has there ever been a full RCT for some model of science funding? Assign applicants at random to two pools, A and B, assess using different procedures, and then do a 10- or 20-year followup assessment by blinded assessors. 2021-12-29 20:47:00 @wukailong I think I'd been walking & 2021-12-29 20:45:52 @wukailong Both. 2021-12-29 18:59:05 Falling rain gives me so much pleasure. 2021-12-29 16:48:33 @nosilverv Thanks! 2021-12-29 16:48:27 @aresnick Thank you! 2021-12-29 16:48:23 @QuantumHazzard Thanks! 2021-12-29 15:09:33 @patio11 @awesomefound According to their website, 5,562 projects funded, for $5.6 million, through 82 chapters in 13 countries. Not bad. 2021-12-29 15:07:42 @patio11 @awesomefound Used to fund various art projects, community improvement & 2021-12-29 15:06:19 @patio11 The @awesomefound is a fun approach to this Start a local chapter with 9 friends, put in $100 each month, and give out $1k. App via an online form, takes ~15 mins to fill out I was part of the Toronto branch for a while. Got a very large number of worthwhile applications 2021-12-29 05:12:26 @TrueSciPhi Lovely! 2021-12-29 05:12:15 @agaricus Thank you! 2021-12-29 05:06:00 @atishayokti Exactly! 2021-12-29 05:05:27 @Liv_Lanes Heh. 2021-12-29 04:59:26 @rossbyrd Thanks! 2021-12-29 04:58:20 New CDC guidance out, looks legit... https://t.co/KO3Jcdw9Ma 2021-12-29 02:31:33 @CJHandmer Thank you! 2021-12-29 02:31:18 @mindspillage Also, loved "The Martian" (best narrative technical manual _ever_) and "The Gift" (which I am only a quarter done with - got totally distracted - but which was great). 2021-12-29 02:27:48 @mindspillage Honorable mention to Hardin. I know lots of people criticise him for all sorts of reasons, but his short article was (& 2021-12-29 02:26:52 @mindspillage Especially, for me, Olson and Ostrom. Olson moreso initially, and then gradually I realize just how deep Ostrom was, and she rejigged how I see the world... 2021-12-29 02:26:01 @mindspillage BTW, I must mention: tLoCA, MaM, Ostrom's Governing the Commons, and The Evolution of Co-operation, were a kind of holy tetrology for me in my early days of thinking about open science. Very eye-opening... 2021-12-29 02:13:46 @sarahkendrew Happy birthday Sarah! And congratulations on the grand project! 2021-12-29 02:12:21 @sarahkendrew Thank you! 2021-12-29 01:56:36 @6C1_16 @CourtTheFilm Thanks for the suggestion! 2021-12-29 01:56:18 @dave_stickland Yeah, I should really read Nozick, it's on my phone. Thanks for the other suggestions! 2021-12-29 01:55:36 @TheAnnaGat Thank you for the suggestion! 2021-12-29 01:55:12 @vgr Heh: they're all in some regard about _being_ a teen, which no doubt upped the interest factor! Funny, though, that wasn't the takeaway. I wrote a 2-minute review of Illich that sums up much of my topline takeaway: https://t.co/qofMenHhhe 2021-12-29 01:52:26 @shassinger @amcafee It's an extraordinary phrase, idea, and insight. (Also a very interesting formal construction purely as a phrase, mirrored by many other memorable phrases. Eg Michael Gerson's "soft bigotry of low expectations" has quite a similar architecture.) 2021-12-29 01:48:16 @umbut @Beuysaunt Thank you! 2021-12-29 01:48:02 @vgr (Funny: as a teenager I know I missed > 2021-12-29 01:46:28 @ArtirKel I'm enjoying reading aToJ. Admittedly, one of my favourite books is Bhatia on linear algebra, so I may not be the best judge of readability... 2021-12-29 01:45:21 @vgr Thanks! I read it as a teenager (IIRC, may have been early 20s), and it had a substantial effect on me I suspect I'd get a lot new out of a reread today, so thanks for the suggestion. 2021-12-29 01:43:41 @amcafee Arendt is a genius. Thanks for the reminder 2021-12-29 01:41:17 @Beuysaunt Thank you! Looks very interesting (as does False Dawn). 2021-12-29 01:37:29 On Rawls: so often I delay reading classics, expecting them to be dry or hard-to-follow. And then you start to read, and it's quickly obvious why they're classics... 2021-12-29 01:34:56 @snigdhar0y Lovely! 2021-12-29 01:34:44 Best readings on justice from the last century? Things I should read or complete reading: Rawls' "A Theory of Justice" (partway through - it's great!) 2021-12-29 01:29:00 Favourite space artists and astrophotographers? 2021-12-28 23:52:33 @patrickc @devonzuegel A fun specific version of this is questions like: what is the best argument you can make for: astrology being true I guess this is why smart people sometimes end up believing really silly things! Present company excluded, ofc 2021-12-28 20:57:12 A physicist and an economist walk into a bar... Of course, this would never happen to me! Or you! From one of my favourite, and most often bought, books, Dietrich Doerner's "The Logic of Failure". https://t.co/7nRsXnsEgi 2021-12-28 20:31:17 @m_ashcroft @nosilverv 10 to the power of a meme. HTH. 2021-12-28 18:19:02 @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl Of course, a deep causal explanation is much more useful. But in everyday life we use such correlational explanations all the time. I know that bacon crisps make me likely to get bad headaches 2021-12-28 18:17:56 @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl The funny thing is, I doubt most people who believe in astrology much care whether it's correlation or causation. And if you live in the UK, believing something like "Virgos are more likely to experience academic success" [etc] may actually be pretty reasonable. 2021-12-28 18:06:40 Three blobs of pigment, evoking a world. https://t.co/cfTU5EwBqi 2021-12-28 15:51:10 @johncarlosbaez @skdh Perhaps they were trying to provide live action evidence of a decline in common sense... 2021-12-28 06:30:44 @vgr Yup! 2021-12-28 06:27:30 @vgr Nice. I enjoyed the book, FWIW. 2021-12-28 06:17:27 Realizing this is all related to Tad Homer-Dixon's notion of "the ingenuity gap", the gap between the problems a society has, & Larger ingenuity gaps mean a lot of big problems poorly addressed Collective future shock widens the ingenuity gap 2021-12-28 06:14:17 @VesselOfSpirit I have no idea what this means. 2021-12-28 06:11:01 @MichaelKGoff The GS is about TFP growth, not social change. I sometimes wonder if that is, in fact, what's being traded off. 2021-12-28 05:59:42 Seems likely there'd be some around. Dating apps go back a long time, & It'd be wild to hear their impressions https://t.co/haAh5QpsNP 2021-12-28 05:57:08 I guess trad or reactionary approaches are a pretty natural response, but they butt up against reality. 2021-12-28 05:51:53 Actually, a fun idea for a feature article - find some people who remember dating _before_ the contraceptive pill (~1960), but who are on dating apps now, or have been at some point in the past. I wonder if there are any? They'd be ~80+... 2021-12-28 05:43:01 @CriticalSri It will be. 2021-12-28 05:42:30 Just thinking of all the revolutions in dating in the last ~60 years: + The pill + "Free love" + HIV/AIDS & + Dating apps (and those have changed massively, too) + Massively changed norms around sexuality, consent, rights, poly, marriage, etc etc etc 2021-12-28 05:38:48 Not just in physics. And the clouds are moving faster: https://t.co/O1nd56MzYX 2021-12-28 05:37:13 I guess I'm back to a point I made a few days ago: so much of the modern world comes out of ideas from the Axial Age. And yet so much _foundational_ knowledge has changed radically. What's the right order? Or is that the wrong question? 2021-12-28 05:35:26 @sennoma (Amusing: I was just thinking about V's karasses.) 2021-12-28 05:34:20 Vonnegut had a nice time invariant way of thinking about a partial way of dealing with this: https://t.co/1Fk6yaWKYj 2021-12-28 05:29:07 The thing about future shock is that it's destabilizing. Every person faces the question: "how should I live?" And the faster things change, the harder the question is to answer. 2021-12-28 05:27:14 And thousands more of course! Just reflecting on a few! 2021-12-28 05:24:39 It's interesting to think about the biggest things our culture hasn't really come to terms with - indeed, many people are in denial about 2021-12-28 05:24:38 Reflecting on Future Shock, Alvin Toffler's great phrase for what happens to people when the pace of change is greater than they can be comfortable with. 2021-12-28 04:42:10 @Meaningness Heh. 2021-12-28 04:26:00 Cutting class to solve quadratics under the cloisters... https://t.co/88U3Sud0Hr 2021-12-28 03:53:14 @abiylfoyp @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl That's a very cute study idea! Though it seems tough to make it work convincingly (so many other effects to control for). A case where you'd want to read really closely. Funny, they don't use "star sign helps predict future earnings" as the topline... 2021-12-28 02:51:57 @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl I cannot, however, think of any example where the position of a constellation at birth is any more than a correlate (as opposed to cause) of future behaviour. But it's a better correlate than one might a priori suppose, for some things. 2021-12-28 02:47:23 @shrey_g @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl Yes. 2021-12-28 02:43:18 @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl Another example: virgoes FTW! https://t.co/buz6KOXDgw 2021-12-28 02:40:20 @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl There are a lot of relationships between where we are in the Sun's orbit (and where the moon is in Earth's) and human social systems, and biological, climatic, and other systems Ofc, the popular conception of astrology is wrong. But it's not entirely trivial to tease apart 2021-12-28 02:37:18 @AmandaAskell @Aella_Girl Capricorns are better at soccer! https://t.co/CadW2QekdH 2021-12-28 01:37:37 @tweetsbenedict @ben_golub @benskuhn @albrgr If an early-stage startup has a > Of course, founders seem to usually convince themselves it's < 2021-12-28 01:33:45 @Ben_Reinhardt Interesting to think about FB's roughly 1000x in valuation over 15 years. Geometric average is roughly 60% per year... 2021-12-28 01:29:06 @Ben_Reinhardt (I realize jokes don't work well on twitter, without very clear markers!) 2021-12-28 01:28:29 @Ben_Reinhardt My joke was that it was happening too slowly to be of any interest to VC - less than 1% growth per year over that time period, and only a few % per year even in the best years It's a joke, not a serious remark, bc it's possible that with VC the rate would have been far higher. 2021-12-28 01:16:18 @ben_golub @benskuhn @tweetsbenedict @albrgr I wouldn't use axiom 3. I'm not going to be indifferent between: (a) a probability p of working at startup 1 & Indeed, to even make sense of it I'd need some notion of multiple draws 2021-12-28 00:46:39 @tweetsbenedict @albrgr @benskuhn You can't apply the Kelly criterion to individual choices about which startup to work for. People are making all-or-nothing bets with their time (Not true over the course of a career. But AFAICS you still run into trouble applying the idea, no matter how you cut it.) 2021-12-28 00:32:31 @albrgr @benskuhn It's not _just_ the curvature of the utility function, though that's part of it. It's also the fact that you can make a _lot_ of bets like this, so the EV becomes relevant (assuming you believe certain other things). If you can only make one bet, the EV is a lot less relevant 2021-12-28 00:30:57 @albrgr @benskuhn A lot of the EV arguments come from portfolio theory - Markowitz, Sharpe et al. But there's so many holes in those arguments if you try to apply them to individual life decisions, even if you're a utilitarian. Which I'm not... 2021-12-28 00:26:09 @albrgr @benskuhn if you got it... EV says take that bet. But it's a bad option for most people. Losing 1 million dollars would leave most people in bad debt. Gaining the $120 mill would leave them somewhat better off. 99% : 1% is a bad trade. 2021-12-28 00:24:48 @albrgr @benskuhn There are quite a number of different points (+, -, other). But the specific thing I had in mind combined both. I'm sure you've heard this before, but... If a billionaire came to you and said you could bet 1 million $ on one of a hundred outcomes, & 2021-12-28 00:14:21 I enjoyed this argument from @albrgr. A lot hinges though on what you mean by "altruism". https://t.co/eoeIkJSSX1 2021-12-28 00:12:14 @albrgr @benskuhn Now that's an argument I can enjoy! 2021-12-28 00:10:56 @albrgr @benskuhn This makes sense: there is, in some sense, a proper portfolio here. 2021-12-28 00:02:38 @benskuhn "Irrelevant" is very slightly too strong in my original tweet. If someone plans to be employed at a large number of early-stage startups, they start to approximate the portfolio, & 2021-12-27 23:56:40 @benskuhn At early stages it amounts to: "with a small probability, you might get a large chunk of change 2021-12-27 23:54:17 @benskuhn In late-stage venture (roughly series C) the EV starts to become relevant. But at seed or series A it's usually not. 2021-12-27 23:52:47 @benskuhn You don't pay out the EV 2021-12-27 23:42:46 @benskuhn This seems like a thread to demonstrate why expected value is such a poor tool for reasoning. 2021-12-27 22:54:35 I enjoy @gorosart's chicker skater series far too much: https://t.co/jKZl7xxDCa 2021-12-27 20:07:33 @garybasin https://t.co/2BCEqZwqMd 2021-12-27 20:06:33 @garybasin Ah, I see you're using the "figuratively" meaning of "literally". 2021-12-27 20:05:58 Incidentally, one reason this makes some sense is that people (& 2021-12-27 20:01:22 Irrational irritation: when someone makes a descriptive statement, and someone treats it as though they made a normative statement. 2021-12-27 19:56:08 Waiting on today's SF covid numbers. Up by ~10x since Dec 1, up by ~4x over the last week. The good news: I think Paxlovid ramp up + other therapies + past & 2021-12-27 19:51:03 @visakanv The three instances are very different from each other, and require very different resolutions. 2021-12-27 19:50:20 @visakanv Trouble can be caused by a few different things: 1. When two people have incompatible ends 2. When a person has a style that isn't achieving the conversational end they think they're aiming at 3. When a person has chosen a conversational end that is bad for them, or for others. 2021-12-27 19:48:52 @visakanv Put another way, while I very much like this tweet & 2021-12-27 19:46:50 @redblobgames Excellent point! I'd never thought about that before, the poor innocent asteroid, wiped out by that giant incoming dinosaur-infested planet. What a tragedy! 2021-12-27 19:45:42 @visakanv ... may not have been a bad conversational strategy, just for a different conversational end. Not good for making (most types of) friends! Tangent: It's pretty common to see "get at the truth"-strategies confused with "proclaim my superiority" strategies. 2021-12-27 19:43:13 @visakanv Something I find very helpful is to ask: "what is [this] conversation for?" Sometimes: to make friends Sometimes: to support someone you're close to Sometimes: to get at the truth Sometimes: to be creative Etc. But each is very different. Belligerent Visa... 2021-12-27 08:20:00 CAFIAC FIX 2021-12-21 06:02:26 @DNoisternig 2021-12-21 05:56:29 @DNoisternig Ok. But it looks like you’re attributing the opinion to me 2021-12-21 05:49:53 @DNoisternig Not what I wrote 2021-12-21 05:49:12 Keep in mind: the article I link is speculative, not bulletproof. But it makes me want to wait a day for comment from the CDC 2021-12-21 05:37:19 Deleted an earlier tweet on the widely-reported "73% omicron" number, since there is at least some chance it is wrong https://t.co/6RJjmnkF1f 2021-12-21 05:35:19 Hmm. This is a seemingly sensible argument those numbers are wrong: https://t.co/6RJjmnkF1f It seems unclear right now. 2021-12-21 05:26:29 @FILWD Curious: I've seen assertions before (Pinker is the one I remember) that we give more value to a single life today than was historically the case. But the evidence seemed very thin. What's the most compelling case you know? 2021-12-21 05:24:35 RT @michael_nielsen: @jack Are you optimistic about any ways to build that escape those incentives? 2021-12-21 05:23:20 @jack Are you optimistic about any ways to build that escape those incentives? 2021-12-21 05:17:10 @FILWD What does the sanctity of the individual mean to you? Reminded that archeologists regard the introduction of funeral rites as a transition point for a culture. 2021-12-21 04:47:19 @kanjun What's your answer to your own question, Kanjun? 2021-12-21 03:37:52 @grant_mcgrath @SFAjayi Yep. 2021-12-21 03:37:31 @RobertSpekkens A very strange epistemological feedback loop! 2021-12-21 03:37:06 @RobertSpekkens An odd running joke with a friend is about the challenges for a funding agency trying to fund research on probability theory, causal inference etc. They'd be in the position where the tools they used to construct their portfolio would then be influenced by the work done. 2021-12-21 03:35:11 @RobertSpekkens There's a nice lecture by Keynes on Newton that you probably know, which explores that theme a little: https://t.co/YdizlL9EXe 2021-12-21 03:27:35 @RobertSpekkens Yeah. It reminds me of citation-counting - another proxy measure that isn't completely useless, but is bad as a fundamental guide. But the book (by David Wootton) is nonetheless very thoughtful, and I'm learning a lot, despite thinking this focus is an error. 2021-12-21 03:15:11 @neilfws They're great fun, aren't they? I'm loving colab, too! 2021-12-21 03:14:45 @gwern @hyperpape Have you checked this with Randall Monroe? 2021-12-21 03:12:41 @kanjun I also suspect we'll have a set of community principles for thinking about (a) genetic influence on behaviour 2021-12-21 03:12:26 @kanjun I suspect we'll have a slate of v different fundamental organizational ideas in a few decades 2021-12-21 03:00:57 @sennoma No, I haven't, thanks for the rec. 2021-12-21 03:00:14 The invention of GANs (I'm joking - Ian Goodfellow actually made GANs work. But the idea is strikingly similar.) ht @hyperpape https://t.co/FXWy8mczPU 2021-12-21 02:55:43 Thoughtful: https://t.co/GTLEM5HIoM 2021-12-21 02:52:54 TBC: you can see the person's profile, and it seems certain or highly likely the person is a spammer. Eg the blog comment was a detailed technical comment left by someone who otherwise(IIRC) mainly seemed to be advertising various garbage products. https://t.co/69GbpLwdIc 2021-12-21 02:50:45 It feels... quite strange to ignore or block them (usually what I'd do). 2021-12-21 02:47:42 @r_mcro I admire your evenheadedness about it. 2021-12-21 02:46:36 The weirdest kind of spam to get is sensible, thoughtful comments. A spammer once made a useful technical correction to a blog post of mine (IIRC). And I just had a spammer send me a helpful DM on instagram. 2021-12-21 02:43:20 (One sign of this: there's many contexts in which people seem to think it's acceptable to look down on people less intelligent than them. Redneck jokes, for instance, seem to be a kind of prejudice that's still pretty common.) 2021-12-21 02:40:39 Two of the strangest widespread beliefs, very similar in formal structure, is that money or intelligence confer worth on an individual. Even if one intellectually repudiates this, many sensible people do not, & 2021-12-21 02:19:08 @ElenaSRas True! Though I think the whole game takes less than 5 sec, so it's not a big time investment! 2021-12-21 00:09:20 @CLManos Bateman was a sadist of some sort (I'm not sure - I couldn't read the book), not merely a sociopath. But yes, your point is taken, though I'm not sure how to verify or refute it. 2021-12-20 23:57:08 @DavidDeutschOxf To emphasize: wealth is certainly created. But along the way there's still a lot of zero-sum gameplaying. And the latter is (I think) why many people don't really understand how large the wealth-creation effect is. 2021-12-20 23:55:59 @DavidDeutschOxf Certainly in part because it's still going on. Here it is on a massive scale - Apple, Google, Intel etc conspired against their employees to keep wages lower: https://t.co/Oq4BokWL6b So many examples like this - it's easy to see why people still believe it. 2021-12-20 23:33:13 (I sometimes wonder if this is meant to be a partial subtext for "Sherlock", though it doesn't quite fit.) 2021-12-20 23:33:12 I find this one particularly fascinating. I (obviously) don't want lots of sociopaths around. But I do desire a social order such that a sensible sociopath does the rational calculation and decides... to spend their whole life serving others. https://t.co/Di9TdNZ6wo 2021-12-20 23:11:04 Well, and the tummy rubs. And head scratches. 2021-12-20 23:07:06 For a lot of dogs, the whole is exactly equal to the sum of the pats https://t.co/mmki2xf2I6 2021-12-20 23:03:54 @fadeke_adegbuyi Curious to what extent this idea has been rediscovered through history. Even today, of course, practical considerations often (though not always) play a large role. 2021-12-20 23:01:45 @DavidDeutschOxf Oh, thanks for the pointer. I've only absorbed broad claims here, not detailed argument, but it's very interesting! I need to think a bit upon his definition. 2021-12-20 22:57:38 To people saying "Oh, I don't play chess" It's a GM on the other side of the board, but it could easily have been a 7 year old. 2021-12-20 22:54:44 @pennybun01 That Scripps piece is great, thanks! I'll take a look at the lecture, too. 2021-12-20 22:53:23 @DavidDeutschOxf Something I find really fascinating is how many people claim that billionaires _must_ have acquired money by exploitation of others. The idea that instead they created something which (as it scaled) kept creating more wealth for everyone is foreign. It's really curious.... 2021-12-20 22:48:35 @DavidDeutschOxf To return to your original example, chess-playing skill is win-win 2021-12-20 22:44:25 https://t.co/3glyUE5kL2 2021-12-20 22:43:38 @DavidDeutschOxf Also, this is really funny (Magnus playing like a 9 year old who has just learned the rules): https://t.co/3glyUE5kL2 2021-12-20 22:39:34 @DavidDeutschOxf A variant question would trade off increases in Gini coefficient against increases in the rate of economic growth. I'm not sure what conversion I'd be happy with. 1% higher Gini for 1% higher rate of economic growth seems probably desirable to me. But 1% for 0.1%? No way! 2021-12-20 22:38:04 @DavidDeutschOxf To many people, of course, that's "the wrong question" - often people who favor more wealth overall, but also, if pressed, a higher Gini coefficient. I think that's interesting. 2021-12-20 22:36:44 @DavidDeutschOxf One somewhat concrete version of the question: do you think your preferred social changes would likely lead to a higher or lower Gini coefficient in England? 2021-12-20 22:35:29 @DavidDeutschOxf I'm not arguing one way or the other. I'm pointing out that a lot of people have a strong preference in each of these directions, and that seems a central unresolved issue in our society. I do, of course, have an opinion :-) 2021-12-20 22:33:50 32. The idea that evidence should matter more than authority is a fascinating one. Even when it's being violated there's often a pretence that it's true, and that is a source of power. https://t.co/jDeTzuSUw1 2021-12-20 22:31:56 Super-specialization is very efficient in certain regards Something I enjoy about the Oxbridge colleges - the College system seems to avoid this to a much larger extent than many other academic institutions. 2021-12-20 22:31:55 I often wonder at the increased specialization (& 2021-12-20 22:23:23 31. Another crux is our attitude toward self-reliance & 2021-12-20 22:19:12 30. Fun also to think about central cruxes of disagreement. One is on wealth inequality. Two caricatures: (i) wealth inequality is always evil, & 2021-12-20 20:51:54 Just reflecting that most of these are of most interest when starkly contrasted with the beliefs that preceded them. 2021-12-20 20:49:08 Makes me curious whether Ecclesiastes ("nothing new under the sun") was written before or after Plato & 2021-12-20 20:47:36 https://t.co/mYLdO8AQIy 2021-12-20 20:45:25 @trombosit @gordonbrander It's unpleasant to think about - and likely quite distressing for many. Still, if there were reliable quantitative estimates, I'd be curious. 2021-12-20 20:40:43 Striking example of argument from authority. Though not as silly as it seems - it took quite some time to really figure out how telescopes (and similar) worked, so there were some grounds for doubt. https://t.co/KxMIs0RMYo 2021-12-20 20:32:54 Evergreen: https://t.co/md1FtU1O9n 2021-12-20 20:24:13 One of the stranger things in the history of ideas is the (repeated!) role of espionage: https://t.co/WCr49ll002 2021-12-20 20:18:09 29. As @gordonbrander puts it, everything around us is someone's life work. Indeed, often the work of centuries. 2021-12-20 20:06:07 27. Improvements in human understanding can increase our ability to make wealth, reduce scarcity and suffering. It's very non-zero sum. (There actually _is_ a free lunch here, though you still need to pay for dinner.) 2021-12-20 20:01:33 Music to my ears, and the organizational corollary to what I call Groucho's Law: https://t.co/QhVMgQ2t25 https://t.co/3MqzJ8ytQ6 2021-12-20 20:00:04 What a membership roster: https://t.co/J9iKhRtWU8 2021-12-20 19:58:51 Every organization is unique in some regards 2021-12-20 19:45:32 This is fascinating (& 2021-12-20 19:42:24 @pennybun01 What does this mean? 2021-12-20 19:39:26 @peterschwartz2 I'm very much looking forward to it, & 2021-12-20 19:28:31 A remarkable statement of optimism for the future: https://t.co/alw8Xo2GPX 2021-12-20 19:26:24 Many interesting things here. One is this point that whether you more admire the past or the future is of critical importance (There's a letter where Feynman talks about how disappointed he was in the over-veneration for ancient Greece he found in modern Greece. It's striking.) https://t.co/29SYJ18WGw 2021-12-20 19:19:39 By contrast, the last 50 year increment sees a roughly 0.2% annualized rate of increase, a kind of "Great Stagnation" in book production. Admittedly, 7 million books per year is nothing to sneeze at, by pre-Gutenberg standards! 2021-12-20 19:18:19 A curious thing: that factor of just over 6 increase over the first 50 years is an annualized increase of about 4% per year - roughly the same as peak periods of (world) GDP growth over the 20th century. It's an interesting similarity, IMO. 2021-12-20 19:14:42 Wouldn't have raised a Series B. You call that up and to the right? (I'm being in part facetious, but also thinking: what's changed?) https://t.co/AYbDwaeOhj 2021-12-20 18:55:56 @wtgowers Wittgenstein might have found it more convincing had Russell brought a hippopotamus along, and used as his example "There is a hippopotamus in this room". 2021-12-20 18:49:51 @wtgowers I had the same thought 2021-12-20 18:47:40 25'. 6,000 km in _radius_. Oops. Doing Eratosthenes a disservice: https://t.co/j8D68R6kAr 2021-12-20 18:47:05 @3cky Thank you! 2021-12-20 18:42:14 Great chapter title. Discovery has had to be invented over and over again 2021-12-20 18:39:32 26. The Sun is a star, about 150 million kilometers away. 2021-12-20 18:39:08 25. The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and 6000 kilometers in diameter. 2021-12-20 18:38:37 24. The continents move https://t.co/VzGDtciXWS 2021-12-20 18:38:19 23. Knowledge can change, in fundamental ways. Our understanding is provisional. 2021-12-20 18:28:53 This is nicely put: https://t.co/3BvSjqD5bN 2021-12-20 18:25:38 Again, much I disagree with here, but fascinating: I like the phrasing at the end, that the idea of science at the end of the 17th C wasn't consistent or coherent, but it was very successful. (Reminds me of quantum mechanics :-) ) https://t.co/SqOmrh2xye 2021-12-20 18:20:13 This is a fascinating statement. I don't think it's quite right - it's focusing too much on proxy measures, not the actual thing. But as a practical matter it's probably quite sensible. https://t.co/eubpeDvjlS 2021-12-20 18:08:43 From Bertrand Russell's obituary of Wittgenstein: https://t.co/MR8ZkGf9vP 2021-12-20 18:04:16 And then 1668: https://t.co/IloAgRXrfX 2021-12-20 18:01:31 Really enjoying the sense of excitement circa 1660s London. What a time!!! (All these quotes are from David Wootton's "The Invention of Science") https://t.co/vZha65LpZz 2021-12-20 17:57:01 https://t.co/1r9yLDTwGt 2021-12-20 07:53:11 Heading to bed - haven't yet had time to respond to (or even read, I think) everyone's comments. But I'm looking forward to it in the morning. Thank you everyone! 2021-12-20 07:51:27 @Malcolm_Ocean Heh. Amusingly, the page is going to be merged into the page on the Simulation Hypothesis, an act which makes about as much sense as merging the article on the principle of evolution by natural selection into the unicorn article. https://t.co/jILdHlSZhj 2021-12-20 07:43:40 @Malcolm_Ocean Yeah, I use the term a little differently than them, more in the sense of Bernstein-Vazirani. The article is based in part on my writing, though 2021-12-20 07:37:15 What a remarkable metaphor https://t.co/hKQSAb8it1 2021-12-20 07:33:11 @AIsakovic1 The EMH is a vastly stronger statement than 15. I'm very surprised you'd think otherwise. 2021-12-20 07:21:57 @DavidDeutschOxf I doubt we're in disagreement about anything other than terminology here. I'm just referring to violations of the Bell (or similar) inequalities. I'm guessing you prefer a different terminology for this? 2021-12-20 07:17:40 @TheOceanWithAnO Curious: what’s a pointer to the best < 2021-12-20 07:12:08 22. By making marks on paper we can control the world - discover fundamentally new types of material, eliminate disease, see fluctuations in space time itself 2021-12-20 07:09:27 21. Local realism is false. Talk about a plot twist! 2021-12-20 06:50:06 @Malcolm_Ocean https://t.co/D2KzSHSQ5N 2021-12-20 06:49:38 @Malcolm_Ocean I didn't say Turing machine. 2021-12-20 06:49:01 @Malcolm_Ocean Yes. I won't be surprised if that 4% number changes a lot in the future. 2021-12-20 06:44:52 I realize I keep coming back to this - why is this list so "boring", in some sense? And realizing that of course the issue is that of a fish trying to publicly enumerate the properties of water. But still, I'm fascinated... trying to zoom out my own thinking, in some sense. 2021-12-20 06:41:54 20. Nullius in verba. Something I enjoy is how much we venerate iconoclasts and contrarians. It's all through movies and popular culture. There's irony there, but much of the veneration is genuine, too, and I think valuable. 2021-12-20 06:39:08 19. There's a simple and fixed universal device which can efficiently simulate every physical process (Church-Turing-Deutsch Principle) Needs some slight caveats, but the gist seems to be right. Would have seemed shocking in 1921, I believe (?), seems near obvious today. 2021-12-20 06:36:14 18. Consciousness, too, can be explained in terms of patterns of matter. Many people hate this, so if you like [not interested in arguing here]: 18'. Consciousness cannot be explained in terms of patterns of matter. 2021-12-20 06:35:52 17. Everything - living and non-living - is made out of the same basic substances, protons, neutrons, and electrons. It's all "just" different arrangements. We are patterns. https://t.co/C7dylAymHO (This needs revision - only 4% of the universe is baryonic matter...) 2021-12-20 06:34:57 One reason I'm curious about this is because so many deeply held religious beliefs come from the Axial Age (800-300 BCE). Yet I think that pragmatically many of the above (a) post-date the Axial Age 2021-12-20 06:32:15 @schulzb589 It's surprisingly hard to say _why_, I think. 2021-12-20 06:27:26 16. Many human beings are altruistic and want to do the right thing in service of the greater good. But it's wise to design resilient systems which harness self-interest to social ends. 2021-12-20 06:25:17 15. Market prices aggregate hidden knowledge, and enable the invisible hand to operate. Shockingly, this turns out to often be far better than centralized control, and eliminates incredible amounts of suffering. 2021-12-20 06:23:37 14. Principle of general covariance: the fundamental laws of the universe do not depend upon any privileged co-ordinate system https://t.co/aso2RNC2RB (This is maybe the first that isn't widely understood? It's also one a heck of a principle...) 2021-12-20 06:19:32 @impactology It's a commonly used alternative to "Homo Sapiens". It's what we are. 2021-12-20 06:16:53 I realize many of these are (today) relatively bland statements. But all were shocking, in their time, and led to major upheavals in how we live. And I'm curious to put a bundle together, just to see how they look. 2021-12-20 06:15:34 13. Governance tends to get better when church and state are separated https://t.co/7xKiUjaD5p 2021-12-20 06:14:46 12. Our genetic makeup and environment determines much about our lives. I suspect that our collective beliefs about how to think about this will change radically over the next 100 years 2021-12-20 06:13:15 https://t.co/zztv6X2AnV 2021-12-20 06:10:57 As I say, just noodling here, mostly to start to lay out such a list, and think a bit about it. Strongly held collective beliefs & 2021-12-20 06:09:21 11. They can also be win-lose or lose-lose, and it's important to understand when, and how to design around it 2021-12-20 06:09:20 7. There is a sense in which all human beings are created equal and deserve equal rights before our governance mechanisms. 2021-12-20 06:09:19 4. Life an earth is (very likely) all related through a common ancestor. 2021-12-20 06:09:18 What are some of the most transformative things we (or many people) have come to believe? Just noodling a few thoughts here, nothing especially unusual, just wanted to lay a few out together, see what they look like... 2021-12-20 05:55:53 It's quite remarkable that Oxford, Cambridge, and a number of other universities, survived - indeed, even helped enable - the transition to modern science. 2021-12-20 05:53:32 "Missed by that much" as Maxwell Smart might have put it. 2021-12-20 05:52:51 Enjoying Thomas Sprat, writing in 1667, on the effort by certain forward-looking people to abolish Oxford and Cambridge: https://t.co/SlXPb9C4Jv 2021-12-20 05:17:52 @mindspillage Lovely story! Love the self expansion of identity! 2021-12-20 04:44:05 One of the artists explained to me how wonderful Cezanne was - how he had been the first person to really understand and show how many different ways you could see the same thing. And how that insight had led to the cubists. 2021-12-20 04:44:04 I arrived in Bushwick hot and exhausted, carrying two suitcases. And I had the wrong address. Bushwick was holding a citywide open house for artist studios, and I accidentally walked into one, thinking it was where I was to live. 2021-12-20 04:44:03 I also didn't get the Cezanne I still don't, really - not a strong emotional response But I did learn to appreciate Cezanne more, in an amusing way. In 2015 I moved to NYC from Toronto. I was travelling light - I'd just separated - and thought I'd only be in the city a year. 2021-12-20 04:08:23 I did _not_ get the Monet when I saw it here. I thought it looked silly, washed out. Years later I walked into the water lillies room in NY MoMA, and my jaw just dropped. I wrote some notes: https://t.co/9Ydi52Dyjt 2021-12-20 03:58:44 I can't resist adding: Rembrandt's late self-portraits remind me of the very best in Shakespeare or the Bible. How can someone see so deeply? I love the look of awe on Jeff Daniels' face. 2021-12-20 03:53:00 I've composed and deleted many tweets here. I think I'll leave it at this: I love art 2021-12-20 03:48:07 @curiouswavefn Yep. It was the first movie Gary Ross really "owned", and I suspect he brought a lifetime of creative desire to it. Later works are more accomplished in many ways, but nothing seems nearly as personal. 2021-12-20 03:41:22 "first [unrestrained] use of strings". They build for a few seconds beforehand. Newman talks about the choice of where to use strings several times in his commentary - it's clearly a choice he thinks is important, & 2021-12-20 03:34:12 One of the scenes I enjoy. I guess it doesn't make much sense without context. The composer, Randy Newman, points out that it's the first use of strings in the movie - when "Starry Night" appears - at almost exactly the halfway moment. https://t.co/X1FKtBEPDS 2021-12-20 02:34:31 Famous things become cliches, and hard to see or to have a genuine response too. It's a gift from Gary Ross that he has such a genuine response, and can help others to their own response. 2021-12-20 02:31:40 I'd seen "Starry Night" a thousand times before Pleasantville. But the movie transformed the way I see "Starry Night" (and van Gogh), and ever since it's been one of my favourite paintings. 2021-12-20 02:23:54 "Pleasantville" was one of a few things that really helped change that self narrative. 2021-12-20 02:23:53 It's so easy to have a false narrative of yourself. As a kid, I loved "Fantasia" & 2021-12-20 02:20:47 The movie makes beautiful use of art - you instinctively feel how much the director cares about it. I thought of myself as "not an art person" when I saw the movie 2021-12-20 02:11:50 I miss DVD commentaries. I loved the director (Gary Ross, also the writer and producer) and composer (Randy Newman) commentaries for this, and listed to both multiple times. 2021-12-20 02:10:28 Rewatched "Pleasantville". A simple but heartfelt movie, which I really enjoy. 2021-12-19 23:57:36 BTW, a useful trick (ht @Kat__Woods) is to use the Amazon Smile Always extension to make amazon urls donate to charities of your choice: https://t.co/oML2eZ3TS9 2021-12-19 23:25:22 Great cover! John Markoff's bio of Stewart Brand is, according to Amazon, out March 22: https://t.co/BtAb2QIp6G https://t.co/mp2dM0kwLU 2021-12-19 22:56:13 @Ethan_Warren_ @BWDR @brianna_ashby That was great, thanks! 2021-12-19 22:52:52 @chrismichel Gorgeous! I particularly love the mist / steam (or whatever it is) near the ground in the first shot. 2021-12-19 22:27:27 @kenshirriff That sounds fascinating - someone had an idea that those counters expressed. I'd love to know what that idea was. 2021-12-19 22:01:45 @vgr @gravity_levity Alternately, the syncretic view https://t.co/50kESa8zLt 2021-12-19 22:00:37 @vgr @gravity_levity https://t.co/UJ9I2ghK96 2021-12-19 21:55:55 @gravity_levity @vgr That's, what, the 34 billionth Simpsons tweet? Hmm. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is trending, so we can all party like it's 2008. 2021-12-19 21:50:32 @gravity_levity This really makes me want to write 100 kiki / bouba tweets. 2021-12-19 21:05:17 @bucketofkets @vgr No such thing as good statistics in a Twitter poll. Just make it last a few hours, I'd guess you'll get a few dozen(?) And the whole point of kiki / bouba is that you don't need much expertise. I'm being pedantic: run the poll or not, as you like, of course! 2021-12-19 21:03:51 The concept of kiki is ___, the concept of bouba is ___ 2021-12-19 20:57:40 @bucketofkets @vgr Anything stopping you from running the poll? 2021-12-19 20:46:11 @vgr Also that bouba / bouba is down near the lizardman constant. 2021-12-19 20:45:24 @vgr Fascinated that bouba / kiki beats kiki / kiki. 2021-12-19 20:44:19 @vgr Yup. I'm a bit disappointed it's not higher. I have a fair number of professional QC followers 2021-12-19 20:36:47 @vgr Ah, I goofed with the poll, need to replace it... 2021-12-19 20:36:10 @_vidyasagarv Nope. Thanks. Deleted and replaced... 2021-12-19 20:35:58 Classical computing is ___, quantum computing is ___ 2021-12-19 20:34:02 @vgr Two minutes in, and it's very likely kiki / bouba is going to win easily. Amusing... 2021-12-19 20:32:35 @vgr Asking the important questions: https://t.co/uTiIeRV8LZ 2021-12-19 20:26:56 @vgr Your kiki/bouba classification drive is very kiki. You may end up with widely acknowledged & kiki: a quality of seeming rational, with reductive pieces subject to analysis bouba: a quality of seeming amorphous & 2021-12-19 20:20:57 @vgr Fun to think about questions like: what is the most bouba thing about Wall Street? Or what is the most kiki thing about sleep? The latter type of question seems to be easier 2021-12-19 20:19:46 @vgr "Life hacks" is certainly kiki, though there are many life hacks which are bouba (meditation, patience, prayer, kindness, gratitude...) Reminded of the romantic / classic distinction made in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". 2021-12-19 05:09:30 @sashachapin @uncatherio To me it just comes off as unhinged. There's a good essay & 2021-12-19 05:02:31 @sashachapin @uncatherio What is stated that needs rebutting? It's a chain of possible generalities, with many links in the chain having no detailed supporting evidence I have quite some sympathy for that thesis, but it's not an argument, it's a rant. 2021-12-19 04:52:36 @uncatherio @sashachapin It's certainly very self assured. It also seems rather detached from any facts inconvenient for its narrative. https://t.co/2W4VIPQ3Lc 2021-12-19 03:49:00 @mayli Took me a second. Very amusing! 2021-12-19 03:48:19 @agolian @pfau Reread his tweet, carefully. 2021-12-19 01:48:58 @Meaningness @mtraven Largely? My guess - poorly informed - is that other sources are more important. Literature & 2021-12-19 01:29:03 @ambimorph @zooko In particular, without me doing anything it switches from "Latest tweets" here to "Top tweets". I've noticed this a bunch of times, seems to happen every few months, & So shady on Twitter's part. https://t.co/tqYBYoYoD2 2021-12-19 01:26:40 @ambimorph @zooko Not sure what client you use. I use the web client. Every once in a while I notice it switches from "Latest tweets" to whatever denotes the algorithmic feed (I forget), and I have to switch it back. Really annoying, and gives me pretty much zero trust in Twitter. 2021-12-18 23:34:10 @zooko @ambimorph Curious: the fact Twitter does this suggests a company with pretty bad intentions. Never entirely sure how to think about it, but it does make me ponder leaving. 2021-12-18 18:08:04 @tarstarr Interesting to think about Jane Austen in this way. 2021-12-18 18:07:48 @tarstarr Hmm. Interesting. I think Sorkin's best may well be "A Few Good Men", which is also his first. And it seems different to me - it's much more about the nature of courage than the others. How do you think it fits in? 2021-12-18 15:13:31 @physicsvids_ @amazing_skills_ Economics seems like the more relevant force here. It's an ad. 2021-12-18 13:57:12 @Pitombeira_Neto @pfau I guess I never did any real research. 2021-12-18 13:24:54 @spinespresso Which I was attempting to continue and propagate... 2021-12-18 06:46:17 @andy_matuschak I'm guessing they want D, but it's more fun to make up explanations for the others. 2021-12-18 06:34:17 This is pretty funny! A better question might be to roll a five-sided die, and write an answer in support of the corresponding point of view... https://t.co/feZnPBBoln 2021-12-18 06:32:51 @andy_matuschak I've no idea what the correct answer is... 2021-12-18 04:37:42 @johncarlosbaez Going to make for some interesting Feynman diagrams. 2021-12-18 04:15:11 @monodevice 2021-12-18 04:06:29 A surprisingly popular reply. It's fake news, I tell you! https://t.co/4QDsK349PS 2021-12-18 04:04:01 While fanboying: Richard Schiff and Allison Janney were very special in tWW. The cast were terrific overall, but those two were particularly special. 2021-12-18 04:00:23 @brinkerhoft Er, yes. Dangerous. A 5 minute clip can easily turn into (IIRC) 168 episodes, Sorkin's later absence notwithstanding... 2021-12-18 03:54:32 @ben_golub "Trying to resolve an elusive eigenvalue" wouldn't work quite as well with most audiences :-) 2021-12-18 03:53:52 Actually, he addresses it in one of tWW episodes, where he has the US poet laureate explicitly say that her job isn't to educate or proclaim truth, but rather to delight her audience. Sorkin has (IIRC) said similar things in interviews. https://t.co/NfnmUiR8cz 2021-12-18 03:51:44 Again: I don't think idealistic visions is the _reason_ Sorkin does this (& 2021-12-18 03:50:09 @ian5v The whole Moriarty piece - 3 mins - is well worth a listen. It's incredibly composed. 2021-12-18 03:44:58 @AdamMarblestone @pfau Agreed! Hard to see something like LIGO - one of the most astounding research achievements ever, & So many different ways to do research right! It'd be nice to support them all. 2021-12-18 03:39:13 @NickyWill100 I enjoy it, in part as a study in his creative process. Even the way he frequently repeats Episode titles! 2021-12-18 03:38:26 Sorkin definitely benefits from the quality of the acting and directors he works with. This bit by Richard Schiff in the West Wing is extraordinary, for instance https://t.co/PPaZWWagzD (His look as he says "I'm a very powerful person"... wow.) 2021-12-18 03:35:24 I should, er, say that I'm not thinking about any of this as I watch! I just like a show or not 2021-12-18 03:31:52 Reminded of Brian Moriarty's wonderful description of how many artist's creative output keeps returning over and over to the same themes, trying to "resolve an elusive chord": https://t.co/jvABiHIB6D 2021-12-18 03:29:45 @NickyWill100 Oh there's huge crossover between all the Sorkin stuff, lots of repeats in Studio 60, Sportsnight, tWW, tN, etc etc. It's fun, and highlights (for me) how obsessed he is by certain things. 2021-12-18 03:27:45 @ian5v I doubt he sees it that way. He seems obsessed by a certain kind of old-fashioned values to me - hard work, courage, a kind of puritan work ethic, combining capitalism with a notion of social & 2021-12-18 03:20:01 Just finished watching Sorkin's "The Newsroom". All the critiques of Sorkin are right (preachy, melodrama etc). And it doesn't much matter, IMO. 2021-12-18 02:51:13 @sashachapin Can you give a few examples? 2021-12-18 00:02:20 View from one of the 550: https://t.co/I8deFWJXpu 2021-12-18 00:00:49 I realize many people think this kind of thing is, at best, unserious speculation. But our baselines for "reasonable" are so short. What's reasonable is thought about on a 5 year or 10 year or 50 year timescale, not a thousand or a million or a billion years. 2021-12-17 23:58:57 "Artisinal solar systems": 550 habitable planets orbiting 9 suns orbiting a black hole. https://t.co/8QZJVayuJv 2021-12-17 23:48:25 The Matrix Resurrections is having its US Premiere at the Castro Theater in SF: https://t.co/Q9JLD84er3 Walking by yesterday, & 2021-12-17 23:24:17 @ArtirKel Yes, standard rail gun type thing. Enjoy being torn apart by the 100g initial acceleration. May be useful for certain types of things, eg getting mineral ore into space, especially in lower gravity environments (say, the moon). 2021-12-17 23:19:55 Put another way: it'd be a lot easier if we had energy sources where the energy density was way higher than what's need to escape the gravity well. But that means nuclear [or something else], not chemical, AFAIK. 2021-12-17 23:18:33 (Note that the fuel itself doesn't need to escape. But there is a tricky tradeoff. One extreme is to simply combust all the fuel at once initially. This provides a huge initial impulse, and negates the need to carry the fuel. But it also creates huge initial acceleration...) 2021-12-17 23:15:12 @Teknari It'd certainly be a bit tricky. Of course, the fuel itself doesn't need to escape. But it'd be tricky to do without simply imparting a huge initial impulse, with very high accelerations. 2021-12-17 23:12:39 @johncarlosbaez Nice. I believe both Riemann and Gauss tried to measure the curvature of space (though not spacetime) as well, though AFAIK neither thought it connected to gravity. 2021-12-17 23:08:32 The actual numbers are funny. Escape velocity from Earth is ~11 km/sec. Ignoring friction, that means 1 kg needs about 60 MJ. Energy density of kerosene (& 2021-12-17 22:54:08 @startuployalist @stripepress I'm not sure what I think of it. I can make a case for respecting his wishes - and for ignoring them. I'm not sure which case is stronger. 2021-12-17 22:44:36 @startuployalist @stripepress The letter is here: https://t.co/gtLNeoSz9I 2021-12-17 22:34:12 @startuployalist @stripepress Grothendieck asked that it not be published (or any of his other works). I always feel strange sharing bits. But yes, part of me very much wants it to have a wider audience. What a strange, astonishing, beautiful man he must have been. 2021-12-17 22:32:20 @startuployalist Very much. The "Récoltes et Semailles" is an astonishing work. 2021-12-17 22:28:08 Lots of things make space travel hard, notably the atmospheric barrier at Earth, & 2021-12-17 22:26:40 The intrinsic energy cost of space travel is surprisingly low: https://t.co/7d2NF0bkhl Escape velocity from the solar system at the Earth is about 17 km / sec (IIRC). So for 1 kg need about 150 Megajoules, i.e., about a fortnight's calorie intake for a grown human! 2021-12-17 22:22:51 @maartengm @chdbennett Only if you erase. 2021-12-17 22:18:45 Also, TIL that Lecerf wasn't just a pioneer of reversible computing, but also a pioneer in ethnomethodology (cc @meaningness): https://t.co/Qc7dJKWnXH 2021-12-17 22:16:11 Aside: the Kardashev scale is about energy use. One thing we know from @chdbennett & I wonder often: to what extent is energy use a good proxy for how technologically advanced a civilization is? 2021-12-17 22:09:41 Kardashev Type 2 civilizations are still using Ikea sofas: (The video is astonishing and wondrous, and I hope it's clear this is coming from a place of love and appreciation. But I do enjoy this kind of quirk.) https://t.co/sYiwgCX4Gr 2021-12-17 22:03:42 Sketching Dyson spheres. (How is the heat being utilized here? That's... a lot of joules that are being absorbed, without much apparent impact.) https://t.co/4PnPWjNGQ7 2021-12-17 22:00:32 Loved this, panning up from the alien savannah to the planetary shield: https://t.co/A5Zstw4KjO 2021-12-17 21:49:48 @gavincrooks Well, the Carnot limit does mean there's going to be a lot of waste heat if we're doing useful work! 2021-12-17 21:47:52 Sketch of a Kardashev Level 1 civilization https://t.co/kn8HBBLQAF 2021-12-17 21:45:03 Ruins of an extinct (or departed?) alien civilization https://t.co/gwkaEPSjqn 2021-12-17 21:38:28 Much of the aesthetic reminded me of "The Witness" for some reason. https://t.co/NM8ufvmQOZ 2021-12-17 21:37:10 I smiled at this: spectroscopy as a way of detecting alien solar cells. My first (erroneous) thought was: "or maybe they have really nice beaches". Of course, this is wrong, since silica has a different spectrum to silicon. https://t.co/50u2XwcBoe 2021-12-17 21:34:38 Apparently there are ~10^3-10^4 satellites in orbit around the earth: https://t.co/Py3IkmNcRs 2021-12-17 21:32:05 (Done quickly, from memory, and without paying much attention to getting various constants right! But seems plausible as a ballpark.) 2021-12-17 21:30:53 Incidentally, total human energy useage at the moment is apparently 600 Exajoules / year (6 * 10^20 J / 3 * 10^7 sec), or 2 * 10^13 Watts. Sunlight flux is very, very roughly 1400 Watts / square meter, over about pi (6*10^6)^2 m^2, or ~10^19 Watts. 2021-12-17 21:22:32 I enjoyed the theatre here: the three pillars (and the three lights) are lifted to reveal civilizations at Kardashev type 1, 2, and 3: https://t.co/ZiI7LahueE 2021-12-17 21:19:05 The video mentions Tabby's star, which is just fascinating, with strange fluctuations in output: https://t.co/t2f8EQsnX5 2021-12-17 21:17:17 I do enjoy the common implicit message, here and elsewhere, that aliens shop at Ikea: https://t.co/TOdsEIBB0J 2021-12-17 20:33:33 An example: I just don't think you would ever _imagine_ something like general relativity - a malleable spacetime! - without deep communion with reality. That's Riemann, Einstein et al's ultimate source 2021-12-17 20:31:40 Incidentally, the problem with McLuhan's (& Still, I like the pov :-) 2021-12-17 20:29:33 Much about the video reminds me of much in McLuhan. Went looking for (& 2021-12-17 20:22:04 Depiction of an alien nature reserve, each planet home to a different form of life. Not sure what I think about the paternalism implicit, but it's an interesting idea. https://t.co/V5GiQylADQ 2021-12-17 20:19:40 In the 1860s an imaginative artist proposed placing large mirrors to make the sign of the big dipper visible from other parts of the solar system: https://t.co/Vu4AsT2iek 2021-12-17 20:18:24 Asteroid mining: https://t.co/wSPIFSXMzs 2021-12-17 20:17:05 I love this one: the rings are being used as a transport layer of some sort, an economic construct to support the entire system: https://t.co/U0Q5AeoZhG 2021-12-17 20:17:02 An astonishing number of very beautiful images. I often don't know what is being depicted, but find it stimulating. Here's a few. Some kind of under-construction space station? https://t.co/hdz2ydH1gJ 2021-12-17 20:10:15 @peregrine @DrugGovoruna Seismographs are used to detect underground tests. I believe this has been how certain countries' entry into the nuclear club was first noticed. 2021-12-17 20:07:18 Enjoyed this a great deal, and learned a lot: a beautiful, informative discussion of the search for extraterrestrial life: https://t.co/UKzJRjpQiC 2021-12-17 20:06:43 RT @musicalscience: Who are the masters of the universe? Are we the only intelligent life, or are there others lurking out there? Immense… 2021-12-17 20:01:24 Surprised to see this has been done: neutrinos have been used to communicate: https://t.co/8c1apngIO9 2021-12-17 17:24:04 @smdnano Well, I find it very tricky. Glad you don't. 2021-12-17 05:02:01 @aaronclauset I've read parts of Ehrenberg 1991 before 2021-12-17 03:53:58 Things like that last make feel like a spelunker in the wondrous far reaches of human knowledge. A techorhetorician! Wonderful! 2021-12-17 03:52:32 Trying to track it down has yielded many eye-openers https://t.co/8QOoBSNt3u 2021-12-17 03:51:42 (Obviously very population dependent!) 2021-12-17 03:50:31 A couple of years ago I read a study suggesting about 80% of tenure-track faculty receive tenure. I'm having trouble tracking it down. Anyone know it? 2021-12-17 03:49:26 Fascinating, though note the year and many confounders https://t.co/fP7wohwVPz 2021-12-17 02:45:03 I _also_ find very inspiring examples at the other extreme, where a long term vision can be mapped out in a fair amount of detail. Eg: Ned Seeman: https://t.co/050PJo4xcW Or the work @AdamMarblestone @AGamick are enabling with @Convergent_FROs 2021-12-17 02:12:21 I have heard people who know much more than me (on this subject: not a high bar) describe CRISPR as a kind of restriction enzyme. But I guess they're very different from traditional! I don't understand the mechanism behind _why_, though. 2021-12-17 02:09:08 Ah, basically nope, I kinda missed the crucial point - emphasized in a million talks - which is that CRISPR work in vivo, older techniques (mostly) don't, or work poorly there: https://t.co/jzJsJQ3LA8 2021-12-17 01:49:29 A somewhat ignorant question: is it fair to say that for many applications CRISPR has superseded traditional restriction enzymes? 2021-12-17 01:38:55 @The_Lagrangian @devonzuegel @starsandrobots @andy_matuschak Fun way of putting it! 2021-12-17 00:55:32 Some thoughtful reflections from @BrianNosek: https://t.co/Ure1fCC7rx 2021-12-17 00:39:00 With a less goal-oriented approach, you can't hold yourself accountable so easily. That's challenging. Sometimes things go well, and you have a bunch of good results. And sometimes it can be dry. Bad luck? Need more patience? Need to change tack? 2021-12-17 00:38:59 Let me come back to this: https://t.co/F7Do7GrVY8 The trouble with the exploratory approach is that it can let you off the hook. With a goal or problem you have a pretty clear criterion: did we do it? If not, how much progress are we making? 2021-12-17 00:19:33 There's some minor transcription errors (or maybe I just misspoke), but I think the meaning is clear. The whole discussion delves into many related areas: https://t.co/8OU6PJOCF4 Featuring the wonderful @devonzuegel, @andy_matuschak, & 2021-12-17 00:13:23 On the relationship to Hamming's well-known advice (thks to @devonzuegel @starsandrobots & 2021-12-17 00:09:44 @hhm Commented a little on that in a panel: https://t.co/8OU6PJOCF4 (It continues at the URL) https://t.co/Ty1JiXaTeA 2021-12-16 21:56:38 @ObserverSuns I don't know the historic origins of tenure (beyond the urban legends scientists commonly tell each other, probably mostly false I'd guess). I probably should look it up! 2021-12-16 21:48:03 It's funny, because a (seeming) natural consequence sounds an awful lot like no accountability - just for researchers to explore as they wish. At least for me, I quite like some constraints and accountability. But tricky to get right balance. 2021-12-16 21:46:07 @nicholasbs Huh. Wish I'd been there! 2021-12-16 21:37:19 @rojaye_shegz @vgr I see you've written post mortem reports on research projects before! 2021-12-16 21:35:06 @vgr I mean, sure, I can proudly show off my bullseye hit under those circumstances. But it'd be nice to have less arsenic... 2021-12-16 21:33:28 @vgr The trouble is, sometimes I'm painting a bullseye around a toxic waste spill decorated by Kenny Scharf, and with Barry Manilow blasting. 2021-12-16 21:24:24 (Parenthetically: it's amazing how much of our lives is about making sense of the tension between our individual preferences and those of the institutions that surround us.) 2021-12-16 21:22:20 To come back to legibility / illegibility: problem- or goal-orientation is highly legible. Failure is met with: "At least we were working on an important problem!" Whereas exploration that doesn't work out seems like just faffing around. Institutions much prefer the former. 2021-12-16 20:51:16 This conversation with @DavidDeutschOxf may be of interest: https://t.co/Q4UjJTuqOM 2021-12-16 20:44:33 This is one (though not the main) reason I've become so interested in James Scott's legible/illegible distinction. Research institutions favour legibility: that, in some sense, is what legibility is _about_. But much of the research I most admire was illegible for a long time 2021-12-16 20:39:26 @melonakos I don't do either. 2021-12-16 20:37:47 @DavidDeutschOxf I've occasionally talked to someone 5 or 10 times about a "project", only to realize that they think I talked to them about 5 or 10 completely different projects. In a sense, they were right... 2021-12-16 20:35:36 @DavidDeutschOxf Ah, that is a very precise description of my experience. In that sense it's very problem-oriented! 2021-12-16 20:32:02 @melonakos I don't use either. And I don't think Atiyah does either, at least in the sense most people would use those terms. 2021-12-16 20:31:26 @DavidDeutschOxf At least for myself - not sure about Atiyah or you - problems are often discovered very late in a creative work. So I couldn't call it problem-oriented: I don't know what the problem is until late (though I may cycle through hundreds of problems en route). 2021-12-16 20:27:25 @DavidDeutschOxf For your last sentence: you mean the attitude he's saying he uses, or the attitude he's reacting against. 2021-12-16 20:12:45 This is a difficult style for students and collaborators (with rare exceptions), and in practice some projects are pretty problem- or goal-oriented. But it's not a natural fit for me. 2021-12-16 20:11:22 Given a choice of writing a grant application & I don't mean that. Well, I don't _quite_ mean that. 2021-12-16 20:07:56 And I don't really know what I was doing until 5 or more years after... 2021-12-16 20:07:55 One of my favourite quotes, from Michael Atiyah I've struggled a fair bit with the idea that research is goal- or problem-oriented. Many people take this for granted, but for me creative work is intuitive & 2021-12-16 03:30:50 So is this commentary: https://t.co/zfLutQYB1c 2021-12-16 03:30:10 In general, it's very striking: https://t.co/fK9WPCbEvV 2021-12-16 03:26:56 Robin Sloan, articulating a particular view of the world (note the quotes 2021-12-16 03:06:16 Okay, @KFC, that's clever, though it means we do know the 11 secret Herbs and Spices. https://t.co/SFCRcwf9ju 2021-12-16 02:29:40 @seekingyaga Seems plausible! 2021-12-16 02:19:25 The roots of reductionism are strong: the proto Indoeuropean origins for "science" are associated with cutting and splitting! https://t.co/SyvyVifmPv 2021-12-15 21:21:46 @ybarzov @patrickc @Stanford @UCBerkeley @UCSF This is a quote of Wiener, reporting a conversation he said he had with von Neumann. (It's a very interesting quote.) 2021-12-15 18:10:01 @AGamick, asking the important questions: https://t.co/XBdgUtUwHi 2021-12-15 18:09:07 @AGamick @RobertDowneyJr I thought this science initiative was quite good: https://t.co/ZfJyHas6w2 2021-12-15 18:00:11 @kendrictonn https://t.co/rK16K8BPDV 2021-12-15 17:59:02 @kendrictonn Yes, of course he does. 2021-12-15 17:56:58 This is... not a thread I ever expected to write. But good for @RobertDowneyJr for getting involved! 2021-12-15 17:16:30 And here: https://t.co/P7jBozOT8v 2021-12-15 17:15:04 And here: https://t.co/5HWRX2UiAe 2021-12-15 17:08:56 And in more interesting science funding news, here's @RobertDowneyJr & 2021-12-15 16:48:18 And more from @SKonermann: https://t.co/vZnNtCnbuZ 2021-12-15 16:45:18 And follow at @arcinstitute: https://t.co/bA5muf6qPW 2021-12-15 16:43:21 Excited this is happening! 2021-12-15 16:43:03 And more from @pdhsu: https://t.co/Cxr5UTf5sH 2021-12-15 16:42:43 Arc Institute: https://t.co/yABwnW8Jfa 2021-12-15 16:38:33 RT @patrickc: I've long been interested in new ways to organize science and enable curiosity-driven discovery. Today, in partnership with @… 2021-12-15 05:27:44 https://t.co/ZQCwpOhj1j 2021-12-15 05:10:18 I wonder if @bruces calls human brains "manual statistics"? https://t.co/rlJLhRsQ1q 2021-12-14 21:51:58 @JeremyFarrar @KateBingham Her account is suspended? 2021-12-14 20:19:21 @nthmost It's a false dichotomy. It can be both (& 2021-12-14 04:02:05 @nthmost An aside, & 2021-12-14 01:13:43 @NeuralBricolage Oh, interesting. Does it seem unusually low? Looking back through your past few tweets it doesn't seem so surprising to me, but maybe I'm missing something? 2021-12-12 17:03:00 @tktexas @limpa_kimpa Please don't tweet meanly. Thanks. 2021-12-12 15:37:03 @orbuch Very similar, though there seems to be a lot of variation in that distance in different fields. 2021-12-12 04:44:50 RT @ljxie: I’m a huge fan of skill swaps where people teach each other on their own areas of expertise. Teaching solidifies your own knowle… 2021-12-12 04:40:14 Really enjoying everyone’s thoughtful remarks and amusing comments, thanks! 2021-12-12 01:41:48 Which cognitive fallacy are you most in favor of and why? 2021-12-11 22:35:07 @MWCvitkovic Also on 5: @ljxie asked on twitter for a skill-swap, an expert to talk with about quantum computing, and she'd teach them something (crypto and VC, in the event). I volunteered, and it was thoroughly delightful, & 2021-12-11 22:33:03 @MWCvitkovic I've done all these multiple times, except 5 and a few that don't really make sense (I only applied once to university's in a foreign country, & On 5, I get this benefit more environmentally in other ways. But friends have done it. 2021-12-11 22:30:16 @MWCvitkovic 20. Semi-publicly give money to an anti-charity if you don't follow through on some commitment. 2021-12-11 22:28:56 @MWCvitkovic 16. Tell someone how much they mean to you. 17. Read 5 papers in an hour. 18. Spend a month reading one paper. 19. Revise a piece of text > 2021-12-11 22:25:03 @MWCvitkovic 15. Coin a word for some concept that doesn't have one. "The Meaning of LIff" is a very good inspiration, IMO. 2021-12-11 22:24:39 @MWCvitkovic 14. Make up a combination of words that has never been used by human beings before, but sounds good and is meaningful. I really enjoy this, and it's hard - it can take > 2021-12-11 22:21:21 @MWCvitkovic 10. Buy a potplant 11. Buy and use super soakers 12. Live in another country 13. Apply to university in another country 2021-12-11 22:17:34 @MWCvitkovic 9. Build a database of responses from a somewhat pseudo-random cross-section of people. Eg, I have a suite of questions I use in Ubers (mostly music, politics - learned a lot about why people support Trump, running a business, and faraway countries) 2021-12-11 22:13:35 @MWCvitkovic .. fascinated by this (despite, somewhat sadly for me, already being a grade A expert water-boiler, no remedial lessons necessary). It was just eye-opening. I'm struggling to explain why I loved this so much, but I did (and do). 2021-12-11 22:10:47 @MWCvitkovic 8. Search YouTube to learn better ways to do every mundane task. I learned to cut my own hair this way (& I was really inspired when I learned that there's a bunch of videos of people explaining how to boil water. I got... 2021-12-11 22:07:45 @ArtirKel @MWCvitkovic @LNuzhna Interesting - I recently tried to track down the Methuselah Tree in Eastern Cali, supposedly the world's oldest (single) tree. It was confounded in Google searches by the Woodside tree :-) 2021-12-11 22:06:16 @MWCvitkovic 4. Write someone a detailed, heartfelt card. 5. Hire a world expert to be your tutor. [Needs SF-level programmer income - a way to find such people is to look for outstanding postdocs in the areas.] 6. Tell someone you miss them. 7. Explore without knowing where you're going 2021-12-11 22:02:48 @MWCvitkovic 1. Make up your own cocktail. 2. Draw a friend, or scene from life, even if you totally "can't draw". 3. Pick a spot on the map that simply seems strange, and _go there_. (I've had some great adventures this way). 2021-12-11 22:01:12 @MWCvitkovic Hope you won't mind if I suggest a few (feel free to completely ignore, even mute). Let me set myself a little challenge, to add 20. 2021-12-11 22:00:15 @MWCvitkovic I absolutely love this post. I think what I like about it is that it's agency-expanding, both reading and (I assume) writing. So many things we don't realize we can do 2021-12-11 06:06:06 First attempt with that model: "castles in the clouds": https://t.co/gn95Jq1Ohd 2021-12-11 05:58:59 @moultano @RiversHaveWings Yeah, I see what you mean. 2021-12-11 05:54:49 @moultano @RiversHaveWings Trying one now. I guess I'll have to play around quite a bit to understand what is going on! 2021-12-11 05:40:29 @moultano @RiversHaveWings Baby's first image ("dogs playing on a bridge, by Rembrandt"), using the 256 x 256 model. I've some learning to do... https://t.co/sXMIcBnmKm 2021-12-11 04:35:20 There is no Great Stagnation :-) https://t.co/62CZr7f9hA 2021-12-11 04:16:54 @moultano This image reminds me shockingly much of hiking the Tongariro Track in New Zealand. 2021-12-11 04:10:48 I'm now running some text-to-image models in colab (via my browser), thanks to @moultano & Watching the image slowly condense on screen, I have the same feeling of being transformed into a magician as when I first learned to program... 2021-12-11 03:55:32 @theshteves @vgr @QiaochuYuan I didn't say I was aphantastic, though I do have a somewhat weaker visual sense (in some ways) than many people. A lot of my friends and acquaintances are. You may enjoy some of the replies here: https://t.co/qs7JHwQvPn 2021-12-11 03:39:24 @vgr @theshteves @QiaochuYuan I guess you have to see it for yourself. 2021-12-11 03:39:01 @vgr @theshteves @QiaochuYuan < 2021-12-11 03:38:08 Hmm, starting to explore Tolkien and Alan Lee: https://t.co/EDCSqCaglm 2021-12-11 03:36:57 @moultano That's really remarkable! It doesn't look exactly like any Lee I've seen - I don't believe it's just memory - but for what seems like first results that's really striking. 2021-12-11 03:20:24 @theshteves @vgr @QiaochuYuan I don't think hard shitposting is a coinage that is going to catch on, but I do appreciate the conceptual novelty! 2021-12-11 03:19:24 It's a tangent, but here's one of my all-time favourite movies (28 sec). It's of Picasso painting, not the (famous) self-conscious clip, but just him in his studio: https://t.co/AvUIQ16T34 I find it both incredibly moving & 2021-12-11 03:15:57 @vgr @theshteves @QiaochuYuan Wouldn't want your physics shitposting to be technically inaccurate! 2021-12-11 03:14:41 In this sense it's not reducing opportunities for art, but rather expanding the space of artistic exploration. Maybe AIs will do that better, too, but it seems very different to what the current tools do. 2021-12-11 03:10:57 @vgr @theshteves @QiaochuYuan Provided you're working on the boundary, of course, not actually in the volume: https://t.co/EPYBntby9s 2021-12-11 02:44:48 @DavidDeutschOxf Although, I have to say, it _is_ the kind of mask mandate I think we should have permanently... 2021-12-11 02:40:25 @DavidDeutschOxf They don't appear to fit very well - I doubt they block the virus at all. 2021-12-11 02:39:29 @vgr @QiaochuYuan Maybe people who are creatively involved in both STEM & 2021-12-11 02:31:27 @vgr @QiaochuYuan I'm starting to feel everyone's aphantasic. (Or aphantastic, as it should be.) I first talked about it in 2016 on a call with with ~6 or 7 people, mostly artists. "1% of the population are aphantastic". Turned out ~half of 'em were both aphantastic & 2021-12-11 02:23:12 @Meaningness @imperialauditor @UrsulaV (Pakenham's "Remarkable Trees of the _World_", since she's in Australia.) 2021-12-11 02:19:22 @Meaningness @imperialauditor @UrsulaV I did not (previously). Thank you! BTW, I bought my Mum one of the books about trees you recommended for her birthday, which she seemed to like (should have told you earlier). Thank you for that too! 2021-12-11 02:14:10 Trying to point more cleanly at this distinction: https://t.co/n5Cr79s5ko It's the difference between... 2021-12-11 02:11:18 Also via @imperialauditor: https://t.co/1u3tlNCcxh 2021-12-11 02:08:47 Also, a little sample of the long story (and the auto-generated images): https://t.co/8OFkFE10b7 https://t.co/pxYHofQq4p 2021-12-11 02:05:13 In particular, I think it confuses the (very valuable) technical task of painting in a particular way with discovering new ways of seeing and new forms of representation. This meta-medium offers more actions for exploring in the latter way. 2021-12-11 02:03:42 This little snippet is part of the wonderfully stimulating commentary. But I don't think the fear is right. Artists discover new ways of seeing and new forms of representation. And they can still do that in this new (meta-)medium , albeit with more tools at their disposal. https://t.co/utkUYVyZWY 2021-12-11 01:57:24 @moultano This is absolutely wonderful. I so enjoyed your reflections. I wonder what happens if you ask Alan Lee to illustrate Lord of the Rings this way... 2021-12-11 01:54:15 @imperialauditor Really, really interesting & 2021-12-11 01:53:52 Wonderful, just an amazingly interesting process! The images are generated _from the text_ by an AI model. Reflections on how it was done, and the emotional experience of creation, about halfway down. via @imperialauditor https://t.co/druoe8EsE5 2021-12-10 17:55:32 Several critical emails have not shown up the past few weeks. If you sent me something & My lack of response may also just be due to email slovenliness But I've been horrified by some of the things I've missed 2021-12-10 15:34:19 Reading the replies is almost as depressing as the chart. So much functional illiteracy & 2021-12-10 15:23:55 Amazing chart. Top 1% = ~40k annual income (net, PPP adjusted). https://t.co/PgEv9SdLUB 2021-12-10 06:48:53 @M__Verbruggen John Polanyi (son of Michael) is a famous chemist. I was quite confused about certain things before I figured this out. 2021-12-10 06:20:49 @seekingyaga It was Game 2 (IIRC), which was a draw. I don't understand the chess reasoning (mostly) either. But I do enjoy occasionally catching a tidbit in it, and the general style - what they miss, how they relate, what language they use (and don't use). 2021-12-10 02:32:11 @metasj Random number generator? 2021-12-10 02:25:44 Unexpected: https://t.co/NdXAQcMHT7 2021-12-10 02:16:41 @leashless @vgr The main problem now is batteries, AFAIU. Fortunately, they're also following Wright's Law. IIRC a ~6-fold drop in price in the 2010s. 2021-12-10 02:13:42 @vgr Curious: what are good examples from the past, for you? Moon landings? Other things? 2021-12-10 02:11:51 @vgr Also still stuck in the (paleolithic?) mode of believing 2+2 = 4 (well, except on Twitter). 150,000 net people per day exiting extreme poverty may be a dry statistic, but it's pretty damned awesome too. 2021-12-09 20:12:06 While that's amusing, it's the detailed back-and-forth commentary that is actually interesting. It hasn't happened after every game, but it has happened after many, and it's reliably fascinating. 2021-12-09 20:11:00 @umbut I'm too far away & 2021-12-09 20:04:59 One enjoyable thing about the World Chess Championship is that the players often discuss the game straight after finishing. Here the challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi, amusingly describes the game just played as one of the worst ever at a World Championship https://t.co/uGvBYiLlLA 2021-12-09 19:13:35 @umbut Curious: do you happen to know, was the analogous Moderna data made public? 2021-12-09 19:12:01 @umbut Thanks for clarifying. That Reuters-FDA article sounds like a disaster, a massively dysfunctional system. 500 pages per month... 2021-12-09 19:02:02 @umbut A review containing: "a critical eye on the efficacy of these new mRNA treatments" 2021-12-09 18:52:41 @umbut Curious: is there a good, thoughtful review which includes this critical eye? 2021-12-09 05:50:03 RT @michael_nielsen: @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun A few other variation terms, all imperfect: + Applied metascientist + Metascientific e… 2021-12-09 05:49:57 RT @michael_nielsen: @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn Related: @kanjun and I have been experimenting with the term "scientific process entrepreneur"… 2021-12-09 02:29:09 @stuartbuck1 Oh, I certainly don't agree with the details (& 2021-12-09 02:23:11 @timalsinatarun It's a curious situation. On balance, I think admiration, even awe, at the action is in many ways also a very good thing, though for somewhat different reasons. 2021-12-09 02:22:03 @timalsinatarun Understood. But I can only report my own thoughts & 2021-12-09 02:20:27 @stuartbuck1 I suppose this is why I enjoy things like Bloom's "The Western Canon", or the Great Books list, or the Sci-Fi Masters series. But all are a very imperfect match for my sensibility. Ostrom & 2021-12-09 02:18:39 @stuartbuck1 Something I find frustrating is that this canon is harder to find than it should be. J. E. Littlewood said that as he got older he only listened to Mozart, Beethoven, & 2021-12-09 02:14:24 @MWCvitkovic @johncarlosbaez This has surprising applications: https://t.co/8V4h6Gap3d 2021-12-09 02:10:40 @stuartbuck1 My favourite avatar for a group chat is based on this ever-so-slightly modified photo: https://t.co/HqzIwWrNmG 2021-12-09 02:09:12 Oh, important note: it's only 15 pages: https://t.co/U6eqr5M5yl The rest is bumph of various kinds. 2021-12-09 01:59:09 @MarkLutter Ah, VaSO I have not read, and wasn't on my radar - thanks. 2021-12-09 01:55:17 @MarkLutter Thanks. Funny: I started with that book, switched to the paper, and then a later book by North (still going), and am now back to the book you suggested, better prepared to understand his thinking.... 2021-12-09 01:51:42 It's curious reading a text like this from a field I'm a noob in. I'll read a paragraph & 2021-12-09 01:43:54 @peter_rohde Not yet 2021-12-09 01:42:05 @alondono97 No idea :-) When I feel like it! 2021-12-09 01:41:34 @stuartbuck1 Also, for the matter, very Elinor Ostromesque. Two of my heroes... 2021-12-09 01:39:14 @stuartbuck1 Nope. Sounds a bit Jane Jacobsesque!(??) I -- very briefly! -- wondered if your tweet was in response to: https://t.co/FvETFqGIDq 2021-12-09 01:30:05 Diderot famously pointed out the split consciousness an actor may feel, as they simultaneously experience a sense of self as both their character & I enjoyed @Ada_Palmer's description of a related kind of split consciousness as a historian: https://t.co/ZybQbQZ049 https://t.co/7EAe9bIxaW 2021-12-09 01:21:47 I enjoyed - though I only understood a tiny fraction of - Douglass North on Institutions: https://t.co/TDNtD6UAsZ I suspect I'll learn far more upon a reread. https://t.co/LJY25J8jY3 2021-12-09 01:15:43 @metasj @MWCvitkovic I feel that I already have those well covered, and didn't miss the section. 2021-12-09 01:11:38 I enjoyed: "Things you're allowed to do", by @MWCvitkovic: https://t.co/NvaCi8GHxc 2021-12-09 01:08:44 This seems oddly tame. I mean, c'mon, "followed". Surely "lumbers terrifyingly after" at the very least. https://t.co/YJq7DLrclj 2021-12-09 00:05:24 I am not EA, and often disagree very strongly with my EA friends. But what a remarkable community. 2021-12-09 00:03:42 I just think this is astonishingly admirable: https://t.co/HB2Cx4nGWd 2021-12-08 17:59:47 @vgr Fun to play with merely slightly altering quotes in general: "I looked and behold a great elephant A really good quote should be hard to perturb without utterly destroying. 2021-12-08 17:53:02 @vgr Bartlett's Weirdly Familiar Misquotations. 2021-12-08 04:09:57 @Meaningness @nickcammarata I think it’s only unsurprising with hindsight. If in 2006 you’d said that in 15 years one architecture would be state of the art for all those problems, I doubt many would have agreed! 2021-12-08 00:19:09 As an outsider, I really appreciated this discussion of surprising & 2021-12-08 00:13:23 @lukeprog @patrickc @robertwiblin @albrgr @benskuhn @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion @open_phil What is Hayekian sci-tech funding? 2021-12-08 00:06:43 @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn Also: what / who is the valence crew? 2021-12-07 21:34:26 @mollyfmielke @mothminds Loved the essay! And the launch seems like a good way to celebrate a birthday - giving something to the world! 2021-12-07 21:33:30 The essay behind this is thoughtful and insightful. I hope people will take the opportunity to fund illegible, anti-correlated things [i.e., not just what is fashionable]. https://t.co/yzHE3rOSxP 2021-12-07 21:27:28 RT @michael_nielsen: @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun A few other variation terms, all imperfect: + Applied metascientist + Metascientific e… 2021-12-07 21:27:25 RT @michael_nielsen: @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn Related: @kanjun and I have been experimenting with the term "scientific process entrepreneur"… 2021-12-07 21:26:04 @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun A few other variation terms, all imperfect: + Applied metascientist + Metascientific entrepreneur + Metatect [from "meta" meaning to change or transcend, and "tect" meaning arts & 2021-12-07 21:22:42 @davidtlang @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun *to achieve [not achievable!] 2021-12-07 21:21:17 @ArtirKel @davidtlang @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun In some sense, NSF & 2021-12-07 21:18:55 @davidtlang @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun Thanks! TBC: we're talking about relative outsiders trying to achievable scalable change in the social processes of science. Effectively, applied meta-science. "Applied metascientists" & 2021-12-07 20:23:34 @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn @kanjun In particular, people who are leveraging the power of their ideas, not some leveraging existing power (eg a Nobel Prize or running a NIH Institute). Thinking about people like @BrianNosek or Paul Ginsparg or @hjoseph. 2021-12-07 20:17:36 @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn Related: @kanjun and I have been experimenting with the term "scientific process entrepreneur" - roughly, a person who seeks to achieve scalable changes in the process of science. It's not a very good term! But we think the notion is very important. 2021-12-07 20:16:23 @MWCvitkovic @benskuhn Curious: who do you have in mind? I'm trying to understand what you see as different about the economics of science people, the science of science funding, the meta-research crowd, the sociology of science, science of science, etc? I think of these as strongly overlapping crowds 2021-12-05 21:59:22 My Spotify wrapped is just a list of songs that I listened to on repeat at some point in the year: https://t.co/QL0j4nSIs3 2021-12-04 17:12:55 Variations on the placards: Cosma Shalizi's "Attention conservation notice"s 2021-12-04 17:09:56 I very much like the term "assumed audience". I've been (very inconsistently) using such placards almost as long as I've been writing on the web. (OMG... well over half my life, since 1995.) https://t.co/TI2vULTSlh 2021-12-04 17:06:13 Curious about the methodology. I'm inclined to want to dig in: https://t.co/3dWcrq8ezx 2021-12-04 17:03:24 https://t.co/tiDqsftXnG 2021-12-03 23:17:17 @gaurav_ven Yeah, I wish I had a better idea of whether things are getting net better or worse right now. Easy to point to local examples of both 2021-12-03 23:02:17 @gaurav_ven If you regard that as a particularly bad example then it's illustrative of just how incredibly things have improved over the past few centuries It can simultaneously be true that it was a mistake to try to stop that event, and that things can have improved enormously. 2021-12-02 05:09:30 @C4COMPUTATION Curious, Jessica, did you ever read it?! 2021-12-02 04:52:09 @seekingyaga @kcimc There's a mirror image experience - here's John McPhee, whose opinions are at least somewhat like that author - on technology: https://t.co/nnAiMe74iN I find McPhee's genius for getting inside the point of view of people he deeply disagrees with very inspiring. 2021-12-02 04:19:24 @trevorloy Love me some Annie Dillard - I've read "Total Eclipse" maybe a half dozen times, including aloud in the car on the way to a total eclipse. THe others I do not, in fact, know. 2021-12-02 04:11:35 Also a reason I enjoy Wendell Berry, John McPhee, and Edward Abbey. 2021-12-02 04:10:37 @kcimc It is trivially easy to attack points in it, & 2021-12-02 04:08:07 I enjoyed this thoughtful description of progress and the future, even though it's very different from how I usually think: https://t.co/WZ67cfE5bK (ht @kcimc ) 2021-12-02 03:53:40 @patrickc @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion Curious if the catholicity of opinion would include this: https://t.co/WZ67cfE5bK It's certainly describing thoughtfully what the author (and many others) think of as progress. But very different from most current writing on progress studies. 2021-12-02 01:38:45 Link: https://t.co/rASAytFOCX 2021-12-02 01:36:53 Incidentally, on the question "What is culture?" I've recently been reading Kroeber and Kluckhohn's famous 1952 monograph on the question, which provides well over a hundred answers!!! 2021-12-02 01:26:46 A lovely thoughtful thread from @jasoncbenn, who is trying to build a new neighbourhood in SF: https://t.co/yt2mwkmFQz 2021-12-02 00:48:02 Kiosks are people too. https://t.co/rSVY9JMC8n 2021-12-01 20:32:48 @stuartbuck1 @kanjun @robertwiblin @patrickc @albrgr @benskuhn @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion @open_phil Yeah, it's another nice example. Something I find odd in the thermus aquaticus story as often retold today is that it's not mentioned that PCR works without it (and, IIRC, it was initially done without it). It does, admittedly, help quite a bit. 2021-12-01 04:19:55 @antonhowes @jasoncrawford Bacon was, of course, Lord Chancellor for Charles II's grandfather James. Such an interesting character in so many ways. 2021-12-01 04:17:18 @antonhowes @jasoncrawford This seems a good relationship to have for a fledgling society. Comics have, for time immemorial, had the role of saying the things you can't 2021-12-01 04:16:16 @antonhowes @jasoncrawford It seems like a very in-your-face kind of Baconianism, so to speak. I've occasionally wondered what the King thought of it. Thanks for the rec - I've seen it mentioned before, but tbh it never occurred to me to read. 2021-12-01 04:01:46 @antonhowes @jasoncrawford Curious: do you know how the King or other authorities looked upon the Royal Society's motto, "nullius in verba" (roughly, take no-one's word for it). It seems deliberately somewhat subversive, though perhaps more of the Church than the State. 2021-12-01 04:00:22 @antonhowes @jasoncrawford Thanks for all this, Anton. My understanding is that Oldenburg took on that role himself, and considerably increased the amount of correspondence as a result (& 2021-12-01 03:53:15 @ID_AA_Carmack Makes sense, thanks for the context. 2021-12-01 02:35:43 @ID_AA_Carmack I like Douglas Adams' description of an authors' job: https://t.co/7RShpCnssU 2021-12-01 02:34:08 @ID_AA_Carmack Agree, though without the diminunitive "just". A bit like the later Harry Potter books were "just" arrangements of ASCII characters in a linear order, yet on opening night they'd sell millions of copies at ~$15+. 2021-12-01 00:56:41 @jasoncrawford @redblobgames @antonhowes I'm a third of the way through, after someone recommended it yesterday. Very interesting! Funny how breakdowns in centralized authority are often enabling of surprise. 2021-11-30 23:31:27 @FFelicis97 Oh, I _like_ my dentist. Great person! But, nice as he is, I'd really prefer a world in which dentistry wasn't necessary! 2021-11-30 23:17:50 My dentist texts me with reminders: “we are looking forward to your appointment [etc]” Have to resist the urge to text back that I am NOT looking forward to the appointment, but think it’s necessary for good health... 2021-11-30 17:54:40 @robertwiblin @patrickc @albrgr @benskuhn @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion @open_phil In particular, EA seems to want to know what people are doing, and why they're doing it. But those people mostly didn't understand what or why until after the fact. Darwin thought he was on the Beagle to do geology, Turing working on an esoteric problem in mathematical logic,... 2021-11-30 17:50:08 @robertwiblin @patrickc @albrgr @benskuhn @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion @open_phil I'm referring specifically to their key early discoveries, not really to the people. Funding Turing ~1950 would have been a much easier EA sell than in 1935/36 (though still hard, IMO). 2021-11-30 17:46:05 @robertwiblin @patrickc @albrgr @benskuhn @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion @open_phil EA would not have funded: Einstein, Newton, Darwin, Turing, Margulis, Shannon, Planck,.... All were people fiddling around in ways hard to justify until after the fact, not by people taking legible big risks. 2021-11-30 17:32:09 @kanjun @robertwiblin @patrickc @albrgr @benskuhn @jasoncrawford @MatthewJBar @mattsclancy @tylercowen @Noahpinion @open_phil Fun to think further back too: Robert Ballard fooling around with submersibles in the Galapagos -> To your point, all wildly unpredictable & Tho sending smart weirdos to the Galapagos seems promising 2021-11-30 06:37:48 @TristanSevers He didn't. 2021-11-30 03:21:43 @Ada_Palmer @danielcjonas Thanks - dm’ed you my email address. 2021-11-30 02:45:15 @nucholab No. 2021-11-30 02:24:57 @gabegluck Thanks for the tip, checking it out 2021-11-30 02:06:26 (My file of project ideas is, to an alarming extent, just a list of thousands of possible book / essay / paper titles. Not that I'd ever work on "The history of decentralized change in ideas" - too far from stuff I know. But I'd love to read such a book!) 2021-11-30 02:03:10 I think that last tweet is why I like the (imagined) title: "The history of decentralized change in ideas" 2021-11-30 02:01:23 I'd like to understand much better how we got from the Inquisition arresting Galileo (& 2021-11-30 01:58:03 @orzelc It's pretty amazing that we credit the patent clerk and not Poincare, one of the most celebrated scientists in the world in 1905. But detailed histories seem to bear this out, AFAIK: Einstein's apprehension of special rel was far deeper than Poincare's... 2021-11-30 01:55:32 @orzelc And Fitzgerald and (arguably) several others. But AFAIK none really fully accepted or understood that this meant the old notions of space and time had to be done away with, nor the impact on our understanding of mass, energy, and momentum. 2021-11-30 01:51:37 I know stories like this seem routine. But they're really the consequence of a tremendous number of ideas, social norms and expectations, the social technologies of science. Absent those, it'd be much harder for this kind of change to happen. 2021-11-30 01:49:57 So many examples like this. I enjoy: Brian Josephson as a 21 year old grad student, writing his paper on the Josephson effect. And John Bardeen, double Nobelist(!!!), publishing a refutation weeks later. And the physics community quickly decided in favour of... the grad student. 2021-11-30 01:49:56 Many examples. Maybe the most famous: in 1905 a patent clerk working on his PhD proposed new conceptions of space, time, mass, and energy. And in almost no time at all... scientists accepted he was right. 2021-11-30 01:46:12 @danielcjonas @Ada_Palmer That looks like a great essay, and I'll read it beyond my brief skim so far. But it doesn't seem to more than glancingly address the topics I raise above. 2021-11-30 01:42:42 Obviously related to things like the First Amendment to the US Constitution. But here I'm drawing attention specifically to the way scientific ideas went from being almost completely gatekept to a situation where relative outsiders routinely make major contributions. 2021-11-30 01:40:52 I'd enjoy a book (or paper): "The history of freedom of thought". Or a more accurate (though less pithy) description of the key phenomenon: "The history of decentralized change in ideas". 2021-11-30 01:39:21 I don't understand very well how it came about - all the little changes in institutions, all the ideas that were required - nor do I understand very well the limits on it, nor the way it changes and is maintained today. 2021-11-30 01:38:04 This transition, to a kind of freedom of thought, and decentralized change in ideas, seems to have been one of the most important transitions in history. Of course, it still ebbs and flows, and requires maintenance. 2021-11-30 01:36:22 @StefanFSchubert The whole document is very badly written: https://t.co/WZ3JiVIyMj But fascinating! 2021-11-30 01:35:46 Just trying to better understand how we went from a world in which knowledge was carefully controlled by central authorities - think of Galileo under house arrest for promoting Copernicus - to modern science, where change in knowledge is decentralized. 2021-11-30 01:34:04 Fascinating to see King Charles explicitly grant the Royal Society (in 1660) liberty to discuss pretty much whatever they want, with whoever they want, "without molestation, interruption, or disturbance whatsoever", in the first charter of the Royal Society: https://t.co/JWB8vhm3BT 2021-11-25 07:00:36 @naval God, you must speak to an almost disjoint group from me. The ones I speak to can't shut up for (often correctly) pointing out flaws in everything, their own work, that of their friends, their enemies, etc. 2021-11-24 17:59:09 @patrickc The essay version of the thread makes an analogous point about early mass media, which seems very historically plausible with 50+ years of hindsight. But it would have been hard to directly measure year over year. https://t.co/QIitH6iVQC 2021-11-24 17:54:21 @patrickc By reflexive effect, you mean the extent to which new segments are being _created_ (as opposed to identified-and-sold) as part of the complete loop? One point is that it seems likely cumulative: a tiny & 2021-11-24 17:45:03 The followup essay by @jonst0kes is very good & 2021-11-24 17:36:11 @DRMacIver No. 2021-11-24 17:33:26 @TheHonn I hadn't heard the Churchill (thanks for the pointer!) Instead it was a riff on McLuhan's "First we shape our tools, then they shape us." Which must have been McLuhan riffing on Churchill. 2021-11-24 17:30:11 @zooko They should disallow spiders and Visigoths: https://t.co/x0aDP8oeBi 2021-11-24 17:28:12 People sometimes think turning off the algorithmic feed "solves" the problem. But it's a collective effect. If the people you follow, or the people they follow, are being affected by this, then you _inevitably will_ too. It's not perfectly transitive, but it's strongly transitive 2021-11-24 17:20:35 @TheHonn You mean: "We shape our buildings and afterward they shape us" (which is, of course, quite a different thought, though obviously related in both form and meaning)? 2021-11-24 17:17:58 @kevingashley Thanks, glad it's useful. 2021-11-24 17:16:10 Huh. Google thinks it's new. Surprising. https://t.co/K1P50bPLRZ 2021-11-24 17:11:58 Less pithy, but more accurate: machine learning is restructuring our culture, in unthinking service of business ends. Nothing new, just trying to sharply distill this as well as I can, for my own thinking. 2021-11-24 17:09:27 Related: https://t.co/qdAvCVc120 2021-11-24 17:07:58 I'm still on Twitter, for now. I still get a lot of value from Twitter. I turned the algorithmic feed off quite some time ago (& 2021-11-24 17:07:57 This entire thread is very, very good, on the impact of machine learning & First we train our machines, then they train us. https://t.co/GusKSaE4pJ 2021-11-24 07:24:49 @seekingyaga Many scenes stick in my mind from the show. One particular favorite - not funny, but amazingly well acted - is this one. Toby's look of shame and self-loathing as he says "I'm a very powerful person" is... really something. https://t.co/2j35QsFQ3l 2021-11-24 07:20:23 @seekingyaga I read somewhere that this was just something Allison Janney does for fun, and Sorkin figured out how to write it into the show. She's hilarious in interviews... 2021-11-24 07:19:12 @seekingyaga Heh. Allison Janney is a great sport! https://t.co/QsRTMTZteu 2021-11-24 07:17:19 @seekingyaga Ah, what a great scene! Brad Whitford and Mary Matlin both at their best. 2021-11-24 02:44:23 Lot of similarity with Hamlet / the Mouse Trap, though not as extended as Studio 60, nor does it have the triple layering - certain lines work in our universe (Busfield-Janney), the Studio 60 universe (Shanley-Janney), & 2021-11-24 02:42:53 @gwern points out that of course "Hamlet" has considerable parallels: https://t.co/TstzKruv6B 2021-11-24 02:42:04 @gwern Oh, of course, good call! It is very similar, though less extended, and without the triple layering Sorkin manages - certain lines work in our universe (Busfield-Janney), the Studio 60 universe (Shanley-Janney), & 2021-11-24 02:07:44 Just checked, & Eg, the final line in the show is clearly meant to be interpreted not just in both universes, but also in ours: https://t.co/Qi05lluJWV 2021-11-24 02:04:04 @josephjconnor Do Travolta and Thurman meet in Kill Bill? 2021-11-24 02:03:23 @osteele Funny, I loved Ocean's 11, and don't remember Ocean's 12 at all. Sounds like Soderbergh's kind of fun, though! 2021-11-24 01:27:11 TBC: I'm not talking about breaking the 4th wall, which is done often. I mean: + A character has fictional identities in 2 unrelated universes + Another character has a fictional identity in one universe, & 2021-11-24 01:22:27 @Pfister95274483 Can't stand his movies, or the man. 2021-11-24 01:17:51 Also interesting to think about other uses for the trick. Deadpool does some similar kinds of things, but it mostly seems... I dunno, heavy handed. I wanted to love Deadpool, but it seemed more like a good 5 minute Youtube video than a movie... 2021-11-24 01:16:26 I'm aware there's very possibly zero other people in the world who care. For me, it was a long-forgotten puzzle piece suddenly resolving :-) 2021-11-24 01:14:57 A great narrative trick that, AFAIA, has only ever been done once. In Sorkin's "The West Wing" there's a romance between CJ Cregg (Allison Janney) & 2021-11-23 21:21:13 @vgr 2021-11-23 05:02:02 @rsnous Lovely! 2021-11-23 04:50:36 @NGruen1 Yes, it's a lovely essay, isn't it? Many things have stuck with me from it - I particularly enjoy the dry remark about companies not being quite sure whether to buy interfaces by the yard or the pound (or some such). 2021-11-23 04:49:36 "of all the ways to approach the future, the vehicle that gets you to the most interesting places is Romance" (Alan Kay) https://t.co/Slu963mWp2 2021-11-23 02:35:19 @devonzuegel Funny thing is, I won't be surprised if part of what's needed is a little less of the "decentralized" bit. Enforceability and lack of status in the legal system seem to be preventing a lot of things from happening... 2021-11-23 02:23:27 @devonzuegel I wrote something quite similar this morning: https://t.co/xPzlJkZXcb 2021-11-23 02:08:53 @JLyle Yes, I use it as medium in which to work. 2021-11-23 02:04:03 @JLyle org mode, plus what I expect will be a few thousand hours of thinking & 2021-11-23 02:01:44 @vgr Ah, nice argument. It's a measure I've internalized reacting _against_, which makes your point nicely. Eg: https://t.co/6kW8ieMfyU 2021-11-23 01:59:49 Lacking context, I thought this was a reference to Twitter, until I got to the very end of the tweet, and I was thinking: "yeah!" (It's a reference to LA.) https://t.co/LAMtzd9guR 2021-11-23 01:58:11 Insofar as meetings are a key tool of management, it makes calling a meeting a deeply romantic act 2021-11-23 01:56:58 @vgr Curious: why? It's such a foreign idea to me, I have a lot of trouble guessing a reason. 2021-11-23 01:53:08 https://t.co/IvpDDB2fne 2021-11-21 21:14:47 @tnorthcutt @johndawkins @AlexKontorovich Oh, good point! If you deleted the corresponding data points for France, it'd look pretty much the same. My understanding is that the Black Death killed on the order of a third to a half the population of Europe (& 2021-11-21 21:06:24 @danielwithmusic Given how much carbon is currently being burned to support crypto mining, that may not be entirely inaccurate. 2021-11-21 20:56:37 @johndawkins @AlexKontorovich I wondered, too. It was, of course, the time of the 100 year war, and the immediate sequel to the Black Death. But if that's the explanation then it's curious it didn't affect England and Scotland. 2021-11-21 20:35:56 Of course, forests differ - read superficially, the graph below might be taken to imply an (incorrect) fungibility. But it's very striking to see the scale of the turnaround in many countries. The whole article is fascinating. https://t.co/MjL0sLulfR https://t.co/TNoU3f1NTi 2021-11-21 17:56:39 @dan_abramov Related, the final paragraph of my review of Loren Larson's book on problem-solving. (Again, just IME, certainly won't apply to everyone) https://t.co/50ObQ8F1q8 2021-11-21 17:54:04 @dan_abramov When I understand things well, I stop seeing the names almost entirely, and have a sense of just working directly with the objects. I like to treat the text as more hints than anything else - you use it to set things up, and as fallback, but most of the work is internal. YMMV! 2021-11-21 03:56:17 @Tinaguo Fun! This poem was enjoyable, a poet trying to capture the essence: https://t.co/t79RaGDpAV 2021-11-21 03:45:42 @Tinaguo Pretty damn strong! I love Muriel Rukeyser's line that the Universe is made up of stories. Much truth, from our human point of view. 2021-11-21 03:42:20 @Tinaguo I wish this were true! Entanglement genuinely is amazing stuff - it will help power quantum computers - but unfortunately this isn't true. (I did my PhD in quantum physics, and worked on entanglement for many years.) 2021-11-21 03:27:15 @seekingyaga I must say, the shadows on the temple are surprising. (So is something about the saturation of the colors, but that could easily be something funny about the camera or postprocessing.) https://t.co/b3gclFyjQI 2021-11-21 03:22:39 @seekingyaga If it's not real, he's being pretty coy about it. From his Instagram, which is marvellous: https://t.co/xBUhMom51t https://t.co/rmIEJl080f 2021-11-21 03:15:26 @seekingyaga I do wonder if it's a bit sped up though, maybe 10%. In the Director's commentary for the movie Pleasantville, Gary Ross points out numerous spots where he speeds things up or slows them down 10% or so. It makes quite an unconscious difference... 2021-11-21 03:13:19 @seekingyaga There are several imperfections in the video, which make me lean toward "real, but he took the smoothest of 100 takes". 2021-11-21 03:07:40 @katychuang Inelegantly put: I mean: where do you know of him from? Is he famous in some sword dancing world or something? I love to find new communities that can produce magic like this! 2021-11-21 03:04:31 His Instagram is beyond belief, and quite different than his YouTube: https://t.co/TNpueAFRVU 2021-11-21 03:03:23 @seekingyaga Part of the issue is certainly Twitter's downsampling. Another issue is that those audience shots are likely taken with much inferior cameras. Here's what appears to be the original: https://t.co/3JJgAyOpRd 2021-11-21 02:49:43 @katychuang Curious, if you don't mind: how did you know? 2021-11-21 02:30:34 @Joshua_Skootsky @seekingyaga Strongly recommend checking out his YouTube channel. If it's CG he's going to a _lot_ of trouble to make it look like live performances. This is the show reel, other videos appear to be done live: https://t.co/Va5urkTsib 2021-11-21 02:27:20 @sashachapin Quite. If anyone knows of anything _more_ beautiful, I'd definitely like to know! 2021-11-21 02:25:39 His show reel is... yeah: https://t.co/QIt33Ew8Y3 2021-11-21 02:22:08 His YouTube channel: https://t.co/28DPRuifu5 2021-11-21 02:21:07 @katychuang Thank you!!! 2021-11-21 02:20:37 Before what sounds like a live audience (thanks @katychuang!!!) https://t.co/28DPRuifu5 https://t.co/iVwroobtla 2021-11-21 02:19:02 Looks to me like the center of mass of the sword is inside the handle, maybe... 5-6 inches from the top of handle? Nearly all the changes in motion have him pivoting very near that point. 2021-11-21 02:16:13 @Joshua_Skootsky @seekingyaga The center of mass needs to be located well inside the handle. So it's a decidedly unusual sword. I certainly know what you mean. 2021-11-21 02:10:04 It's kinda funny: even if it was done on a greenscreen, and the sword was digitally added, his motion is still very beautiful. 2021-11-21 02:03:45 Curious: Is the sword video real? https://t.co/XU2Sp09ozo I spent quite a bit of time looking at the center of mass motion, & 2021-11-21 01:59:09 @katychuang Thanks - it's just an experiment for now, will gradually evolve. On images: I wish emacs supported them better. It'd be nice to quickly cut-and-paste or screenshot into org-mode. There are hack solutions, but nothing quite works AFAICT. 2021-11-21 01:48:46 @visakanv Totally disagree about that! 2021-11-21 01:46:41 @seekingyaga I looked a bit for credible evidence it's not real. Didn't find any, but I do wonder. I know what you mean about the movement. But, OTOH, someone who could achieve that with a sword would look unnaturally fluid & 2021-11-21 01:42:00 @curiouswavefn What a remarkable story. Careerism sometimes bugs me, but it's nice to see people for whom career success is, er, not their main motivation. 2021-11-21 01:39:46 @katychuang I recently began using Pandoc to publish org to the web, and have been very happy with the experiment: ( https://t.co/iWejo9Oisw ). It's a great combination of a medium that's good to think in, and publish in. Wish org had better image support, though. 2021-11-20 20:44:32 @rcklss_abndn Moschen did Labyrinth, IIRC. 2021-11-20 19:46:13 The whole account @nextlevel_skill is great. Here's another one, less impressive, but funny. As someone who has taken the Canadian citizenship test, I can confirm, this is actually the final boss stage: https://t.co/iFOMgBZJBu 2021-11-20 19:16:39 Perhaps the most beautiful thing I've ever seen done with a sword: https://t.co/AFiUC11hjx 2021-11-20 18:38:35 @PrinceVogel Reminded of: https://t.co/Nbf66w1XoR 2021-11-20 18:37:39 @PrinceVogel This says something really interesting (and nice) about your friends. 2021-11-20 03:52:19 @BecomingCritter Hmm. 2021-11-20 03:48:51 @avibryant What are you, chicken? 2021-11-20 01:58:25 @Kat__Woods @SpencrGreenberg I turn off the algorithmic feed, but also happy: https://t.co/DSs05fLBh6 2021-11-19 18:47:32 I wrote some quick & 2021-11-19 17:42:17 @paulg Pacifism in games like GTA is really fascinating: https://t.co/3giVrmLNu4 Hope all is well with your family, and that they get over it quickly! 2021-11-19 17:27:54 @zooko All IME: At 5k followers I didn't really much notice, beyond occasional blocks for egregious behavior. But by 20k it was a continual problem. 2021-11-19 17:27:11 @zooko In general, I'm not sure human beings are really designed to engage with crowds beyond about the 5k-10k follower level on Twitter. Or at least the right affordances are still waiting to be discovered. 2021-11-19 17:26:30 @zooko What effects are you thinking of? If you mean that it reduces the number of low quality things my followers see, "Hide reply" seems at least okay for this. "Permanently hide all replies" may be fine sometimes, tho I'm uncomfortable with what's effectively a private shadow-ban 2021-11-19 17:20:54 @zooko With that change, I'd block a lot less, and mute a lot more. Blocking (mostly) seems too in-your-face. It's necessary for mental health / hygiene, but I think it's bad for the blocker in subtle ways, too. 2021-11-19 17:19:19 @zooko Muting: Should mute not just the person, but hide descendant comments, even from people I follow. Too often someone who I have muted says something low quality, and then someone I follow replies, and I'm left engaged with a low quality subthread. 2021-11-19 17:14:20 @zooko I wish Twitter's block & 2021-11-19 15:54:31 @ThomasVanRiet2 @InertialObservr I've never heard of anyone use nabla for a time derivative. But: where is nabla^2? It's a first-order time derivative. 2021-11-19 15:51:00 @ThomasVanRiet2 @InertialObservr What nabla? There is none in what I wrote. 2021-11-19 15:37:52 @slpsys @wilbanks That's not how markets work. What more likely caused the price to change was one counterparty willing to lose $10, possibly as a joke. 2021-11-19 15:25:23 I'm going to start routinely blocking accounts like this. A mean, thought-terminating cliche with no redeeming content. I enjoy reading people attempting serious critique of crypto or of idea markets, but this isn't remotely it. https://t.co/RmzlQDVADt 2021-11-19 15:19:46 @p0w32 Just not the slightest bit interested in slurs. Blocked. 2021-11-19 15:19:00 The full history is fascinating: "Fun idea, not going to have legs.... oh, hang on, it's taking off, maybe they'll win.... nope." https://t.co/3RRrXD54YY 2021-11-19 15:17:15 The 24 hour price: https://t.co/wOJrV3PZBc 2021-11-19 15:13:46 Er, let me try that again, more accurately: polymarket was highly confident, and that confidence turned out to be misplaced. 2021-11-19 15:12:43 Interesting: polymarket was completely wrong. https://t.co/j3CtIdDFcb 2021-11-19 15:00:21 An in-depth discussion of how AlphaZero does what it does: https://t.co/demneYpmr5 2021-11-19 14:55:45 @johncarlosbaez Ah, very promising: https://t.co/jP5AIewGOK 2021-11-19 14:53:48 @johncarlosbaez I should, of course, just read the paper(s). I realized overnight I was unconsciously averse to it - I've read/skimmed early QM papers before, but often found it heavy going, since I don't speak German or Russian. But I'd guess Dirac was writing in English! 2021-11-19 14:49:55 @johncarlosbaez Oh, your response was great, no need to apologize! I suppose my question is: why did Dirac know this equation is wrong for the electron? Maybe Pauli's work already made him confident a single component wave function was wrong? 2021-11-19 06:22:01 @peter_rohde His statement just makes no sense. It's not like they were appointed by some blue riband commission. They just... figured it out. It's like complaining Usain Bolt was running too fast. 2021-11-19 06:04:53 @atishayokti I will delete it in a minute. 2021-11-18 22:47:15 @quantum_geoff @johncarlosbaez Interesting paper on this: https://t.co/L9gDQwPSs2 "Non-local" but... respects causality and the lightcone structure(!) 2021-11-18 22:44:41 This is a remarkable paragraph: https://t.co/cKKpBZKJMM 2021-11-18 22:43:20 @vellosok75 Thanks! 2021-11-18 22:42:47 It appears to be studying the same equation as I proposed above: https://t.co/0C8QoufZQJ 2021-11-18 22:42:46 Interesting: https://t.co/hKRiuJoR7z That's... quite an abstract! https://t.co/mikgA1rfo5 2021-11-18 22:19:33 @johncarlosbaez It seems like a very simple solution, and avoids the problems with negative frequencies and needing to specify the first derivative of the wave function in initial conditions. Alas, many people are guessing that it gives rise to nonlocal behavior (tho no proof, as yet) 2021-11-18 22:11:03 The nonlocality is not obvious to me from the (position space) solution, shown below. (Very quickly written down - don't trust signs, overall factors etc!) https://t.co/VyC5pmrg0U 2021-11-18 22:11:02 Another suggestion in this vein: https://t.co/bYBZGU8o8F 2021-11-18 21:53:45 This seems like a potential answer to my question: https://t.co/u58Gd3QRac 2021-11-18 21:45:00 @quantum_geoff @johncarlosbaez Hmm. Yeah, interesting question. Not sure. 2021-11-18 21:42:17 Some fun historic background on the Dirac equation from @johncarlosbaez (though it's not directly related to my question AFAICS): https://t.co/BaaPXgcG9F 2021-11-18 21:29:13 @johncarlosbaez Do you know why he didn't just use the equation I suggested above? It seems like a natural way of avoiding many of the problems with Klein-Gordon. 2021-11-18 21:25:25 It seems like a rather more direct solution to the problem. 2021-11-18 21:21:34 The Dirac equation was obtained by figuring out a clever way of taking the square root of the relativistic equation for energy, E^2 = p^2+m^2, in the position representation. Does anyone know why Dirac didn't instead just work in the momentum representation, using this equation? https://t.co/79UZKUfRfo 2021-11-18 19:06:30 RT @michael_nielsen: The reason seems to be that for a startup to succeed it needs a legible value proposition for all constituencies (cust… 2021-11-18 19:06:25 RT @michael_nielsen: This is true in even the most basic ways. If I talk to a researcher, sometimes I don't understand what they're doing… 2021-11-18 19:06:20 RT @michael_nielsen: Also, from a, um, friend, on explaining research in Silicon Valley: "They asked what my research was about, & 2021-11-18 18:15:51 RT @michael_nielsen: https://t.co/jAZz4p2N8y 2021-11-18 15:31:12 There were 712 drug overdose deaths in San Francisco in 2020. Over 30 years, if it continued at the same rate, that's more than 21,000 people. In a City with only 875k people. Put another way: the 30-year rate is roughly 1 in 40 people in the City. https://t.co/XhtVJe5mVX 2021-11-18 05:40:18 @ArtirKel @curiousoctopus You should improve the description. Seems like you're offering to trade nothing for something here... 2021-11-18 05:29:42 @vgr 2021-11-18 05:29:27 @vgr Rather like @curiousoctopus acquired the @ symbol for MoMA, years ago... 2021-11-18 05:28:06 @vgr No, minting 0... 2021-11-18 05:09:25 Memory systems as a way of concentrating your experience https://t.co/WnUfbyiiqp 2021-11-18 04:42:41 @Pandurevich That's legibility after the fact, for a tiny specialist audience, not legibility before the fact, for a giant non-expert audience. 2021-11-18 03:31:23 @vgr What a great grid, and beautiful word (cynefin)! Interesting mapping, too. Complicated = utilitarianism is striking. 2021-11-18 03:24:33 This is true in even the most basic ways. If I talk to a researcher, sometimes I don't understand what they're doing after an hour, or even 10 hours, & 2021-11-18 03:17:36 I would not recommend using this thread as a basis for altering your ethical framework. At least one response is upset, which was certainly not at all my intent :-( It's supposed to be funny. I am, for the record, certainly more utilitarian than deontologist (or Catholic FTM) 2021-11-18 03:15:36 @albrgr Actually, come to think of it, first: texting with a friend. 2021-11-18 03:15:06 @albrgr My notes. 2021-11-18 03:12:59 The utilitarian response: "Well, you should just modify the utility function by..." 2021-11-18 03:11:43 Also, from a, um, friend, on explaining research in Silicon Valley: "They asked what my research was about, & 2021-11-18 03:08:54 Also, perhaps even more amusingly: for the superiority of Deontology over Catholicism, and of Catholicism over Utilitarianism. 2021-11-18 03:01:31 A very amusing argument in favor of deontology. "What the heck happened here?" "The utilitarians just wanted to stand around and argue. Fortunately, there were a few deontologists, and they took quick action..." https://t.co/TTqsLwpNXt 2021-11-18 02:48:10 https://t.co/jAZz4p2N8y 2021-11-18 01:52:59 @henryfarrell Nice paper! 2021-11-18 01:51:14 Of course, it's pretty easy to find pages which fail, becoming very partisan (I'm thinking of one particularly bad example, which I'd rather not link, though there are many others). But I'm often surprised by good pages on controversial topics. 2021-11-18 01:38:08 It's all worth reading. Let me just finish by QTing the final tweet in the thread: https://t.co/m29qaAaqNI 2021-11-18 01:37:12 I've wondered often about this. Wikipedia talk pages are often warzones, but many pages are surprisingly good (doesn't mean perfect!) at conveying multiple points of view, disagreement, and so on. https://t.co/pTyaSHqbna 2021-11-17 17:33:28 @kevinakwok @banburismus_ @ArtirKel @patio11 TBC: I wasn't thinking at all about financial upside in my comment, but the value for the world in projects and in people's growth. 2021-11-17 16:26:29 @banburismus_ @kevinakwok @ArtirKel @patio11 At the price, by any reasonable criterion it's been outrageously successful, unless you're totally blinded by a dislike for Thiel or the philosophy of the program. 2021-11-16 20:04:48 @stevesi That's the man's name. 2021-11-16 18:30:49 @CFCamerer Related, one of the great moments in online commenting history: https://t.co/16JT6A7ODF https://t.co/lrdoUakiog 2021-11-16 18:12:53 @seekingyaga I think in the context of the essay, Keynes's quote makes (more) sense. He meant something pretty specific by magician I don't agree that modern science relies too much on measurement. Or put another way: the development of modern science relies an astounding amount on intuition 2021-11-16 05:51:38 In a surprising early piece of clickbait, the US Constitution appears to be a listicle of listicles of listicles. 2021-11-16 02:19:28 On Newton as the last of the magicians, and the changing nature of how we understand: https://t.co/YdizlL9EXe 2021-11-16 02:15:07 @anderssandberg That is: 60 million gt! 2021-11-16 02:14:42 @anderssandberg What's the source on the 60 gt number? (I see numbers like the other two often, though the 2,000 leaves out some things.) 2021-11-16 01:39:56 @papertanuki AphroditeCoin isn't a bad name. 2021-11-16 01:38:11 Fun related general audience article from an expert: https://t.co/c6GPW31NZp Short version seems to be: we're still figuring this out! 2021-11-16 01:33:32 @PrinceVogel Nice poem! 2021-11-16 00:46:38 @johncarlosbaez Thank you, Erich von Baez :-P 2021-11-16 00:45:44 People are informing me that plants use CO2 (who knew ?) - that's why I made the comments about fossil fuel reserves & 2021-11-16 00:37:41 It is (as @ArtirKel points out) unclear if there is more recent volcanic activity on Venus than on Earth. But more here: https://t.co/K9077J7wy3 2021-11-16 00:37:04 @ArtirKel Yes, much like Earth's. It seems unclear which is more active. It certainly seems as though Venus has been much more active at points in the past: https://t.co/K9077J7wy3 2021-11-16 00:33:49 This also seems quite plausible: https://t.co/X8J5rZ6teR Volcanoes on Earth put about ~0.1 GT of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, IIIRC. I guess if there's far more volcanism on Venus (& 2021-11-16 00:30:15 Apparently the composition of the Earth's atmosphere before the Great Oxygenation Event is not well understood(!): https://t.co/gdzzGpPwGS https://t.co/1LPw5cAKVR 2021-11-16 00:27:06 Possibly plankton turning CO2 into limestone? https://t.co/026lc5x8Up 2021-11-16 00:19:03 Curious: where does all the CO2 on Venus come from? If you took all the Earth's carbon in biomass, fossil fuels & By contrast, Venus has a far denser atmosphere, & 2021-11-15 06:05:23 @vgr Good grief. Reminded of this charming story about funnel webs - one of the deadliest spiders - swarming in Sydney: https://t.co/B7nrbUXqr1 2021-11-14 21:41:39 @wtgowers @matthen2 I guessed an ellipse too, initially, though with low confidence (in the wrong direction: I thought it would be more complicated, not less!) 2021-11-14 21:40:07 I suspect there is, but don’t yet have, a one-liner explanation. Conservation of energy + cons of angular momentum + grav potential + geometry should determine the answer... 2021-11-14 21:37:24 Answer here: https://t.co/RwtJ24H043 (Ht many ppl!) Not how I found it - the question just popped into my head over coffee. 2021-11-14 21:18:59 @paulboardman I had no idea Grant had done that. 2021-11-14 20:58:46 @S_Flammia @jimalkhalili @dcxStep What do you mean by independent? 2021-11-14 20:20:30 In Newtonian gravity, a point mass will orbit a (large) mass in the shape of an ellipse. Do you know the shape the velocity vector traces over time? (I did not) 2021-11-14 20:12:48 @jimalkhalili @dcxStep I expect the gravitational interaction does generically. Certainly circular motion around a central body does (same reason as SHO). 2021-11-14 20:09:01 @jimalkhalili @dcxStep Simple harmonic motion will give nonzero derivatives to all orders. 2021-11-14 18:53:50 In 20 years time do you expect to occasionally (or often) wear a face mask at indoor gatherings of strangers? 2021-11-14 17:53:38 @ozziegooen @PTetlock Thanks for pointing this out. 2021-11-14 17:52:38 @DavidDeutschOxf The poll got 198 responses, from a (presumably) tiny, very particular corner of academia (probably small-US-college English profs, like the author). But the writeup has thousands of retweets, responses trying to draw grand lessons. 2021-11-14 05:16:52 @chaosprime You might actually make me like it. 2021-11-14 04:39:09 This shot seems quite otherworldly, to me, almost CG, but I haven't altered it. 2021-11-14 04:38:15 https://t.co/DYjFsGOiGf 2021-11-13 02:50:28 ht @retroscifiart 2021-11-13 02:48:14 https://t.co/D8STrbPGpe 2021-11-13 01:29:39 https://t.co/FeiKEHtwXw 2021-11-12 00:56:36 @harshmadhusudan @Dominic2306 @tylercowen @RemindMe_OfThis in 5 years 2021-11-12 00:53:05 @benskuhn It mostly seems like a fairly random social fact that grey goo is on the sidelines. 2021-11-12 00:52:15 @benskuhn A lot of crucial questions are deeply uncertain, highly individual, and extremely values-laden. EA seems quite a poor fit for those. My opinion: if EA had been popular around ~2000, the status of things like AGI would instead (very obviously) have been occupied by grey goo 2021-11-12 00:43:02 Loved reading this early history of the @arxiv preprint server, from Joanne Cohn: https://t.co/MbbYvbUnKL (via @preskill ) 2021-11-11 21:07:42 https://t.co/MMPJkOUVuZ 2021-11-11 21:07:41 https://t.co/iHFoBeG7ax 2021-11-11 06:08:04 @PrinceVogel Ah, the Great Stagnation, explained. Hard to reconcile with the growth in caffeine... 2021-11-11 05:18:01 Also very old! I think I put most of these together maybe a decade or so ago! 2021-11-11 05:03:43 @johncarlosbaez A fun fact: Wikipedia's estimate of the escape velocity from the comet. You'd need to be somewhat careful that you didn't accidentally jump off the comet and into space! https://t.co/zC7J2eeKj9 2021-11-11 03:30:34 @Meaningness I'm not sure it's so much feasibility as that growth in numbers -> 2021-11-11 03:29:34 @Meaningness IIRC, Salman Habib told me - a long time ago - that he used to read Physical Review Letters each week. Certainly, many people at least skim Nature and/or Science each week. 2021-11-11 03:14:02 @henryquantum @quatrainman That's very thoughtful advice! 2021-11-11 03:13:18 @cmshakya2 Thank you, that is a kind offer. Unfortunately, it's unlikely I'll be in the area any time soon (though I hope to some day). 2021-11-11 03:05:18 Oh, just realizing I need to move Sensorio into the list of places been. It was GREAT! https://t.co/xesXMhLB8G 2021-11-11 02:56:51 Love this aspirational (?) place to go, from @johncarlosbaez: https://t.co/QkgP3HezN0 2021-11-11 02:55:08 @johncarlosbaez I love this: https://t.co/c9PfYxUXDh 2021-11-11 02:53:43 @johncarlosbaez Possibly the greatest tweet of all time. I got teary, tbh. 2021-11-11 02:51:40 A few quotes I like: https://t.co/FT5pOJhRRu I'd like to consolidate a bunch of quotes files 2021-11-11 02:49:35 https://t.co/ktKXB1W4Ry 2021-11-11 02:46:23 Related https://t.co/hsBA1s41ww 2021-11-11 02:44:04 Incidentally, this comment is, of course, behind the notes: https://t.co/BtwfOyJH97 I like to think of writing - or, more generally, external representation - as an opportunity to apply gradient ascent to thinking Often starting from something not too far from random noise 2021-11-11 02:40:16 @quatrainman Very much "yes" to writing-as-a-form-of-thinking. 2021-11-11 02:39:42 @mpershan I didn't say it did capture the difference. I said blogs encourage shallowness, and made a very specific argument about why. 2021-11-11 02:31:48 @mpershan I argue there that they encourage shallowness, are ephemeral-by-design, & 2021-11-11 02:24:20 @mpershan I'm quite puzzled by what this has to do with what I've written. 2021-11-11 02:18:10 Some fun questions: https://t.co/9pbxcuKfSD 2021-11-11 02:13:32 Blogs and blogging are wonderful, but gosh do they have some drawbacks: https://t.co/zWf6tYKuQy 2021-11-11 02:12:39 Obstacles to fluent thought are interesting 2021-11-11 02:10:36 Actually, let me quote more fully there: https://t.co/yvxecirzXn 2021-11-11 02:10:12 Over the last year or so I've been gradually reorganizing a lot of work as append-mainly lists. I'm finding it surprisingly helpful in lots of context! https://t.co/3XFfQWTpnL 2021-11-11 02:08:47 Just being posted, despite the date. Note that the mobile experience is probably pretty weird for most (all?) users. It'll be fixed, but for today needs to be desktop! 2021-11-11 02:08:46 Some working notes on one of the more entertaining (albeit, unfortunately, unlikely) ideas of physics in the last 30 years, the Alcubierre warp drive: https://t.co/cpOe8bWwGH 2021-11-11 02:04:27 Some people are telling me their mobile experience is very unsatisfactory. I'll look into it. (Works fine for me, yay n=1 experiences!) 2021-11-11 01:58:59 @SarvasvKulpati You may enjoy this: https://t.co/iWejo9Oisw It should, over the next few months (and maybe at a new URL), gradually agglomerate much of my past work. 2021-11-11 01:57:00 Technically, posted a few weeks ago, but at most a handful people of people have seen the URL. So: effectively this is the first public posting. 2021-11-11 01:55:55 Some (very rough & 2021-11-11 01:23:04 @SarvasvKulpati Apparently the site auto-updated just before, you probably saw it during that window. Thanks for the heads-up! 2021-11-11 00:50:08 @SarvasvKulpati Load fine for me. 2021-11-10 19:40:39 @Meaningness @NeuroStats @curiouswavefn I saw it in print as a grad student, IIRC. But I don’t remember the context. 2021-11-10 18:46:04 @Meaningness @NeuroStats @curiouswavefn (I first heard it told as a Minsky story - that he was on the Program Committee - which sounds like everything else I've heard about him.) 2021-11-10 18:36:35 @Meaningness @NeuroStats @curiouswavefn Trying to find this story - do you happen to know where it is, David? I've no idea where I first heard it. Something I loathe is that at the end of workshops it seems de rigeur for people to announce what a wonderful success it was, no matter the actual quality... 2021-11-10 17:11:19 @vgr This ain't Bob Dylan switching to electric... 2021-11-10 17:08:08 @vgr I don't think you're putting anything at risk. If you were running around for a year shouting "Web3 is the Few-cha!" you might take a reputational hit, right now you're just saying "Hmm, I wonder what happens if I try this out, interesting". 2021-11-10 05:17:11 @jonathanchait @ramez Slightly more seriously: I mean, birds came from theropods. And as anyone who's been attacked by an Australian magpie knows, having a friend to help ward it off is really helpful... 2021-11-10 05:15:06 @jonathanchait @ramez Not so sure of that - 100 percent of all people attacked by dinosaurs have died! 2021-11-10 05:07:35 @BenAldern @MartinBJensen I should read the book. I loved the papers - also his (closely related) work on cities. Just amazing stuff. 2021-11-10 04:19:05 @MartinBJensen SFI helped create network science - if you look at https://t.co/KXZMstNoh8 then it's littered with people who are at SFI, or were at SFI, or regularly visit SFI etc. 2021-11-10 04:16:55 @MartinBJensen This line of work - it's one of dozens of papers - is amazing, in my opinion: https://t.co/31o8kLfcjm I believe Geoff West's book "Scale" summarizes much of the long-term program (I've merely read a bunch of the papers, but not the book). 2021-11-10 03:52:40 @sfiscience 2021-11-10 03:29:21 SFI is _different_. I've visited ~ a dozen times since 1996, s'times just dropping in for a few hours. It's like nowhere else in the world. Utterly unique people flux 2021-11-10 03:20:35 Really delighted by this - a $50 million donation to @sfiscience! https://t.co/qwb6usVkVn 2021-11-10 03:18:03 @C4COMPUTATION @swartable @B3_MillerValue @sfiscience That's wonderful! 2021-11-10 01:58:24 @accidentalflyer @Noahpinion Such a good photo. 2021-11-10 01:24:18 @chercher_ai Have to say, that looks like a _great_ omelette. Also a fan of omelettes for dinner, lunch, and at any other time. 2021-11-10 01:23:32 @chercher_ai I think this may be the secret to a lot of cooking. Fat + salt + sugar + butter :-) 2021-11-09 17:21:39 @davidmanheim @AmandaAskell Right. 2021-11-09 17:21:25 @StefanFSchubert @AmandaAskell I suspect part of it is the considerable variation across different type of goods (see the last column here, & 2021-11-09 17:17:05 @davidmanheim @AmandaAskell I truncated the image without the years 2021-11-09 17:16:07 @davidmanheim @AmandaAskell The source is just Google, but it accords well with my memory of when inflation has spiked (~2008, ~early 90s, ~1980). https://t.co/HPXKthn3pl 2021-11-09 17:15:12 @davidmanheim @AmandaAskell What are the preliminary indicators you're thinking of? Apparently this is the World Bank Chart of inflation for the US, from 1960 to last year. 5% is quite moderate compared to much of the chart https://t.co/sH1GanLcm8 2021-11-09 17:12:19 @AmandaAskell Just to complete the thought: if people's wealth is mostly tied up in crypto or equities, they may well benefit a lot from causing a flight of capital from cash to crypto or equities. A lot of people _want_ the US dollar to become unstable, & 2021-11-09 17:08:21 @AmandaAskell TBC: that _is_ a concern! And 5 to 6% isn't great 2021-11-09 17:01:54 @AmandaAskell Ah, okay. My main inflationary worry is that people like Jack Dorsey are pushing inflationary worries (I presume for self-interested reasons), which may well create inflation. But current facts don't seem to support it, albeit 5% is somewhat higher than is recently usual. 2021-11-09 16:50:26 @AmandaAskell Curious: why are you worried about inflation? The rate is just over 5%. Do you think the number is wrong? 2021-11-09 03:12:10 Well... not quite. I got a bit carried away there. But it's a fun set of ideas to be playing with! 2021-11-09 03:10:57 "Theosis through kenosis" is a _very_ succinct rephrasing of the original Whole Earth Catalog's purpose statement: https://t.co/bbBHE18vwl https://t.co/sTHtQAWLZv 2021-11-09 02:57:44 @jeffreyhuber But not ketosis! :-) Thanks, I enjoyed & 2021-11-09 02:55:57 @catthu So: what do you appreciate about religion? 2021-11-09 02:55:32 @catthu So many things!!! Just one: the central idea of Christianity - that God so loved humanity that he sent his only Son into the world to give up his life for _each person_ individually - is one of the most extraordinary myths ever made, IMO. Just... wow. 2021-11-09 02:52:04 Just reflecting: I think my appreciation for - at times, love for - religion has grown alongside my atheism over the past few years. Each kind of deepens the other. 2021-11-09 02:50:53 Kenosis is a beautiful word, and new to me. A secular meaning might be something like: emptying yourself of ego, to become a vessel for something greater. Weil's essay is one my favorites, a very unusual essay on study, attention, and prayer(!): https://t.co/qFZCmnLWG7 https://t.co/MyNGyYtH7p 2021-11-09 02:47:59 @HootenWilson Weil's is one of my favorite essays. Most essays on education are pretty straightforward variations on prior thinking. But Weil's is so very surprising! It's just lovely. 2021-11-09 01:59:53 @ChrisVermilion 20-25 is a more accurate age range, though (with interesting exceptions). 2021-11-09 01:58:57 @ChrisVermilion Looking backward is why I believe it. 2021-11-09 01:58:03 And just a clarification: the essay here is about the tension between independence and interdependence (which is why it's on my mind in connection with the OP!): https://t.co/7Hwh5CzWNu 2021-11-09 01:51:55 JPB's Declaration is fun: https://t.co/vXxwc0B1Bh 2021-11-09 01:50:30 On the subject of the essay, I keep thinking about this, by @noampomsky: https://t.co/LD2kLLGGGq https://t.co/fd0EMyWKSf 2021-11-09 01:45:08 It's been interesting watching crypto / DeFi / Web3 over the last decade or so. More and more of those putative hundred are, I'd guess, giving weird answers inside the incentive-design space 2021-11-09 01:45:07 One thing Phil Agre commented on in one of his essays - I forget which - is that if he wanted to figure out what was going to be important in 20 years time, he'd go find the smartest hundred 20 year olds in the US (IIRC), and ask them what they were planning to do. 2021-11-09 01:39:16 The scam replies here are a hoot (please don't click, or give them wallet details or anything silly): https://t.co/ZFdIcnUPIS 2021-11-09 01:35:53 This is fun: https://t.co/aE5shihBxv 2021-11-09 01:27:10 @DavidSHolz I love that poem (& 2021-11-08 19:49:51 This is very interesting (Agre on different ways of thinking about AI): https://t.co/1T574rysFE 2021-11-08 05:49:06 @Meaningness I was... upset is the wrong word, but certainly pretty obsessed by it as a kid. Spent lots of time figuring out how long it would take to get to Proxima Centauri, how to speed it up, that kind of thing. The Solar System seemed (seems) so tiny a place for humans to be confined 2021-11-08 04:14:53 @tianbanwei The link works fine for me. 2021-11-08 02:59:32 @johncarlosbaez Very interesting! Reinforces the point of the thread, I think: just how challenging it is to do well, and how much is demanded. 2021-11-08 02:17:30 TBC: this was a joke. I don't understand enough about Ethereum to know what the ecological impact would be. 2021-11-08 02:15:21 @henlojseam Sure! To come back to your analogy, though, cloud services often do this as well. Indeed, governments often enforce now through cloud services (especially for payments, web hosting, and DNS). All three have interesting similarities. 2021-11-08 02:12:46 @henlojseam No, not at all! You appeared thoughtful and insightful! 2021-11-08 02:12:25 @imperialauditor Eg, they may enjoy playing a sport (say, golf), but know that they should limit their gear-buying. This creates natural gift-giving opportunities. Books, music, art, & 2021-11-08 02:09:58 @imperialauditor I'm not sure this is quite right. Lots of self actualized people keep, I think, certain parts of their identity apart, to be indulged only occasionally. Those are the parts that you can indulge with a gift. 2021-11-08 02:00:39 @henlojseam My comment was meant as a joke, but in any case: thanks for the explanation! Not sure what the last sentence means. Now that I think of it, cloud computing services often function as kinda nation states. 2021-11-08 01:58:26 @HuangJunye @neilfws Yup - thanks from me too, Neil, it was a great book! Gave it to a friend, as well, who has derived much pleasure from it! 2021-11-08 01:50:00 @connerver More DARPA/IPTO, which was an order of magnitude or so larger. Engelbart et al at SRI were just one (comparatively small) part of that. 2021-11-08 01:44:28 Unexpected solution to the Fermi paradox: civilizations inevitably choose energy intensive social media karma, and climate change wipes them out... https://t.co/5Rz7y1OdOb 2021-11-08 01:41:09 I believe orgs like NSF (etc) should think about making acquisition offers for top private labs - eg, they could have acquired & 2021-11-08 01:41:08 On the challenging business case for being an independent researcher: https://t.co/ENPLCquGLZ 2021-11-08 01:37:16 https://t.co/T0cnvBsTbe 2021-11-08 01:08:50 @vgr The Royal Society's motto: "Take no-one's word for it [except ours]". 2021-11-08 00:38:25 @atamb_ They're trying to solve a co-ordination problem: whoever goes first is more likely to succeed with the scam. So the dominant strategy is to post as soon as possible. (Scammers are not notably good at finding win-win solutions...) 2021-11-08 00:37:12 @markwarschauer I must admit, I was skeptical of that article - the WaPo is not who I look to for commentary on science or tech - but it was quite good! Thanks for sharing it! 2021-11-08 00:02:58 Incidentally, I strongly suggest browsing Agre's ouevre: https://t.co/hFsJ8KLr4h It's terrific. Especially the Red Rock Eater News Service: https://t.co/1dmKN49MKS https://t.co/XR8Bddg3hq 2021-11-07 23:36:10 Also, for a blast from the past, it's fun to compare and contrast with the semantic web proposal (from the 90s, by TimBL, outlined here: https://t.co/zepb7LD3dU ), or with Danny Hillis's proposal for the knowledge web: https://t.co/klM4T0X1tl 2021-11-07 23:10:37 Fun & 2021-11-07 22:10:52 @maxhodak_ Curious. I can't see any scam replies on yours. Possibly because I now have a tonne of scammers blocked, possibly because of something else. I wonder. 2021-11-07 22:04:30 @mpoessel I've hidden three so far. So it's not necessarily single... 2021-11-07 22:02:21 MetaMask 2021-11-07 21:58:42 @DRMacIver How irritating. Thanks for letting me know. 2021-11-07 21:56:24 I've blocked all of them. Unfortunately, Twitter then makes it not possible to hide the replies, which is frustrating. Maybe it's automatically done, I don't know. 2021-11-07 21:53:42 5 scammers in 60 seconds. Interesting. I don't suggest clicking on anything in the replies below. 2021-11-07 21:52:41 MetaMask 2021-11-07 21:49:47 @vgr Thanks for showing up! 2021-11-07 21:48:28 @vgr The Insta-scammers associated with saying things like "MetaMask" and "wallet" are curious... 2021-11-07 21:39:34 @vgr Sounds like the semantic web, but different in that... it works. 2021-11-07 19:56:04 I've been rereading some of Phil Agre's essay. I'd forgotten how good many are. Agre's essay on research-as-community-of-practice: https://t.co/4uXMQz5aT3 Agre on "Imagining the Wired University" (2000, much better than most 2021 writing on same): https://t.co/I39JRbVur0 2021-11-07 18:31:58 Superman makes time go backward by going round and round the earth in the direction opposite to rotation: https://t.co/1XTLForZHe Pretty similar to Daylight Savings, really 2021-11-07 18:29:13 @visakanv The book was totally lovely. Good luck with your new one! 2021-11-07 04:05:07 @IntractableLion I suspect most think they're quoting Jeff Hammerbacher, and may well have never heard of Howl. (JH, I'm sure, has.) That would explain it... 2021-11-07 03:02:22 Thoroughly enjoyed @visakanv's short book "Friendly Ambitious Nerd": https://t.co/6jG3XXPy57 Thoughtful & Fun (set of) threads on the book: https://t.co/92eOv3IZuw 2021-11-07 02:54:40 "Don't disturb my circles!" https://t.co/tknZlGWFli 2021-11-07 00:13:51 @sama What’s a few zeroes between friends? 2021-11-06 23:20:00 CAFIAC FIX 2021-11-01 19:20:00 CAFIAC FIX 2021-08-21 19:12:33 @johncarlosbaez Last March/April the messaging from Anthony Fauci, the Surgeon General, the CDC etc was: masks won't help. Did you disapprove at that time of the people arguing in favor of masking? They were, at the time, rebels against the established authorities. 2021-08-21 18:27:12 @monoscient Maybe similar to the distinction between [at least some of] the people behind the US constitution, and many modern politicians. Christianity seems plausibly a stronger example, though. 2021-08-21 18:24:55 @monoscient I don't think "they" did anything. The principles governing the universe are, in many respects, rather remote from human everyday life, and so seem dry at first Understanding the fermionic commutation relations won't usually help you get a first date, or make a good gift, or... 2021-08-21 18:16:58 I can't resist quoting this wonderful piece from Pinker on the limits of rebellion: https://t.co/qI9L332WrD 2021-08-21 18:11:33 Even reflecting on what it means to be a rebel is fun. Ignoring dictionary definitions, here's one possibility: someone who determinedly pursues some end _not in their own best interest_, judged relative to existing institutions. Essentially: the opposite of careerist. 2021-08-21 18:05:26 Maybe in part: we admire rebels in other institutions. In our own they're annoying, disagreeable people https://t.co/TmtsRRFUDt 2021-08-21 18:03:09 Also reflecting on Freeman Dyson's beautiful title, "The Scientist as Rebel": https://t.co/T99tGh00SX 2021-08-21 18:02:15 I guess it's a bootstrapping thing: we have some institutions which try to make it so the overall ecology of institutions can learn and change and improve (often through rebel-enabled obsolescence). This belief in the value of rebels is an important part of that system 2021-08-21 17:59:42 Reflecting what an astonishing thing that the rebel is celebrated in culture. It's tempting to be cynical - that institutions like the idea in principle, not in practice - but simply having this as a commonly-held belief is remarkable. https://t.co/E4d81M4dwn 2021-08-21 02:40:41 @thesasho @rgrow Lots of "non-profit" journals make huge amounts of money. 2021-08-20 21:32:03 @gravity_levity @evermica I was referring to atomic vapours, though I didn't say that until later in the thread. Not that it much matters! You can imagine it with photons, somewhat amusingly: https://t.co/VHBZ3Gscin 2021-08-20 21:17:47 @evermica @gravity_levity I'm guessing Brian's referring to the recent results on room temp superconductors. 2021-08-20 19:47:28 @ArtirKel So he has a gigantic elephant stomping around the room, and meanwhile is investigating subtle features of the floorboards. What a subject for a book... 2021-08-20 19:43:58 @ArtirKel I glanced briefly at the paper the book was based on. Seemed like classic motivated reasoning. Not that that means it was entirely wrong, but certainly didn't make me want to read the book. 2021-08-20 18:18:15 @rgrow The companies doing this are making money from it. They act as though they're entitled to my expertise. They're not. 2021-08-20 18:08:21 @plain_simon @AlexKontorovich I don't owe it to a multi-billion dollar company to help them make money, without being paid myself. And I certainly don't want to be suggesting other people who can be imposed upon in the same way. 2021-08-20 18:02:43 @AlexKontorovich (Publishers have spent so much time talking about all the incredible value they add through peer review. And then... they actually do very little of peer review, relying on unpaid people for most of it.) 2021-08-20 18:01:33 @AlexKontorovich As I said, I don't quite know _why_ it bugs me. I will say: it bugs me much less when it's an academic. And it bugs me more when I know the organization makes a lot of $ Partially because I'm not an academic - they're trying to make money free riding off me. That ticks me off 2021-08-20 17:53:35 Curious: academic editors often say: "If you can't review this paper / book, can you please suggest reviewers who would be a good fit?" I don't quite know why, but somehow the latter part rubs me very much the wrong way. 2021-08-20 17:51:17 @spinespresso (For clarity: I misunderstood your original tweet as referring to superfluid helium. Slightly embarrassed to say I thought Onnes had discovered both superconductivity and superfluid helium. But apparently it was just superconductivity, & 2021-08-20 17:43:27 @spinespresso I already addressed this in thread. 2021-08-20 17:39:57 @spinespresso Not a gas. 2021-08-20 16:59:37 @orzelc Yeah, I guess definitions start to get a little difficult... 2021-08-20 16:50:03 @orzelc It's also true that in deep space the density is such the thermal equilibriation rate is very, very slow. So if some other process were tending to produce BEC, the ambient temp being 3K might not be such a problem... 2021-08-20 16:49:04 @orzelc I wouldn't be surprised if there are naturally occurring parts of the universe where the temp is below the CMB. Naturally occurring refrigeration, so to speak. 2021-08-20 16:47:00 @johncarlosbaez (Thanks for the link, that's really interesting!) 2021-08-20 16:46:42 @johncarlosbaez I should have known! There seems to be a theory that dark matter is X for all possible values of X. Cookie monster's missing cookies? Probably dark matter! 2021-08-20 16:45:44 @orzelc Examples like superconductors are kind of instructive. I mean, it's just plain amazing what happens. "First, the electrons attract each other" should produce: "Imma stop you right there..." 2021-08-20 16:44:26 @orzelc Yep, I mean atomic vapors. Though of course that makes me wonder: are there any natural processes that would produce such? And I realize it's not so obvious how I'd prove the answer is "no".... 2021-08-20 16:39:19 (It would be shocking to me if superconductors don't exist elsewhere: cool a metal down a lot, you often get a superconductor. They're just not so hard to make.) 2021-08-20 16:38:27 Keeping Twitter polls weird. I'm really fascinated by the results! Curious now: do the yeses think the BEC's are created by aliens, or naturally occurring somehow? I guess I mean atomic gaseous, not things like regarding a superconductor as a BEC of Cooper pairs. 2021-08-20 16:35:31 The first Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) on earth was created in 1995 by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, in a gas of rubidium cooled to 170 nanokelvin. Does BEC exist elsewhere in the universe? 2021-08-20 03:27:53 @kita_no_tori I didn’t compare them. 2021-08-20 02:42:47 @NoreenBowden @northsidewalks @pamela_herd Again: thanks for providing details! 2021-08-20 02:18:34 @northsidewalks @pamela_herd Thanks for providing these details. 2021-08-20 01:22:44 And also Keynes on Newton: https://t.co/KO31FMI4sv 2021-08-20 01:22:43 Struck by the people asserting that religion was a necessary prerequisite. (This is, of course, not the same as the major religions being a prereq, but I'll put that aside). I instinctively disagree, which makes me want to make the case for the pov. Interesting to ponder Einstein https://t.co/eDErtUNiXn 2021-08-19 21:58:43 @johncarlosbaez Oh, fun to view HDM as a modern myth! 2021-08-19 21:56:49 @rrherr Great find! 2021-08-19 21:55:39 @johncarlosbaez Moral progress is something I understand very, very poorly. In the case of science I understand a fair bit about progress, I think. My understanding of moral and ethical progress seems far less well developed! 2021-08-19 21:54:01 @Physburgh @AreNifty I was unconvinced, to put it mildly. 2021-08-19 21:53:39 @Physburgh @AreNifty Fascinating! I wonder if anyone's written an ethnography of this. It'd be fascinating to talk in great depth with people about this. As an atheist child I nonetheless attended classes to prepare me for Communion, and the teacher certainly drummed this into us. 2021-08-19 21:50:36 @johncarlosbaez Though probably not in a century or two! Kudos for your devotion to correct notation 2021-08-19 21:48:30 @EnergzdEconomy I'm certainly aware of it, though only slightly familiar. It seems to suffer the same issue as I pointed out with Mormonism(?) 2021-08-19 21:47:16 @Physburgh @AreNifty Yes, it's... quite a manouevre! Similar to arguments over the nature of the trinity... 2021-08-19 21:45:43 @FPeachIsLife There's cosmology everywhere in the Bible. Most famously, of course: https://t.co/clqViUu37s 2021-08-19 21:44:14 Incidentally, the stipulation that it be the _major_ religions is important. Things like Mormonism are very interesting, but they are also largely derivative of the existing major traditions, which pre-date science. 2021-08-19 21:36:38 @Physburgh @AreNifty I know immediately that the wine and wafer aren't the body and blood of Christ - far easier to see than failing the rain test. And yet... 2021-08-19 21:35:21 @ben_golub @ATabarrok Didn't realize the Computer Scientists were so touchy.... 2021-08-19 21:33:31 @Physburgh @memotv https://t.co/vzp2COR173 2021-08-19 21:32:28 @iamshabbs15 I'm referring to the human social practice of science, which has briefly flared up several times over recorded history, but which only really took root in the 17th century. Human beings were not practicing science 100 million years ago. 2021-08-19 21:29:14 I may as well say: I'm mostly interested in things that I'd regard as substantial improvements. As a kid, the weakness (well, wrongness) of the cosmology in the Christian Bible really bugged me, for instance. 2021-08-19 21:25:39 @AreNifty Interesting question about rain dances and so on. Something like transubstantiation seems much less plausible to me, yet is a major part of modern religion. 2021-08-19 21:22:25 @memotv The major world religions were created, in part, by some of the most brilliant people of their time. Young earth creationists are fundamentally harking back to an earlier time, they're not at the vanguard of contemporary thought. 2021-08-19 21:16:40 @johncarlosbaez Yes. 2021-08-19 21:11:00 @tconfrey Probably. I think David Foster Wallace was largely (not entirely) right: everyone worships something, whether they're aware of it or not. 2021-08-19 21:10:04 @jimmyhatesu Interesting answer. 2021-08-19 21:00:49 @orzelc My point exactly 2021-08-19 20:48:11 @robinhanson What's an example of such an event that you're referring to? [The Flood, maybe?] 2021-08-19 20:46:48 Most obviously: the cosmology in the founding documents would be a lot more accurate. Indeed, it might well be replaced by epistemology instead - I think we have more long-run confidence in the epistemology of science than we do in (say) the lambda-CDM Big Bang cosmology... 2021-08-19 20:43:03 How would the world's major religions be different if they had post-dated modern science by a couple of centuries, rather than pre-dating it by a couple of millennia? 2021-08-19 19:50:29 Simone Weil's universal-but-not-syncretic approach to religion: "Each religion is alone true... the moment we are thinking of it we must bring as much attention to bear on it as if there were nothing else... A "synthesis" of religion implies a lower quality of attention" 2021-08-19 19:21:59 Hard for relatively more discrete things. Lifespan is very much a continuum. Things like color of eyes, hair, gender and so on are also (or more complex), but relatively more discrete. It may be the median person can reasonably be said to have blue eyes (for instance). 2021-08-19 19:20:02 Interesting to think about the median human experience through history, along multiple axes. Calories, lifespan, "wealth", children, number of people met, words spoken, etc etc etc. 2021-08-19 17:58:17 @jackclarkSF I definitely think they should pursue a physics/astrology approach, though. "Saturn was in Pisces" resembles a lot of the argumentation in certain ML papers, though tarot is perhaps a better analog. 2021-08-19 17:48:33 @jackclarkSF Stanford's approach is like trying to build the world's 5th largest accelerator. Good luck with that strategy. They'd be better off doing the analogue of theoretical physics. Cheap. Higgs / Englert / Brout / Goldstone et al were just individual theorists pursuing peculiar ideas. 2021-08-19 17:36:47 @recursus Thanks for the thoughts. 2021-08-19 17:31:49 @ethancaballero @AravSrinivas @KyleCranmer (Thanks for the link, very interesting!) 2021-08-19 17:30:15 @ethancaballero @AravSrinivas @KyleCranmer If their budget is billions per year this might work, assuming access is relatively limited (i.e., so individual experiments in the tens of millions of dollars range can be done). Anything short of that & 2021-08-19 17:27:02 @AravSrinivas @KyleCranmer @ethancaballero Won't they need more capital than industrial AI labs for this to be a good strategy? I very much doubt they have it. 2021-08-19 17:25:41 Assuming Stanford AI is indeed pivoting in this way - it's not so obvious to me, but I haven't read the paper in depth - then it's a strange pivot. Scaling is fundamentally capital-intensive, not idea-intensive. Academia's advantage is in the latter, not the former. https://t.co/SkdSkPZuSb 2021-08-19 02:21:26 @dabacon Is that an African or a European unladen qudit? 2021-08-19 01:49:44 @lalaAlicelala What do all the people reading this have in common? 2021-08-19 01:37:26 @jmrphy "Extroverted" is spelt incorrectly 2021-08-19 01:31:00 @AlexKontorovich One of the most curious things was having a Shakespearian actor visit the school and talk about Hamlet. I'd been kind of hating Shakespeare. But this actor was so in love with it... after about 15 minutes I was a total convert. It helped, of course, that he knew the plays cold 2021-08-19 01:29:01 @AlexKontorovich For me, I remember very few things I got interested in at school. A few books ("Flowers for Algernon", "The Hobbit", and "To Kill a Mockingbird" stand out), and not much else. But having some subjects imposed did suppress some interests for a long time. 2021-08-19 01:27:47 @AlexKontorovich Curious: what ultimately got you interested in history? 2021-08-19 01:22:07 @AlexKontorovich I tend to think _interest_ is often a high-order bit in learning. If it's not (yet) there, any attempt to impose just makes matters worse. I strongly disliked high school biology (& 2021-08-18 19:32:30 @kcimc I don't know much about it. I've just heard this point mentioned often enough that I gather it's conventional wisdom. Only thing I've read directly on it is Pinker's "Better Angels". Pinker, like Graeber, has some problems with motivated reasoning. But I don't doubt this point. 2021-08-18 18:25:34 @kcimc Empirically this seems to be almost the reverse of the truth. As has often been observed, mercantilism (whatever its negatives) is associated with greatly reduced levels of violence. 2021-08-18 14:48:35 One of my favorite bits: one of them talking about some two-year (IIUC) long timelapse photos he took. Talking about how you stabilize the camera, image adjustment etc. I didn't really follow, but just the possibility was interesting. 2021-08-18 14:48:34 "So if you go to [small village] and stand in [place] at [time] on [date] you get [this light effect] on [building, shows image], provided [light conditions]. But [etc]" an hour of incredibly detailed, rapid-fire exchange. I don't understand 90% of it, but it's wonderful 2021-08-18 14:48:33 Update: Seriously distracted by a wonderful conversation between two long-time professional photographers who are catching up after a few years. It's glorious. 2021-08-17 23:41:01 @timhwang This is also quite good as an email auto-response: https://t.co/Ht71woqmsX 2021-08-17 21:03:44 @GwenInvestor Bios in particular are so interesting (avis too, though there's a lot of randomness) - I guess everyone evolves their own wildly different taste in bios, and heuristics to decide whether to follow someone or not. 2021-08-17 21:01:56 @GwenInvestor Lots of interlocking things - search, faveing, retweeting, ability to see who others follow, lists, and so on. I guess I use all these things and more to discover new people! 2021-08-17 19:33:16 (It's kinda false. Darwin took a long time to arrive at the theory of evolution, though his work on the Beagle was important at the time. Somehow this feels fitting.) 2021-08-17 19:29:05 I enjoy this 2009 piece by Eric Drexler, though: https://t.co/0IDGa1SMjh https://t.co/EIswc52dDg 2021-08-17 19:22:25 https://t.co/bYTvzHNmiV 2021-08-17 18:02:39 @GwenInvestor (I turn algorithmic sorting off, though Twitter still seems to do some things. And of course it influences people I follow, and indirectly me.) 2021-08-17 17:50:15 @Saul_Lieberman True! 2021-08-17 17:49:58 @GwenInvestor I think it's more the design - it just makes it really easy to keep finding new communities of people. And a seeming infinity of people doing amazing things! 2021-08-17 17:45:19 Twitter is shockingly good at surfacing what was (formerly, for me) intellectual dark matter. 2021-08-17 16:22:53 @HyperboIeva During my time off, I enjoying solving anharmonic systems... 2021-08-17 16:15:32 @Meaningness @QiaochuYuan There really is... almost an infinity of this stuff. It's fun when multiple people provide an account of a discovery. Eg, I think I've heard or read accounts of the discovery of teleportation from 4 (of 6) of the discoverers. Two of those were written, two were in person. 2021-08-17 16:14:07 @Meaningness @QiaochuYuan I haven't used these. But I'll bet there's some fun stuff: https://t.co/GAk2n2O8wA 2021-08-17 16:11:57 @Meaningness @QiaochuYuan There's also an absolute _tonne_ of Rota-style memoirs. They're usually more technical, and often not as funny. But they must cover acres in a paper library. 2021-08-17 16:10:56 @Meaningness @QiaochuYuan I really like Littlewood's Miscellany. And I love the AIP oral histories (which includes those Feynman remarks, but also much else). 2021-08-17 15:14:07 @hyperpape @wtgowers @jamotron2 One gets the sense many are perpetually auditioning. It’s something interesting about the pseudonymous parts of Twitter - much less sense of this 2021-08-17 15:05:53 @Meaningness @QiaochuYuan I’m curious what five you’re referring to. I’ve read a lot more than five. Perhaps your meaning is more narrowly scoped than my interpretation? 2021-08-17 15:01:19 @wtgowers @jamotron2 It was just a silly joke. I was noticing how hard comedians often work on Twitter, to be funny. Made me reflect that a comedian who just relaxed on Twitter wouldn’t have quite the same careful humorous craft in their tweets 2021-08-17 14:50:52 @wtgowers @jamotron2 Not at all. As a non-comedian on his down time, I felt I could attempt some humor in my feed. The, er, varied responses suggest I am correct in remaining an amateur. 2021-08-17 04:06:58 @metadiogenes @Meaningness @a_p_ellis https://t.co/BMiy7fD7r8 2021-08-17 03:46:59 @andy_matuschak Presumably, also, a different kind of artist, one opposed to the shaming of generative AI models. (Seriously: It's been interesting being in NYC, with much less sense of this tension being ambient.) 2021-08-17 03:39:59 The twitter search results for "oral history" are an amazing serendipitous little library of human civilization: https://t.co/Chat4j1xgs 2021-08-17 03:36:51 @Meaningness @a_p_ellis My God, this is amazing: https://t.co/Chat4j1xgs 2021-08-17 03:34:10 @Meaningness @a_p_ellis I've quoted both the Gleick version and the original Weiner on Twitter, so you may have. That entire Weiner interview is terrible nerd sniping material (at least, for me - I barely dare look at it, lest I spend 2 hours reading...) The AIP interviews are, in general, amazing. 2021-08-17 03:30:15 @Meaningness @a_p_ellis Curious: did you get it from me? I quote the original interview often - both that specific bit, and the interview more generally (I seem to have linked it on Twitter at least a half dozen times). 2021-08-17 03:25:24 @ctitusbrown Right, pursuing your astrological & 2021-08-17 03:18:02 @Meaningness @sogebu9 (Serious side thought: I want to see a Century Grant Program, for scientific projects that will take at least 100 years. At a minimum just to see the applications!) 2021-08-17 03:17:23 @Meaningness @sogebu9 Well, you've only been at it half a century! 2021-08-17 03:06:36 Do comedians go out of their way to not be funny during their off work hours? 2021-08-17 02:46:27 @RobertSpekkens I dislike the latter type of writing, which often seems pedantic. But styles differ 2021-08-17 00:21:54 @Meaningness For people who seem to have a kinesthetic aspect to their thinking, I wonder if they are actually literally thinking more. I sometimes wonder if working while stationary, in a chair, is a way of artificially reducing the quality of your thinking. 2021-08-17 00:18:40 @Meaningness A quality you share with, rarely, 100% of the rest of the human race. Well, I guess maybe except Newton. Someone asked me once if Einstein wasn't mainly a triumph of marketing and image. And... just no. 2021-08-17 00:16:23 @ctitusbrown https://t.co/7iywRrlGWn 2021-08-17 00:15:33 @ctitusbrown Yup. Like dancing about architecture [or whatever that famous quote is]. 2021-08-17 00:13:48 @Meaningness I read that when I was 15 and thought it meant I'd never do physics well. I reread it a decade later and couldn't imagine how you could do physics any other way. (My experience is slightly different, but recognizably similar.) 2021-08-17 00:08:45 @Meaningness Indeed, part of the reason I was walking is because it was easier to think about them that way. I had almost a sense of the objects as kinesthetic things. Writing that down... I guess it sounds crazy, & 2021-08-17 00:07:06 @Meaningness And, after a while, I had a sense that the central objects were slightly different shades of brown. Even though I didn't really have much visual sense of them. 2021-08-17 00:06:22 @Meaningness It's just an evoked sense. For instance, when working on this paper (https://t.co/Q2wMhj06DX ) I thought pretty hard for a while about some of the central objects. Enough that much of the core work was done on long walks. 2021-08-17 00:04:07 One weird thing: I read everyone's experiences, and I think at first "No way, that can't possibly be true!" And then I reflect on my own experiences & 2021-08-16 23:58:53 @Meaningness @s_r_constantin @unconed Oh no - the radio sound component is broken. You can still do the microphone thing, though, instead. 2021-08-16 23:57:10 @Meaningness @s_r_constantin @unconed I'm not sure whether to advise speakers or not :-) 2021-08-16 23:56:21 @Meaningness Hard to describe because it's often _not_ especially visual (more spatial / kinesthetic, a kind of felt sense). And I rarely think much seriously about mathematics these days. 2021-08-16 23:55:41 @Meaningness Oh, in that case: me. Though it's too strong. When I've been thinking hard about some type of objects, I start to get slight color (and other) associations with them. It's not chosen, and (I think) fairly repeated, i.e., the color doesn't change. 2021-08-16 23:53:51 @Meaningness @s_r_constantin @unconed I've rarely heard an audience gasp as much as they did during the second half of the talk. 2021-08-16 23:52:01 @Meaningness @s_r_constantin BTW, you may enjoy this wonderful presentation, by @unconed: https://t.co/kI7hFmvVgl The second half, especially, is evocative of Sarah's comment. 2021-08-16 23:49:44 @Meaningness Feynman's experience is, I suspect, not that unusual. Not as strong as this for me (& 2021-08-16 23:47:01 @Meaningness Yes, they did. 2021-08-16 23:04:20 @a_p_ellis @johncarlosbaez A strong difference. I feel much more like a spatial thinker than a visual thinker. When I'm thinking about mathematics there's often a strong felt kinesthetic or spatial sense. 2021-08-16 21:55:46 @_TamaraWinter @nickarner @gordonbrander @mollyfmielke @ibdknox @stripepress @katelaurielee Ooh, requests: Computer Liberation / Dream Machine? 2021-08-16 21:53:25 @mollyfmielke I found this really interesting. I think it's almost completely wrong, but in stimulating ways: https://t.co/fmWjoV2qAq 2021-08-16 20:59:33 @johncarlosbaez It's a little odd. If I think really hard about something over an extended period I can learn to visualize it really well. But it's definitely an effect of practice. 2021-08-16 20:58:53 @johncarlosbaez Nothing especially systematic - I've just chatted with a number of people about how well they visualize, and read a few accounts. I visualize differently (and in some ways worse) than most of those accounts, apart from people who are aphantastic. 2021-08-16 20:53:15 (That last statement is... frustratingly inadequate. I also have a strong sense of visualizing very well in certain other ways. But I'm not sure I could tease all this apart easily!) 2021-08-16 20:40:10 TBC: I wouldn't say I'm aphantastic. I _do_ visualize, but in some ways less well than seems to be typical. I am very mildly synesthesic [eg, just a hint of color while doing certain kinds of mathematics]. Others in the group were much more definite about both these. 2021-08-16 20:22:13 @KatjaGrace Wow! 2021-08-16 20:05:13 @a_p_ellis The median person in that group had maybe a Masters-level degree in the arts or sciences, and some very serious practice in the other. So a very unusual group. And it made me wonder if this combination (syn + aph) might be common in such people. 2021-08-16 20:03:31 @a_p_ellis Yes, that's why it was noticeable. I started the conversation with the observation about how rare synesthesia (and later aphantasia) were... and then it turns out lots of people in the group were "Oh, you mean people really can see pictures in their head?" [etc]. 2021-08-16 18:33:12 Also: we should definitely make aphantastic, not aphantasic, the right term of art! 2021-08-16 17:49:38 Curious if this description fits others, too? 2021-08-16 17:47:22 When one considers base rates in the population... well, I found it pretty striking. Incidentally, IIRC that was also the conversation that more than any other made me really start to take memory systems seriously. 2021-08-16 17:44:08 Chatting one day with a group of my friends - mostly people deeply interested in both art and science - about synesthesia. Maybe half had some mild form, some very considerable. Then conversation turned to aphantasia. And... ditto! 2021-08-16 17:21:30 @a_nnawang This wasn't what I was referring to. Just that ideas like general relativity or the renormalization group or [etc] are far more interesting than any idea that's ever come mostly out of the human mind. We're just not very imaginative when compared to nature. 2021-08-16 17:19:37 Also: https://t.co/kBPoIQHhtM 2021-08-16 17:19:36 Partially for the reasons Lakatos has explored so well: https://t.co/TfRSTgnP6j 2021-08-16 17:18:04 Premature definition is the root of all evil. 2021-08-16 17:05:24 @jasminewsun @a_nnawang @wilks_isaac Though it's also true that things like Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Communist Manifesto are closer to narrative inventions, but also deeply influential on the futures that were built. 2021-08-16 17:04:31 @jasminewsun @a_nnawang @wilks_isaac To clarify my followups: I'm just saying that the principal determinants of the futures we can build are how well we understand reality. Understanding electricity and internal combustion did as much to shape the 20th century as anything. These weren't narrative inventions! 2021-08-16 16:47:07 @a_nnawang But one way they do see further is at different levels of abstraction. Eg, I think this has really helped Vernor Vinge. Or Carolyn Cherryh or Ursula Le Guin. 2021-08-16 16:46:04 @a_nnawang I don't really quite believe this, though. Nature is more imaginative than we. And so the people who can see furthest are those who look into nature. The writers often can't see as far into reality. 2021-08-16 16:40:36 @a_nnawang The futurist Peter Schwartz (or was it Paul Saffo, hmm?) has put it nicely: the great thing about being a sci-fi writer is that you influence what the next generation of scientists and engineers dream about. 2021-08-16 16:38:19 @j_asminewang @RealIainSThomas Love it! 2021-08-16 02:16:02 @Meaningness @agaricus @dabacon I believe it was Dave who once told me that he likes to begin his talks with an idea of the jokes he wants to tell, and then structures the material around it. This works remarkably well scientifically (as well as humorously...) 2021-08-16 02:12:48 @Meaningness @agaricus I like to do this too (via @dabacon, who once began a talk with this, in front of 200 people, to amuse me and himself...) https://t.co/Uqnr1Eirpq 2021-08-16 00:09:04 RT @michael_nielsen: I have a side project involving art, science, and religion. It's not quite clear yet what it is :-). But if you're in… 2021-08-15 19:57:32 Great going on the nation building . 2021-08-15 19:08:04 @ChanaMessinger Also, of being effective. 2021-08-15 19:05:09 @Meaningness Oh, wow. I think I need to break my rule about not buying physical books. 2021-08-15 18:59:03 And please feel encouraged to keep contacting me about the two projects I tweeted about earlier! 2021-08-15 18:58:06 @generativist I've been to the Trembling Giant :-) Great list! 2021-08-15 18:51:47 @zara_k01 33 conversations right now. But happy to hear from more people, too! 2021-08-15 18:45:57 A road trip that is just visiting trees with Wikipedia entries sounds kinda fun! 2021-08-15 18:44:08 Wikipedia has a list of famous trees! https://t.co/QaLgwUXJKB 2021-08-15 18:42:36 @franknorman It'd never occurred to me before, but it's true, that is a science-art-religion combination. Especially given Hofstadter's description of it as his religion. (GEB didn't actually move me much, I'm afraid -- too Baroque for my taste. But I love the idea of GEB!) 2021-08-15 18:38:18 Currently learning the limits of Twitter's DM system for maintaining multiple conversations. Apologies if I haven't replied to your DM yet. Not really designed for lots of multiple conversations! Thanks to everyone who has contacted me, it's wonderful! 2021-08-15 18:24:43 Some related thoughts: https://t.co/XztbAMyfrT 2021-08-15 18:21:50 Rembrandt's self-portraits, especially his later self-portraits. I wrote a bit about them - and the connection between art and science - in "The Artist and the Machine": https://t.co/8v89oWfXYm 2021-08-15 18:20:40 Carl Sagan's wonderful book (and series) "Cosmos". 2021-08-15 18:20:23 The kind of work that moves me: "Journey to the End of Time": https://t.co/yMVIxMXE27 Especially the moment at 2:05: https://t.co/1qdozh6yWj 2021-08-15 17:50:44 I have a side project involving art, science, and religion. It's not quite clear yet what it is :-). But if you're in NYC and deeply interested in this combination, I'd be interested to chat in the next couple of weeks. 2021-08-15 17:42:23 Wikipedia is interesting as an overview of the Afghanistan pullout: https://t.co/pSXag7vHLZ 2021-08-15 14:03:51 And Dorit's lovely, insightful reminisce: https://t.co/NT00PEXXm2 2021-08-15 14:03:50 And Scott, in response to @henryquantum's thoughtful remark: https://t.co/FtvLsoTd57 2021-08-15 13:31:40 RT @michael_nielsen: With @kanjun I've been working on a speculative science-of-science project - some design thoughts about how to improve… 2021-08-15 03:55:27 RT @michael_nielsen: With @kanjun I've been working on a speculative science-of-science project - some design thoughts about how to improve… 2021-08-15 03:26:14 @siminevazire @lakens @BrianNosek @RedTeamMarket There is an old story that Karl Popper's friends called his famous book "The Open Society, by One of It's Enemies". For an in-principle fan of critique, he was apparently sometimes rather thin-skinned. 2021-08-15 03:05:06 @talyarkoni @chrisgorgo (One of my pet peeves is groups where it means "cheap labor" much more than "training".) 2021-08-15 02:49:11 @talyarkoni @chrisgorgo The PhD, supposedly, is training. I realize in some parts of academia it's evolved away from that (and in other parts it's still true). 2021-08-15 02:47:48 RT @kanjun: Michael’s in NYC, and would like to chat with a couple folks on this project - DM him if it’s something you like to talk about!… 2021-08-15 02:41:34 One more thing: happy to chat with people I don't yet know! Of course, it's lovely to chat with people I do know, but that's much more easily arrangeable without a public announcement! 2021-08-15 01:34:30 (I'd love to chat with 5-8 people over that time, so it is possible I'll be rate limited. But I'll be very curious to get diverse viewpoints.) 2021-08-15 01:31:44 With @kanjun I've been working on a speculative science-of-science project - some design thoughts about how to improve the social (and institutional) processes of science. 2021-08-14 23:56:49 Another reflective note on Wiesner, from @or_sattath: https://t.co/yjch96MSV1 I had not realized, but superdense coding dates from 1970(!) I know of it from the 1992 paper, often described (very believably) as a precursor to quantum teleportation. 2021-08-14 23:26:40 @curiouswavefn They're just asking if there are any animal products used in making the clarinet - e.g., maybe a piece of leather somewhere. Eating isn't especially relevant. 2021-08-14 20:07:58 @emollick (I once sketched out an oil distribution system to power our laptops. It would have some major advantages, but pondering the carbon cost was just plain depressing. At least the electric grid can be decarbonized!) 2021-08-14 20:06:28 @emollick This is not correct. Body fat is not easily rechargeable. A better analogy would be to powering our phones by burning oil, which has a similar energy density to fat, though is much cheaper. 2021-08-14 20:03:31 @karpathy Fascinating! I'd never heard of it! 2021-08-14 19:03:33 @robinsloan Reminded of Hofstadter on Bach and structure within structure within structure. Doubling frequencies, all the way down... 2021-08-14 17:31:05 @emmaconcepts I'm not sure whether you're referring to the very unsuccessful Soviet experiment, or the wildly successful experiment with things like universal healthcare, free education, civil rights, suffrage, and so on. 2021-08-14 17:21:29 @emmaconcepts Pardon the over long reply! Just realizing that this is a personal obsession of mine: the tension between what's achievable through scalable institutional process, and what is inherently individual. Deeply dissatisfied with my understanding of it. 2021-08-14 17:16:49 @emmaconcepts Analogy may be better. There's a reason fast food joints aren't Michelin two star restaurants, and it's not (solely) price. It's very difficult to institutionalize caring deeply. 2021-08-14 17:14:40 @emmaconcepts (That's rather elliptical. I just mean that the relationship between an institution's goals and the personal qualities experienced by people touched by that institution is always very complicated.) 2021-08-14 17:12:31 @emmaconcepts Sure. There's a curiosity in trying to institutionalize the personal. It's possible, but seems to always be indirect. 2021-08-14 16:41:56 @johncarlosbaez @Gurmeet0108 I'm not sure I quite grok what you're talking about. But maybe Ted Chiang's work? 2021-08-14 16:41:06 From a novel published in 1987: https://t.co/S4hLiyzms0 2021-08-14 16:26:56 @johncarlosbaez @orzelc Different genre, same trick 2021-08-14 16:26:37 @johncarlosbaez Someone - was it Graham Greene - said that when one of his novels was getting slow, he'd have a man barge through the door with a gun. I thought of this when @orzelc told me that whenever an audience was getting quiet, Bill Phillips would break out the liquid nitrogen... 2021-08-14 16:10:56 @johncarlosbaez Though even problems/tension aren't necessary. One of my favorite artworks is the video game Journey. And there's no real problem, no tension, it's just an experience of extraordinary beauty, a depiction of the numinous. (The very best science & 2021-08-14 16:09:26 @johncarlosbaez Really interesting point. I guess there's a big difference between problems/tension (which seem necessary in stories) and bad things happen (which can be a source of problems/tension, but doesn't seem so necessary). 2021-08-14 16:01:00 @genekogan Agree that not everyone needs to work directly toward it. But I do think that it's good if the overall system works such that lots of people pursuing their individual goals also, as a byproduct, help with growth. (With many caveats about externalities, equity, etc.) 2021-08-14 15:57:41 @genekogan I'm not so interested in the proxy measure as a political goal, & 2021-08-14 15:41:23 @SpencrGreenberg I wonder if you could have GPT-3 interview itself? Sort of like how emacs lets you pipe Zippy the pinhead into Eliza and vice versa. A Socrates-Buddha interview might be interesting. 2021-08-14 15:38:31 @SpencrGreenberg I wonder how easy it would be to mashup with deep fake voices as well? I'd love to hear a confrontational interview where Socrates pulls apart rationality, EA, and so on. 2021-08-14 15:13:53 I prefer an analogue of Tim O'Reilly's view: economic growth is something like gas in the tank. Somehow, you want to metabolize and deeply understand the (massive, hard-to-compass) benefits of growth... without being seduced by it as the principal thing. It's simply not. 2021-08-14 15:12:12 There is a powerful point of view - championed by Peter Thiel, among others - that economic growth is a high order bit for human flourishing. I dislike the arguments of both the people who reject this out of hand, & 2021-08-14 14:54:30 A short thread about what "progress" means: https://t.co/b70CNgJvf8 2021-08-14 14:21:57 I loved this thoughtful reminisce from @aekert too: https://t.co/Q2QBU3TA8l 2021-08-14 13:30:28 From the comments. I think a lot about this: https://t.co/44rZnaok5J 2021-08-14 02:50:38 @AmniRusli Really interesting! cc @kanjun, relevant to our conversations. 2021-08-14 01:49:41 @TomboloBooks @RoyPeterClark @StPeteFL @VSPC @StPeteChamber What a great title! 2021-08-13 23:43:17 There is, I think, an interesting sense in which Wiesner can be said to have invented cryptocurrency in that paper - years before David Chaum, and certainly decades before Satoshi. Only it's a quantum cryptocurrency! 2021-08-13 23:38:37 I met Wiesner just once, at a conference in Turin in 1997. He seemed extremely shy, and I was too in awe (& 2021-08-13 23:30:53 His incredible paper on conjugate coding, a progenitor for much of modern thinking about quantum information: https://t.co/vQNah0SIr3 2021-08-13 23:28:57 Stephen Wiesner has passed away: https://t.co/V24lleXEwL 2021-08-13 21:15:24 @peroxycarbonate @s_r_constantin Curious: have they been asked about this? Or has it been pointed out in detail? 2021-08-13 20:56:14 @peroxycarbonate @s_r_constantin The APS paper was a theoretical estimate. The CE paper was based on a pilot plant that actually operates. The CE paper also goes into some detail about how they beat the APS estimate. I'm inclined to believe CE got it more right. 2021-08-13 20:17:50 @s_r_constantin @peroxycarbonate (I wrote some brief related notes: https://t.co/5uCMCwKbtP ) 2021-08-13 20:17:15 @s_r_constantin @peroxycarbonate The NAS has at least two long reports on carbon capture and sequestration. The most recent, IIRC: https://t.co/guMyIAJqst 2021-08-12 20:47:26 @rickbenger (Agreed, amazing lyric!) 2021-08-12 20:42:29 @rickbenger ITYFI: "It's been seven hours and fifteen days" 2021-08-12 02:16:49 Berry reading his poem (thanks @TheOisinMoran!): https://t.co/8YpORILsdL 2021-08-12 02:15:11 @aresnick Thank you! I will take a close read later. I find poetry takes me a lot of time to read well. 2021-08-12 02:04:42 @TheOisinMoran Thanks for sharing. 2021-08-12 01:58:47 Wendell Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things" https://t.co/9R0OFC5cDl 2021-08-11 20:37:34 @celinehalioua @LauraDeming Jesus. Thank you for speaking out, & 2021-08-11 17:50:24 @dmthomann It's a lovely book (though dated), and I recommend it often. But it doesn't address the issues I described at all. 2021-08-11 17:28:20 I think a really good response to (1) _is_ possible, and would potentially make a great essay or book. 2021-08-11 17:28:19 In particular: I found very striking two things: (1) People's frustration that their personal actions (mostly) have limited impact on system-level causal factors, which they (rightly) identify as the key to modify 2021-08-11 17:15:03 Related, people's responses to my question about what they, personally, are doing about climate change. https://t.co/u8o2Xni2n6 (I found the replies collectively very enlightening.) 2021-08-11 16:48:35 I realize that first tweet in the thread isn't exactly a surprise! Yes, everyone knows this. But later in the thread is a lot of context that isn't as widely appreciated, AFAICS. 2021-08-11 16:47:29 Re-upping a few thoughts on the overall trajectory of energy / climate, as the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report comes out. https://t.co/i25wtKtzEJ 2021-08-10 18:20:41 @AnnaLeptikon Depending on how you define spiritual, almost all of it, or almost none of it. 2021-08-10 18:17:03 How Barry Marshall and Robin Warren discovered bacteria cause ulcers. What amounts to a lab error was surprisingly helpful: https://t.co/1wywpt8iUs 2021-08-09 02:07:47 @skybrian I know people who have arguments they believe establish with high probability the answer is "no". I know people who [...] the answer is "yes". You, I guess, think both those groups are wrong. That's fine. But I'm curious about those two groups. 2021-08-09 02:02:32 @aresnick Oh, don't be sorry - I appreciate your generosity in posting! I just happened to see it near-simultaneously. 2021-08-09 02:00:27 @aresnick Just posted it! But thanks! 2021-08-09 02:00:03 I should have checked: she has an autobiography: https://t.co/eloRGmu4HE 2021-08-09 01:55:38 Would love to read a diary of her thinking at the time, or a memoir. 2021-08-09 01:52:48 Dolores Hart, the movie star who found her calling as a nun: https://t.co/x6bQB7vGEQ https://t.co/oYlIsi6nFN 2021-08-09 00:57:28 Do you think human beings (or, if you prefer, our AI progeny) will ever establish a long-term, self-sustaining presence in another star system? 2021-08-08 17:47:39 @curiouswavefn Dyson's humanity is striking. 2021-08-08 17:23:02 This is an astonishing document - the (often very strongly worded) opinions of hundreds of physicists on clocking in and out: https://t.co/idDdiJWhzU Based on a small random sample, physicists really, really, really hate the idea. 2021-08-08 17:19:39 @Bismarckian10 That's an amazing document. 2021-08-08 16:43:03 I've heard a story of somewhere (Los Alamos?) trying to install timeclocks so physicists could punch in and out. And someone (Fermi?) saying that was fine, provided they put a clock in the shower, in the car, etc. Anyone know the source? 2021-08-08 14:41:32 @itsjaneflowers That's a fascinating essay, thanks! Interesting how one program can have such an impact. IIRC there's a high school in my hometown whose swimmers have occasionally outcompeted many countries at international meets. They have at least 6 Olympic medallists... 2021-08-07 23:13:41 @andy_matuschak *gone down. 2021-08-07 23:13:03 @andy_matuschak Sort of? I think it's: (a) very uncertain and far more stressful Certainly, I'd believe that the top 10,000 musician direct music income has gone done. Though a few people like Rihanna perhaps do better in other ways. 2021-08-07 22:56:10 The fundamental tension of online writing + Make it freely available -> + Make it paid -> We want these strongly aligned. Patreon, Substack (etc) reduce the misalignment only a tiny bit 2021-08-07 21:47:02 Many great answers in replies, including this one from @johncarlosbaez, who you should follow if you like this kind of thing: https://t.co/hKqF70K8Gm 2021-08-07 21:45:48 @HyperboIeva Not stopping when told you're otherwise busy seems pretty rude. 2021-08-07 21:39:41 @HyperboIeva Was this someone you didn't know who wanted to talk to you about it? 2021-08-07 21:31:28 @johncarlosbaez Can I just pre-emptively say how much I enjoy and appreciate you on Twitter, John? 2021-08-07 21:23:46 @ljxie Oh, on Cherry I should say: Cyteen. I like other work of hers, but that one is a remarkable study of personal identity 2021-08-07 21:07:29 @RealPhineasGage Thanks, that’s very interesting. 2021-08-07 21:06:47 @naimaharg That seems a safe bet. 2021-08-07 21:00:19 @neuroecology Sounds like great fun 2021-08-07 20:53:30 This list of ~700 branches of science is _utterly wild_. I'd never even heard of most of them, much less can say what they do. But you know each one has journals, conferences, (hopefully) deep ideas, striking open questions, and so on: https://t.co/SDpQ1BxoBs https://t.co/z7SHNifdZp 2021-08-07 20:47:31 @ljxie Off the top of my head: Vernor Vinge, Accelerando (Stross, most of whose work I don't find so interesting), Ted Chiang, & 2021-08-07 20:39:31 @peteromallet No-one makes money from the LSST, SKA, and similar projects, nor is there any prospect of doing so. Whereas SpaceX et al appear to believe they can make a great deal of money. 2021-08-07 20:36:47 @Alan_Taylor_314 Oh. That was just a comment, not a question. I guess I understand broadly why it's true, though your comments were certainly interesting and added much I didn't know. 2021-08-07 20:29:13 @Alan_Taylor_314 @mcnees @skdh This, on the other hand, seems extremely relevant. 2021-08-07 20:28:53 @Alan_Taylor_314 It doesn't seem related to my question: what would have we concluded if the Higgs wasn't found at the LHC. But maybe I didn't understand your comments. 2021-08-07 20:22:30 List of science megaprojects: https://t.co/Df4yXO5iBq Science is so large an enterprise. I hadn't even heard of several of these, and only know a tiny bit about many more. 2021-08-07 19:48:04 In particular, I don't know what the range of expected energies to find the Higgs was, and how it overlapped with the LHC. CC @mcnees @skdh, and anyone else who might know? 2021-08-07 19:46:42 Question for people who know more particle physics than I: if the LHC hadn't discovered the Higgs, would that likely have led to a search for alternatives to the Standard Model? (In the case of SUSY, the LHC not finding it doesn't seem to have dampened some people's ardor.) 2021-08-07 18:45:38 @sonyasupposedly @liminal_warmth This is really striking. I'm not sure I agree, but it's great food for thought. 2021-08-07 17:52:56 @Dominic2306 @NGruen1 Source: https://t.co/EUDPYeB4Ja 2021-08-07 17:20:09 RT @paulg: @michael_nielsen What you overhear in various places is a highly underrated component of their character. More even than buildin… 2021-08-07 17:18:19 @paulg Very strongly agree. It seems close to a high-order bit on people's beliefs about what they can do. 2021-08-07 17:01:42 @Dominic2306 This tidbit (via @NGruen1 ) on polarization has stayed with me. I tracked down the source, but don't have it to hand. https://t.co/g7QXQsJy7b 2021-08-07 16:59:46 One of my favorite things about NYC is Little Australia: https://t.co/D2RwSAnq0O 2021-08-07 16:57:33 @NickYoder86 https://t.co/D2RwSAnq0O 2021-08-07 16:52:44 @dan_ness That's a fun connection. Makes me wonder if she'll become the ferryman, like Siddhartha. 2021-08-07 16:51:49 @NickYoder86 Oh, thanks. Bluestone Lane is also Australian owned. And of course there's little Australia, a little further south... 2021-08-07 16:51:28 @mollyfmielke Nice phrase! Yes: it's a mini writer's room, in the wild! 2021-08-07 16:51:02 @ArtirKel AFAICT, this is true of any cafe near NYU with good spots to converse. Bluestone Lane, Think Cafe, even Starbucks... 2021-08-07 16:49:23 @bschne Yep! Just had a 5-minute conversation about the right time for the woman to enter the room. Now onto where graffiti should sit in the shot. Really interesting! 2021-08-07 16:42:16 One pleasure of cafes near NYU: you overhear detailed script discussions by serious aspiring screenwriters. Enjoying the minutiae 2021-08-07 16:35:01 I enjoyed this: https://t.co/sLkBZRkjoQ 2021-08-06 17:11:44 @CFCamerer Wonderful! One of my favorite webpages: https://t.co/79jLrn7bdb 2021-08-06 16:52:35 @gulley Looks fascinating. 2021-08-06 16:47:10 @GWilliamThomas That seems very likely. 2021-08-06 16:40:11 @GWilliamThomas Curious: why do you think it's improved? Lots of (really obvious) things still seem effectively unthinkable, AFAICT. 2021-08-06 16:17:36 @RichardALJones @ColdWarScience Thanks, looks fascinating, I'll check it out! 2021-08-06 16:17:00 @GWilliamThomas I've read a tonne of AIP stuff over the years, thanks! One thing I liked about Greenberg was the sense that he wasn't trying to accomplish a lobbying mission, or just trotting out the standard "science is great" tropes, or grinding some particularly strong ideological axe. 2021-08-06 16:01:32 @danintheory Sure. Though I wish I better understood _why_ national prestige is sought, at the level of individual motivations. 2021-08-06 16:00:01 @RichardALJones @jon_agar I expect this to be particularly fascinating (though atypical) as a consequence of Thatcher's background in chemistry. I wonder how many leaders have studied under a Nobel prizewinning scientist? Not a lot, I'll bet. 2021-08-06 15:57:54 @RichardALJones @jon_agar Thanks! 2021-08-06 15:57:21 @haymhirsh Do you mean they really don't know, beyond some general sense that it's a good thing to do? (I'm not talking about the politic answer, I mean what they actually believe.) 2021-08-06 15:52:49 @haymhirsh Curious: do you know what they'd say if then asked: "Why is it good to fund graduate students in science?" 2021-08-06 15:52:19 @haymhirsh This doesn't entirely surprise me, but fascinating to hear confirmed! 2021-08-06 15:43:54 @herdyshepherd1 Curious: the carbon cost of a Beyond burger is more than 10x lower than a typical burger. Do you think this might become a big advantage in future (maybe for successors)? (TBC: I really enjoy your twitter, and have for years!) 2021-08-06 15:39:08 Related: it's common to hear complaints that funders favor incremental, low-risk research. And I wonder to what extent this is a consequence of system-level decisions, rather than of mechanism design (it's straightforward to design mechanisms plausibly much more adventurous). 2021-08-06 15:35:05 @johncarlosbaez Pretty remarkable, IMO. The stories I've heard from other Australians of getting in and out of the country are pretty disturbing. And this policy seems to up the ante further. 2021-08-06 15:33:55 @johncarlosbaez It appears to be a cross-party-and-media lines stupidity as far as I can tell. So I doubt it has much to do with the trolls and anti-vaxxers. 2021-08-06 15:33:03 @johncarlosbaez Who are visiting Australia, as in the thread I quoted. Eg if I go back to visit Australia I won't be allowed out again, unless I obtain some exemption whose nature is unknown. 2021-08-06 15:32:08 I'm fascinated by the tension between the way individual scientists view the "why" of science, and the (actual, not necessarily the same as the espoused) political motivations. 2021-08-06 15:32:07 Curious: what's the most insightful writing on how government decision-makers & 2021-08-06 15:10:47 What's infuriating is that the media continues to give lots of coverage to lockdowns, but relatively little to vaccines (though they do like scaremongering about side effects). It's "cower in fear" as national strategy, with little interest in active measures to end the pandemic. 2021-08-06 14:56:15 Here's Australia's current vaccination progress (~16% fully vaccinated). For a country that is very near best in the world in terms of both medical research and healthcare system, this is a very poor showing. https://t.co/qw8GclvZau 2021-08-06 14:52:55 Here, for instance, is the current (appalling) homepage of a major news site, @abcnews. Notice the complete lack of any coverage at all of vaccines? It should have been the number 1 priority for the country for the last 12 months, but... mostly crickets. https://t.co/nNERQq5KKi 2021-08-06 14:35:15 An insightful, tragic thread about the Australian government's immigration restrictions. As of Aug 11, citizens who live abroad will _not be able to leave_ Australia without an exemption. Who qualifies for an exemption? No-one knows, apparently. https://t.co/a7gpJgZ4i6 2021-08-05 01:32:23 @dabacon (That one was Ike’s, added after a conversation about differences in spelling between different countries. I was, and remain, very amused) 2021-08-05 01:31:06 @dabacon Pretty sure you remember the jokes better than I! You may have put more effort in. Remember: z is pronounced zed! 2021-08-04 21:33:13 @Liv_Lanes @dabacon @AndreasAtETH I was showing it to Ike, when in came KITP director Jim Hartle, who I was in awe of (I was 22). I tried to cover it up, which made Jim notice & 2021-08-04 21:32:32 @Liv_Lanes @dabacon @AndreasAtETH Shortly after Ike & 2021-08-04 21:27:53 @dabacon @AndreasAtETH Hey! 2021-08-04 14:16:18 @s_r_constantin How many big successful projects are started in serious mode vs fun mode? I suspect a lot start as half jokes between people who are goofing off... 2021-08-04 13:38:32 @andrademicael @AndreasAtETH Written out of history... 2021-08-04 13:36:39 @andrewmchilds @AndreasAtETH Early adopter. Not sure even I have one of those any more. 2021-08-03 13:27:30 @paulg When visiting a pharma company I noticed that people knew, to the day, when various patents would expire. It was very striking. A case where there may well be immense power in the patent. 2021-08-03 02:46:25 Curious: my (new) AirBNB in Brooklyn has a few problems. Best way to approach resolution? The power outlet to the fridge, stove, microwave wasn't working. Electrician fixed it. Then the stove won't turn off - I came home & 2021-08-02 21:53:54 @cowenconvos Reading @cowenconvos FTW 2021-08-01 17:36:37 Related: read the late @nomodes on the _invention_ of cut, copy, and paste: https://t.co/f8bYtLVptj https://t.co/lSTNF8HaOZ 2021-08-01 17:29:46 Always look forward to book recommendations in my feed https://t.co/HFhKAZpTdV 2021-08-01 03:04:27 @timoni @gordonbrander This is a good pitch. 2021-07-30 17:55:03 Amusing and insightful paper from Terry Rudolph, describing a way for alien civilizations to hide their computations: https://t.co/RHoI4ND3Hw Also interesting in more immediately practical ways - eg see the conclusion (Via @preskill ) https://t.co/Xql5ylDT2V 2021-07-29 17:52:17 @lawrennd @maosbot There's a story in Hall's bio about Oldenburg helping cause the mess, dying in the middle of a delicate exchange of letters between N & 2021-07-29 17:39:59 @lawrennd @maosbot Actually, better: he didn't just understand all this. He (and a few others) _invented_ it through very clever design. So we went from people being terribly secretive to rushing to disclose their results. One of the most amazing changes in history, IMO... 2021-07-29 17:38:12 @lawrennd @maosbot Shilling my own book, "Reinventing Discovery". Also: love Paul David's paper https://t.co/ix0oJkXLbK and Marie Boas Hall's bio of Henry Oldenburg (who founded the first journal, & 2021-07-29 17:29:39 @lawrennd @maosbot The norms around scientific publishing & 2021-07-29 01:33:04 @njenfield @JoshKoomz You may enjoy: https://t.co/MNFbMkXKEb Friends who raise venture money s'times allocate just a few weeks to pitch a whole bunch of firms, & 2021-07-28 20:33:39 @uncatherio Asking the important definitional questions: https://t.co/Fz9IqNlnW6 2021-07-28 20:32:20 @uncatherio A sample of the wonders of the talk page: (It is, in fact, seriously also a wonder of epistemology and collective intelligence.) https://t.co/WSyQg6tUIp 2021-07-28 20:06:58 @uncatherio The talk page is a work of art: https://t.co/2sJbW4kIDC Hmm. Competitive Wikipedia editing is another thing I'd happily see at the Olympics... 2021-07-28 19:55:52 @uncatherio :-) A Google image search is quite something: https://t.co/Zf1fz8FvEy 2021-07-28 19:51:03 @uncatherio https://t.co/jsOn1zuUi3 2021-07-28 17:42:30 @kmedved @JamesSurowiecki @NateSilver538 Exactly. "I'm not sure when the pandemic will end" is much less interesting than duelling "Definitely over by October" / "Catastrophe by October" narratives, even if most experts are in the uncertain camp... 2021-07-28 17:41:07 @JamesSurowiecki @kmedved @NateSilver538 It's perfectly easy to tell a reporter that - I've done it many times. But bland or uncertain statements seem relatively less likely to be published, and you tend not to be called back the next time. 2021-07-28 15:50:07 @ZanJozefowicz Not that specific page. It was interesting, though none of the comments is the one I had in mind. I think it's in Skidelsky's bio of Keynes (well, at least one of them). But I don't see where... 2021-07-28 01:17:48 @utotranslucence @Malcolm_Ocean I like "impishness" for this trait! 2021-07-27 21:36:53 @PrinceVogel All the time. 2021-07-27 20:57:40 @mustach_io @ShriramKMurthi @wilbanks right now they do. I think this dovetails really nicely with Naur's paper. It's also helped me think about experiments in new media by people like @worrydream and others. 2021-07-27 20:55:57 @mustach_io @ShriramKMurthi @wilbanks The context around the artifacts gradually decay, rendering the artifacts themselves less useful (e.g., harder and harder to make them run, etc). But a narrative can standalone, and if strong enough, enables re-creation. Papers don't have to uniquely fill that role, but... 2021-07-27 20:54:44 @mustach_io @ShriramKMurthi Something I understood from a conversation with @wilbanks many years ago: it's not enough to publish code, data, etc. That can _embody_ a tremendous amount of knowledge, but understanding requires a narrative 2021-07-27 14:37:18 Somewhere there is a story about Keynes, advising a bank, & Anyone know a source? 2021-07-27 14:35:06 Interesting: https://t.co/wNLEufkQXB 2021-07-27 03:12:20 @Smerity The one (?) time I saw the late, great Steve Weinberg talk it was about stockpile safety. It was... not a great situation, to put it mildly. 2021-07-27 03:10:33 @Smerity Agreed. The electric grid failing due to solar activity. Nuclear safety :-( (It's incredible there's been no warlike use in 70+ years.) 2021-07-27 03:08:53 TBC: for many kinds of preparation treating it as probability ~1 in the next 5 years is actually a good strategy, & 2021-07-27 03:02:29 @jamesrcole If what they do makes us better prepared, for many reasonable definitions of "better" that means it's not overestimation. 2021-07-27 02:49:38 I'll give myself this much credit: I thought it pretty likely I'd see a major worldwide pandemic in my lifetime. I hope this was the only one. 2021-07-27 02:46:35 Having spent the first ~46 years of my life with government and the public underestimating the probability of a major pandemic, I expect to spend the rest of my life with them (and, probably, me) overestimating it, in a way that will mostly decline over time. 2021-07-27 02:43:48 @ShriramKMurthi @mustach_io I'm not expert enough to comment on the parent thread (though it was great). It did remind me of Naur's "Programming as theory-building", though, which present a view in which we both program to understand, and understand to program. This seems related! https://t.co/jgQP0gqmA6 2021-07-27 02:40:19 @ShriramKMurthi @mustach_io Ken Iverson, circa 1962 or so (in early APL docs). Here's his 1979 Turing Prize lecture on the subject: https://t.co/eTMA2BMFDv 2021-07-27 01:20:14 @mpershan @johncarlosbaez Both definitions are interesting and insightful (and useful!), to me. 2021-07-27 01:10:30 @Pete21083 @NullTransport @RajSamuel_ Both of you are repeating points made repeatedly, thousands of times by a multitude of people, without any serious thought or references. It's cliche and it's dull. Please stop. Thanks. 2021-07-27 00:33:59 This thread feels a tiny bit like channeling @patio11 (my voice is all wrong, but this is the kind of thing reading him makes me see more easily...) 2021-07-27 00:30:27 @devonzuegel (No pressure! I dislike being told “you should [do this thing]”. Just reflecting on how much I enjoy your place reviews!) 2021-07-27 00:28:58 Indeed, cliche-dom is often a consequence of greatness. Starry Night was the first print I ever got carefully framed. Still love it. https://t.co/9NsuduDKef 2021-07-27 00:17:26 @devonzuegel I’d enjoy a Devon comparative list of places to live / visit 2021-07-26 22:16:25 @oscredwin @diviacaroline If everyone who voted for Bernie chipped in $1,200 they'd reach their target too. 2021-07-26 22:02:17 @jessicamalonso I was told it, but didn't understand it, so I'm not sure it counts as "taught". Eventually I realized the smaller part of the symbol is on the side of the smaller quantity. 2021-07-26 21:03:50 @timhwang Texting... 2021-07-26 20:14:45 @curiouswavefn Not sure BL funded the Big Bang! (I know what you meant!) 2021-07-26 20:13:34 (All afaict as an outsider: the people who study protein structure mostly seem to agree that the hardest part of the problem of prediction has probably been done. But this is only a piece of an overall puzzle...) 2021-07-26 20:10:53 Too soon to answer, and a fundamentally silly question, but fun to think about: how many more important things did Bell Labs discover? 2021-07-26 20:06:40 Wild to think ad clicks paid to (essentially) solve the protein structure prediction problem 2021-07-26 16:10:44 Great way to live your professional values. I’ll bet Phil really is prompt, polite, and professional - he’s got it on the side of his van (together with a photo of himself) Way better than some anodyne mission statement https://t.co/sSjyueG7ny 2021-07-26 15:02:16 @albrgr @ryancbriggs (John Willinsky makes the really nice point that this is something for-profit publishers have been much better at responding to than not-for-profit. ) 2021-07-26 15:01:24 @albrgr @ryancbriggs A related thing which I think _is_ true: every journal has effectively a house style - not just literary style, but a kind of range of acceptable topics and approaches. And there's a lot of valuable work that has a hard time fitting within the style of any existing journal. 2021-07-26 14:59:13 @albrgr @ryancbriggs Holden's remarks still puzzle me. Review journals are often among the highest-cited journals in the disciplines I've ever looked at. In fact, it often causes grumbling ("Why are people citing the review, rather than my original paper?") Maybe different in that area? 2021-07-26 14:32:49 @albrgr @ryancbriggs ... into one another that you had to consider that their separate categorization might actually be a (politically expedient) category error. 2021-07-26 14:31:41 @albrgr @ryancbriggs On the original question: I've never read much, but I do remember as a kid being fascinated by Lewis Fry Richardson's work on "the statistics of deadly quarrells" (or something similar). In particular, the argument that the war and murder statistics so shaded... 2021-07-26 14:29:23 @albrgr @ryancbriggs Interesting subject! I'm actually not quite sure what you might be recalling - can you expand? 2021-07-26 02:27:39 @Trent_STEMpunk (Well, that and the song is great fun!) 2021-07-26 02:27:19 @Trent_STEMpunk That sounds fun! What I find striking is the way a song in a tiny language (relatively speaking) just took over the entire world, and helped spread a culture. A bit like anime or the Beatles taking over the world, but more striking in many ways, IMO. 2021-07-26 01:42:51 @GwenInvestor Well, Christina Aguilera _is_ a poet, of sorts! 2021-07-26 01:16:31 “Do you speak Spanish?” “Apart from the subset used in Despacito?” Related: Gangnam Style has to be one of the most interesting world historical events of the 2010s... 2021-07-25 23:05:34 @thatjillian For dating there’s assortative mating. I guess this is assortative friending? 2021-07-25 22:34:47 Insightful and inspiring interview with Kim Stanley Robinson https://t.co/jMkYZtVQ3o 2021-07-25 18:22:07 @RichardALJones @leecronin @rosstaylor90 @Dominic2306 @logangraham @MarcWarner10 @demishassabis @profserious Thanks! I’ll take a look 2021-07-25 17:06:08 @benskuhn @Meaningness I love this little example: https://t.co/1YSLaGu8rH 2021-07-25 16:35:10 @leecronin @guillefix That's 1e83 I meant to write, not that it much matters. I wish twitter supported LaTeX... 2021-07-25 16:34:24 @leecronin @guillefix A hard disk - say 2^(10^12) configs - dwarfs number of atoms in universe Indeed, there are more configurations of books on my bookshelf (well over 100 factorial) than there are atoms in the universe (maybe something like 10e83, depends a bit on estimate) 2021-07-25 15:53:11 @leecronin @rosstaylor90 @Dominic2306 @logangraham @MarcWarner10 @demishassabis @profserious Curious: what’s the best written defense of this position? 2021-07-25 15:30:13 A lovely personal remembrance of Weinberg by Scott Aaronson: https://t.co/cvIFW2RWpP 2021-07-25 02:49:44 Would any mutual in Brooklyn like to play tennis in Fort Greene park some evening this week? DM me! (Rusty and out of shape, but enthusiastic) 2021-07-24 19:47:45 @fperez_org @LorenaABarba This is beautiful! 2021-07-24 19:46:50 @DStrachman Oh SF! 2021-07-24 19:26:52 I don't see a (legal) version online. You may also enjoy glancing at his famous paper "A Model of Leptons", which is a key contribution to what became the modern standard model of particle physics: https://t.co/aROZ6JVvxD 2021-07-24 19:18:36 Reflecting on Steven Weinberg's passing. If you get the chance, read "Two Cheers for Reductionism" (in his book "Dreams of a Final Theory".) I read it as a 20 yo, and it changed how I think about science. And, like all of Weinberg's writing that I've read, very well written 2021-07-24 19:12:04 @pylodictis I've been on committees in two departments for which the first part was... discussed, but subsidiary to the second. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, both places improved rapidly. Though at one place the nature of discussion was inconsistent.) 2021-07-24 19:03:20 Registered Reports and preprints: https://t.co/ClLjEG4c3W 2021-07-24 18:56:41 I guess this reads as a critique. It's not (exactly) meant that way. The use of proxies and abstractions seems inevitable as knowledge grows, with the resulting division of labor. I've never heard a convincing set of ideas to deal with it. https://t.co/dPr7e1of3c 2021-07-24 18:50:48 I guess there's likely sociology of science on this - ethnographies of hiring committees and the like? I've never looked, I should. Latour, but more funding-focused. 2021-07-24 18:49:02 Hiring shorthands are very interesting. Caricaturing: "We hired someone with 3 Nature papers, 1 of them first-author" vs: "We hired someone who [result + significance + what they did]" 2021-07-24 18:46:13 It's be wonderful to have a good overall picture of the role of metrics in hiring (including what places discount them at various stages). Hard not to over-generalize from one's own experience. I've met ppl who assume _all_ places are prestige- and metrics-obsessed... https://t.co/xGazXWL4My 2021-07-24 18:19:42 @ulkar_aghayeva Pretty sure it's also characteristic of maths - definitions are often discovered, as a result of exploration, and then over time gradually come to seem more and more fundamental (& 2021-07-24 17:00:57 @agarwl_ A quick glance suggests that's a very nice paper. I'll take a closer look. Thanks! 2021-07-24 16:55:26 @ulkar_aghayeva (Thanks!) Curious: what determines the direction of the arrows? Whether one definition (or result) depends upon another? 2021-07-24 16:43:22 AlphaGo used Monte-Carlo tree search to take a mediocre value function and amplify it to a much better value function. Some Questionable Research Practices do something analogous, sort of amplifying p-values down to 0.05. (Though not making findings more accurate!) 2021-07-24 16:37:56 It's funny. I think since undergrad(?) I've "known" a published p < 2021-07-24 16:27:11 This is really nicely put: https://t.co/d9oUjxSo42 2021-07-24 16:24:55 Interesting to think about what Registered Reports look like if the system is based primarily around (largely) unrefereed preprints, with journal publication secondary. 2021-07-24 16:22:11 I do get a grin out of the next paragraph of the paper, which has extended citations to prove that water is wet. (Genre conventions and norms are real, and helpful, but also sometimes pretty funny.) https://t.co/ccZCYVLP4v 2021-07-24 16:14:02 Adding a bunch of questions about this to my memory system this morning. This one is pretty much it: https://t.co/XGdnh3pDMV 2021-07-24 15:46:21 Definitions are tricky things. Their value seems to lie in being at the center of an explanatory web. You can tell a definition is off - maybe subtly - because there is no such web, or it seems over complicated (maybe a different definition would be better). 2021-07-24 15:46:20 More Rich Sutton, I enjoyed this on: "The Definition of Intelligence", though I'd change "The" to "A": https://t.co/pkBuCjdnc9 https://t.co/z6CfmJW6lk 2021-07-24 13:52:18 RT @preskill: Steven Weinberg 1933-2021. One of the most accomplished scientists of our age, and a particularly eloquent spokesperson for t… 2021-07-24 01:27:41 @BrianNosek @MattMotyl Glad to hear it! 2021-07-24 00:24:59 @HarveyRent I admire and think the absolute world of my EA friends who have saved (or greatly improved) hundreds of thousands or millions of lives with their modelling. 2021-07-24 00:22:23 Not sure, but it may be that the last tweet is a good test for whether one is EA or CA. If you laugh and then think, "Hmm, actually, it'd be kinda interesting to see what happens...", you may be a CA 2021-07-23 23:57:37 @2davidjames Pretty sure this would increase variance. Not sure about EV, opinions may differ: https://t.co/4T8D4DKch0 (Srsly: most of the best science funding, in my opinion, is about increasing variance.) 2021-07-23 23:56:07 What's astonishing: they did an experiment that _made the original study stronger [in the sense of producing more scientific understanding]_ , but also _made it less publishable_. This anti-alignment is really bad, an invitation to research theater. 2021-07-23 23:52:10 @anniefryman @mindspillage @tnorthcutt It's one of my favorite Twitter bios! Hemingway-esque, so much in so few words! 2021-07-23 23:44:29 This is a wonderful story of commitment to genuinely understand (at genuine expense to career): https://t.co/z4gErJ0gfL https://t.co/ec3tjN9h74 2021-07-23 23:26:01 “Alright, who arranged for 500 live ferrets to be dropped from the ceiling during the opening address?” 2021-07-23 23:22:00 Pretty sure Chaotic Altruism Global wouldn’t be as well organized as EA Global 2021-07-23 23:19:41 While EAs are off increasing EV, the chaotic altruists are off increasing variance. (This is a very EA framing, I think?) 2021-07-23 23:16:12 @mindspillage @tnorthcutt Reminded a little of @anniefryman’s wonderful bio line: “the unguided missile” 2021-07-23 23:08:33 @souljanixon @willlowthewhisp I thought they invented them? 2021-07-23 23:07:40 And, um, thank you to my long suffering EA friends for their understanding. I love you and EA but it’s not me 2021-07-23 23:06:00 @alt_kia Nice! 2021-07-23 23:04:51 @souljanixon @willlowthewhisp Could be run by the Joker. Though that might be a bit too organized for him... 2021-07-23 23:03:57 @AshtearLucca @ArtirKel Ooh I like this too! 2021-07-23 23:02:43 @TheOisinMoran @willlowthewhisp Heh. 2021-07-23 22:57:46 We may have a winner: https://t.co/2BM99OG7ws 2021-07-23 22:56:09 @willlowthewhisp I’m on my phone or I’d oblige, but for now imagination will have to do. Imagining a hogwarts style sorting hat where you have to decide which quadrant you want to be in... 2021-07-23 22:54:27 @HanzLeprechaun Exactly! 2021-07-23 22:53:58 @willlowthewhisp I see a 2 x 2 matrix in the future... 2021-07-23 22:53:18 @tnorthcutt Ooh I like this! 2021-07-23 22:52:50 @SipsAndFoam Lol 2021-07-23 22:51:32 @Kirsten3531 @StefanFSchubert 2021-07-23 22:51:10 Trying to decide if I’m an Ineffective Altruist, or want to go all out for Anti-effective Altruism. Temperamentally I’m the latter, I think... 2021-07-23 22:48:11 I enjoy the cameraderie of faraway places. Run into someone you know a little from home and you can have a great conversation, far beyond what you might do ordinarily 2021-07-23 22:42:53 As a rollercoaster fan this is interesting (and concerning). I wonder about the same thing for heading the ball in soccer https://t.co/zeIDUedOEV 2021-07-23 22:41:47 @SipsAndFoam I am, however, not offering to trade places with one 2021-07-23 22:41:12 @SipsAndFoam My money is on the bacteria and the viruses. Way more successful than the East African plains ape... 2021-07-23 22:37:45 @StefanFSchubert I am very much not EA, maybe I’m just missing the point 2021-07-23 22:37:21 @StefanFSchubert Weirdly, I both know most of the non EA facts and am rather skeptical of that project. For one thing, a lot of those things are poorly understood. Memorizing falsehoods likely has disutility, to put it in EA terms 2021-07-23 22:27:13 Another POV: you need to give a kilogram about 100 MJ of kinetic energy to escape the Sun’s gravitational field. You could hurl 1.7e15 kilograms out of the Solar System with that oceanic heating energy. That’s... far more than Manhattan and everything on it weighs!!! 2021-07-23 22:20:30 For comparison, a human intake of 2000 kilocalories is roughly 10 mega joules, or 4 gigajoules per year. So that upper ocean uptake is ~5000 years worth of food energy, for all humans, assuming I didn’t good the arithmetic 2021-07-23 22:15:18 Speaking of, next Anki question: energy in the upper ocean increased ~1.7e23 joules from 1971 to 2010. That’s... a staggering amount of energy 2021-07-23 22:11:13 In 2014 the World Bank estimated 86 million got access to electricity (From my Anki memory system. These kind of facts always stagger me. I have such a provincial view. The world is too big to know (but it’s fun to try) 2021-07-23 20:28:06 @robinsloan Perhaps this is what goes wrong when Spotify can't "load the artist"? https://t.co/CpjIBSbjmY 2021-07-23 18:59:25 @cosmotechnic Fascinating. I've noticed that good Anki is often weird Anki. Though usually more atomic than this. 2021-07-23 18:35:28 And the strength of the sentiments. Still, interesting. 2021-07-23 18:32:55 I wonder at the exact wording of the questions. 2021-07-23 18:30:46 Remarkable polling results in Britain on Covid restrictions. A surprisingly large number of people want various restrictions made permanent: https://t.co/2Ea4Nh8NxQ https://t.co/JzMqEMeY7Q 2021-07-23 18:21:42 @boazbaraktcs Right. A relativistic distortion, due to the fact that ML researchers are now adding to the corpus of papers at a speed approaching that of light... 2021-07-23 18:13:30 @boazbaraktcs The essay is only two years old (not sure you realize?) 2021-07-23 17:07:53 I get asked often what Twitter is useful for. It's certainly useful to _think_, in concert with lots of thoughtful people: https://t.co/fdjDTJhMHp 2021-07-23 16:10:11 @Kirsten3531 Oh, the humanity. 2021-07-23 15:21:58 @philmohun Fixed, thanks! 2021-07-23 15:21:32 @context_ing @Meaningness Should be fixed! Thanks! 2021-07-23 15:19:49 (Thanks to those who pointed out the expired cert on the domain. Should be fixed!) 2021-07-23 15:00:55 RT @KyleCranmer: A nice follow-up on “the bittter lesson” from @michael_nielsen with a quote from me . I agree with the last point about i… 2021-07-23 01:18:54 @ianfoster Agreed, though whether it's roughly equal seems to vary a lot from problem to problem. 2021-07-23 01:03:24 @gwern My guess would be that if you tried to train something AlphaZero like back ~1997 you end up with a relatively weak chessplaying system. But I'd be curious to know. 2021-07-23 01:00:15 @gwern You needed to be able to build the system. They did build Deep Blue. And to build something AlphaZero-like (say) they would have needed to train it. But they couldn't have. https://t.co/6JeLWmyXIj 2021-07-23 00:42:55 @gwern Was Stockfish trained on a 1994 system? Or run? Because if the former I’d change my post 2021-07-23 00:38:02 I’m really enjoying NYC’s dogcentricity. There’s sometimes a feeling the pups are collectively loved by the city, as with this little sign: https://t.co/SPBC3lbjqC 2021-07-23 00:20:05 @gwern Having trouble parsing this. Are you saying that sometimes algorithmic progress wins, sometimes Moore's law is dominant? 2021-07-23 00:16:25 @gwern hippke seems to be using Stockfish. He/she/they didn't train up a version of MuZero (or did they?) 2021-07-23 00:09:23 @gwern I haven't changed my opinion about this much since 2008. And these notes aren't particular pro-scaling. I'll fix the SSL error at some point, thanks for letting me know. 2021-07-22 23:59:57 Some more detailed reflections: https://t.co/Pwwdq0rf46 2021-07-22 23:58:50 @noahlt Thank you, Github. 2021-07-22 23:58:16 I must admit, it mostly takes the clarity of the essay, and muddies it. But a few sharp thoughts survive: https://t.co/Tb3TH4PDSo 2021-07-22 23:56:38 Some more detailed reflections on "The Bitter Lesson": https://t.co/XCCK4zAu1e 2021-07-22 21:45:29 @mickeykats @OurWorldInData The debates are effectively over the right shape of the curve. 2021-07-22 21:21:42 @qualmist @shancarter I just meant: people like to understand the domain. If you're working on vision, you'd like to understand how vision works! Just having gradient descent do it may seem like a values violation! 2021-07-22 21:11:56 @qualmist @shancarter If I remained silent when my thoughts weren't very coherent, I'd have far less material online, particularly on twitter :-) 2021-07-22 21:11:19 @qualmist @shancarter I don't really understand the question. I mean, obviously there's a difference of expression - you get very different systems. But... well, beyond that, so what? 2021-07-22 20:55:47 @qualmist @shancarter This seems back to my original interpretation, talking not about the system, but about the qualities of the builders. And they seem every bit as resourceful etc. The distinction you're pointing to may be in the sensitivity to the particular subject matter. 2021-07-22 20:36:20 @qualmist @shancarter Do large-scale systems built in other ways feel resourceful, clever, etc? I don't see the difference. 2021-07-22 20:10:44 @qualmist @shancarter There were - the ConvNet people do seem to have been inspired. The brute force approaches require a lot of resourcefulness, cleverness, sensitivity, and care. Not a dichotomy IMO. 2021-07-22 19:34:10 @mazihe @ufried AlphaZero use no training data. So: no. 2021-07-22 19:01:10 @Kinch_ahoy His description is factually wrong. 2021-07-22 18:03:13 @ID_AA_Carmack Eg, an example of some of Deep Blue's hand-engineered features: https://t.co/cQMzNVtBPI 2021-07-22 18:01:21 @ID_AA_Carmack His point as literally made has factual inaccuracies. But there's a variant of his argument (AlphaZero etc) which would be stronger. Still, the Deep Blue team worked very hard leveraging chess knowledge, and that's important for this kind of piece. 2021-07-22 02:50:58 The full page is amazing: https://t.co/yLbsblAsVf Note that it's _very hard_ to do this kind of analysis. I wish this was a little more visible in the visualizations (though the page is amazing as a starting point). 2021-07-22 02:45:19 @johncarlosbaez Interesting to think about where friends and family sit. Most of mine (not all) are in the far right tail somewhere, for much of their lives. 2021-07-22 02:42:33 @johncarlosbaez But one can (& 2021-07-22 02:40:43 @johncarlosbaez Tonnes of interesting stuff there. One graph I find particularly interesting: https://t.co/tsKYsVMxw5 2021-07-22 02:39:22 @johncarlosbaez Oh, a _lot_ of detail is available. https://t.co/yLbsblAsVf 2021-07-22 02:33:10 So much good and bad news, all in one graph. Inequality declining swiftly.... but appalling. Incomes rising rapidly... but incredibly low for most of the world. Median income is a few k. (I don't know _who_ is included in this figure, and who not.) 2021-07-22 02:27:53 This graph from @ourworldindata is very striking - the distribution of incomes, worldwide. 99th percentile is ~$50k (very rough). It's for 2013, but I expect only a modest shift to 2021. https://t.co/ywzSZpDf6y 2021-07-22 02:05:07 @stephenbalaban "Somewhat akin" in the same way a hovercraft is somewhat akin to a car. I wouldn't use a hovercraft to get from New York to Boston. 2021-07-22 01:00:54 @Meaningness @mtraven At sufficient scale it sometimes seems like everything becomes unknowable: https://t.co/jm8gSFCQj3 2021-07-22 01:00:03 Software archaeology & 2021-07-22 00:43:00 @Meaningness @mtraven That I am extremely enthusiastic about! 2021-07-22 00:39:30 @Meaningness @mtraven David and I have had this conversation many times before, I'm not saying anything new! I'm just kinda yelling "SIX!" over here... https://t.co/Yy7HglePQQ 2021-07-22 00:37:55 @Meaningness @mtraven Or they've spent a huge amount of time on it, & If activity X & 2021-07-22 00:20:35 @shancarter @qualmist Can't speak for Josh, of course, but if I was an image recognition researcher part of my interest might well have been hoping to learn a lot about how we see and make sense of the visual world. And so far ML systems seem to have been (mostly) a disappointment on that front. 2021-07-21 23:15:46 @algernon_sidney You must be reading different religious texts to me. 2021-07-21 23:07:36 @qualmist Nice point! I agree. 2021-07-21 22:47:52 @gwern @jackclarkSF Curious, what do you make of: https://t.co/1QYLe7E74u 2021-07-21 22:28:03 @jackclarkSF I'd forgotten, but I skimmed that paper when it came out. It was fun. 2021-07-21 22:24:51 (And in 3, 2, 1... I'm sure someone will give me an example of a neural net executing SQL queries or something like that :-) ) 2021-07-21 22:22:43 I'm sympathetic to Sutton's argument, but to try to make the other case: computers have done a _lot_ in the more symbolic mode. No-one is using neural nets to learn an OS, or to learn a database, or anything like that. Sutton's analysis is, in this sense, cherrypicked 2021-07-21 22:21:04 Nice in combination with @karpathy: https://t.co/nYsAiGlBCa Also: Moore's Law means gradient descent gets better every year. So even if it's not a better programmer than you this year, it'll be much better next year. 2021-07-21 22:13:59 This is fascinating: Rich Sutton on the "bitter lesson" of AI research: https://t.co/LW5TOGTIKw https://t.co/z4nsRbH01V 2021-07-21 13:42:58 @MaxCRoser Wonderful photo. 2021-07-21 12:19:59 @davidmanheim @StefanFSchubert @KellerScholl @LinchZhang @daniel_eth Of course. I’ve never been at a university where that tax seems to much matter. But I’ve also never been at an endowed university where the spending target doesn’t matter a great deal. 2021-07-21 11:35:20 @StefanFSchubert @davidmanheim @KellerScholl @LinchZhang @daniel_eth Most endowments target a spending rate. 5% is typical. In some countries I believe this is the minimum by law. Details vary (and there are some caveats) - in the US for instance a tax must be paid if the endowment gets too large, per student. 2021-07-21 11:26:59 @ben_golub The spelling, ugh 2021-07-20 23:54:53 @DavidDeutschOxf I mean, it's arguably a good description of de Broglie, Tyco Brahe, and many other worthies. But maybe that's not what you meant... 2021-07-20 23:52:41 @DavidDeutschOxf Curious: why do you want well-funded wastrels with trust funds? 2021-07-20 23:50:26 @DavidDeutschOxf @BulFarouk I wonder if there are any animals this could plausibly be said about, as a common pattern? [obvious genetic examples aside - mothers will die in defense of their young, etc]. 2021-07-20 23:36:22 @letkma @emmaconcepts No, that's not the issue at all (because of Newton's first law). The basic problem is the absolutely enormous drop in potential energy needed to get anywhere near the sun. No matter how you try to swing it, that means a big delta v... 2021-07-20 23:26:01 @emmaconcepts Funny, really. I guess we're all going so incredibly fast... 2021-07-20 23:10:51 A man with an eye for uniting narratives: https://t.co/r9EHpENa0o 2021-07-20 23:00:29 Reflecting on this as I see potshots between the "ra ra capitalism" & 2021-07-20 22:57:22 https://t.co/gmunNuZZ1o https://t.co/I9sHVIMQnO 2021-07-20 22:41:00 Useful account of how AlphaFold-2 works: https://t.co/mLojA0LeuG 2021-07-20 22:39:55 Right, replies suggest this is pretty common problem with the web client. Joking aside, this is not great. 2021-07-20 22:36:55 Amusing to imagine a marriage proposal gone badly wrong due to syncronization problems... Could end up with a "Who's on First" kinda situation... 2021-07-20 22:35:17 I use the web client mostly, and I wonder if this is the reason. 2021-07-20 22:34:43 Curious: do other people ever notice Twitter DMs lag? I have it reasonably often for 1-10 mins, and once or twice it's been over hours. Mostly it's a minor inconvenience, but occasionally it really changes the meaning of a conversation in a way that can be difficult to untangle 2021-07-20 21:33:46 Pretty sure this is moderately good (but not great) meta-advice. 2021-07-20 21:33:22 utility of advice = quality of advice x appropriateness to circumstance Just thinking: great advice can be so helpful, even when not particularly well adapted. And moderately good advice is rarely much use unless perfect for circumstance... 2021-07-20 13:24:37 Wonderful! Looks like the flight completed safely and successfully! Congratulations to everyone who worked on it! 2021-07-20 13:08:51 God, I could do with less marketing bullshit. The technical & 2021-07-20 12:47:47 Macabre, but the market doesn't think there's signs of any impending problems: https://t.co/vFSh64SZkn 2021-07-20 12:44:31 About 20 minutes away from Blue Origin's launch. Livestream: https://t.co/jrNUhYK3zD (via @aallan) 2021-07-19 20:07:20 @TomKnightSynBio @Meaningness Pauli was 21 when he wrote his article, and Scott was 22. The latter, at least, I learned a lot from. Oh, and the correct URL is: https://t.co/c06ZeMwfsL 2021-07-19 20:03:34 @TomKnightSynBio @Meaningness Occasionally, you read reviews written by someone who started in category 2 and ends up in category 1 by the time they finish the paper. Pretty sure Wolfgang Pauli's famous review of GR was of this type (but haven't read it). Maybe Scott Aaronson's lovely: https://t.co/5AoXO5iCzk 2021-07-19 19:42:26 @CFCamerer @Caltech Nice image and article! (Though I grimace at "high risk, high reward research". Far better to do low risk, high reward research. And it's so easy to do high risk, low reward research. ) 2021-07-19 19:26:57 @abhinavdqm The liberal radicalism proponents have a proof, of sorts, that it's the best way to supply public goods. Of course, it makes a lot of assumptions, which I don't really understand. 2021-07-19 19:25:12 @abhinavdqm Personally curious to see the liberal radicalism mechanism tried, and dominant assurance contracts. I believe some small-scale trials of both are underway. Of course assurance contracts are already fairly widely used. 2021-07-19 19:22:35 @abhinavdqm Someone who is enough of a fan of government might regard it as doing a better job. But it's somehow at a different level of abstraction. 2021-07-19 19:21:53 @abhinavdqm I just mean: I've never heard of a better. There are many experimental techniques (some described in those books), and some I'd love to see tried at scale. But at scale, for this kind of creative work, the article-reputation systems is the best thing I've seen. 2021-07-19 17:36:20 @abhinavdqm They're certainly not necessary - there are other ways to fund public goods. And I don't think anyone could claim academia is efficient(?) 2021-07-19 16:56:54 @cortogantese This is how the invisible hand works in a reputation economy, which seems to be the best way we know to fund the production of public goods Really a condensation of Olson's "The Logic of Collective Action", Ostrom's "Governing the Commons", & 2021-07-19 16:43:53 @visakanv This is great! 2021-07-19 03:16:29 @MarceloCerullo That's great! 2021-07-19 01:46:19 @gravity_levity Obscurely pleased that you've got his name wrong. 2021-07-19 01:34:12 @HyperboIeva I love this statement from Christopher Alexander: https://t.co/WX15zZZz1Y Well, except when it's telling me "Hey, this thing you made isn't very good yet". Which is all the time! 2021-07-19 01:31:23 @HyperboIeva I do think the cost of such a thing is _very_ high, and often people don't hold themselves to high enough standards. (I very much include myself in that criticism.) 2021-07-19 01:30:21 @HyperboIeva I feel as though I improved my understanding a bit. In particular, your model - less-than-stellar scicomm as part of an ongoing process of iterative improvement - is interesting, & 2021-07-19 01:26:13 @HyperboIeva Tim Chow has a great phrase, something like: "In this paper I attempt to solve a previously unsolved expository problem". 2021-07-19 01:25:26 @HyperboIeva Twitter: programmatically making it impossible _not_ to talk over the top of one another! 2021-07-19 01:24:38 @HyperboIeva Interesting model. A kind of "do it badly that it may one day be done better... and better... and eventually well" iterative model. I like it 2021-07-19 01:21:04 @HyperboIeva (Aside: we are suffering a little here from Twitter's async nature, with comments crossing etc! Oh well, I guess it's clear to us!) 2021-07-19 01:20:10 @HyperboIeva ... I guess I'm really not sure what I think about it. I certainly can't get excited about it! 2021-07-19 01:19:29 @HyperboIeva I'm guessing, though, that you're not arguing for mediocrity? There is good - and even astonishingly good, like the Wheeler and Mermin pieces - scicomm, and that be encouraged, nay, celebrated! And then there is mediocre scicomm, and... 2021-07-19 01:15:42 @HyperboIeva Another good example is SpaceX's mission: make humanity an interplanetary species. You may or may not think it's a good idea, but it's an astonishingly informative statement. 2021-07-11 22:31:00 @seligerj @minney_cat Never mind. The video game market has actually reached $150 billion(!!!) 2021-07-11 22:24:45 @seligerj @minney_cat Which, much as I love movies & 2021-07-11 22:24:22 @seligerj @minney_cat A little shocked by this, tbh. If true, I believe that makes books a bigger business than movies + video games(???) https://t.co/enPdG9rLgS 2021-07-11 22:22:11 @seligerj @minney_cat The sequel is interesting: https://t.co/mgwcpUOyun 2021-07-11 22:19:31 @seligerj @minney_cat Very interesting article, thanks for sharing! 2021-07-11 22:12:13 @rasbt The trouble is, there seems to be little agreement as to what is Zoom... 2021-07-11 22:10:03 My favorite commentator on public events, as so often. https://t.co/3uPDKLz3RS 2021-07-11 22:00:54 @minney_cat Related: I wish Goodreads got some love & 2021-07-11 21:58:11 @NAUD_JF I wonder how many people won't work with you for this reason. I wouldn't. 2021-07-11 21:39:35 Anything better than doodle for co-ordinating online meetings? 2021-07-11 14:35:08 @CJHandmer Glorious! 2021-07-11 14:34:42 @corbett @SimoneGiertz I rewatch that video or send it to a friend every few months. One of the best hacks ever. 2021-07-11 14:29:20 @cpikas Lobbying efforts now underway to replace it by the number of dinosaurs that hit your particular property. 2021-07-11 14:00:49 Whenever writing about the meteor impact theory of the dinosaur extinction I somehow always end up writing "dinosaur impact theory". Which is... an interesting (albeit macabre) and evocative image. 2021-07-10 21:07:59 Fascinating, from 2016, Bem et al: https://t.co/4SNKX1gO6S 2021-07-10 20:38:59 RT @Wimbledon: how it started: how it’s going: https://t.co/CBkVRuxYgS 2021-07-10 20:33:00 @Xirong7 Low bar. 2021-07-10 19:59:12 @KellerScholl I write to think. And it rather closely matches (though not exactly) Carpenter. For a long time - sometimes years - it makes little sense. But I gradually find meaning & 2021-07-10 19:53:15 @KellerScholl Un-cc'ing Tom, to clear his mentions. I've looked a little at what some popular writing coaches advise. I would not want to write that way. They do have some useful tricks. But their overall process seems intended to mass-produce low-quality writing. 2021-07-10 19:43:43 Rewatching a favorite video about creativity, based on a favorite book: https://t.co/mDxfoKayIR "If you address yourself to an audience, you accept at the outset the basic premises that unite the audience... artists don't address themselves to audiences, they create audiences." 2021-07-10 19:38:45 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow Another thing I like on this subject, though I disagree with Carpenter's text, it's certainly thoughtful: https://t.co/tZtBwvQ7v3 "Artists don't address themselves to audiences 2021-07-10 19:37:26 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow I'm referring to my lesson, not Lewis Very struck that you connect the IR to Screwtape! I've read the former multiple times, the latter once (and while I enjoyed it, I suspect I only got it very shallowly). 2021-07-10 19:33:24 @TheSimpleWeb Yes, I was quite surprised, given that both vaccines can give rise to side effects. Though I remember as a kid being given multiple vaccines at the same time. Curious what's allowed in terms of multiple simultaneous vaccination. 2021-07-10 19:19:02 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow Maybe this boils down to: make sure you have good friends 2021-07-10 19:17:17 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow For many people there are good practical reasons to want more Twitter followers. But I suspect often it's just entirely the wrong set of goals or experience to be pursuing, yet it's one whose pursuit is at the very least implicitly suggested by the technology. 2021-07-10 19:15:05 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow To pick an immediate example: it's tempting to want more Twitter followers 2021-07-10 19:13:46 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow I struggle with this. It is, I think, both healthy and desirable to want the good opinion of others 2021-07-10 19:12:20 @KellerScholl @tomcritchlow Very much agree. But what both her model and the IR have in common is excessive reliance on the good opinion of others. In, admittedly, very different ways in the two models. 2021-07-10 17:13:38 Proposed text, with Google Translate image of most relevant piece. Via a commenter who deleted their comment: https://t.co/Pov1BgzM3V https://t.co/ZR1XkFWQce 2021-07-10 16:47:25 @evanbd Modern phones use computational photography. Every time a photo is taken of you a neural net builds a model of your face, then adjusts the lighting and textures to make things a little more flattering. It's often not (quite) framed that way, but it's what it amounts to. 2021-07-10 16:29:44 @Beltrami Excellent call 2021-07-10 16:23:07 We manipulate images so, so much. Coldplay, for instance, has figured out a few things over 20 years: https://t.co/nUOgdt7xyx 2021-07-10 16:20:53 Norway has passed a law requiring people to declare image manipulation on social media. I wonder if they understand that no image was ever captured without distortion. Lens choices, spectral sensitivity response curves in CCDs, neural processing units [etc etc etc etc etc etc]. 2021-07-10 15:03:30 @commandodev @TheAnnaGat The linked paper is part of the original research Scale is based on. 2021-07-10 14:39:13 @tomcritchlow That person seems to have forgotten why they are writing at all. Strange piece. 2021-07-10 13:59:44 Always fascinated to see someone in their twenties sit down in a cafe, open up a broadsheet newspaper, and while away the morning. True retro chic 2021-07-10 13:16:14 Kudos to D. Samuel Schwarzkopf for the title of his commentary on Bem's paper giving "evidence" for precognition: https://t.co/KyzqhtVJNP 2021-07-10 03:12:48 (He asked if they’d done it before, and they said no. Zero side effects, fortunately!) 2021-07-10 03:12:47 My Dad, @HowardNielsen1, went to get his AstraZeneca shot. Nurses told him “oh, you need the shingles vaccine too, it’s okay to do it at the same time.” 2021-07-09 22:52:10 @PracheeAC Send them a refund of the payment they made you... oh. 2021-07-09 19:33:40 @sh_reya Tangent: I love the idea that a very large language might require at least a few megabytes to implement! I'll bet the CNN homepage today is far larger than Common Lisp in the 90s... 2021-07-09 19:00:31 Tangential: I believe this effect is real, but... "153 times more likely to be cited"? Really? For any good choice of statistic.... I predict this will fail to replicate Note that this is from a very different source: https://t.co/E1kGyQOsTj https://t.co/I1OVOOpGGh 2021-07-09 18:48:19 @jasndoc There is never a perfect replication. 2021-07-09 18:47:08 This much improved replicability does _not_ mean those practices should always be used. The best practices are (I think) mostly much slower. So lots of (rapid) exploratory work is also a good thing, provided the evidence is then interpreted appropriately! 2021-07-09 18:45:51 Fascinating to consider all the "above the line" studies, which showed increased effect sizes. There were a lot. What was going on there? The (prospective) study Protzko 2020 - the final panel - implemented best practices. Lo! Much improved replicability! https://t.co/YpGbkzWnb6 2021-07-09 18:35:12 Appreciated this, too. A pet peeve is very simplistic statements: "that failed to replicate", which is then equated to "wrong". The first statement isn't black and white, and the inference of "wrong" isn't even close to warranted. https://t.co/7LqLTeyOnM 2021-07-09 18:35:11 Fascinating depiction of (partial) results from five large replication studies: https://t.co/2Y0M6Xb13S https://t.co/f92gYMdTl2 2021-07-09 00:19:15 @lalaAlicelala Things you don't want to ever post on your Twitter timeline. 2021-07-08 23:30:06 @neilfws Oh, thanks, that's perfect! Very interesting, if the expert statements check out. 2021-07-08 23:26:24 It's striking to see the same sense of entitlement in historical accounts of the Apostles at Cambridge, Bloomsbury, etc. Eg Skidelsky on Keynes' circle. (Neither endorsing nor critiquing, noticing.) https://t.co/1YV72nMlEr 2021-07-08 23:21:56 How difficult would it be to manufacture mRNA vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna locally in a country like Australia (with patent rights bought out)? Does anyone have detailed knowledge? Not looking for random speculation, more for experts, or well-sourced articles or papers. 2021-07-08 22:31:46 @Wattenberger This is really striking! 2021-07-08 22:31:16 @gwern That's a good idea! But what I really want is a NN which produces @gwern's annotations on my entire life! I suspect this would be a very popular product, at least amongst my friends. Twitter shall have to suffice. 2021-07-08 22:25:16 @jessmartin I find it very difficult to turn essays into tweetstorms 2021-07-08 22:20:01 Interesting idea about book writing - write a "reverse outline" _after_ you have a draft, to figure out what you've actually said, and where the structure needs work. https://t.co/0raVYSSABe 2021-07-08 22:17:52 @johncarlosbaez @JulieLong18thC Yes, I'm writing a long essay (~30k words) with @kanjun right now, and it's interesting to contemplate doing it when we get the first draft done. Probably, as @JulieLong18thC says, it'll help identify all kinds of structural shortcomings. 2021-07-08 21:47:49 @JulieLong18thC Thanks! I sometimes do something like this locally, when a section isn’t right 2021-07-08 21:21:48 @JulieLong18thC What is reverse outlining? 2021-07-08 19:18:47 @MatjazLeonardis @ArtirKel @StefanFSchubert @AmandaAskell @anderssandberg Great question. Interesting solution to the problem of over-subscribed rounds. 2021-07-08 19:06:55 @anderssandberg @StefanFSchubert @AmandaAskell In venture there is the added strangeness that everyone else's reasoning impacts your own, since it affects valuations, sometimes enormously so. It's quite strange. (Speaking as an outsider, mostly just parroting what friends have said.) 2021-07-08 18:59:56 @ArtirKel @StefanFSchubert @AmandaAskell @anderssandberg It's also an extremely non-stationary distribution. Too easy in 2005 to look around, say: "Hey we should invest in Facebook clones." And then pay a massively inflated valuation (because others have the same idea) for a company which either fails or is a small hit... 2021-07-08 18:49:07 @StefanFSchubert @AmandaAskell @anderssandberg An aircraft safety engineer once told me that they have put a lot of effort into understanding tail-dominated statistics. But I don't know the relevant refs. 2021-07-08 18:48:09 @StefanFSchubert @AmandaAskell @anderssandberg As a VC put it to me, you could invest in 100 companies in 2004, but the most important question was simply "Was Facebook in that batch?", because that investment would have been worth more than all the rest combined. Size of sample won't save you. 2021-07-08 18:34:14 @AmandaAskell I'd love to be wrong on the last, in particular, if anyone can point to strong things you can learn from RCTs in tail-dominated environments. It seems challenging, but I haven't done a literature search... 2021-07-08 18:25:11 @AmandaAskell RCTs are informative when you have stable populations [not remotely true here], a stable program [not remotely true], a stable environment [not remotely true], & Is there anything useful they could learn? 2021-07-08 01:16:20 @ChanaMessinger Very thought provoking and thoughtful list. Interesting that it’s all individual, not social! 2021-05-23 02:37:26 @ianlauerastro @Cathrinmachin Just found your twitter feed - thank you for sharing this astonishing shot! And happy birthday! 2021-05-23 02:36:01 Numinous https://t.co/AQhpqtPU8V https://t.co/jHAILRYcip 2021-05-23 01:53:24 @JeffFNicholas Good answer. I _want_ to dislike TP, and yet it's like a Grimm's fairytale, something grabs you on the inside and won't let go. Uncanny. 2021-05-23 01:46:08 Seriously, at its best the acting was superb. Richard Schiff's shame and despair and determination at 2:31 here: https://t.co/F1n4uesZJi 2021-05-23 01:22:42 @joshgans Wanted to like it, but honestly I found YM mostly dull, with occasional good moments. Not at all for me. 2021-05-23 01:22:07 Amazing! Choose an answer at random & (As reminded by commenters, the Wire definitely deserves an honorable mention.) 2021-05-23 01:17:49 @holtchesley Better than being fired out of a cannon. Slightly. 2021-05-23 01:16:57 @keithohara I do have a very soft spot for the Wire. 2021-05-23 01:14:25 @simonsarris Terrestrial vision - a TV series is a special kind of mural that must speak to themes of Earth / Gaia etc. "The West Wing" mural is set in the Western Sahara, but with allusions to the overall whole. Hope that helps! 2021-05-23 01:10:16 What's the greatest TV series ever made? 2021-05-23 00:19:57 Good category, actually - events which are simultaneously inclusive _and_ where elite performance is appreciated and celebrated 2021-05-23 00:09:24 I love the Eurovision aesthetic. Doesn’t take itself seriously, so it makes everyone feel comfortable talking about culture 2021-05-21 22:42:38 @mindspillage Nicely put! 2021-05-21 18:26:51 Nothing like receiving a few thousand words from someone you greatly admire, explaining why your work is entirely misconceived. You have to take a breath, steel yourself, and try to figure out what to learn from it. Though that's often easier said than done! 2021-05-21 18:21:28 There's a surprisingly sharp division between people who, after asking for your advice or opinion, listen carefully to what you say, and think hard about it 2021-05-21 18:13:09 @tlbtlbtlb @garrytan Q1: has there been an increase in the size of VC relative to more conservative asset classes over last 20 years? Q2: has there been a relative increase in total funds invested in earlier versus later stage VC? I don't immediately see (or know) compelling answers to either... 2021-05-21 04:23:13 I don't know that it's their best song. I love Ghost Love Score: https://t.co/7Rq0Aibjqq What a remarkable approach to live performance, though. 2021-05-21 04:21:50 Fascinating: Nightwish's song "The Greatest Show on Earth" is basically a primer on the origin & It's also a symphonic metal mega-show filling Wembley Stadium: https://t.co/3TwTIKfCzn https://t.co/2fF0on7qMt 2021-05-21 03:41:34 @nwilliams030 Your IG story actually reminded me! Seemed impolite to tag you, given it's another platform. I used to work very near, and loved to drop in occasionally. 2021-05-20 23:04:57 I should clarify: I'm not in NYC right now! Just several things reminded me of it, over lunch today! 2021-05-20 22:39:36 @BergmanOlivia @supKaur I think it's one of the most important qualities a city can have. And in any given area, usually only a tiny handful of cities in the world have it. 2021-05-20 22:37:29 @BergmanOlivia @supKaur Eg in most cities curators of art galleries can mostly follow fashion. But in NYC there seems to be much more pressure for curators to be daring. Ditto theater in NYC. Or writing. Or tech in SF. I think NYC may have the broadest range of areas with this quality, of any city 2021-05-20 22:36:16 @BergmanOlivia @supKaur Pardon the rant, but... Something I love to ask about a city: in what creative areas do people in that city feel pressure to be genuinely daring, rather than mostly conventional, at the top? 2021-05-20 22:27:44 @paulg That's a very revealing category ("first place I'm going after vaccination"), in a very nice way! 2021-05-20 22:26:20 @chrislintott Deadly. 2021-05-20 22:22:33 Though with 20+ bookstores and 1,900 residents, Hay-on-Wye must also be pretty great. I read once that Santa Fe (popn: 60,000) has 500 art galleries. I kinda believe it... 2021-05-20 22:16:32 Something I love about NYC: it has a licorice shop and a chessboard shop. Not because I'm super-into licorice or chess, just because it's great that a city can support those! 2021-05-20 15:19:30 @ixfoduap @jvoxfox It's remarkable when a band seems to understand a song better than the composer. Reminded of Bob Dylan saying Jimi Hendrix understood "All Along the Watchtower" better than he did. 2021-05-20 14:30:47 @emmaconcepts No! Sounds great! 2021-05-20 05:18:43 @jesqa_ The Ultimate Productivity Blog can help with that: https://t.co/YXe8GXybgA 2021-05-20 05:15:10 @mindspillage Thank you for the thoughtful suggestion! 2021-05-20 05:13:08 @jesqa_ Timeless. 2021-05-20 05:11:00 @generativist Amazing video isn’t it? 2021-05-20 05:05:20 @LatLongLiz @jvoxfox Yes! I enjoy that she often distills a song’s strengths on its own terms. Helps me see and hear much more! 2021-05-20 04:18:11 @MelMitchell1 Very interesting! Not sure I agree, but yes/no evaluation is perhaps the least interesting thing to do with such a remark. A mathematician - I forget who - commented that good mathematicians are often superb at making analogies about analogies. 2021-05-20 04:16:19 Fun to get this kind of peek into a remarkable creative world that I greatly enjoy the fruits of, but know almost nothing about! 2021-05-20 04:16:18 Really enjoying listening to vocal coach @jvoxfox break down various songs. I began with Disturbed's astonishing cover of "The Sound of Silence": https://t.co/t5XnHh45Y2 2021-05-20 04:06:07 @mndoci Yeah. I discovered Nightwish recently. Wow. Also: Floor. OMG. Really, the whole group. 2021-05-20 04:04:23 Led back to this in part by Nightwish's live performance of "The Greatest Show on Earth", which quotes the "Endless forms" piece from Darwin, & 2021-05-20 03:59:27 Incidentally, this spine-tingling passage moved me to search for the word "analogy". It appears 79 times(!) in the book, excluding the index. 2021-05-20 03:58:05 https://t.co/CZMlGpJL7C 2021-05-20 03:51:15 @neilfws Oh: yes, it's an astonishing phrase isn't it? 2021-05-20 03:50:49 @neilfws Oddly, I was led back to reading "Origin" after beginning to listen to Nightwish's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful". At at least one of their concerts they had Richard Dawkins read the famous passage by Darwin at the end... 2021-05-20 03:49:27 Darwin, bringing possibly a (tiny) bit of snark. I'd forgotten how beautifully written "Origin" is. https://t.co/nLMyMyfIQO 2021-05-20 03:44:23 https://t.co/INqoZIAgZy 2021-05-20 03:32:39 Fascinating little tidbit on certain journals continuing to publish papers with known methodological flaws connecting single genes & 2021-05-20 02:49:56 Roughly 21 mill partly or fully vaccinated. Assume 1/3 of the remainder have had COVID, and now have substantial immunity. That’s about 28 mill total, or 70% Not herd immunity, but closing in 2021-05-19 15:43:38 The California Covid data is astonishing. In January the rolling 7-day average peaked at nearly 45k cases/day. Today it's well under 1k, a 98% reduction. https://t.co/03y0JzOez0 2021-05-19 15:29:06 @AlexKontorovich I love this style, too. But it is very demanding unless you're used to fluidly changing the problem at the center of your interest. Movies sometimes do this - you think it's about X, and then there's a reveal, and it's really about Y. Often feel a bit let down or duped... 2021-05-19 15:23:06 @simonsarris I heard a poem from an Amherst resident once that probably deserved to be classified as a violent crime [against language]. Under-reporting! 2021-05-19 15:03:21 @danahull Former President Donald Trump, who regularly used verbs in his tweets, has been kicked off Twitter. But Elon Musk is still on the platform, using verbs all the same. 2021-05-18 14:23:12 @Meaningness Thanks David! 2021-05-17 17:42:39 @talyarkoni Heads you win, tails I lose! 2021-05-16 19:53:26 @equartey Oh, as someone chronically interior design challenged, thanks for this! 2021-05-16 19:02:58 @MWStory Certainly, people are rarely maximizing utility functions, except in some trivial tautological sense. ["Assign maximum utility to whatever the person actually prefers to do"]. They respond in deeply contingent, social, and personal ways. 2021-05-16 19:00:57 @MWStory Reflecting some more on this: I think all this really encapsulates how I think about economics. Yes, it matters. But incentives matter much less than most economists think. Psychological & 2021-05-16 18:58:46 @ATabarrok Reflecting a bit: I can only imagine that "Who wants to go out on tiger duty?" can't have been a popular job... 2021-05-16 18:55:14 @__SRMartinez__ The first proof I really understood was of the infinitude of the primes. And it was just beautiful, this sense of reaching an astonishing conclusion out of almost nothing. And then later to have some of that same sense (though naturally, not so grand) in my own creative work... 2021-05-16 18:53:40 @__SRMartinez__ I'm not a mathematician, though I've published theorems (mostly in physics journals). But I tell people that it's a bit like playing a video game which is (a) astonishingly beautiful and inevitable and powerful 2021-05-16 18:47:10 @ATabarrok Hilarious! Well, assuming no-one was hurt. Reminds me of the time a crocodile escaped from a Zoology department: https://t.co/QIUkRwH7Ye 2021-05-16 18:03:50 @Isinlor Fantastic! Thanks! 2021-05-16 06:42:23 @RohanNagmoti I’m explaining it to a ten year old who is enthusiastic about mathematics. 2021-05-16 02:25:21 @nickcammarata I called New York the Infinite City when I lived there. Endless wonders. 2021-05-16 01:37:48 @gulley @PrinceVogel That sounds like you, Ned: "STAY ON MY LAWN!" 2021-05-16 01:16:40 @genekogan @withFND I loved "Math Class"! It gives me some of the same sense as Cy Twombly - tantalizing almost-there meaning - but rather stronger. Also reminded of @karpathy's RNN experiments in writing math textbooks! 2021-05-16 00:17:48 @zenahitz Definitely preferable to the maximum entropy state, for instance. Or being thrown into a black hole (actually, probably the same thing). 2021-05-16 00:11:35 @PrinceVogel How crazy parents think their kids are is probably a pretty good barometer of progress! Or, at least, of change. 2021-05-16 00:07:44 @sprout94 It's not a puzzle - it's just a mathematical pun on words. In non-maths parts of twitter, "This is Not Normal" is a phrase sometimes used to describe unusual world events. Here it refers to the angle in the diagram not being "normal", i.e., not at 90 degrees. 2021-05-15 22:09:15 @RealPhineasGage @dabacon Clearly the spike missed your faculty of visual imagination 2021-05-15 20:20:38 @uncatherio Thanks, though I must immodestly say your comment intersects with other people's line of thought. 2021-05-15 20:19:31 @dabacon :-) A clever 3d artist could, I'm sure, convince me that this is entirely normal with a little animation. [The crummy nature of the lines does make it hard - I drew this in 20 sec on Microsoft Paint...] 2021-05-15 20:06:41 @kristineberth I use pinboard for all bookmarks. I also use the Chrome bookmark bar for lists, eg below. And I use Anki very(!) occasionally if there's something where it's crucial I commit to memory the location online. https://t.co/rzSqO0HYdl 2021-05-15 18:58:11 @mayli Twitter race condition: https://t.co/3D5OpwFKZR 2021-05-15 18:57:31 To all those rude people saying I am being obtuse, I'd like to point out that I am actually quite acute! 2021-05-15 18:56:21 @mayli I thought it was rather acute, actually! 2021-05-15 18:49:53 @devonzuegel Surely it's at least directionally correct? Some overlap? 2021-05-15 18:43:40 https://t.co/N0w5qR7RLl 2021-05-15 15:23:35 @nikete @StefanFSchubert I'm enjoying both the conversation and the (wonderful) auto-corrects! 2021-05-15 14:54:42 @s_r_constantin @MicrobiomDigest 2021-05-14 19:45:45 You can see the kind of attitude here: https://t.co/FZUVfaSMxK Basically, "shut up and don't damage our field's prestige". Yet such people are, in net, doing their field a favor. https://t.co/BaypFfdFsF 2021-05-14 19:41:58 The basic problem is: a questionable study (or series of studies) is done A bad dynamic, and one that could be redressed 2021-05-14 19:40:45 One striking thing about many cases of shoddy (or fraudulent) science is that the people uncovering it often suffer - it's not uncommon for them to leave science. I wonder at a funder providing bridging fellowships for such people. 2021-05-14 15:29:42 @johncarlosbaez @mickeykats I suspect you've spent much more time working with and thinking about it. I've only occasionally needed to work in any depth with it 2021-05-14 05:24:22 @johncarlosbaez @mickeykats General relativity still seems as shocking - and beautiful - to me as when I first learned about it. 2021-05-14 04:19:39 Feynman famously said: "Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry." He could perhaps have added "longest [and most beautiful]". 2021-05-14 04:18:09 @MWStory Provided I don't think about examples from my own life :-) Your tweets above are just great! 2021-05-14 04:17:38 Susan Sontag's "On Style": https://t.co/shXNgvjmBo I've wondered about the analogous thing in science. Beauty may seem a mere nice-to-have in our explanatory theories, but in fact seems so important as to be almost a fundamental element of reality. https://t.co/fzTneZKSga 2021-05-14 04:07:45 @MWStory "I'd rather blow up the rest of my life than look like a fool for five minutes." (From Bujold's book "Barrayar". I suspect the five minutes could be changed to 30 seconds...) https://t.co/8al2pg33MF 2021-05-14 04:03:11 @MWStory Or not feeling uncomfortable. 100%. 2021-05-14 03:26:10 Fascinating to read through: https://t.co/JGIYvi9LLZ 2021-05-14 03:16:59 @tlbtlbtlb I tweeted a bit more about it here: https://t.co/eNJYNmOzH6 2021-05-14 03:16:05 @tlbtlbtlb Being slightly facetious. But not that much. I do think that differential growth rate is an amazing force, especially given the total revenues associated to energy. 2021-05-14 03:15:31 @tlbtlbtlb Last I checked in the BP annual fact book (2018? 2019?), renewables were growing nearly 20% per year, while fossil fuels were growing 1% per year. With that differential growth rate, just wait a couple of decades... 2021-05-14 03:13:34 @curiouswavefn Well, I strongly disliked high school physics. I wasn't "bad" at it, exactly, but I don't think I was especially good at it, either. I improved later. 2021-05-14 02:43:28 See thread if you're interested in creating interactive essays & 2021-05-14 02:21:14 @ElsaJansen Me too. 2021-05-14 02:09:48 @ElsaJansen Hmm. I did get this made into a metal infusion print for my wall (complete with the image): https://t.co/KmI41lUYUC 2021-05-14 02:08:09 Asymmetric returns rule the world. I'm being a little glib. But it's got more truth than I ever remember to actually act on. Also a good reason to try to make people feel secure & 2021-05-14 02:05:55 @ElsaJansen The more personal things that immediately occur to me are more personal than I'm comfortable sharing on Twitter. But the question will stay with me! 2021-05-14 02:05:31 @ElsaJansen What a lovely, lovely prompt! Universal: "Spacetime tells matter how to move 2021-05-14 00:15:28 @tommycollison In other news, United Airlines believes people will soon want to fly again! 2021-05-13 23:59:17 @littmath A surprisingly common conversation. 2021-05-13 18:13:09 @gwern I feel it’s an important contribution to science 2021-05-13 18:11:57 @gwern Disappointed I can’t retweet this one. 2021-05-13 16:40:24 @johncarlosbaez @dasanil @jjacobs22 This was (indeed, is) a real problem with the Clean Air Act. Just the price of a catalytic converter alone is quite a considerable imposition on people. Certainly worth it, IMO, but it's still a sacrifice, especially if you're not well off. 2021-05-13 16:39:11 @johncarlosbaez @dasanil @jjacobs22 If I didn't have food security - like millions of Americans, and hundreds of millions around the world - I suspect a carbon tax would feel like quite a sacrifice, regardless of any long-term indirect benefits. Lots of people have trouble making ends meet. 2021-05-13 08:18:09 The live performance is magic: https://t.co/i6RpGrD1MK 2021-05-13 08:02:47 @ramez After Bob Dylan heard Jimi Hendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower" he made a comment marveling at just how deeply Hendrix had understood the song. I felt the same here. 2021-05-13 07:58:56 @ramez I love the original too! I suspect I'll listen to a lot of S& 2021-05-13 07:46:08 Last year I read C. S. Lewis's "A Grief Observed". It's Lewis's diary after his wife passed away. In parts of the diary you can hear Lewis's utter rage & I heard part of this song in a related voice. 2021-05-13 07:39:52 @dorkweeb I don't think there's anything trite about it. One of my favorite things about Uber! 2021-05-13 07:30:11 @ramez I agree, and think those people are misguided, at best. I think some (relatively) small costs may, however, give outsize leverage on some parts of the problem. Pretty much how you describe the CAA. 2021-05-13 07:28:34 @ramez A similar argument can be made for, e.g., subsidies on solar R& 2021-05-13 07:27:42 @ramez I agree with all this. And I think the CAA is a pretty fair barometer - it's such a huge win for such a large fraction of the population, it's worth the cost & 2021-05-13 07:22:23 @ramez It's rather unevenly spread, so it does register - this is part of why the CAA was challenging. It's roughly equivalent to doing carbon capture + sequestration at $10 / t of CO2 (significantly less than looks likely any time soon, but an interesting benchmark). 2021-05-13 07:18:00 The pick of my last trip: https://t.co/xzyM2R129r The angered roar toward the end brings tears to my eyes. 2021-05-13 07:12:52 @ramez I kinda agree with your tweet. But I also think that some sacrifice - like those compliance costs - may be well worth it, and politically feasible. (The CAA was, of course, a challenge politically.) 2021-05-13 07:11:41 @ramez Let me be a little less elliptical: compliance costs in the US are about $70 billion. People were willing to sacrifice for a better environment. It _is_ a big cost, and did have quite some negative (& cont 2021-05-13 07:08:42 @jjacobs22 The US spends roughly $70 billion per year on compliance with the Clean Air Act. So, yes, in fact people will sacrifice for a healthier environment. 2021-05-13 07:07:52 @ramez This is, of course, how air pollution was solved. 2021-05-13 06:35:40 My favorite metric of Uber ride: number of songs added on Spotify. 2021-05-13 06:29:16 I would find this utterly charming. Though I might distract myself trying to make a joke about tail recursion. https://t.co/0wR4zurydV 2021-05-13 01:36:02 Eg: https://t.co/BNuhJwZzHd for more info 2021-05-13 01:31:16 I think - please correct me if I’m wrong - these would be the biggest changes since the first decade 2021-05-13 01:29:38 Curious how many of my followers realize massive changes are being proposed to the US National Science Foundation? 2021-05-13 01:23:07 Wild thread. Not how I expect to describe a committee meeting on science policy - the proposal for a revamped NSF - but I was quite surprised by the turn the thread takes https://t.co/Tvsly0AeBR 2021-05-12 16:22:57 @gravity_levity Not a tremendous outlier, of course. But I wouldn't be surprised if well under 1% of PhDs have > 2021-05-12 16:21:01 @gravity_levity Considering how many of those were books 2021-05-12 16:14:38 @gravity_levity Yes, I've glanced down the list before, and whatever it is it's a lot higher than 37. 2021-05-12 05:22:45 @tlbtlbtlb A Google search shows it has been said before. 2021-05-12 05:19:55 @tlbtlbtlb Thanks. I said it in conversation of an acquaintance, and realized it is a rare type, but describes (mod gender) many of the most creative people I know. 2021-05-12 05:12:57 “He has the courage of his intuitions.” 2021-05-12 04:45:26 @patrickdward Agreed. The book also fails to capture much of what makes the movie remarkable. My favorite type of pairing. Though they are highly consonant with one another. 2021-05-12 04:15:05 @theshawwn @TaliaRinger @ChrSzegedy The comment about pop culture is interesting. I don't think it's quite right: there are many simple ideas that are nonetheless very deep, and may not have been easy to have. But instinctively I feel some sympathy for the remark. [Realize I'm interjecting! Just fascinated!] 2021-05-12 04:12:25 @theshawwn @TaliaRinger @ChrSzegedy Quantum field theory (indeed, even just quantum mechanics) is... well, not terribly complicated, but certainly far more complicated than many (all?) ML papers. 2021-05-12 04:04:24 @gravity_levity It's not really true, except for very narrow meaning of publications: https://t.co/HDIW2kynxV 2021-05-12 03:58:08 @mattdusekwho Perfect. Interesting to contrast to the movie. 2021-05-12 03:47:17 @clarejtbirch "Man takes a drive to visit an old professional acquaintance" :-) 2021-05-12 01:44:35 "The Remains of the Day" is remarkable, both book and movie. 2021-05-12 00:23:13 RT @_Biancah: "Why the six-month delay between when the population is expected to be vaccinated and the international borders finally reope… 2021-05-12 00:13:18 @curiouswavefn It's certainly contracted a lot. 2021-05-12 00:10:29 Another article on the likely border closures until mid-2022: https://t.co/f3vkbWSJT1 2021-05-12 00:08:35 @curiouswavefn My sympathies. My brother, sister, parents, niece, & Few signs of opening. It's a 2-week hotel quarantine up front, w you have to pay for, & 2021-05-11 23:53:16 I'm Australian. Australia handled the early days of the pandemic well - understandably, the border was hard to cross, & 2021-05-11 23:02:41 @devonzuegel Honestly, NZ is such a great country! 2021-05-11 23:01:25 @togelius It's great isn't it! 2021-05-11 23:01:04 @celinehalioua @SkeptVet Congrats! 2021-05-11 15:19:50 The poet would probably like that the poem was found moving, but a little surprised that what it was moving was the market https://t.co/x2XHJ76spr 2021-05-11 15:11:19 Also: there is absolutely no reason to use memory systems if they don't seem helpful. It's a fair bit of work to learn to do effectively, IMO. It's merely something that some people - I'm one - find extremely helpful in many parts of their life. 2021-05-11 15:06:22 @SeriousSwann See the thread. 2021-05-11 15:06:09 @jamesoriel See the thread. 2021-05-11 15:02:44 If you want something more useful than grumpy: https://t.co/5LNUf54PSL And: https://t.co/XDvtXI9Mu1 And: https://t.co/Qeta5ZQbKl None captures 1% of it, but it's a start 2021-05-11 14:57:39 This thread brought to you by a lack of breakfast, coffee, and good sleep. 2021-05-11 14:56:30 Also: "Wow, I love your essays on memory systems. But I don't follow any of the advice! I use memory systems to memorize long lists of dull partially-digested facts that have no personal meaning!" It's like using tweezers as a hammer... to hammer the roses into your garden 2021-05-11 14:47:48 "I don't like memory systems. I memorized all this useless information, and it was useless." Uh-huh I exaggerate, very slightly. But I get told essentially this often In other news, books aren't best used by banging one's head against them 2021-05-11 00:52:18 Worth pointing out: this was late in the game. Kariko had been working on this for more than 20 years by that point. But still, nice job DARPA. 2021-05-11 00:48:16 Striking: https://t.co/PMNoBPPlPt 2021-05-11 00:09:58 @AlexKontorovich Nice connection (truly no pun intended)! 2021-05-10 23:56:52 Also: https://t.co/RJuamhk63i 2021-05-10 23:52:03 https://t.co/mYVpTEQ7lk 2021-05-10 23:35:45 Interesting idea for a sculpture! https://t.co/CldRfzvfHp 2021-05-10 23:33:02 @kristineberth Make the product better for people who almost love it, but don't. 2021-05-10 20:35:18 @KenCaldeira And on the other hand there's this amazing stat: https://t.co/05QFDuV0e5 2021-05-10 20:13:00 @anderssandberg @VincentCMueller Right! Thought I think there ought to be a log in there - maybe log [civs that know of you] / [your Kardashev level]. Or maybe even some more aggressive flattening function (hmm, inverse busy beaver?) 2021-05-10 17:30:07 @KenCaldeira Was just thinking this. Particularly irritating when I wrote the article. 2021-05-10 14:07:57 @mollyfmielke Great shot. I'm not always a fan of open plan, but that one has a pleasant homey look. 2021-05-10 14:02:44 @anderssandberg @VincentCMueller Not to be confused with having a Kardashev scale > There really needs to be a Kardashev-Kardashian index... 2021-05-10 13:59:57 @tlbtlbtlb @brianluidog Chess is tantalizingly close to being an example - the rise of internet chess (rapid access to on-demand talent at high levels) seems to have (a) internationalized chess 2021-05-10 13:55:47 @flantz @Meaningness @Malcolm_Ocean @emmaconcepts @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi Too bad he never got to troll people on Twitter, he would have been great at it! 2021-05-10 13:53:51 @mollyfmielke Love these, too. Stewart Brand, thinking with a room, in "How Buildings Learn". Hmm, I've never photographed my own creation spaces. I should. Good ones are so fun & 2021-05-09 21:42:07 I wish @substackInc made it easy to browse people's archives. Yeah, you can do it, but each time you reload the page most of the archive disappears, and you have to scroll down again. 2021-05-09 21:30:25 . @togelius points out an error in my prior explanation (arose because I'd misunderstood the setup): https://t.co/JVJMeObLxt 2021-05-09 21:29:35 @togelius Again, I don't really believe this is what's going on. I just don't like Haidt's jump to his interpretation. In general I'm pretty frustrated with the book. I could be expected to be sympathetic - many conclusions are things I already believe. But the evidence seems v overstated 2021-05-09 21:28:14 @togelius Still easy to generate alternate explanations, though. People who've stood for office have told me that parties often stand more-or-less "zombie" candidates in seats they can't win - people who aren't really serious. I wouldn't be surprised if we're pretty good at rejecting 'em 2021-05-09 21:26:35 @togelius Yeah. I realize that I was unclear whether every respondent was shown all the candidates. If so - as seems likely - my explanation isn't possible. 2021-05-09 21:03:05 Here's Haidt. This has a plausible explanation completely different from stated: when asked who looks competent, people are good at picking people who look as though they have the same political affiliation. Which seems not unsurprising. https://t.co/4NxpNQSs1g 2021-05-09 19:04:55 @johncarlosbaez I certainly don't think it's been easy! 2021-05-09 17:08:18 @anderssandberg @AngryManTV Sorry, Anders, but if I'm the kidnapper you have chosen the wrong subject! On the other hand, we might write a paper. 2021-05-09 16:39:54 Related: https://t.co/bHn3wFrkWE 2021-05-09 15:30:28 Interesting case made against tight feedback loops, by @brianluidog: https://t.co/pIT0UOVqut (Yes, I'm aware it's easy to criticise the essay. But instead of focusing on obvious critique I think it's far more interesting to riff on & 2021-05-09 15:15:56 Interesting connection between Aldous Huxley's "Island" and Neil Postman's critique of technocracy: (via @noampomsky) https://t.co/YGDT5ipgyT 2021-05-09 00:05:38 @ulkar_aghayeva @PrinceVogel Hahah, good call! 2021-05-08 23:53:19 @PrinceVogel https://t.co/Xf8PdIW2wW 2021-05-08 23:43:23 @Liv_Lanes Is this you? https://t.co/WijNMjVmbc 2021-05-08 23:11:25 One day, I hope, causal inference will be understood well enough that it can be understood and used by most high schoolers https://t.co/C5BPwz6R9l 2021-05-08 21:21:43 @MatjazLeonardis Eh better is: https://t.co/dEr6vF4AMq 2021-05-08 21:18:45 @MatjazLeonardis Pleased with the two classes here: https://t.co/wsx5DAzAoV 2021-05-08 19:58:42 @ChanaMessinger @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi FWIW - for me, anyway - I found it very helpful to explicitly formulate and test different theories of reading. For instance, I would just try variations on 5 papers-in-an-hour. And with the forcing function of a ticking clock you just read differently, & 2021-05-08 19:52:16 @Meaningness @emmaconcepts @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi Wow. Those first two paragraphs! 2021-05-08 19:50:34 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi Curious: why did you continue reading? (I've done similar, so have my own theory. But I find it a fascinating pattern.) 2021-05-08 19:49:50 @ChanaMessinger @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi I also like to write discovery fiction: https://t.co/KVC7FeDrq1 And my review of Loren Larson's great book of mathematical problems: https://t.co/pBcbwffuXW 2021-05-08 19:46:55 @ChanaMessinger @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi Thanks Chana. Also: https://t.co/XDvtXI9Mu1 And: https://t.co/9MmiMyvxQM None really quite summarizes what I do (which changes all the time), but there's some pieces there... 2021-05-08 19:35:26 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi Initially, yes, at least in the fields I know (or knew) well. Not sure I'd do it in every field. When I think a paper is good, I eventually switch to some hybrid of "how could I have discovered this?" and "what was the author thinking?" 2021-05-08 19:30:49 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi From a literary point of view I guess this is horrendous. 2021-05-08 19:28:39 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi Yeah, I think of papers (initially) in a very utilitarian fashion. It's simply "in the next 1-5 minutes, how can I got the most out of this?" No need to read in linear order, no need to follow an argument, no need to do anything but try to optimize for understanding. 2021-05-08 19:26:56 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi "100 papers in an hour" is (sort of) an exaggeration, sort of true. Knowing what to ignore is invaluable. Made much harder by the fact that most papers which look pointless are 2021-05-08 19:20:09 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi In any field I've become somewhat knowledgeable about paper reading always starts out very slow. And then all sorts of pattern-matching and judgement starts to speed up, and you get (mostly) faster and faster, except for the really important papers, which get slower and slower... 2021-05-08 19:18:14 @emmaconcepts @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi A big part, IMO, is learning what to ignore & 2021-05-08 19:09:02 @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi I find this somehow so very pleasing! 2021-05-08 19:07:42 @Meaningness @stubborncurias @nicknaraghi With the caveat that you'll continue to get (much, much, much) better at reading. It's not a discrete skill, it's open-ended, more like (say) playing piano. A typical final-year PhD student is a pretty good amateur level. But you can read the literature far, far better than that 2021-05-08 19:02:34 Somewhat sadly, it's (sort of) an apocryphal connection: https://t.co/GOG3YIZycg 2021-05-08 18:59:43 @marcprecipice @ChanaMessinger I've read "The Little Prince" at least 3 or 4 times, maybe more. And I would have sworn the quote appears there! If I wanted to make my own point about unreliability, I guess this is one way to go... 2021-05-08 18:53:51 @ChanaMessinger https://t.co/eaFWy1VGlM 2021-05-08 18:52:36 I dislike cynicism in the extreme - it's an approach to the world with "no seed of future victory in it". But will make a very rare exception because, to me, this example is so funny. 2021-05-08 18:50:10 The Little Prince grew up to be surprisingly cynical! https://t.co/oFTwDjTZqD 2021-05-08 18:49:25 This paper from Paul Meehl is very striking. It's from 1985 (repub'ed in 1990), so some things may have changed. The argument given isn't bulletproof, but is compelling https://t.co/bS2HemfynG (I've spent much time recently trying to understand how to think about statistics) https://t.co/zrRkWSQigY 2021-05-08 18:39:48 @ChanaMessinger The Little Prince got a lot more cynical as he got older. 2021-05-08 18:39:21 @ChanaMessinger de Saint-Exupéry: "If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." Macchiavelli: "if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.: 2021-05-08 18:34:14 @ChanaMessinger That's hilarious. Somewhat different pictures of the world, there! 2021-05-08 18:30:58 @ChanaMessinger At first I thought "Hey, lots of these are cliches." And then: "oh, that's where the cliches comes from!" https://t.co/iX2LvHwMuQ [I guess this story is itself a cliche, often applied to Shakespeare. But it was literally true here!] 2021-05-08 18:29:04 @ChanaMessinger Works really well for highly quotable books. I think I first did this out of sheer curiosity for "The Prince", and had a ball. 2021-05-08 18:27:38 @ChanaMessinger A fun variant trick is to look up quotes from the book, if popular enough. Eg: https://t.co/aZ7Dz7HzYJ (This needs to be done in tandem with a good summary. Wikipedia is rarely good on books, but good reviews often help.) 2021-05-08 18:06:43 TBC: I am very guilty of the last few things. 2021-05-08 18:04:49 It's much like dinner parties of scientists at conferences, everyone complaining about the terrible (anonymous) referee reports that were, just as likely, written by other people at the table. 2021-05-08 18:04:48 Also, something I've noticed is almost universally believed: everyone believes everyone else should up their standards of evidence, but they're just fine. Makes for amusing conversations. I exaggerate. Slightly. 2021-05-08 17:24:37 Very amusing. (A publisher once told me that scientific publishing is a better business to be in than trade publishing, because in scientific publishing the brand belongs to the publisher - it's the journal name - while in trade publishing it's the author's name.) https://t.co/WWwLe8bWzQ 2021-05-08 17:16:36 @abiylfoyp @ChanaMessinger All sorts of amazing tidbits about clothing & (Utterly fascinating conv.) 2021-05-08 17:14:36 @abiylfoyp @ChanaMessinger I asked if I could ask her some questions about being a psychic. She said "sure!" Turns out she was a psych major (at U of Q, IIRC). And we had a long conversation about how you could, hypothetically, be an effective psychic if, you know, palm reading actually doesn't work. 2021-05-08 17:13:06 @abiylfoyp @ChanaMessinger I took considerable care to make it not evident I lived in the US. The advice was, not surprisingly, quite wide of the mark. But after the reading I mentioned in a friendly way where I lived (and a few other major life details). She relaxed and smiled. Business was v. slow. 2021-05-08 17:11:16 @abiylfoyp @ChanaMessinger First time I ever went to one was one of the most interesting conversations I've ever had. A palm reader at the Southbank Parklands in Brisbane. I was on a brief vacation home, from the US. 2021-05-08 17:01:02 @abiylfoyp @ChanaMessinger Treated as life advice from a random person who doesn’t know you, it’s good! 2021-05-08 16:59:24 @abiylfoyp @ChanaMessinger Both IMO. Also a delightful social outing. I would NOT recommend it to someone likely to take advice overseriously. Funny: the trouble with psychics is people believe them! 2021-05-08 16:55:16 @ChanaMessinger @abiylfoyp I’ve been - delightful experience, would recommend. West Village IIRC, palm reader, last January 2021-05-08 16:44:20 @food_maven The hard sciences are often (not always) excellent on this. Especially mathematics. I can read the proof that there are infinitely many primes, and I go from not knowing it to being certain, in a matter of minutes. Astounding. 2021-05-08 16:39:12 "read its evidence base" isn't really right. More like: "digested its evidence base". Sometimes, of course, there's no nutritional content.... 2021-05-08 16:37:53 It's amusing to imagine an alternate one-paragraph version of all books: "Read the following 5 papers to obtain the actual evidence and references behind this book". I'd love a site which collected these. "Oh, I haven't read 'The Righteous Mind', but I read its evidence base." 2021-05-08 16:34:13 @DRMacIver Why do you read them / what do you get out of them? 2021-05-08 16:33:14 @mariellevolz Certainly false. 2021-05-08 16:30:35 @KarlSchroeder ... a violation of quantum mechanics. Of course, often you read the primary literature and realize stuff is on very shaky ground. 2021-05-08 16:29:59 @KarlSchroeder Something you share with other wise ppl :-) A paper will (ideally) give you a much better idea of how well we know something. I can read the (say) quantum teleportation paper, and know that (a) the mathematics is perfect 2021-05-08 16:27:23 @mattsclancy I instinctively do this, though not articulated as a strategy (thanks). 2021-05-08 16:25:05 @dabacon @CraigGidney You read my mind. Of course, clock-and-circuit-description constructions are pretty straightforward. 2021-05-08 16:23:49 @ctitusbrown ? 2021-05-08 16:23:07 Still, it leaves me uncomfortable. I usually deal with this by (attempting) to treat such books merely as useful sources of heuristic ideas and models. It's a little frustrating. Other strategies? 2021-05-08 16:23:06 When reading popular books in a field I'm often uncertain how to treat the evidence. I'm reading Haidt's "The Righteous Mind". Fascinating, and much agrees with my prejudices. But I worry about caveats & 2021-05-08 16:06:33 @CraigGidney exp(-iHt) can't generate all unitaries (many reasons - eg, it's always diagonal in the same basis as H). It _is_ possible to do it on subsystems, of course. 2021-05-08 16:02:20 @mayli @paultoo's "advice = limited life experience + overgeneralization" is a wonderful antidote IMO. 2021-05-08 15:55:19 ... you can get all the standard basic operations (one- and two-qubit operations) _efficiently_. That efficiency constraint is quite tricky to work with. 2021-05-08 15:55:18 I think it's likely that if you just randomly choose two (appropriately bounded) local n-qubit Hamiltonians they'll together be universal. Though I don't know how to prove it! It's not enough just to prove they generate the full Lie algebra - you also need to show... 2021-05-08 15:51:45 Something Henry Haselgrove and I did years ago (but I don't think ever got around to publishing) was find pairs of Hamiltonians which together are universal for quantum computation. Computation is an amazingly generic property. https://t.co/xshOt7iYCg 2021-05-08 15:43:02 @niklauz_ Because with enough care & 2021-05-08 15:21:34 Reflecting on the commonplace "you can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into", and realizing there's (partial) truth to it when applied to oneself as well. 2021-05-08 13:53:08 @PrinceVogel Unix time expresses my values nicely, thanks! 2021-05-08 00:27:44 @lalaAlicelala Maybe many drivers stopped working because (a) Covid 2021-05-07 22:15:14 @patio11 @paulg A very early proto-TikTok, of sorts. 2021-05-07 22:14:51 @patio11 @paulg Only very tangentially relevant, but I love this little story from Brian Eno on making the Windows 95 (?) startup chime: https://t.co/mVdGVUhHxI 2021-05-07 22:06:42 @patio11 @paulg Fun to think about a TikTok that requires more talent than creating the entire company... 2021-05-07 22:05:17 @patio11 @paulg This tweet made me ponder: when is it harder to make a really good item of a media form than it was to make the form? It may have taken lesser talent to invent the gramaphone than it did to write "Hey Jude" (or pick your favorite song). 2021-05-07 21:59:26 And the next paragraph, skipping from ancient art to a connection between Homer, children, and progressive education: https://t.co/wVqbNpix0b 2021-05-07 21:57:08 Jane Jacobs is reliably fascinating. (I've too ignorant to have an opinion here, just that she reliably speculates in ways I find interesting.) https://t.co/2OKGHvVBej 2021-05-07 19:57:58 @gnat (I've been mulling your responses above at some length!) 2021-05-07 19:57:20 @gnat I really like your second sentence - it poses the issue beautifully. I think your third sentence is wrong - there is a cost. But I also think it should be paid. (Thanks for your thoughtfulness about this, it's very growth-enabling.) 2021-05-06 23:44:11 @lightningboltz Nice idea! 2021-05-06 19:36:22 @PeterMorganQF Instead your reply was all about you. 2021-05-06 19:32:39 @PeterMorganQF Try: “My apologies. I wasn’t paying sufficient attention to your expressed interests. Of course, I understand if [subject] isn’t of interest, and won’t bother you further about it.” 2021-05-06 18:14:56 @evelyndouek Appreciate your integrity of thought. 2021-05-06 13:42:12 @mollyfmielke Thanks, looks great! 2021-05-06 04:15:50 @literalbanana I love the 2004 paper on how surprised the authors are at GPUs utility in general-purpose computing. I'm wondering how they're feeling in 2021, between crypto mining & 2021-05-06 04:03:21 @literalbanana That's great! 2021-05-06 02:15:39 @curiouswavefn @neurograce Devious. 2021-05-06 02:04:54 @markasaurus @kimmaicutler Curious - do you have a pointer? (Thanks!) 2021-05-06 02:03:50 @potato_sieve @tlbtlbtlb @Meaningness That's what ZFC did 2021-05-06 01:45:54 @mindspillage Yeah, I think of myself as being around from mid- to-late 90s. I might have posted after 2000, but it would have been only once or twice. Not that I was a frequent poster! Interesting scene. 2021-05-06 01:41:02 @mindspillage It's a really interesting point. Heck, I've even occasionally thought "That person seems rather John Clark-ish" (despite never meeting him, his posts had quite some influence on my teenage mind). I guess an upload would be very John Clark-ish indeed! 2021-05-06 01:29:19 @daeyoungchoi @tlbtlbtlb @Meaningness I think the interesting bit is that the statement on its own is extremely, mindbogglingly valuable (if not interpreted exclusively). But other levels of explanation are also valuable (and needed). 2021-05-06 01:27:20 @sonyasupposedly @RhysLindmark Curious, Sonya - what's your connection to Extropianism? (Lots of cypherpunk crossover, now that I think about it... people like Hal Finney and Wei Dai and maybe David Chaum (??) and so on were really interesting posters to the list...) 2021-05-06 01:25:57 @sonyasupposedly @RhysLindmark Thank you for this "trip down amnesia lane". 2021-05-06 01:25:04 @sonyasupposedly @RhysLindmark Mostly lurked. Good god, I can't imagine what I wrote... 2021-05-06 01:24:40 @sonyasupposedly @RhysLindmark I hung out on their mailing list from ~1995-2000. Very important part of my life!!! 2021-05-06 01:22:44 @mindspillage Oh, curious, were you on the Extropians list? I wonder if we corresponded, way back when? I'd forgotten that quote! It's great! Reminds me of Bucky Fuller: https://t.co/OTU1chOaa0 2021-05-06 01:20:54 @sonyasupposedly @RhysLindmark @sama @cesifoti What a great word! 2021-05-06 01:20:05 @daeyoungchoi @tlbtlbtlb @Meaningness I'd prefer to try to find the interesting bits in what Sam (& 2021-05-06 01:18:54 @mattsclancy There's a beautiful statement in Mascelli's famous book on cinematography which is close in spirit. The whole thread here has riffs on it: https://t.co/CHGMdClbLu 2021-05-06 01:16:58 @RhysLindmark @sama @cesifoti It's more or less a riff on Feynman: https://t.co/LtcGtjhwEH 2021-05-06 01:11:20 @tlbtlbtlb @Meaningness Always a good response! I believe this is similar to what Russell actually did to avoid Russell's Paradox! The gist seemed to be a way of remaining silent on the set of all sets that contain themselves(?) I never understood how it worked, though I notionally took a class... 2021-05-06 01:04:44 @candeira @Meaningness Eg, context (and several other tweets in this vein): https://t.co/YRg8nqzhBT 2021-05-06 01:01:10 @candeira @Meaningness That's why I said the original statement was so useful & 2021-05-06 01:00:26 @aortizelguero Nice! I've certainly heard this before - I've read the Messenger Lectures and the Sykes doco (& 2021-05-06 00:59:15 @tlbtlbtlb @Meaningness I enjoy the recursive nature of this tweet, which makes crucial use of both "really" and "is" 2021-05-06 00:40:40 @troofzero @sama Simple harmonic oscillators FTW! Though I do have some anharmonicity... 2021-05-06 00:39:10 @candeira @Meaningness That’s an extremely useful statement if you know enough about the Standard Model. 2021-05-06 00:31:25 @Meaningness Yeah it’s up there with “should” on the list of words to beware.... 2021-05-06 00:29:48 Feynman: “the thing I call individuality is only a pattern or a dance”: https://t.co/eUI34YPRMT Again “only” is wrong, but it’s a useful lens. 2021-05-06 00:24:01 @PrinceVogel People need to relax more if they’re angry about that tweet. 2021-05-06 00:20:30 It’s a little like saying a movie is just a pattern of pixels on a screen and compression waves in the air. True, profound, useful. But there are lots of other useful levels of explanation. 2021-05-06 00:16:24 Interesting how emotional the replies to this are! Multiple explanations for something can all be true 2021-05-06 00:13:08 @sama Also true (and also useful for generating insight): I’m “just” protons, electrons, and neutrons. But “just” has to do a lot of work, in both my sentence and yours. The pattern is more important than the material. 2021-05-05 23:26:43 Some thoughts from @Ben_Reinhardt on how to "enable more science fiction to become reality": https://t.co/DP4CamJ1CK https://t.co/RKg8oGdJLG https://t.co/KnY334C154 2021-05-05 23:23:18 Put another way: there's all kinds of economic & 2021-05-05 23:15:39 @ctitusbrown Toward the end of your life, if you work at it and were moderately gifted to begin with, I suspect you can begin to approach many of these records. The level of competition at 25 is insanely high & 2021-05-05 23:03:20 This seems like quite good news to me. Looks like a super fit 75 year old (100 m in ~15s) probably compares okay to what I expect is typical for a moderately active 35 yo. https://t.co/qwR0wXL81z 2021-05-05 23:00:40 @ATabarrok @nxthompson Rather disturbed by the vertical scale. Oh well. 2021-05-05 22:58:27 @jesqa_ @adamscottkunz As a very curious teenager I often quite enjoyed chatting with them 2021-05-05 22:52:39 @aleks_muse Someone once told me "travel is the only education". It really stuck with me. It's a little too strong, but I think there's some truth to it, for the reason you allude ("learning from new cultures what I could never think of"). So good! https://t.co/bkRDYIHTqU 2021-05-05 22:50:03 @Ed_Teach1718 @SamHarrisOrg I know David a tiny bit - he's so wonderfully broad-ranging and insightful on so many things! 2021-05-05 22:46:59 @lilaexpt (Very curious about Ono's account, however. I should read that book!) 2021-05-05 22:43:28 @lilaexpt Not asserting an opinion on visions from the goddess, just that I know the challenge of being asked "How did you do X?" when your process is very different than the other person. Eventually, you just shrug and say some version of "Magic". https://t.co/DpIwz1fkjJ 2021-05-05 19:39:36 @DrColinWPLewis Wasn’t expecting that! Sounds fun! 2021-05-05 19:38:50 @KelseyTuoc I enjoy irresponsible Kelsey Twitter! 2021-05-05 19:25:14 @davidtlang Great link, thanks! Birding in general seems... really quite an amazing world. (That interpretation is fine and good.) 2021-05-05 19:14:56 @VectorOfBasis @Kirsten3531 I'm in general a fan of vagueness-over-premature definition. I don't know quite what I mean by "powerful". 2021-05-05 19:13:43 Lovely to see! Via @es_ekam. https://t.co/7XxzWrKWaR 2021-05-05 19:12:31 @es_ekam That looks weird and very interesting. Thanks! 2021-05-05 19:07:31 @KyleCranmer @DavidDeutschOxf Also, on the integrating point: I guess that makes it hard. Penrose did do something like "Is what you're asking [etc]?", which was perhaps him trying to integrate. The questioner nodded eagerly, and Penrose answered. 2021-05-05 19:05:39 @_TamaraWinter @tnajournal @TheAtlantic Ooh, very nice & 2021-05-05 18:59:01 @jamesgiammona One of my favorite places! Hadn't seen his work, thanks for the link! 2021-05-05 18:58:30 @lilaexpt I've always wondered with that one - was it just that Ramanujan got annoyed answering questions about where his ideas came from? I wouldn't be surprised. Writers often have similar things they say in response to "Where do you get your ideas?" (Admitted, R was pretty devout.) 2021-05-05 18:57:39 @lilaexpt Sadly, I am unable to subscribe to Namagiri's Substack 2021-05-05 18:56:33 @forshaper I don't think I've ever seen an uninteresting military manual. I'd never noticed that prior to your comment though. Thanks! And for the specific suggestions. 2021-05-05 18:52:28 @forshaper Funny - I've actually read that multiple times, and shared it on twitter, I believe. But yes, in general. 2021-05-05 18:46:27 To clarify my tweet: I meant specific examples of such sources, not general heuristics for finding them! (The latter is interesting, of course, but wasn't what I intended to ask.) 2021-05-05 18:44:30 @FinjaReloaded (Apologies for earlier too-abrupt reply, now deleted!) 2021-05-05 18:44:15 @FinjaReloaded Any specific accounts or lists? 2021-05-05 18:41:53 @KyleCranmer Interesting. @DavidDeutschOxf said something similar to me on Twitter once, IIRC. I should perhaps take it more seriously. I usually just archive crank stuff. 2021-05-05 18:38:36 @KyleCranmer It was really nicely done (& 2021-05-05 18:37:47 @KyleCranmer Saw Penrose give a colloquium years ago. A crank asked a question at the end. Penrose listened carefully, said "That's a very good question" and proceeded to give a very interesting answer to a sensible question more or less adjacent. Left him, the audience, & 2021-05-05 18:36:25 @KyleCranmer Interesting - what's an example? 2021-05-05 18:35:45 @Kirsten3531 Ideally, powerful ideas that are almost unknown out of < 2021-05-05 18:27:11 Types of things: unusual: places, people, events, organizations & 2021-05-05 18:27:10 What are the most striking sources of unusual ideas you know? Things that I (and other people reading this) are unlikely to have heard of, or unlikely to have seriously considered, if so? 2021-05-05 16:32:01 @AmandaAskell @generativist Heterodox views are essential to creative progress. If people feel good about expressing them, that's good. 2021-05-05 15:55:39 @sstern_mit @DavidSpergel @officialatcc Thanks - hadn't seen it, appreciate the link! 2021-05-05 15:55:08 @sstern_mit @DavidSpergel @officialatcc (Not trying to be pedantic here - I mention it because I happened to see this in an economics of innovation paper a few weeks ago, and was quite confused since it conflicted with my understanding of PCR. So I tracked down Mullis's account, and it's fresh in my mind.) 2021-05-05 15:53:35 @sstern_mit @DavidSpergel @officialatcc My understanding is that taq made the later versions of PCR faster & 2021-05-05 15:42:18 @sstern_mit @DavidSpergel @officialatcc According to Mullis in that article (and in its refs), PCR works without taq, and the first successful experiments were done without taq. Taq was only added to PCR later. 2021-05-05 15:39:58 Wonderful article by Kary Mullis on the invention of PCR: https://t.co/SBFBNfGFai 2021-05-05 15:36:48 @sstern_mit @DavidSpergel @officialatcc I mention this because when I first saw the example used I couldn't understand why thermus aquaticus was needed - PCR should work without a high-temp polymerase, though more slowly. Turns out it isn't needed, and actually wasn't used at first. 2021-05-05 15:35:18 @sstern_mit @DavidSpergel @officialatcc I've seen this example used in the economics of innovation literature, but it seems to be an error. Here's Kary Mullis, the inventor of PCR, on thermus aquaticus: https://t.co/SBFBNfGFai https://t.co/yeorZOcK57 2021-05-04 03:34:40 @littmath Do they converge to some limiting degree of controversialness? Or is it unbounded? 2021-05-03 23:48:34 @anniefryman Oh, that's horrible, sorry to hear it! I tried biking a fair bit around age 20, but after two attempts by malicious drivers to run me off the road, I gave it up. 2021-05-03 23:05:39 @rockoder @utotranslucence Nah, I just think about this particular comment _a lot_. Retrieval - I have a bookmark manager. 2021-05-03 19:26:26 @utotranslucence https://t.co/DPLD2SPeOF https://t.co/DcqptK300h 2021-05-03 00:22:08 @tommycollison It sounds like a slightly unusually named motor vehicle. 2021-05-03 00:09:30 Shoutout to the guy in the park doing precision drills with a 3 foot long water blaster. Atten-tion! 2021-05-02 23:30:30 @nattyover @chrislhayes Hmm, can't help but shill my own (2013) explanation of how things work under the hood: https://t.co/A6E8kQ5l6T 2021-05-02 20:31:23 @Meaningness AFAICT, your pov is very different to mine, along several axes that I don't understand. Though not dissimilar in certain ways, for all that. It's like finding someone who arrived at many similar conclusions through quite different routes. 2021-05-02 20:25:58 @Meaningness A (far too) extreme idea I have some instinctive attachment to is that it's only the insights outside method which matter. If it can be reduced to method, then it's relatively uninteresting. 2021-05-02 20:16:56 @orzelc And lots of other people we could both name. 2021-05-02 20:11:11 @Meaningness It's not so surprising that many great scientists also end up believing some pretty odd (& 2021-05-02 20:09:41 @Meaningness There's a very challenging balancing act to be done, between imagination and correctness, and a priori we have no reliable ways of choosing. "Method" alone is not nearly enough in uncharted territory. 2021-05-02 20:08:12 @Meaningness I'd want to think about it for a few weeks (& 2021-05-02 19:57:37 @_adamwiggins_ Nitpick: pretty sure it comes from Ken Iverson (and APL), if not earlier. Nitpick aside: great thread! 2021-05-02 19:56:39 Fun thoughtful thread. https://t.co/JVVmZO0MBi 2021-05-02 19:55:11 Here's Kary Mullis, the inventor of PCR (& 2021-05-02 19:46:23 Turing's famous 1950 paper on AI has a detailed discussion of how ESP might affect what we now call the Turing Test Also: a fascinating account of para-psychology from Susan Blackmore, who worked in the field, & 2021-05-02 19:31:41 @Meaningness Susan Blackmore's "The Elusive Open Mind" is an interesting account of the para-psychology community. Note that it has gone in and out of style. It's fascinating to read Turing's (serious!) take on it, for instance. 2021-05-02 17:41:19 @stevenstrogatz The opposite of a bulk discount. It’s a small dog discount! 2021-05-02 00:41:40 (TBC: It's children 12-15 they've asked for an EUA for. AFAIK they're still studying younger children.) 2021-05-02 00:40:35 I'm not an epidemiologist, obviously. But AFAICT that remains a major barrier for herd immunity. I hope Pfizer gets their EUA for children soon. 2021-05-02 00:39:08 Unfortunately, as far as I understand(!!), the usual thresholds for herd immunity require immunity among something close to a randomly sampled population. If you have large, non-immune, well-connected subpopulations (eg children) then that remains a vector for exponential spread. 2021-05-02 00:26:34 The Bay Area has made remarkable progress on vaccination: https://t.co/g4TPZJ73N8 2021-05-01 23:05:58 @mindspillage @easternblot How lovely! 2021-05-01 20:52:56 @justincalles Been there 2021-05-01 20:48:58 One of the sweetest romances I've read was of two archivists who met and ultimately merged their archives. (I'm not joking ) 2021-05-01 20:47:14 Moving in together < 2021-05-01 20:27:24 @ChanaMessinger @MatjazLeonardis @KelseyTuoc While the companies have bad solutions to hard problems I think that will continue to fuel the disequilibrium. Eg when to ban political figures. 2021-05-01 20:23:31 @MatjazLeonardis @ChanaMessinger @KelseyTuoc There’s a reason for the disequilibrium https://t.co/iOcu618QVy 2021-05-01 20:01:25 @ChanaMessinger @KelseyTuoc No, I'm not making any claim about whether it's good or bad, just that it's a natural consequence of the way tech markets itself to potential employees. The Bitcoin whitepaper is all about society's infrastructure 2021-05-01 19:59:50 @ChanaMessinger @KelseyTuoc Basically, it seems to be about being left out of the decision making loop in this process: https://t.co/qdAvCVc120 (I'm happy to avoid the use of the term "political", if you prefer.) 2021-05-01 19:57:35 @ChanaMessinger @KelseyTuoc The promise (& 2021-05-01 19:34:57 @KelseyTuoc That's a good reason. A second good reason is that if software is really acting as a kind of base layer of infrastructure - eating the world - then making it is inherently a political act, and really should require careful thought. 2021-05-01 18:43:32 @benlandautaylor I think there's a significant chance it deserves to be ranked higher. And a tiny chance it deserves to be ranked lower. 2021-05-01 18:36:52 @benlandautaylor Really interesting. I think it's about 60-70% likely you're wrong, but also: we need to wait 30 years to tell. 2021-05-01 18:31:02 @CameronNeylon That gave me quite a smile. "Do you hear from him often?" "Well, he added a emoji to a 5 year-old message last week, does that count?" 2021-05-01 18:29:59 @benlandautaylor Re-stated as an objective fact: "Physical books are low value commodity objects, not sacred totems." 2021-05-01 18:25:36 Truly async communication: when you or a correspondent add a single emoji reaction to a message, days after the event. 2021-05-01 15:49:30 Hang on, hang on! If you search by the name of a person you've corresponded with before (though not by handle), it... well, I won't go so far as to say "works", but it does something. Even search-by-handle doesn't work. It's kinda remarkable. 2021-05-01 15:38:45 Curious: does Twitter DM search have any function at all? It seems to not do anything at all, as far as I can tell. 2021-05-01 00:29:53 Incidentally, if you haven't seen it, the Apollo 11 documentary was wonderful: https://t.co/ZJ2TdZhiEe Saw it three (?) times in theatres. Great stuff! Now streaming, of course. 2021-05-01 00:28:50 I'm trying to imagine being in the Lunar Command Module, orbiting the moon, alone. What an amazing thing Apollo was. 2021-05-01 00:27:45 Michael Collins, from a longer 2009 interview: https://t.co/Kz8ts21IiL https://t.co/rr3LpiFINi 2021-04-30 23:15:10 @iamtrask Curious, what do you mean? In many countries there is a principle that the community gets to self-govern. In the UK people refer to variants on the Haldane Principle 2021-04-30 21:12:10 @curiouswavefn @Meaningness I've read this recollection many times, and each time it flattens me. It sums up so much of Wittgenstein. And there's a little of Wittgenstein in many of us, I think. 2021-04-30 20:10:23 @Deb69022064 @Daniel_Red_Eire @annie_zermatt Thank you! 2021-04-30 19:12:00 @Daniel_Red_Eire @annie_zermatt Curious: I don't recognize it. It looks like a modified version of "The Kiss". Very striking! Where's it from? 2021-04-30 17:32:49 @tlbtlbtlb @celinehalioua Interesting. My experience getting medical care in Australia was that it was easier than that (less expensive, & 2021-04-30 17:01:05 @ctitusbrown It's very good isn't it. 2021-04-30 16:45:44 On the other side: a memory I love is of seeing Rolf Landauer asked his opinion of fault-tolerant quantum computing on a panel in 1996. Rolf was severely (and smartly) critical of quantum computing. 2021-04-30 16:41:55 @ctitusbrown Which one? 2021-04-30 16:37:28 A well-informed acquaintance has thought super-human AI is ~5 years away for, I guess, about 25 years. 2021-04-30 16:32:06 The tendency to AI prognostication is fascinating, even independent of AI (Vinge on the left, Rota on the right): https://t.co/SKyX7mf5Yt 2021-04-30 14:56:38 @MaxCRoser Not “infinite” growth per se, but growth so fast it will dwarf all previous scale. (Not endorsing, just summarizing.) 2021-04-30 14:55:22 @MaxCRoser Eg https://t.co/lFyEwMauew 2021-04-30 14:54:34 @MaxCRoser Arguments for a Singularity are essentially this. Though they’re often not “pro” the event, more descriptive 2021-04-30 05:35:58 @devonzuegel Too late! You’ve provided so vivid an account that visiting Miami is redundant (Seriously, Soon, I hope! But finishing a big project, really preoccupied until done.) 2021-04-30 03:57:52 @devonzuegel Thanks Devon! 2021-04-30 01:46:39 @devonzuegel I loved your post! Just super! But (mostly) absent were the arts and "ideas" (for lack of a better term). Those things are pretty good in SF (esp the second), and great in NYC and London. Miami? 2021-04-29 21:21:21 @devonzuegel Really curious Devon: how does Miami look from a Jane Jacobs view? 2021-04-29 21:10:56 @vattay Of course not. 2021-04-29 20:49:24 @Meaningness Yup, it's really a systemic effect... 2021-04-29 20:49:02 @Meaningness I don't think I understand statistics (though at a much higher level than I started not understanding it...). I've now spent a few hundred hours trying to understand what _should_ happen here. And I think it depends an awful lot on what you think science is actually about. 2021-04-29 20:42:37 @IntractableLion @willlowthewhisp I saw the original tweet a few hours ago, thought "I wonder where that will go". Next thing I saw: That... went downhill quickly. https://t.co/j3GFLSmMog 2021-04-29 20:41:25 @mindspillage I certainly would like it if more of this were integrated into the standard scientific apprenticeship (and, even moreso, institutions)! 2021-04-29 20:38:55 @devonzuegel It's going to be a curious test of what makes a tech ecosystem. Fred Terman, Bob Taylor, Doug Engelbart, Stewart Brand, the counterculture etc are - in some arguments - why SV is where it is today... 2021-04-29 18:42:23 @sebasbensu @ByrneHobart Huh. Need to fix a cert. 2021-04-29 18:41:58 @sebasbensu @ByrneHobart https://t.co/hQ3zyltXVg 2021-04-29 17:44:45 While amusing, I don't much like the previous framing. Much of science is absolutely fantastic If you don't think so, try understanding how LIGO detected grav waves, integrating an incredible range of results from multiple fields to achieve a strain sensitivity of ~1 in 10^22 2021-04-29 17:41:08 Hmm. https://t.co/Q65aQcZrpA https://t.co/80JvyMA03w 2021-04-29 17:10:48 @paulg That's in some sense the framing of the paper! I also found this really strong. (The list of attacks is great, but requires too much context for Twitter - it'd be 10 screenshots.) https://t.co/TC2IV5Ewbu 2021-04-29 16:50:41 He surveyed a small group on how they'd respond to various outcomes of their research. The results are fascinating. From 1975, I wonder how much has changed: https://t.co/r469nX2SXO 2021-04-29 16:43:02 @metaLulie @m_ashcroft Of course, products usually only capture a tiny fraction of the value they create. Which is good for everyone! Similar things, in my own life: Twitter, Anki. Both have made enormous differences in my life 2021-04-29 16:40:14 @metaLulie @m_ashcroft I don't know about WoP (haven't participated). But if writing is at the core of your life, and it can give a 20% improvement, then it's probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. If it can give a 100% improvement or 500% improvement... 2021-04-29 16:12:07 Devastating. From Greenwald 1975, which I recommend: https://t.co/QP5mgtLvZB (via @BrianNosek ) https://t.co/BTNX72Qoye 2021-04-29 14:31:38 Examples of the first abound, of course. Of the latter, here's 2 favorites: 1: video games / higher res screens helped lead to a demand for GPUs, which enabled modern deep learning 2021-04-29 03:42:48 @brianluidog Having added async in python all I can say is: that finger cut must be really bad! Hope you feel better. 2021-04-29 02:28:52 @LongTran02 @patio11 Tech is still a tiny part of the world. ~4 million or so software devs in the US. 2021-04-29 00:52:32 @patio11 Funny to think of Mark Twain leaving school after 5th grade, in the 1840s. 1 extra year of schooling per decade gets us to a postgrad degree... 2021-04-29 00:42:52 @patio11 Hmm. Wondering: what's a good example where they have contracted? Maybe the (possibly apocryphal) collapse of local music talent with the invention of scalable music (the gramaphone and the like)? 2021-04-29 00:41:11 @gbrl_dick What's the connection? (I understand the plane.) 2021-04-29 00:40:24 @patio11 This is great. Also the extent to which you can _build a ladder_. 2021-04-29 00:30:53 @simonsarris In fairness, the first guy wasn't wrong about himself. 2021-04-29 00:13:26 That aside, the whole piece is very stimulating, if you haven't read it (& 2021-04-28 23:54:32 And clean tech was a fail for SV, but broadly speaking, a big win the world (SV mostly just lost to other players): we got incredible falling solar & 2021-04-28 23:08:13 @mutual_ayyde I had no idea! 2021-04-28 23:05:55 @mutual_ayyde Wrong McCloskey. 2021-04-28 23:01:09 The connection, incidentally, occurred to me while re-reading Thiel's famous "The End of the Future". The opening reminded me broadly of Barzun: https://t.co/h4pmLEKnil 2021-04-28 22:59:38 The book is, by the way, tremendous fun to read. I didn't read it all the way through - rather, for some months I would just pick it up, open to a random page, and read. And it was nearly always interesting. 2021-04-28 22:58:25 Inspiring - Jacques Barzun completed his major work at the age of 93. (Reading about Barzun after it occurred to me that he and Peter Thiel perhaps had some surprising commonalities, and wondering if there was any influence.) https://t.co/M3LKXQFcql 2021-04-28 22:53:04 @MatjazLeonardis I read once - I don't know how true this is - that 70% of Coke's value is in its brand. I don't really know how to make exact sense of that, but in some broad sense it has to be true: flavored carbonated sugar water isn't exactly a special product. 2021-04-28 22:51:09 @MatjazLeonardis Something like the first. Here's part of the argument. Focusing on the details is, of course, irrelevant 2021-04-28 22:43:37 One of my favorite discoveries from recent years: you can put two insulators together and the interface between them will sometimes be superconducting! (I don't immediately have the citation to hand, but it's easy to track down.) https://t.co/WcrZvLKolF 2021-04-28 22:33:26 I've no idea if this paper is any good, but it's got an absolutely fantastic title! https://t.co/1DLSNJoEYZ 2021-04-28 20:39:05 @0xhexhex As I say: it's very useful for system design / re-design. But not terribly impressive as a justification for not doing the right thing! 2021-04-28 19:42:24 @haus_cole Thanks - yes, this is relevant. 2021-04-28 17:00:29 Funny, I first read this... maybe in 2009 or 2010? And (honestly) I thought it wasn't very good. Rereading now I think it's terrific. Pretty sure it's not the paper that has changed. 2021-04-28 16:55:27 @Liv_Lanes We're all in this picture, and we don't like it! 2021-04-28 16:46:19 Fun reading Eugene Garfield's 1955 classic on citation indices as either (a) a user interface design document (a UI for science) 2021-04-28 16:41:12 Are there (good) past analogues of the post-1970 slowdown in TFP growth? Obviously, there's some superficial similarity to the decline of the Roman Empire, or of ancient Athens (& 2021-04-28 03:41:38 @EugestShirley @celestelabedz @kevpluck Underrated reply! 2021-04-27 23:25:48 @alangrow @johncarlosbaez Too bad about the 10-second round trip lightspeed delay on calls. But otherwise, good choice... 2021-04-27 23:23:53 @AmandaAskell That was ofc a joke But it's not all that far from my actual pov. If asked my point of view on utilitarianism, I'll describe myself as a mu-tilitarian, or a Zen Buddhist utilitarian: I'm a utilitarian who prefers to use the utility function mu (Still a joke, but one w/ a point) 2021-04-27 23:17:34 @AmandaAskell Logical depth: https://t.co/IK9L3ELPiU Too bad it's uncomputable! 2021-04-27 23:16:29 @uncatherio @AmandaAskell The watt: the basic unit of power. The wat: the basic unit of everything. 2021-04-27 23:07:05 @ekadamer @paulg (I think that's about as mixed a set of metaphors as I've made!) 2021-04-27 23:06:39 @ekadamer @paulg As I'm sure you know, people do try their own thing, very often - new institutes, new funders. When really well thought through they can make progress. But often they're wandering through a maze of Chesterton's fences, and end up reinventing the flat tire... 2021-04-27 23:03:46 @johncarlosbaez Hmm. But if flying west makes you go backward in time, does that mean flying east you'll be aging in an accelerated fashion? https://t.co/4e5oUovrQi 2021-04-27 18:35:18 Pretty sure the real reason SF people are moving to NYC / Miami is so they can get up at noon for 9am meetings. 2021-04-27 15:04:39 @paulg Much truth in this about research funding, too. NIH is just under half IIRC in the US(!) 2021-04-27 05:14:25 @_Srijit Not before your tweet. Just reading about it - very interesting. I can certainly hear it! 2021-04-27 00:28:39 A longer (and perhaps easier-to-understand) piece: https://t.co/KRRIr7gqID I wish there was a much more complete account, for a broad audience! 2021-04-27 00:24:40 A nice short piece here, by @preskill: https://t.co/t4McPykq9o 2021-04-27 00:17:45 One of the great scientists of our time. Very well deserved indeed: https://t.co/8OuKqyJ0SK 2021-04-27 00:12:54 @PlayNiceInst @Dynamicland1 I mean the physical location. Or do you mean you're in Oakland? 2021-04-27 00:09:50 @PlayNiceInst If you ever have the chance, go visit @dynamicland1 too! 2021-04-27 00:05:21 @PlayNiceInst I’m guessing I just did 2021-04-26 21:23:06 @seanrose @anniefryman That last paragraph totally upended my worldview about this... 2021-04-26 21:21:53 @seanrose @anniefryman I thought this talk was excellent, and it greatly changed my own judgements about this: https://t.co/r7NZ6oE89g If paying someone 10x more gives 10x the impact, then by all means. https://t.co/lrCehzOMpS 2021-04-26 20:51:02 I am sometimes asked why @worrydream’s work matters. It’s frustrating. It’s like being asked why someone trying to invent writing (a few k years ago) matters. “Sounds weird”. “What are the applications”. Etc. It’s too miniscule a frame... 2021-04-26 20:42:47 The amazing @MaxCRoser on @worrydream’s influence: https://t.co/LiQtfWeAki 2021-04-26 20:41:24 @MaxCRoser @worrydream Glad to hear you’re influenced! Two of my favorite projects in the world! 2021-04-26 16:55:23 Another very useful thread on where to donate to help in India: https://t.co/M5H06Q1J3S 2021-04-26 01:38:20 @smc90 Wow, the back episodes look so fun! 2021-04-26 01:35:45 @smc90 I just think they'd have been less likely to mention it on a podcast. Maybe not. Lots of great Richard Schiff moments in the WW commentary.... 2021-04-26 01:26:56 @smc90 I would never have noticed it without the commentary. 2021-04-26 01:26:39 @smc90 IIRC, the commentators sort of hush as the moment approaches, and are silent, and then exclaim at just how extraordinary Richard Schiff is in that moment, and talk about all the things he does (the shame, the determination to push through, the guilt, etc). 2021-04-26 01:25:40 @smc90 Oh, nice pointer, thanks! Though I love the scene-by-scene, shot-by-shot. There's an extraordinary moment in the commentary on the West Wing. It's at 2:32 in this clip: https://t.co/2j35QsFQ3l 2021-04-26 01:24:23 Put another way: people and books and papers you learn the most from are sometimes initially very hard to distinguish from 0-signal. That makes it hard to know what to stick with, and what not. 2021-04-26 01:22:54 There's a big caveat to this: the biggest things of all are often extremely illegible at first. The people I've learned most from I often found almost impossible to understand at first. I don't quite know what to do about this! 2021-04-26 01:05:51 @aaronclauset One little jeremiad against it: https://t.co/WqIrCH87kp 2021-04-26 00:57:45 @quantum_aram Just noticing: "I'm sympathetic to..." Reminded of something I wrote a few years back: https://t.co/1HPLH5a5qQ 2021-04-26 00:56:20 @quantum_aram There is also an interesting paper arguing that the attempts in this vein are damaging science: https://t.co/HCL0RHmo3u I have some sympathy for this POV, though I'm not at all sure it's correct. 2021-04-26 00:49:45 @erinmknutson :-( (And thanks, nice of you to say!) 2021-04-26 00:49:13 I prefer the Banach-Tarski Hotel, myself. Management is somehow always able to split off a new room, so I don't need to switch rooms. Much more convenient. Somewhat remarkably, though, I seem to have had an absolute doppelganger move in next door. https://t.co/m8h19d2fm6 2021-04-26 00:42:53 The fuller quote is great: https://t.co/hscEhEqRWz 2021-04-26 00:42:02 @KumarAGarg No. I used to share it, but stopped when people started shaming others for what they pay attention to. (Eg policing people's twitter likes, and so on.) 2021-04-26 00:30:00 Susan Sontag's dictum about books pretty much applies to papers, as well: "No book is worth reading that isn't worth re-reading." 2021-04-26 00:26:21 I guess it's another instance of Drucker's (supposed, not sure if he really said it) old adage "What gets measured is what gets managed": "What gets measured is what we get". Not so great. 2021-04-26 00:22:21 A useful thing I've recently started doing: tagging particularly good papers with "reread" (I use pinboard). I can then see the best papers simply by selecting the relevant topic tag I'm using for a project, combined with the reread tag. 2021-04-26 00:17:45 @quantum_aram There's _lots_ of research on this. I am yet to find anything that I think you'd find particularly useful for your goals. (I do find this POV interesting: https://t.co/2z4gPhbIrw ) 2021-04-26 00:15:46 A lot of the people working here want to use RCTs and similar ideas to study what works and what doesn't. Which seems promising, until you realize they'll be using RCTs to study what maximizes things like top-1% cited papers. And... well, we're back to... 2021-04-25 22:56:08 @ctitusbrown I'm happy enough to say it's a weak proxy measure. But people anchor on it because it's all they have. And we're back to evaluating your basketball team by adding up the heights of the players. (I suspect it'd work rather better in basketball...) 2021-04-25 22:49:46 @ctitusbrown Too easy to give counter-examples. One of my faves: Einstein had a very important paper written ~1917 - when he was the most famous scientist in the world - that got 1 citation before 1949, when it exploded. The problem was he was too far ahead. 2021-04-25 22:42:36 Might be due to the fact that understanding is pretty darned non-fungible. 2021-04-25 22:42:11 I wish the problem had a good, broadly accepted name. "Economic impact" is a useful term, and there needs to be an analogue. "Understanding impact" or "Discovery impact"? Neither seems quite right 2021-04-25 22:40:44 Spent today reading in the science-of-science, scientometrics, & 2021-04-25 21:57:47 @BenHambrecht @Liv_Boeree (All rather unfair, of course - I glanced through the doc, and it's proposed regulation, which is very different from prohibition.) 2021-04-25 21:54:59 @BenHambrecht @Liv_Boeree This confirmed mine, no problem there! 2021-04-25 21:54:25 @gnat Upon reflection, I'll stop promoting original versions of Money for Nothing, and delete the above tweets. I get the pro argument, but the cons are just too large (as Brando's argument shows so well). 2021-04-25 05:05:56 @So8res "Story of Your Life" (plausibly IMO) sketches out a way this may not be true. 2021-04-25 05:05:02 @Liv_Lanes @phila_quant Is this the entrepreneurial equivalent of crank email? 2021-04-25 05:04:02 @Liv_Lanes @phila_quant I wonder what's happening inside his head. Does he think it's a scam? Is he just confused? 2021-04-25 04:22:03 @gnat Sent me down a bit of a rabbithole of related controversies, eg: https://t.co/oaJclGZqPJ 2021-04-25 04:11:55 @gnat According to the comments, he sings it once, and changes it the other time. I noticed it just once. The Wikipedia comments are interesting: https://t.co/trCq24jUkU 2021-04-25 03:54:17 Oops, that tweet two tweets back should link to this: https://t.co/SwwRKJFV7j 2021-04-25 03:47:36 RT @michael_nielsen: Does anyone know of good candidates? https://t.co/hHh4nsJkP4 2021-04-25 03:46:27 @Shripriya Do you wish to see what happened last time you did this? 2021-04-25 03:32:32 @patxid83 Oh, I'd forgotten! Thanks! 2021-04-25 03:32:16 IIRC, that concert was broadcast live on Australian television. I was a small kid, watching it live, rapt. The concert opened in pitch dark & Ended with that v of Brothers in Arms 2021-04-25 03:28:42 . @patxid83 reminds me of this incredible live version, from Sydney in 1986: https://t.co/4HF9LsOnOP 2021-04-25 03:27:07 @patxid83 (It was broadcast live on Australian TV. I was far too young to attend the concert, and living in Brisbane, not Sydney.) 2021-04-25 03:26:40 @patxid83 I watched the entire concert live when it was broadcast!!! Absolutely magnificent. Opened with the best version of Money for Nothing I've ever seen [linked elsewhere in this thread], and closed with that. Absolute goosebumps! Thanks for the pointer! 2021-04-25 03:21:33 @tnorthcutt I love it too. DS really figured out how to do Money for Nothing live, as well: https://t.co/4HF9LsOnOP Way better than the studio version. They opened the show with it. Cannot imagine what it must have been like to be there. 2021-04-25 03:15:41 @tnorthcutt Played the Hendrix for friends a few months ago. The looks on their faces as the bombs began to fall... https://t.co/ixirskRnGZ 2021-04-24 23:47:20 This is also good. There are 20 million AZ doses just sitting in the US :-(. They could be put on a plane to a hot spot elsewhere - likely one of the worst hit parts of India - helping bring down R. https://t.co/WSuthMmM6q 2021-04-24 23:39:14 @visakanv In case you're looking: https://t.co/8M9mlbj59B (What an amazing human being!) 2021-04-24 23:38:32 Editors and fact checkers must absolutely live for moments like this. via @visakanv https://t.co/3dBmAkCaMk 2021-04-24 23:36:44 "Liability in the streets, asset in the sheets" is pretty darned funny: https://t.co/YXDzNbKoDF 2021-04-24 23:35:24 "New liver, same eagles" is an astonishing bio. Gasp-worthy, indeed! https://t.co/zadMNepVsh 2021-04-24 23:26:25 @ulkar_aghayeva @gordonbrander @ellegist @ChanaMessinger I don't really know why, but I very much associate that with one of the trailers for the movie Prometheus: https://t.co/H3hBtegm0w The trailer really bothers me for some reason. And it makes me think of the eagles. (I've no idea why!) 2021-04-24 23:22:06 @ulkar_aghayeva @gordonbrander @ellegist @ChanaMessinger I had the same response when I first saw "new liver, same eagles". Prometheus lives! Yup, @ChanaMessinger's bio is unconstitutionally quartered in my brain! 2021-04-24 23:19:51 Found this thread useful, via @MarathePA https://t.co/AbmjPNY16A 2021-04-24 22:44:57 Does anyone know of good candidates? https://t.co/hHh4nsJkP4 2021-04-24 22:39:03 67% is amazing! Dare I even say it, WEIRD. https://t.co/nWexJqTP7s 2021-04-24 22:30:22 Interesting, though dated (2009), on the impact of open access on distribution of knowledge. (Closed access, of course!) https://t.co/Xz4n1dwqZg 2021-04-24 22:23:36 Yes, very obviously there are alternate interpretations possible of this set of facts. Interesting, no matter what. 2021-04-24 22:21:54 Fascinating, on the (collective) benefits of so-called cognitive biases: https://t.co/uqocSUSBct 2021-04-24 22:13:03 https://t.co/WuJ27lSbHW 2021-04-24 21:29:15 @zara_k01 @gordonbrander @AsteadWesley That's great (and hilarious!) 2021-04-24 17:43:13 @celinehalioua Yes! Are they not in SF? 2021-04-24 17:42:04 @stubborncurias Fascinating, though it sounds like raccoons or some scavenger, not Braess. 2021-04-24 17:41:03 @celinehalioua I should honestly be paying rent in some South Bay cafes at this point. Sent from cafe #3 this morning! 2021-04-24 17:37:05 @sanna_madan Thanks for the link. Funny, in some spheres subtractive change is venerated as unpleasant but good. Thinking of old companies being outcompeted. 2021-04-24 16:44:15 @ilangur I’ve wondered the same thing. 2021-04-24 16:26:43 Fascinating tidbit: https://t.co/Km6sTNqCgm 2021-04-24 16:24:34 I suspect lowering overhead rates significantly would be a much more effective way of addressing the issue. I can't imagine too many University Presidents being keen on this, however, and it would certainly have other negative effects to be balanced... 2021-04-24 16:24:33 An instance of the latter: scientists complain incessantly about not enough research funding, saying that "lots of wonderful grant proposals aren't funded", and that the solution is more grant funding. 2021-04-24 16:24:32 It's funny how much Braess's Paradox runs the world, and the extent to which it can be hard to see. https://t.co/rld13BN3Sl 2021-04-24 16:14:35 @BrianNosek Open science twitter has oddly strong food preferences. 2021-04-24 16:11:13 @BrianNosek Glad to know I have a fallback job, if I should ever need it. 2021-04-24 02:45:53 @JeffLonsdale Infrastructure is any ambient affordance. And the moon is a pretty great ambient affordance. Though micro-gravity is even better in many (not all) ways, and a lot cheaper. 2021-04-24 02:09:27 @utotranslucence Oh, thank you, that's very helpful to know (and I didn't know it). 2021-04-24 02:08:09 @buirachel At some point, Brisbane. Ideally this week, but it sounds as though quarantine is still a requirement. 2021-04-24 02:07:03 @utotranslucence Oh, that's interesting on the NZ route in! I'd love to go do another trip there anyway! 2021-04-24 02:01:02 @peter_rohde Interesting - I keep seeing the same thing (14-day quarantine in the city you arrive in, in a hotel). That still seems to be the case, alas. 2021-04-24 01:56:56 @buirachel Oh, thanks! 2021-04-24 01:56:42 I'm also fully vaccinated (Pfizer). Though I'd guess the relevant question is probably mostly about how vaccinated the current Australian population is, not incoming people. 2021-04-24 01:54:14 Does anyone in Australia know of likely plans to lift the 14-day quarantine for incoming visitors? (I have Australian citizenship). 2021-04-24 01:24:45 Story of about 98% of most research projects. Gotta smile... https://t.co/y4mGzYdrFG 2021-04-23 03:40:29 A fun variation is to geometrically prove a = b for any two positive reals a and b. 2021-04-23 03:38:37 @johnazariah Lovely. 2021-04-23 03:36:45 @wtgowers @AlgebraFact What a remarkable fact! 2021-04-23 03:17:46 Something fun: if you play with this "proof" a bit you can actually prove that pi is arbitrarily large. Though not, alas, arbitrarily small. 2021-04-23 03:15:16 I really enjoyed this "proof" that pi is equal to 4. If I taught undergrad calculus I can imagine having a lot of fun discussing what's going wrong, and what it means about the nature of proof. https://t.co/ukXAvKWz4b 2021-04-22 22:54:26 So this limits scalability at that cost, especially as the oil market (hopefully) shrinks. Still nice progress, but more of a fuel recycling system, so to speak. https://t.co/g8cpzyIPoZ 2021-04-22 22:33:37 The caveats: this needs to be a scalable, truly net emissions number. Which are huge caveats. But curious to learn more. 2021-04-22 22:28:11 Partial tldr: making the US carbon neutral would cost about 3x the existing cost of the Clean Air Act. Expensive, but doable. Lots of caveats, but that’s a baseline. Pretty great... 2021-04-22 22:23:54 If this number holds up and is truly scalable - a big if - it’s huge. I wrote an analysis of different price points for CO2 capture here: https://t.co/MsQPEVn80m TLDR: $36/t would be fantastic news. Apparently it’s my day to QT @paulg. https://t.co/yXXue6dZAm 2021-04-22 20:21:29 @juan_cambeiro @justjoshinyou13 I'll bet the J& 2021-04-22 20:17:20 @justjoshinyou13 @juan_cambeiro I also did a calculation, a few weeks back, for AZ. Was a little worse (came out to several weeks driving risk, IIRC). But easy enough to do, and pretty compelling when properly worked out, IMO. I wish it was used forcefully in public messaging. 2021-04-22 20:15:44 @juan_cambeiro The issue is inflexible schedules, need for time off, and a higher relative cost of getting to vaccination sites (e.g., 4 buses + 4 hour commitment instead of Uber + 90 mins) 2021-04-22 20:08:04 @Meaningness (Way oversimplified! But directionally correct, with some large caveats.) 2021-04-22 20:07:36 @Meaningness I tend to think the truth is almost never boring. It's either surprising, in which case it's wonderfully interesting (when presented well), or unsurprising, in which case it can be omitted or rapidly summarized Boringness means a bad approximation to truth or bad presentation 2021-04-22 20:03:04 @juan_cambeiro Why? Do you have a stronger argument? It sounds like a sorta plausible assertion, not a good argument. Something I'd find compelling: evidence that disadvantage groups have trouble scheduling two shots. 2021-04-22 20:01:22 @juan_cambeiro What's a good comparative risk? How much driving is this the equivalent of, in micromorts? 2021-04-22 19:31:42 "Take out all the boring bits" -> I can intellectually know a paragraph is boring. But, damnit, it took hours to write. It feels like it _should_ be interesting (Worse with entire chapters.) 2021-04-22 18:57:43 @mimblewabe @ShriramKMurthi @MichaelShah Kahneman retracted his work? News to me. 2021-04-22 18:32:36 @mimblewabe @ShriramKMurthi @MichaelShah (3rd party POV: Shriram doesn’t sound upset at all to me, or to be taking things personally. Seriously, yes, personally, no.) 2021-04-22 18:06:59 @ShriramKMurthi @MichaelShah I mean Gazzaniga above, sorry RS! 2021-04-22 16:59:14 https://t.co/9jZ9PfkltA 2021-04-22 16:48:55 @devonzuegel Is city-enclosing air conditioning available for installation before June? Asking for a friend. 2021-04-22 15:20:23 @empathy2000 @metaLulie It was very complicated, and I couldn't possibly do it justice. But it was a very meaningful choice to him - a calling, for which he later realized he was not cut out. He became a teacher, which I think had overlapping meaning for him (service, moral and intellectual mentorship) 2021-04-22 15:16:20 @metaLulie What a great question! I once asked someone who attended seminary (with intention of becoming a Catholic priest) what had motivated him. He didn't say anything about existential dread, I wish I'd asked. He also eventually dropped out. 2021-04-22 15:03:07 @MichaelShah @ShriramKMurthi I'd go much further than this essay, but it does say something anyone reading such things should keep strongly in mind: https://t.co/OzkVvpQjjR Perhaps also: https://t.co/bOIJhoBoBm 2021-04-22 14:54:53 @metaLulie Well, their genes may well perish from the world. In the selfish-gene's POV, they really are being destroyed. 2021-04-22 14:50:56 @emmaconcepts Yes, that seems likely, though of course there are many confounders. Pretty strange to think! 2021-04-22 14:43:47 @ShriramKMurthi Update: I'm now trying to deliberately get as many wrong as possible, the "explanations" of why I'm wrong are so hilarious. 2021-04-22 14:42:42 @ShriramKMurthi The research base used is pretty hilarious. It seems to be mostly a test of "Are you keeping up with research fashion-of-the-month?" AKA the "answers" to these questions will change frequently. 2021-04-22 14:28:35 Note: the actual number is certainly much higher than that paragraph suggests. It is, however, difficult to estimate - the paper (conservatively, IMO) estimates about 4%. Still, if you just use the numbers in that paragraph the situation is horrendous. 2021-04-22 14:19:02 I was shocked by the sheer rate of error in death sentences. This paper is eye-opening: https://t.co/G7OnmUcleO https://t.co/scPwOZK4q8 https://t.co/SNgjXHQoXT 2021-04-22 14:12:19 @egfalken @paulg If you take this seriously, then it shows your original comment is wrong. 2021-04-21 23:09:01 Interesting - didn't realize the atomic structure of human telomerase still wasn't known! Great to see it happen! https://t.co/deDej1EstZ 2021-04-21 22:33:28 @patrickc @devonzuegel Toronto is also > 2021-04-21 04:53:19 @SimonDeDeo Great thread, Simon - really appreciate the self-awareness. 2021-04-21 04:50:37 @BowToChris @ben_golub Correct, though. 2021-04-21 04:47:17 @SimonDeDeo @notegone Wow. Those values and those error bars, yup, you know you're in trouble, seeing Jesus in your toast... (Hadn't realized this, thanks for pointing it out.) 2021-04-20 21:37:37 Curious: it’s also gorgeous. I presume that’s always been true. 2021-04-20 21:31:47 This probably looked very modern, once. https://t.co/jkANtMnhCb 2021-04-20 21:29:07 @albrgr Nothing much in the post (or presumably the book) about marketing, public opinion, branding, glamour, or politics. It’s all technical, which seems like omitting half the problem. 2021-04-19 21:55:10 RT @annie_zermatt: Bernard Plossu https://t.co/JLQN6JRhJ5 2021-04-18 21:01:40 @BewilderedBear1 @lisatomic5 For me: I've done vastly more writing that programming (at least 10x). Programming is trivial to get into a flow state, while it's extremely difficult with writing. 2021-04-18 20:50:07 @Meaningness Looking forward to your peer-reviewed publication on this much-needed modifier to epidemiological models... 2021-04-17 17:15:04 @uncatherio A prof of computer science once explained to me that CS is easier than physics because CS has conference deadlines and this "breaks time translation symmetry", making it easier for CS people to focus creatively. This is almost the same argument, but for astrology 2021-04-17 14:57:49 https://t.co/KaBPs5wXwy 2021-04-17 14:52:35 Fascinating: https://t.co/aA8ipgSUxF 2021-04-16 22:29:05 @CJHandmer Twitter is not an online experience. (The value is in having picnics in Dolores Park with the wonderful people you meet here...) 2021-04-16 22:14:48 @ChanaMessinger @parafactual Strongly recommend @pmarca @MatjazLeonardis. Finding new corners of Twitter is a curious skill! 2021-04-16 17:46:52 @imperialauditor Exactly! 2021-04-16 14:24:42 @Liv_Lanes I deleted mine I think ~5 years ago. Haven't missed it, and I don't think I ever got any benefit from it. 2021-04-16 04:39:26 @maartengm Oh, actually I didn't. Thanks! Funny: Lakatos's "Proofs and Refutations" is one of my all-time favorite books, in any genre - it's also about the Euler characteristic. 2021-04-16 04:15:49 @Meaningness @_awbery_ @JaredJanes @ssica3003 Someone - Octavia Butler? - has some remarks about how (a) writing sex scenes is the least sexy thing possible 2021-04-16 04:13:58 @Meaningness @_awbery_ @JaredJanes @ssica3003 Okay, mark that as confirmed: slightly evil lesbian David Not sure about that "slightly". 2021-04-16 04:10:21 @Meaningness @drossbucket I'll take a look! Not sure what I think of "the deliberate production of awe". There's something different, which is trying to find and show awe-inspiring things as well as possible. 2021-04-16 04:02:15 @Meaningness @_awbery_ @JaredJanes @ssica3003 You weren't serious earlier? 2021-04-16 04:01:41 @Meaningness @ssica3003 As a straight guy I'd like to volunteer a data point strongly in the affirmative! 2021-04-16 04:00:00 @jamesmacaulay It'd be so fun to do both exercises _together_. Really spooky. 2021-04-16 03:58:01 @jamesmacaulay Wonderful. Also fun: write code to randomly generate points in [0,1] x [0,1]. What fraction fall within the circle centred at [0.5, 0.5]? 2021-04-16 03:33:32 It's funny. I often "explain" (er, inflict) the Euler characteristic to innocent bystanders. But for some reason I never have them draw this graph first. I'll bet it's possible in Alpha or something similar. https://t.co/1Xmz4tE72k 2021-04-16 03:14:10 @trengarajan What does "When all else fails, read the instructions" mean? I read it as snide & 2021-04-16 02:29:50 @theUNnottaken https://t.co/kIcyDdc4aG 2021-04-16 01:49:16 @AlexKontorovich I love this! Makes me wonder how quickly you could get high school students to "discover" fairly modern ideas from algebraic topology. 2021-04-16 01:38:26 You could pretty much write discovery fiction for ideas like homotopy invariance & 2021-04-16 01:36:29 This is an absolutely wonderful problem: https://t.co/JTjVCxSAXj 2021-04-16 01:31:28 Of course, if things aren't going well, this is an excellent fallback: https://t.co/y54jYPEify 2021-04-16 00:28:31 @MJBiercuk I just mean for the first couple of years of a 5+ year program. I don't think I've ever heard of any other situation. 2021-04-16 00:26:42 Not the only possibility, of course! But it's one I've actually done, multiple times. With mixed results, I might say - certainly not all successful! 2021-04-16 00:25:21 I'd write a series of essays and then a book which I hoped would significantly impact the creative work of one or more people whose work I truly admired. If that wasn't happening, I'd reconsider my standards. https://t.co/AnVMgZFcQO 2021-04-16 00:23:36 @voeliz I'd write a series of essays and then a book which I hoped would significantly change the creative work of one or more people whose work I truly admired. If that wasn't happening, I'd seriously question my standards. 2021-04-16 00:21:28 @ulkar_aghayeva Institutions can certainly help with it, though - e.g., support for healthcare, childcare, and similar. 2021-04-16 00:19:46 In particular, if it's trivial for people to go backward and forward between PhD and wonderful _other_ opportunities, then that puts a _lot_ of pressure on the PhD system to become better. 2021-04-16 00:15:49 @MatjazLeonardis I find it hard to imagine my spending a lot of time around Ben Schumacher and not ending up a scientist. (That more or less is how I became a scientist, with a lot of help from many, many others - Gerard Milburn, Carl Caves, Chris Fuchs, Manny Knill, ....) 2021-04-16 00:06:32 Curious what the sci-fi story looks like whose plot is: alien learns-to-be-a-scientist and has a wonderful time because the alien learn-to-be-a-scientist institution is so wonderful. (I had a wonderful time in my PhD. But far too many people don't, for reasons which seem bad.) https://t.co/jYyL0QJO2r 2021-04-15 20:42:02 Very unusual hobbies: going into stores I wouldn't ordinarily (yesterday, a bike shop) with an Anki-goal: "Add 10 cards". 2021-04-15 20:38:08 Excellent thoughtful piece on climate economics by @Noahpinion: https://t.co/bw6SUky1w0 2021-04-15 20:00:04 @ElliotMiles8 Had a wonderful time. If you're having trouble finding non-toxic environments, leave. 2021-04-15 19:53:00 @JeffLadish @uncatherio It's been fun watching this evolve: https://t.co/Os66OPLf6O 2021-04-15 16:29:46 Reminded of Hawking’s time travel party: https://t.co/QVJAEfCDs2 2021-04-15 16:13:57 Best question on Twitter today: https://t.co/5rTfZnuh3s 2021-04-15 16:01:53 @stewartbrand Great typo. (And great book!) 2021-04-15 14:55:53 @mindspillage (Growing up, Denton was perhaps my favorite comic, along with Robin Williams.) 2021-04-15 14:54:29 @mindspillage :-) https://t.co/xV593ZHNMr 2021-04-14 19:52:02 @talyarkoni @BrianNosek Just don't serve Cold Stone: https://t.co/cQsjJvphNA 2021-04-14 01:57:25 @jesqa_ @talyarkoni These requirements look like a cinch. Could there be a more bipartisan issue? I mean, who'd want to go down in history as the senator opposed to freedom of ice cream? Though cf some of the replies to: https://t.co/SpgCTI6GR6 https://t.co/oqfFpmMapL 2021-04-14 01:33:49 @talyarkoni @jesqa_ Doesn't the first amendment guarantee freedom of ice cream? Or did that bit not make it in? 2021-04-14 00:33:50 @talyarkoni @jesqa_ I prefer an ecumenical approach, myself. Thoughts on Smitten? 2021-04-14 00:28:13 Very thoughtful article by @kph3k, on behavioral genetics, and how to behave ethically as we gradually come to understand more about the link between genes and social outcomes. "What shall we do with the science of terrible men?" https://t.co/5dXWbgoN7K https://t.co/pdT0Yk95i3 2021-04-14 00:23:35 @jesqa_ @talyarkoni Oh no, @talyarkoni is locked, hmm. And fairly ice cream free, right now. I got nothing. 2021-04-14 00:15:56 @jesqa_ See @talyarkoni. All ice cream, all the time. (I say, slightly sheepishly, on the way back from a Cold Stone break.) 2021-04-13 23:11:12 @MasterTimBlais Why didn't Frodo just fly Eagle Express to Oroduin? And what did happen to Betty and Barney Hill, hmm? 2021-04-13 21:24:43 (Incidentally, this is certainly not a dig at vi at all. Great editor, powerful tool, though my heart belongs to another nearly 40 year old editor, emacs!) 2021-04-13 21:15:15 The flipside, of course, is that great carpenters will (a) usually have high quality tools, and have opinions on the subject 2021-04-13 21:11:56 Another old essay, this one an introduction to Yang-Mills theories (based in part on a great book by @johncarlobaez & 2021-04-13 21:07:17 "The music isn't in the piano." - Alan Kay Tools are wonderful, and they matter. But an unusually good hammer won't make you into a great carpenter. https://t.co/nUyFleHbVs 2021-04-13 17:28:30 @BergmanOlivia @subparparks These are just great! Carlsbad is probably my favorite: "Poorly Lit". 2021-04-12 23:03:58 @spinespresso @siminevazire @VictoriaSavalei Another one I like is the discovery of Sisyphus cooling (below the Doppler limit). @orzelc told me (IIRC) that the people who discovered it didn't believe their own results, and ended up using 6 (IIRC) ways of measuring temperature in the system before publishing 2021-04-12 22:00:26 @spinespresso @siminevazire @VictoriaSavalei Very glad to have you doing this - the article (and your work) has been great! You may find this entertaining if you haven't seen it: it's David Goodstein digging into the Millikan affair, trying to make the strongest defense possible (it's pretty good) https://t.co/CsKIysIkdQ 2021-04-12 21:57:54 @spinespresso @siminevazire @VictoriaSavalei I'm not claiming the right thing happened. I'm claiming that this is just physics operating pretty much as it usually does. Your Millikan example is a good one. Or look at the Hulett results on BEC. Etc. 2021-04-12 21:55:02 @siminevazire @VictoriaSavalei That iterative process is pretty great! Happened for BEC, magnetic monopoles, Sisyphus cooling, and tonnes of other effects. Saw it up close for quantum teleportation. I think the debate over standards is overall quite healthy. But agree with most of the recs at the end. 2021-04-12 21:53:41 @siminevazire @VictoriaSavalei This looks to me mostly like physics operating nearly (not quite) as it should. Yes, the first papers definitely jumped the gun.. It's happened (many times) before. But then there's much argument over what constitutes a definitive proof, as should be. 2021-04-12 21:48:54 A good thoughtful article on the difficulty in determining a good smoking gun for Majorana fermions. The general issue is not uncommon in physics - there were similar issues with BEC (the Hulett results), for instance, or some kerfuffle over the recent "quantum supremacy" results https://t.co/QAcZYdEvRu 2021-04-12 21:34:49 @KyleCranmer Yup! Also their: https://t.co/wGtVjlTGQ2 2021-04-12 18:47:51 This was lots of fun to write: a Lisp-in-Python, followed by a Lisp-in-Lisp-in-Python. Alan Kay's intuition pump - "Lisp is the Maxwell's Equations of Software" - is wonderfully stimulating, IMO. https://t.co/68YzXFKu5Z 2021-04-12 16:39:33 @paulg Interesting to contrast to economists' concerns over declining TFP growth. This is perhaps one more reason to be suspicious that TFP is good measure of new ideas and technology. 2021-04-12 16:16:33 @TheRealDoctorT So very sorry for your loss. 2021-04-12 05:08:34 I don’t like hot take twitter, but I’m willing to make an exception for this: https://t.co/OXg2tu80xt 2021-04-12 00:14:28 @SimonDeDeo @Eliz_Hobson Yes, but they may well approximately simulate the random surfer model from the PR paper. And that's just as good as computing the unique fixed point... 2021-04-11 23:20:11 @3rd7th Don't want to bug you, but was the trailer ever released? (I quite understand if not!) 2021-04-11 22:54:51 @3rd7th @jhuculak @RemindMe_OfThis in 21 days 2021-04-11 22:52:16 @siegerQL @jhuculak @3rd7th I don't know, I think it's quite a nice shirt film: https://t.co/rBHwrxLZRG 2021-04-11 22:50:25 @3rd7th @jhuculak Great! Looking forward to it! 2021-04-11 22:50:02 @jhuculak @3rd7th IIRC there was a limited edition, which I tried to get, but was too late. Is it generally available now? 2021-04-11 22:39:04 I know I'm a broken record on this, but I still just love the (almost) all CG "The Third & 2021-04-11 22:32:52 Very excited to see @3rd7th's next work: https://t.co/mzc1UmTjlj 2021-04-11 21:46:43 @willlowthewhisp https://t.co/UpYK9ldE09 (Very true when I wrote it, even more true now.) 2021-04-11 21:32:08 @willlowthewhisp Thinking about the underlying mindset here. Seems something like: "Try to make your Twitter sacred!" Cut with humor, that seems like a pretty great approach to life! Funny, it can be applied to washing dishes, writing a book, conversation with a friend or partner, everything. 2021-04-11 20:41:06 (Not a cover, obviously. Was just reflecting that it never gets old and wondering what else has that quality.) 2021-04-11 20:40:02 @trevor_strohman Great choice. Love Lorde’s cover. Which was then itself reused separately by Ubisoft and Game of Thrones! 2021-04-11 20:38:26 Question motivated by one of my favorite lines, Peter Gabriel’s “You can blow out a candle, but you can’t blow out a fire”. https://t.co/1yHppU0tGv 2021-04-11 20:00:23 @monoscient Good point - I've enjoyed a few of those myself. People living next to airports may particularly enjoy renditions played by 747s. 2021-04-11 19:55:57 @monoscient Do you have a favorite cover? 2021-04-11 02:51:36 @celinehalioua I like being reminded of this. I hope that spirit remains in SF. The world needs a Weird HQ, somewhere. 2021-04-10 20:48:01 @StephenPiment So fewer than about 8 million people. 2021-04-10 19:31:47 @mindspillage A friend whose parents were into very expensive wine told me that if I enjoyed cheap wine I should treasure that taste. So much good about easy pleasures! 2021-04-10 19:18:58 @wtgowers Took me a long moment, but I got a good laugh when I got it. 2021-04-10 19:14:08 @tlbtlbtlb It’d be a fascinating barometer of progress in offense versus defense 2021-04-10 18:54:57 @spearofsolomon Yes it’d be tough on them. Though similar to what tennis players endure, with very changed court surfaces and equipment 2021-04-10 18:51:23 Kinda wish they’d do more systematic experiments with the size though. I suspect 6 inches wider would be an improvement. 2021-04-10 18:47:03 @mindspillage So do I! 2021-04-10 18:46:37 The size of soccer goalposts is exceptionally well chosen Two feet narrower: far more nil all draws, much more defensive Two feet wider and scores would be much higher, games consequently less interesting (and less skill- and possession-oriented) 2021-04-10 18:27:23 But, but.... how do I know my experience of the art is truly the same as that of another? https://t.co/xirEpYZM8L 2021-04-10 17:33:29 @DavidDeutschOxf Oh, I deleted due to a typo, rats. Is this a clever joke about turning a hair? Certainly, I'd expect it to be pretty easy to do with a neural net, in some very idealized way. What I don't see is how to correct due to surface effects due to the presence of the fish itself. 2021-04-10 06:00:36 @pablo_gps Hearing your friends and family talk in depth about things they love sounds perfect to me! 2021-04-10 05:59:05 RT @michael_nielsen: @MartinBJensen I hope they divorced and remarried. They could run a follow up called WedEx. 2021-04-10 05:58:58 RT @MartinBJensen: @michael_nielsen I know of at least one couple who did this. Called it 'WED Talks' IIRC. 2021-04-10 05:58:34 @MartinBJensen I hope they divorced and remarried. They could run a follow up called WedEx. 2021-04-10 05:42:23 @corbett @CJHandmer Love it! 2021-04-10 05:29:15 @CJHandmer @corbett (Reading some of your back catalog, Casey! Fun!) 2021-04-10 05:28:10 @CJHandmer @corbett It was you two So great! And, believe it or not, one other couple who did the same 2021-04-10 05:02:31 @squark137 Sounds lovely! Reminds me - when I was 20, a friend asked every guest at a party to provide 3 mins of entertainment. I learned (with hours of practice) to juggle 3 balls in my hands & 2021-04-10 04:43:35 @JimmyRis @tlbtlbtlb @Meaningness Fascinating quotes, both. I don't understand either, but am enjoying the attempt at making meaning. 2021-04-10 03:32:47 @diviacaroline @uncatherio @ChanaMessinger I did not 2021-04-10 03:30:45 @tarastrahl Great piece. Reminds me of Penn here (it's an astonishing trick): https://t.co/rqkCj6z2n4 2021-04-10 03:27:13 @uncatherio @diviacaroline @ChanaMessinger I'd just like to point out: Amusing myself by thinking about the menu options on such a site... https://t.co/g66EeG55yE 2021-04-10 03:23:17 Closely related, one of my favorite bits from the West Wing: https://t.co/KPmGbpmzFi I can't hear "dramatically" misused without thinking of this clip. 2021-04-10 03:19:25 I'm often bothered by the use of "legendary" as an adjective. I learn today that "legendary composer John Williams" is to score the new Indiana Jones movie. And my mind can't help but think: what, John Williams isn't real? (I know, I know, language changes. This one bugs me.) 2021-04-10 03:16:00 Great replies on this one! Including this little thread, which made me smile multiple times: https://t.co/jpxbmY4eN9 2021-04-10 03:12:14 @KantNot1 That's really good, thks Something similar sometimes afflicts people who are very smart. They sometimes seem to find it hard to learn from other people who are not as smart as they are (or as they think they are). It's a seductive trap. 2021-04-10 03:08:00 @asuth @orzelc @GuenP Awesome. 2021-04-10 03:06:53 @uncatherio @diviacaroline @ChanaMessinger I actually tried using this to think about microcovids! A lecture is (roughly) a millionth of your life, in a very different way. You could think of 10 microcovids as sort of like going to 10 bad lectures I never got it to quite work in a way I liked, but was fun to play with! 2021-04-10 03:03:11 @diviacaroline @ChanaMessinger Tangential: von Neumann pointed out that 50 minutes = 1 microcentury, and this was the correct unit to use when assessing whether to go to a lecture. Was it really worth a microcentury of your time? 2021-04-10 00:00:23 In general reading up about infectious diseases is surprisingly inspiring. Smallpox, polio, TB, COVID, even HIV - human beings are pretty damn resourceful! 2021-04-09 23:55:32 I expect the vaccines will stop tens or hundreds of millions of people from getting severe COVID. And save millions, maybe tens of millions, of lives. Just incredible. 2021-04-09 23:49:13 Never thought my all time favorite genre of social media post would be a white card with a name on it. But I fist pump every time I see someone post their vaccine card. So so so good!!! Frankly, I often get a little teary. I also think about those lost, or suffering long COVID 2021-04-09 23:31:38 @ATabarrok @jasoncrawford Do you have a pointer with details? I’ve never been involved in any stage of their process. 2021-04-09 23:30:28 @palevich The specific thing I’ve wondered: did TimBL get to make it free and open mostly because CERN management were clueless? Or did they genuinely get why it was good to do. Gopher’s very different life cycle is very striking. 2021-04-09 19:31:54 @GeniesLoki The replies to this have me giggling in fits. Y’all are great, postrats, metarats, *rats! 2021-04-09 18:38:16 @DRMacIver Funny thing is, I don’t think this is wrong, though it is incomplete. 2021-04-09 17:07:33 @hjoseph @carlmalamud How incredibly appropriate. 2021-04-09 16:57:36 Great thread: https://t.co/15XzNyAjCF 2021-04-09 16:48:22 @Marco_Piani @Liv_Lanes "So willfully ignorant that they're time-reversal invariant" seems like a rather devastating bit of shade to throw... 2021-04-09 16:43:37 @Meaningness Simultaneously, this thread is ongoing: https://t.co/nFvEK5jXL6 2021-04-09 16:41:40 @Marco_Piani @Liv_Lanes Pretty sure that's a completely positive map you want there, not a unitary. At least, for Commander Hadfield's sake.... 2021-04-09 16:38:33 @Meaningness I've been reflecting on what makes an academic field a field. I hadn't thought "ingroup support for ingroup-only jokes", but it's fun to think about. Applies elsewhere, of course. But I'm not sure there are _any_ fields where this isn't true. 2021-04-09 16:36:05 @pennybun01 Love that piece. Also, reminds me of Hemingway's advice that all you need is to be able to write one true sentence. And Douglas Adams' comment that a book is just 80,000 words arranged in a cunning order. [I find all this very encouraging!] 2021-04-09 16:33:07 @Liv_Lanes I may have left quantum computing, but so pleased the ability to make bad jokes persists! 2021-04-09 16:30:03 @Liv_Lanes Hmm. I hope the ratios of the energy eigenvalues aren't all rational. Or you'll just be going in cycles! 2021-04-09 15:35:13 @jamesmwag @albrgr It's interesting to think about how the world would be if certain apparently esoteric discoveries in atomic physics had been made a few years earlier (in the 1910s and 1920s). [I suspect the outcome there would have been bad: the Nazis would have gotten the bomb.] 2021-04-09 15:02:05 @albrgr It seems terribly shortsighted. 2021-04-09 15:01:15 @albrgr Much of the work I most admire was largely unfunded, & 2021-04-09 14:58:14 @albrgr This also applies to post-mortems. Two funders who missed opportunity X may conclude, respectively: (1) We screwed up by missing an opportunity to fund something Nobel prizewinning 2021-04-09 14:56:43 @albrgr That seems to depend on your overall funding philosophy. Is it marginal or absolute impact you're going for (different funders seem to prioritize differently). Depending on the answer you'll construct your anti-portfolio differently. 2021-04-09 14:50:49 (In fairness, they did make some good decisions later - notably, making it free, rather than requiring a paid license. I've often wondered if that was good luck or good management. And CERN's info management problems were a good context. So some partial credit.) 2021-04-09 03:01:11 @joshu I’d go back in time and correct the password on the MinuteMan missile silos, which was apparently all 0s. I guess it doesn’t matter any more, but that seems like the rare bug that might have ended civilization. Not quite a bug, but seems in the spirit of your question 2021-04-07 18:18:04 @mollyfmielke Interesting - thanks! 2021-04-07 17:36:50 @mollyfmielke Curious: what do you mean? 2021-04-07 04:31:51 @Meaningness @drossbucket I often think of this chart when I eat a banana [which I do pretty much daily, including today]. 2021-04-07 03:59:14 @HiraethResists @librarydeb2001 You now have an entry on Snopes, quoting your tweet as misinformation: https://t.co/ykalRmrWcw (via @librarydeb2001, who you have blocked) 2021-04-07 03:18:57 @ulkar_aghayeva My short review of "Deschooling Society": https://t.co/RWwlbh8yMf 2021-04-06 21:02:29 @tlbtlbtlb I should remember not to tweet after wasting a day talking to insurers. 2021-04-06 21:01:49 @tlbtlbtlb I was mostly making an irritated reference to the conventional wisdom that GDP growth is driven by new ideas and technology, ie TFP. And the current system almost seems designed as a TFP growth killer. 2021-04-06 20:43:04 I wonder how much the US’s staggeringly bad healthcare system costs in GDP growth. I’d believe half. 2021-04-06 14:09:30 @HiraethResists @librarydeb2001 And you still haven’t corrected the misinformation in your original tweet. 2021-04-05 01:26:24 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen Incidentally, this is fun. The commentator has it right, a backhand winner off a 140 mph serve is just not human: https://t.co/hrafW5POet 2021-04-05 01:25:57 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen His serve is much better than Roddick's IMO - it's much harder to pick, he has better placement, and puts more action on it. Players like Federer ate up Roddick's serve, but they have trouble with Kyrgios. Similar for Nadal & 2021-04-05 01:17:27 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen His forehand and serve are terrifying for opponents. Like 2007-ish Federer, virtually unplayable when on. 2021-04-05 01:14:58 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen Federer versus Kyrgios on a fast hardcourt is probably my favorite matchup, along with Federer versus Nadal on a slightly slower hardcourt. F vs N at Aus Open 2010 and 2017 are two of the top 5 matches in history. It's too bad F will never play K in a match of similar import 2021-04-05 01:09:14 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen When I watch him play at his best I sometimes wonder if he's not the best player alive. And if part of that is his go-with-the-flow let's-not-take-this-seriously attitude. 2021-04-05 01:08:12 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen Kyrgios is also interesting. He's been coachless most of his career. People will say "Yeah, & 2021-04-05 00:59:05 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen I'm making a point about the fact that tradition and conventional wisdom are often just plain wrong. People said, very loudly and repeatedly, that his game would suffer without a coach. What else were they wrong about? 2021-04-05 00:57:56 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen (I don't really believe that. But I do wonder how much is just done because it's always been done that way. So tennis players always have coaches... until someone shows it doesn't need to be done that way.) 2021-04-05 00:56:30 @context_ing @andy_matuschak @Austen It's hard to know for sure. Federer was widely criticised for that decision at the time. He followed it by making the Final of 11 of the next 12 Grand Slam tournaments, winning 6, one of the most incredible runs in the history of any sport Maybe the conventional wisdom is wrong? 2021-04-05 00:46:40 @andy_matuschak @Austen Yes. Whatever is most appropriate for a person's growth at their current skill level. Many people will rapidly outgrow the kind of tutoring Bloom described. 2021-04-05 00:41:47 @HyperboIeva (A fun thing to do - I don't know why texts don't do this - is to regard the quantum state as a point in a classical configuration space & 2021-04-04 21:24:53 @stuartbuck1 @slatestarcodex Yes, it's the right link. That's my reading, not his. 2021-04-04 21:03:08 @seanmcarroll Good point! I think why it stuck with me is the (implied, not stated) preference for "Level 2" over "Level 1". That I think I'd object to even if I was outside physics or philosophy altogether. 2021-04-04 20:38:46 @seanmcarroll Put another way - I think I'd reclassify your "Level 2" as "Level 0.2". Yes, good & [Though adjacent to very important things like inertial mass =? gravitational mass.] 2021-04-04 20:37:08 @seanmcarroll This story has stuck with me. I guess because this kind of clarification mostly seems low value. It's nice to be clear. But "a pound of feathers is the same as a pound of gold" is expressing a deep idea, whereas quibbling over the unit convention is relatively unimportant. 2021-04-04 20:33:09 @davidtlang @antonhowes @rmathematicus Yes, it's on my to-read list! I have a long rant written somewhere on a similar topic, I'll be curious to what extent we overlap / are different. 2021-04-04 20:21:07 @visakanv Littlewood on Einstein. The "sporting peer" is pretty amusing (as is the rest): https://t.co/81AWJg0Jv4 2021-04-04 20:18:53 @visakanv My theory is related - anything which makes people feel bad about themselves is likely to get this response from some people. And some people have inventive ways of feeling bad about themselves. It's horrid to be on the receiving end, but must be even worse to live it... 2021-04-04 20:17:05 @visakanv Yup. Varies according to topic, but recognizably a similar genre. Most often I think pity is probably the appropriate response, if any. [Actually: silence is the best response.] 2021-04-04 20:14:56 @visakanv And I should caveat: most readers are just wonderful, & 2021-04-04 20:13:20 @visakanv An amusing thing: the harder I work to make mathematics easy to read, the more likely I am to be insulted Working much harder -> 2021-04-04 20:10:07 @visakanv If you don't mind - I'll quite understand if you don't reply - why are you insulted for it? And very sorry to hear it, that's horrible. [I used to collect insults in a folder, then realized it just made me sad. So I deleted it. I do periodically view my "happy" folder, though.] 2021-04-04 19:32:48 @Austen @andy_matuschak Or, more likely IMO, most tutors help a lot initially, but asymptote at modest levels of performance. Many (most?) of the high performers I know had tutors who were themselves extremely talented. 2021-04-04 19:30:05 @HyperboIeva If someone is reasonably comfortable with that, and has some inkling what a quantum state is, then the Hamiltonian is a bit like a force law for quantum states, telling the quantum state of a system how to move around. 2021-04-04 19:29:21 @HyperboIeva It depends on what they know, and getting a feel for that. Many (not all) people have some sense of force laws - the way Newton's Law explains how the Sun and planets push one another around. 2021-04-04 17:21:41 The essay isn't dispositive - in fact, we just don't have a lot of really strong evidence. But the evidence in the post is nonetheless fascinating. 2021-04-04 01:37:32 A related early ref, though the language isn't quite right: https://t.co/B4NZq4Bxxf 2021-04-04 01:34:11 @Russ_Shilling Not in Stokes: https://t.co/iqDHWttYTd 2021-04-04 01:33:15 @Russ_Shilling Maybe. I've read several, & 2021-04-04 01:27:44 @Russ_Shilling It seems likely the "high-risk high-reward" part did, but I'm curious about the first application as a modifier for "research". 2021-04-04 01:22:28 @AIsakovic1 @antonhowes @rmathematicus The term is certainly decades older than 2018. I first heard it in the 1990s (often, though not always, in connection with DARPA), but it was already time worn. 2021-04-04 01:21:09 Fascinated: I thought someone would immediately jump in with a historical reference, maybe quite early. But maybe it's more obscure than I thought! 2021-04-04 00:14:05 @brianluidog Speaking as an Australian, this puzzles me too. Not that I don't enjoy a good garden! But I don't want to spend my weekend weeding or at Bunnings... 2021-04-04 00:06:52 Curious: does anyone have a pointer to the first use of the term "high-risk, high-reward research"? Or the first detailed discussion? cc @antonhowes @rmathematicus. 2021-04-03 17:39:55 @Liv_Boeree @SamFishell omg: https://t.co/z3NGcJJjRd 2021-04-03 17:30:46 @Liv_Boeree . @SamFishell, or Rube Waddell? I've been to a few parties of both types... 2021-04-02 20:37:46 @mispy11 I suspect another pair of such questions is "What mathematics is expressible [or provable]?" Indeed, Curry-Howard style arguments may make this very similar to equivalence classes of laws of physics giving rise to the same notion of computation. 2021-04-02 20:36:11 @mispy11 That's Egan riffing on Conway [et al], and probably von Neumann and Burks. I'm talking about something a little different, which is natural questions which have common answers across multiple universes. 2021-04-02 20:26:54 @mispy11 Not related, AFAIR. 2021-04-02 05:40:43 @h_thoreson Happy to help 2021-04-02 05:35:40 What's more fundamental than the laws of physics? https://t.co/GeeksulTI5 2021-04-02 05:24:40 @C4COMPUTATION Thanks Jessica - interesting (and encouraging) idea, probably too many other projects right now. 2021-04-02 04:30:48 The vaccination data in SF is really encouraging. 46% of people over 16 have received at least one dose (including me). The Mayor has said she expects 80% by mid-May, and that looks quite plausible to me. https://t.co/sB3xfGavAg 2021-04-02 04:21:06 @nucholab Both. 2021-04-02 04:08:06 @gpxl_ The argument is made above. It's never (AFAIK) been made before, at least not in quite this way. It is rather telegraphic, since this is a twitter thread, not a paper - you really need to read the stuff I referenced in-thread (both the QCVC essay linked, and Deutsch 1985). 2021-04-02 02:56:33 @FriedrichHayek @curiouswavefn I suspect we're going to be shocked at how provincial our notions are there. Eg I have a bunch of notes on using non-Abelian groups instead of the (abelian) integers as the foundation of the price system. It's a very weak model. 2021-04-02 02:48:21 @tlbtlbtlb @KyleCranmer Realizing: I've danced around your question. And my Clintonesque answer is "it depends on what 'simulation' means". Unsatisfying. There is a reasonable notion in which (quantum) computers seem able to simulate our universe. But it's not as strong as one might like, either... 2021-04-02 02:44:13 @tlbtlbtlb @KyleCranmer Still, it does force the invention of interesting devices. So it seems likely to be at least adjacent to a really good fundamental question. But I'm not sure what that question is. 2021-04-02 02:43:17 @tlbtlbtlb @KyleCranmer Something which bugs me quite a bit is noise / chaos / sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In some sense that would seem to make simulation in practice a no-go. Which makes me think the Deutsch question may somehow be the wrong question to be asking. 2021-04-02 02:41:05 @tlbtlbtlb @KyleCranmer In regards to simulating many-body systems, of course we're severely hampered by the lack of good size quantum computers. 2021-04-02 02:40:19 @tlbtlbtlb @KyleCranmer I'm speaking a little informally - part of Turing and Deutsch's trick is to assume an unbounded memory [but a finite program] as part of the game. 2021-04-02 02:32:12 @KyleCranmer One approach to the latter is to make things really unreliable - if you can't do fault-tolerant computing, you likely can't do even basic arithmetic. The trouble with this is that the noise likely affects everything, so it's difficult to rule out effective statistical simulation 2021-04-02 02:26:26 @KyleCranmer On part II, I have a long rant about that, too, which I might perhaps post :-) Part I: it's just to find a universe too weak to simulate itself in a standard model machine. 2021-04-02 02:22:26 @tytung2020 My point has nothing to do with computation. It's just an example. 2021-04-01 04:56:37 Ah, the culprit is writing and coding: https://t.co/zmGc0neJM3 2021-04-01 04:44:10 I too have - indeed, currently am - conducting inadvertent longitudinal research on this subject, though, alas, not as systematically. 2021-04-01 04:41:40 Looks to be a future classic of the genre: (by @kaleybrauer ). https://t.co/OPOBMKC37P https://t.co/8p5enfB6p6 2021-03-31 20:50:30 @ljxie @nbsharma And it was great!! 2021-03-31 19:20:41 @albrgr Thanks - this is a great reply, and helps me understand & 2021-03-31 19:14:55 Not so much "Are your graphs going up and to the right?" as "Show me the white noise!" 2021-03-31 19:08:28 @albrgr Curious: did you consider you might simply be wrong, and Chiang right? 2021-03-31 19:02:53 I hear they're all concentrated down on Quicksand Hill Road. 2021-03-31 18:58:17 Several have had wildly successful misadventure exits. 2021-03-31 18:57:21 Some of my favorite people are Misadventure Capitalists. https://t.co/eBFJKqRWdl 2021-03-31 18:00:01 @CFCamerer What an amazing thread. 2021-03-30 15:49:11 @timhwang Letters from trillions of constituents have flooded local politicians' offices. 2021-03-30 00:55:45 @decolonizemind1 @generativist I dunno. Got him out of Mordor, while under threat from a volcano. A++, would use again, seems to me. 2021-03-30 00:50:14 In fairness, the eagles did give him a Lyft back. https://t.co/qgD8kzXo1H 2021-03-29 21:09:08 @ariisaacs @paulg I deleted one chapter and started from scratch I believe 6 times (7 in total). Each overall draft was revised end-to-end maybe 5-10 times. So maybe 50-60ish revisions for that chapter. (It's the one I had recently finished when I asked the question.) 2021-03-29 20:24:03 @LeapingRobot @ScienceMagazine @stewartbrand Nice stimulating review. And kudos to @ScienceMagazine for running a review. That's a great visual at the end. 2021-03-29 19:04:33 @adityankur @Smerity Pretty sure both he and those movies were inspired by Sebald. 2021-03-29 16:55:55 RT @ID_AA_Carmack: @JonVirtual It isn’t about sugar coating criticism, but about celebrating the things that are already great, or at least… 2021-03-29 16:37:11 I once asked a well known writer how many drafts he went through. He sighed & 2021-03-29 16:29:03 Really glad accomplished mathematicians such as @wtgowers and @AlexKontorovich are tweeting this. Everyone, even the most accomplished, gets stuck doing mathematics: "being good at math is being good at being stuck". https://t.co/cdbxGpuUS7 2021-03-29 16:21:20 @wtgowers @AlexKontorovich I liked this related observation: https://t.co/r4p9SyxkRk 2021-03-29 16:08:42 @paulg Related (which you've seen, but which I find myself returning to constantly): https://t.co/L9XoNkKuoW 2021-03-28 23:48:45 @BergmanOlivia @profholden Definitely agree the concerns about costs are an error! I'm incidentally not (personally) making the argument about safety, but I can at least understand why it's made, especially after reading about the history of unexpected long-term side effects. 2021-03-28 23:30:33 @BergmanOlivia @profholden If you're worried about longer-term side effects than can be seen in the trials it makes some sense - watch what happens in other countries. 2021-03-28 18:45:58 @anderssandberg @ErikAngner “Would you like some insurance on your insurance?” 2021-03-28 16:54:44 @anderssandberg @ErikAngner Somewhere, an economist is seriously making this suggestion. 2021-03-27 17:14:11 Intriguing to note that the IAS was founded (just) within living memory - 1930. The six initial faculty were Veblen, Weyl, Einstein, Alexander, von Neumann, Goedel. (This is, er, not a bad starting group.) 2021-03-27 04:05:36 @uncatherio @renormalized @ESYudkowsky I am enjoying your varied inventiveness. Also, remind me not to get on your bad side. 2021-03-27 01:52:59 @mindspillage My friend made a really strong argument. He observed that people very often don't post online really good things they do, things which other people would then be likely to emulate or even improve on. And in so doing they give up a very real opportunity to make the world better. 2021-03-26 23:32:06 @emollick @patrickc I'm enjoying the fact that I made my page quick-and-dirty and haven't maintained it, while @patrickc has kept his up to date over years. 2021-03-26 23:04:55 @Cap_nLunch @magicmolly @kristineberth This really struck me. As did the original. I guess it's something about people deeply internalizing good values. When they do so you can then feel it even in - perhaps especially in - some of their simplest expressions. They see the world well. 2021-03-26 21:41:34 @HatchetHector They are, just not in that way. 2021-03-26 21:39:58 @RosieCampbell Nice! I’ve done this a bunch, I think because I saw my dad do it, growing up. But not systematically or observantly. I shall try it. 2021-03-26 21:21:58 Kindness is so often zero (or even negative) cost. And yet I let so many opportunities pass. Those words "Thankyou" and "So helpful" were so easy to say. And they mattered to someone who has perhaps not had an easy life. 2021-03-26 21:19:15 I feel self-conscious writing the last. I guess because my second paragraph seems like bragging. A friend once observed to me that he wished more people would describe good-but-unusual things they'd done, that it's good for everyone. So I guess it's good to have tweeted! 2021-03-26 21:17:07 A very striking exchange. Perhaps won't mean much to most people, but I just created a handful of Anki cards about this. I guess it's sorta... unusual to analyze kindness, and, well, I'm not quite sure what I'm saying here, but it also seems really really important. https://t.co/z7YxZWnlYP 2021-03-26 21:11:46 @magicmolly @kristineberth That's really good. Thank you for posting it. Saved to my desktop. 2021-03-26 20:49:12 @tommycollison @collision This would be a Collison @collision, no? I have, in fact, used that joke on Twitter before. Making this arguably an example of a Collison @collision @collision. Thanks, no need, I'll show myself out. 2021-03-26 20:02:19 @teh_aimee Of course, as you say, fossil fuels are all through their supply chain. But that will change too... 2021-03-26 20:01:28 @teh_aimee Today. Amazon is going to all-electric (maybe all-renewable?) fleet over the next few years. 2021-03-26 19:58:44 Fun to contrast this with the list of the world's ten largest companies by revenue: 6 are oil & Also: IIRC in 2019 renewable energy grew by ~17%, while fossil fuels grew by ~1%. Wait 25 years... https://t.co/MTMMQ5cdeD https://t.co/q6sx1SNCSU 2021-03-26 01:01:41 I've run workshops where quite a number of attendees were people I found this way. 2021-03-26 01:00:43 It's one of those things that's massively underrated. Want to find, to pick a random topic, people interested in cancer biology in Berkeley? Here you go: https://t.co/hJknjPxd0l Then follow the co-author and interest graph out to find adjacent people... 2021-03-26 00:41:22 Incidentally, and quite seriously: I _do_ enjoy surfing the graph of Google Scholar interests, as well as the co-author network. It's extremely interesting! 2021-03-26 00:39:59 @gravity_levity I'd forgotten what mine even were. They seem so mundane by comparison! https://t.co/bY3xmFXmPq 2021-03-26 00:39:13 @gravity_levity Nice! 2021-03-26 00:35:37 Unusual hobbies: surfing the graph of Google Scholar interests. Love this: the only person in the world who has listed "what is life?" as one of their interests: https://t.co/sJ17B3dTa9 2021-03-25 04:18:05 Some large fraction of my twitter feed is about a ship stuck in a canal. I'm not usually all that enthralled by twitter flavor-of-the-day, but this is glorious. 2021-03-25 02:46:49 @Smerity I agree, though with the caveat that conversation doesn't scale linearly. There are certain things you can do in a four-hour conversation that may well be impossible in ten one hour conversations! I don't understand this very well. 2021-03-25 02:43:58 @Smerity :-) Yup. I guess I often have to stop wonderful conversations for similar reasons. 2021-03-25 02:38:38 @Smerity A friend tells me that when he meets someone and really takes a liking he'll often suggest a multi-day hike / conversation to get to know them. "Want to walk across [small European country]?" is apparently part of his repertoire. 2021-03-25 02:37:46 @Smerity Curious how you think about this. If a conversation is that good, why do you stop? Conversation is precious. 2021-03-25 02:31:51 @lalaAlicelala @ChrisExpTheNews If it was a kidney, the initial donation would be okay, but an encore would be a very bad idea. 2021-03-24 23:27:09 @MatjazLeonardis Very interesting. I have some of the same sense as your second sentence. Can you say more? [As inadequate as universities are, I've never heard anything from a VC that sounds like a plausible substitute for their research function, much less an improvement. I'd like to be wrong] 2021-03-24 23:18:50 @tedcooke Heh. True beauty is ephemeral! 2021-03-24 23:05:53 @justindross I started to give a serious reply, but deleted it. The second sentence seems unserious. 2021-03-24 22:57:33 It's a bit like being the person who accidentally starts to turn the wrong way into a one-way street, then can't back out because of all the traffic backed up behind you, so still more traffics backs up. x about ten million. 2021-03-24 22:53:13 And you think LA traffic is bad: (via @nameshiv ) https://t.co/nfneCcJEQM 2021-03-24 03:18:06 A fun conversation I had with @devonzuegel @starsandrobots @andy_matuschak about Richard Hamming's book "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering": https://t.co/8OU6PJOCF4 2021-03-22 22:28:21 And, er, anyone I've had a meeting with in the last couple of weeks, honestly: I'm not referring to our meeting! Feeling self-conscious now! Mostly just a reflection on large open-ended group conversation, which rarely seems to work unless an exceptionally good mod runs things 2021-03-22 22:23:37 Incidentally, I'm not referring to run-of-the-mill business meetings, but more open-ended conversations, often with a number of parties who don't know each other. For regular business meetings the difference seems to simply be whether it's well or poorly run. 2021-03-22 22:20:24 @mekarpeles :-) (What you say seems likely correct!) 2021-03-22 22:19:43 Often also noticed at unconferences. Apologies for carping, but I've been in many sessions where world experts on a subject sat silent, while people who knew little opined confidently. Partial solution is to solicit input, but it only goes so far (I'm sure I've been guilty!) 2021-03-22 22:06:31 Something I've never understood well: who speaks in professional group conversations. Often, I notice that the people I most want to hear from are near silent I'm honestly not much of a fan. And it's a problem w/ Clubhouse. Funny, doesn't much bother me in casual social settings 2021-03-21 23:30:04 @zooko You get an NBA, you get an NBA, we all get an NBA! 2021-03-21 22:57:00 @zooko Great typo. 2021-03-21 20:45:13 @mekarpeles Nothing. 2021-03-21 00:54:19 @albrgr Douglas Adams on same: https://t.co/rshH7au4Ey 2021-03-21 00:52:04 @albrgr Doesn't the answer seem obviously the second? The contrast with Sey Hersh's career is a good one, IMO. 2021-03-21 00:33:44 @brianchristian I took a cognitive science class once, and the linguist prof, when asked "What's the most interesting thing happening in English today?" immediately replied "Oh, it's the comeback and victory of singular 'they'". He burbled very engagingly about it! 2021-03-21 00:31:42 I have seldom been made so happy by a single tweet, & 2021-03-21 00:22:29 @brianchristian So have I. Including changing hundreds of instances in one book after the copyeditors changed it everywhere. [I extensively demonstrated my knowledge of other four-letter words when I saw the marked up version.] 2021-03-20 23:38:58 On Freeman Dyson: https://t.co/f1TNnhWrcr 2021-03-20 22:35:29 @hecker I think the player piano examples (not that one) might have been my first knowing exposure to micropolyphony! But I'd forgotten, so thank you! 2021-03-20 22:22:21 "A Topiary", trailer from an unfinished project by Shane Carruth (of "Primer"). Appears to be a story of programmable matter and Goethe's sorcerer's apprentice: https://t.co/9rI8hznwl0 2021-03-20 22:11:09 Fascinating to listen to [I'm about 5 mins in]. Micropolyphony still seems to be quite a frontier. https://t.co/7GO1btP55R 2021-03-20 22:06:49 @anderssandberg I assume you're familiar with micropolyphony? https://t.co/WsBWR9CLZl 2021-03-20 22:02:51 Great chart and thread Random v. slightly related fact: there is a cosmic neutrino background, which as I understand is due to the thermalization of neutrinos that occurred up to 1s after the Big Bang, when matter was so dense even neutrinos interacted pretty strongly with it https://t.co/DvX9iI9Ihu 2021-03-19 05:08:26 @GordPennycook Wonderful thread, thank you for sharing! 2021-03-19 04:59:17 Also, as I trust is obvious: I'm almost completely ignorant here! Just musing out loud, and hoping for pointers to great material! 2021-03-19 04:31:37 @mindspillage @BrettFrischmann @Klonick @daphnehk Thanks! 2021-03-19 04:26:54 (These seem like @KevinSimler @nayafia @meaningness style problems, among others.) 2021-03-19 04:15:59 How do you balance the relevant interests? How much transparency is good? How much due process is required? What powers ought to be separated? How much should external parties be involved in an oversight or adversarial role? Which external parties? 2021-03-19 04:15:58 I learned from people like @doctorow & 2021-03-19 04:15:57 A fascinating set of interviews about governance of infrastructure, by @stratechery: https://t.co/Zn1by9n1k1 (@patrickc @BradSmi @eastdakota) 2021-03-19 03:09:42 @simonsarris Some nice examples came up in another thread - this artist who makes wonderful images based on very, very long exposure shots of the sky: https://t.co/GqemQsixjt 2021-03-19 02:53:00 Wonderful, he's on twitter. Thank you @JP_Metsavainio! https://t.co/RcmhgxZe31 2021-03-19 02:51:15 Here's the site of the artist, J-P Metsavainio: https://t.co/BmUIVvHrIL 2021-03-19 02:43:26 Related: there's a pretty high res Planck CMB image online: https://t.co/ajs3oEc42P. 2021-03-18 01:17:14 @sashadem @patio11 @visakanv Please let us know how he goes! 2021-03-18 01:09:56 @SpencrGreenberg @ChanaMessinger Huh. So you just picked 22 features, presumably scaled somewhat similarly, and then computed Euclidean distance? You were in some sense matching based on similarity? 2021-03-18 01:03:02 @patio11 @visakanv Quite possibly something where you end up happily married, and also as an accidental byproduct the owner of a successful SaaS company. 2021-03-18 00:59:19 @patio11 @visakanv I'm trying to imagine the @patio11 guide to dating, and my brain is shorting out. 2021-03-18 00:38:47 @SpencrGreenberg @ChanaMessinger Sounds lovely (and we will!) Curious: how does SpencerRank work? 2021-03-17 23:00:37 @sriramk On the upside, there's quite a few budding researchers who'd really be happy to have that h-index! 2021-03-17 20:49:45 @daniellenewnham You may enjoy perusing some of the replies to my post about Gates and the vaccine: https://t.co/MLBBuKwe8A 2021-03-17 20:36:06 @ChanaMessinger @SpencrGreenberg I feel pretty bad about that, sorry Spencer! I've done very well with timezones during the pandemic, but not perfectly. I wonder if maybe it's because I have Spencer mapped as "west coast" in my head, even though intellectually I know he's not... 2021-03-17 20:30:02 @ChanaMessinger Despite never having met, I suspect we may have some people in common in mind. Yes, "models for me" is exactly right! 2021-03-17 20:18:59 Several people I admire - I'm thinking in particular of one friend who is amazing at this - are very good at separating deep interest in a point of view from judgement of correctness. 2021-03-17 20:18:58 The full post is full of interesting bits: https://t.co/ibZJZs6pw6 https://t.co/BGmkhSwtDk 2021-03-17 20:04:45 Fascinating little tidbit about how we process evidence: (ASC): https://t.co/nLtZWM5Be7 2021-03-17 19:06:54 Fascinating to read about the (possible) Azolla event, when CO2 dropped from 3500ppm to 650ppm, over about 800k years: https://t.co/kaD9jvzG3z https://t.co/j1CrORUSPx 2021-03-17 03:38:56 @DikiyChelovek Heh. (Admittedly, internal process can be very different.) 2021-03-17 03:38:11 @IsraelR89600312 I did. 2021-03-16 23:24:52 @abiylfoyp Ah, thanks for the example. Funny: I've spent about 10 months of my life at various Kavli Institutes. They're good places. 2021-03-16 23:05:52 @abiylfoyp Can you give an example? 2021-03-16 21:27:28 Incidentally, I should say that I know of many local instances where a lot has been learned from missed hires, missed grants, etc. But it's usually ad hoc process and local knowledge, rarely routinized systems. And that bugs me. 2021-03-16 21:15:51 @orzelc Agreed! 2021-03-16 21:15:04 @orzelc And it could happen at every level - university, funder, even journals. I wonder how many Nobel papers Nature's anti-portfolio includes? 2021-03-16 21:11:21 @orzelc If a major venture firm misses a company that gets funded elsewhere & AFAIK there's no reason academia can't do this. 2021-03-16 21:06:53 Put another way: the mRNA vaccines aren't the only game in town. But they were the fastest to develop and work very well. I'd guess the decisions by U Penn & 2021-03-16 20:52:38 Certainly, this seems like it should go into their respective public anti-portfolios: https://t.co/YtCGdUzNWv 2021-03-16 20:50:57 Curious: have U. Penn. or the various funders conducted post-mortems on their failure to support the development of mRNA vaccines? What, if anything, would they do differently today? Meant as a pointed question, not a criticism - they may have done so! I'd love pointers if so! https://t.co/8OIZWC5kFU 2021-03-16 20:40:45 @DavidDeutschOxf @jamesrcole @paulg Are you describing a "friend", David? 2021-03-16 11:07:41 @DavidDeutschOxf Typical example: it's relatively easy to get well paid to do unimportant work in fashionable areas, but hard to get paid at all to do what will ultimately be seen as important work in (currently) unfashionable areas. 2021-03-16 11:07:13 @DavidDeutschOxf I mean things which, over the long run, have been best for the collective state of the world. 2021-03-16 05:32:19 @davidtlang Most of my favorite papers were unfunded. Part of the explanation: https://t.co/1hZVAHzojy 2021-03-16 05:29:35 @NonMurkyConsqnc I used to participate in the @awesomefound. Another bit of microphilanthropy with striking results, IMO. 2021-03-16 05:24:10 @RohdeAli Haven't seen it! I absolutely loved Pleasantville, which I think might have been the same year? 2021-03-16 05:22:47 @davidtlang @techiewonk @nberpubs (That's unfair. I'm glad they do what they do, and certainly I've learned a lot from that community. But I do wish there was a pirate arm for world science.) 2021-03-16 05:19:53 @davidtlang @techiewonk @nberpubs It's very conservative (I've also attended). Picasso didn't learn to paint by running RCTs on brushstrokes & 2021-03-16 05:06:41 @NonMurkyConsqnc Fantastic thoughtful answer, thank you! 2021-03-16 05:06:09 @FerGomezBaquero Very interesting answer, thanks! 2021-03-16 05:03:31 @ben_mathes Great evaluation criterion. 2021-03-16 05:02:39 There's a great line in an otherwise forgotten Reese Witherspoon movie: she asks a psychologist if there's any universally useful advice. He replies: "Figure out what you want, & 2021-03-16 04:57:11 @jaltma Love this! 2021-03-16 04:56:58 @jaltma There's a great line in an otherwise forgotten Reese Witherspoon movie about this. She asks a psychologist if there's any universally useful advice. He replies: "Figure out what you want, and learn how to ask for it." She replies: "Thanks! Both of those are really hard!" 2021-03-16 04:32:38 @PESimeon What's good about the systematic approach? And is your assessment based on liking the approach, or liking the resulting outcomes? [Genuine curiosity here, not skepticism, I hope you know my style well enough to know that.] 2021-03-16 04:13:43 Curious: which is the world's best scientific funder, and why? "Best" questions are often overly constraining, so let me relax that: what's a funder where you particularly admire something about how they operate, and why? 2021-03-16 04:05:57 @AgnesCallard Also, this month's best reading, ht @gwern: https://t.co/Gn1bSgN76M 2021-03-15 20:06:06 @devonzuegel Probably with burritos, though I rather believe @sebasbensu has won your heart there. 2021-03-15 17:21:37 @shahdeys Three or four years (I think it was mid-2018 I applied, though maybe it was 2017). 2021-03-15 17:12:29 @danielgross I suspect I have a mild form of this, or something related. I also wouldn't be surprised if quite a few mathematicians or physicists do. 2021-03-15 16:50:38 @0xhexhex Thanks. Born & 2021-03-15 16:38:19 I got my Greencard 2021-03-15 02:47:05 @samadamsthedog @curiouswavefn My memory - from 20+ years ago, so I may be wrong - is that it was the Pais biography which alerted me to the myth. 2021-03-15 02:36:18 @ChanaMessinger New variant of the TCP/IP protocol, automatically provides accurate-to-life avatars. Latest thing. 2021-03-15 02:35:20 @samadamsthedog @curiouswavefn He did extremely well in mathematics in school. This seems to be typical of the modern view (and the idea that he had trouble an urban myth): https://t.co/N0VdIpOkVU. 2021-03-15 02:31:57 @ChanaMessinger Live shot of your twitter https://t.co/waPJaqCbsb 2021-03-15 01:47:48 @gwern Did you find it online? Or scan offline? 2021-03-15 01:40:49 @gwern Thanks, that’s great! 2021-03-15 00:29:23 @SarahAMcManus It's wonderful isn't it? He has some video essays on the music, too, if you haven't seen them: https://t.co/KtzGTnebNe 2021-03-15 00:05:38 @Meaningness @_awbery_ Hahahah. I've probably watched it 10 times total. Not six times in a row though :-) 2021-03-15 00:05:10 @Meaningness Glad you did! And thank @andy_matuschak, who first recommended it to me! 2021-03-14 22:11:25 @devonzuegel Fascinating. Suggests 1/3 of people getting vaccinated aren't eligible. Of course, I doubt your poll respondents are exactly a random sample! But still striking. Still in Cat 4... 2021-03-14 22:08:01 @timhwang @jachiam0 Though on a personal note I _do_ think the internet has driven me more into various niche subcultures, so I do wonder about the original premise in a personal way. 2021-03-14 22:07:12 @timhwang @jachiam0 Lovely, thanks! 2021-03-14 21:13:54 @jimm3uller Interesting suggestion, thanks. 2021-03-14 17:42:33 @lilaexpt @chercher_ai Thanks! Thanks to @chercher_ai for the thoughtful point, too! 2021-03-14 17:39:40 @chercher_ai Hmm. I worded that somewhat poorly. The effect is real, but I could be a lot clearer. I'll delete and try again. 2021-03-14 06:32:56 @Noahpinion Why are you reporting the higher number then? 2021-03-14 06:19:41 @jachiam0 I wonder often about this. 2021-03-14 06:11:08 @Noahpinion It was 2.98 million: https://t.co/BuRvqHgref 2021-03-14 05:57:18 @joshu A penny to be an electron on that virtual wall, to mix too many metaphors. In 2016 I got an email from an AOL recruiter. It began something like "I know what you're thinking! 'AOL? They still exist?' We do! [etc]" Quite charmed me. 2021-03-14 05:47:47 @twinfrey @AmandaAskell Amanda is a well known philosopher with a PhD and extensive training in these areas. 2021-03-14 05:07:15 @AmandaAskell Only if that ethics/safety work has positive impact on behavior. I've seen little sign of that with AI, though some of the reverse - it looks more like greenwashing. 2021-03-14 04:30:24 I should clarify: I mean re-generating it, over & 2021-03-14 04:01:15 I'll bet someone, somewhere, has taught Pirsig's class. And I really hope the course description was as given. Kudos to the dean who let it fly, too. 2021-03-14 03:53:30 RT @brianchristian: I will never forget a conversation I had with the composer Alvin Singleton at @MacDowell1907. I said, "What’s it like b… 2021-03-14 03:49:27 Fantastic story from @brianchristian: https://t.co/r4p9SyxkRk 2021-03-14 03:48:42 @brianchristian @MacDowell1907 Fantastic. 2021-03-14 03:48:13 @niftynei "Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance". It's a strange book, but marvelous IMO. I suspect you'd like it. I struggled through the first 90 pages, then inhaled the rest and promptly reread the whole. 2021-03-14 03:37:02 Related, Pirsig on "Gumptionology 101": https://t.co/1eZ5kldwQz 2021-03-14 03:28:35 Anyone else make the same connection? 2021-03-14 03:28:07 Curious: the final stage in Journey reminds me of the end of C. S. Lewis's "The Last Battle" - essentially, the point at which they ascend to heaven. Especially this bit: https://t.co/eVI9uQdgFu 2021-03-14 03:06:17 I sometimes think Journey comes close to meeting Brian Moriarty's criteria. https://t.co/8aprENJbjW 2021-03-14 03:04:03 Journey is the only media where I will happily rewatch the end credits, never mind the main game. https://t.co/B31PwB3LdG 2021-03-14 02:57:10 Amazing how much of creative work is generating hope and excitement, finding ways of getting past stuck. It sometimes feels like the main event. I guess this seems cliche, but at least for me it's hard won. 2021-03-14 02:45:54 @curiouswavefn I certainly agree (strongly) with the final sentence in your original tweet, at least insofar as I can tell from reading bits and pieces of Einstein! 2021-03-12 01:34:38 @nickcammarata @uncatherio @gordonbrander Nice. Playing: there's a sense, too, in which everyone around us is everyone's life work. 2021-03-12 01:10:38 @uncatherio I love @gordonbrander's bio: "Everything around me was someone's lifework." 2021-03-11 23:45:12 Anyone seen Tony Hawk & 2021-03-11 22:39:40 @schusterqed @jaltma Probably true. I spent some time trying to understand the basics of modern algebraic geometry once. I eventually realized it was just going to take more time than I wanted, even with the aid of superb explanations, and with a reasonable background. 2021-03-11 22:36:09 @quant_phys @jaltma It was in part pondering the (supposed - I wonder if it was apocryphal) Einstein quote that led me to this conclusion. He was wrong. 2021-03-11 22:09:55 @jaltma I suppose a simple and clear explanation may be possible. But it'd be quite long. 2021-03-11 22:08:09 @jaltma I don't think this is true of quantum field theory or even general relativity, not in any deep way (of course, broad overviews are possible). Most human thinking is in a tiny part of idea space, and anything far from that idea space will be incomprehensible without a lot of work 2021-03-11 20:46:57 It's be interesting to enumerate all the different kinds of microscope we have for the human body (or any other kind of body or organism). I suspect it's a very long list - I keep learning of new types of microscopy! 2021-03-11 20:39:15 As is probably obvious from my twitter I've been at microscopy kindergarten for the past few weeks. It's very obvious we're in something of a golden age - and gold rush - in microscopy! 2021-03-11 20:36:00 I hadn't realized how important spatial organization is to DNA inside a cell (not just the sequence of base pairs). https://t.co/n2vwdW2lVE https://t.co/1JOrzHbAdI 2021-03-11 16:17:43 Not exactly a surprise, but interesting coming so frankly & 2021-03-11 16:12:58 Eg, there's quite a number of observations like this one. Very true (not just in Canada), but rarely stated so clearly in public by someone who has actually done the job, or close enough. https://t.co/qvzvriEvjW 2021-03-11 15:26:23 Oops, that link should be to the in-print edition of the book: https://t.co/ptxQe4cAMf Recommended, if you have any interest at all in this kind of thing - how science works as a social enterprise. 2021-03-11 00:06:29 @emmaconcepts Oh, I don't think I've ever seen that one! 2021-03-11 00:02:39 @emmaconcepts His differential geometry book? Lovely book! 2021-03-10 23:34:06 Of course it's both a feature & On the other hand, sometimes you just want to make a phone call. 2021-03-10 23:16:32 How theoretical physicists approach practical problems. I find this terribly endearing, and certainly recognize it in myself. From @IdeasRoadshow's fascinating book about founding Perimeter Institute: https://t.co/EiWshLXf2Q https://t.co/ogqe9GEbLm 2021-03-10 22:54:22 @erinarlinghaus @curiouswavefn (The design of pulse sequences in NMR seems so close to a game already, with ideas like refocusing and spin echo and elaborations seeming like solutions to game puzzles. Grover's algorithm, ditto....) 2021-03-10 22:51:04 @erinarlinghaus @curiouswavefn Still, it does seem likely that having a series of games built around the Bloch sphere, Grover's algorithm, tunneling, and so on, might well make the full theory much easier to understand, since you could relate it to things already understood well. 2021-03-10 22:48:37 @erinarlinghaus @curiouswavefn Related: https://t.co/kxvNcrPij1 2021-03-10 22:46:46 @erinarlinghaus @curiouswavefn ... something at the core of quantum mechanics, which is the exponential increased in amplitudes with number of particles. It made visualization of what is a (the?) core fact very difficult. 2021-03-10 22:45:56 @erinarlinghaus @curiouswavefn I sketched a series of prototypes for this, some years ago. It's certainly possible for many types of quantum effect (the Bloch sphere, NMR manipulations, Grover's algorithm, tunneling, and various others). But I always ran into trouble with... 2021-03-10 22:42:17 @paulg A related quote by CS Lewis that I found striking. In some sense he's trying to identify ways in which we're all conventional-minded (from: https://t.co/4VNWWS7NMq ) https://t.co/gVRonEBgf5 2021-03-10 15:54:29 I really enjoy @chrismichel's photo portraits. Also: often a source of people I might not otherwise know to follow on Twitter! https://t.co/iGRXX6Ubyx 2021-03-10 05:39:18 In humor often is truth found. I remember this because it's got more than a grain of truth to it: https://t.co/SnbzXuxZzo 2021-03-10 05:37:26 Wonderful to see @juliagalef's book coming out! I just pre-ordered it: https://t.co/36MAZNTAAa Julia's good-faith and open-minded-but-rigorous approach to conversation is an ongoing inspiration to me. I'm excited to see this out! https://t.co/qF3zijNZc7 2021-03-10 01:23:31 @curiouswavefn Those directions match my mental model almost exactly. It is hair raising. I used to think of the last exit as requiring “a right turn on the freeway”. Exaggerated, but with a grain of truth.... 2021-03-09 01:12:31 Not terribly interested in speculation - I can generate lots of speculative explanations myself. Just: has someone actually figured out what's likely going on? 2021-03-09 01:09:50 Great interview of @patrickc by @noahpinion https://t.co/mhfzi1dcCN 2021-03-09 00:57:58 Israel's Covid vaccine rollout has been rapid - most people have now received > I presume it's just delays (in vaccine effectiveness, reporting etc). Anyone have a detailed understanding? https://t.co/gL4PVgq7KS 2021-03-09 00:53:10 @NateSilver538 Hard to attribute to vaccines yet (unfortunately). Israel had the same vaccination level as the US today by Jan 15. But their drop in case count since has actually been slower than the US (despite now having most of their population at 1 dose or more): https://t.co/8OktpNw7Uu 2021-03-08 23:49:29 @gregeganSF @tlbtlbtlb I wonder if it's a misspelling of histones? I've caught a few misspellings I've added to my own dictionary, and shudder to think how many more I have missed. 2021-03-07 21:53:11 @ljxie Amazing title! 2021-03-07 21:24:15 @MJBiercuk I meant cases where there is agreement on broad goals / the type of work. Very common. 2021-03-07 21:22:22 @MatjazLeonardis Yup. Also the root of Hayek's argument about hidden knowledge. 2021-03-07 20:55:24 @stewartbrand @pkedrosky I once said hyperbolically to a friend: "I believe I could barely think before I began to write seriously". And then realized with some shock that it was (mostly) true. For me, at least, it's been a wonderful technology for improving my thinking. 2021-03-07 20:45:28 @mindspillage Oh, I didn't know that. I'd heard of circular breathing from didgeridoo (which I guess every Australian kid has a go at). It's supposedly why it's relatively difficult to make a good sound with a didgeridoo at first... 2021-03-07 20:41:52 @eric_ruleman Pinker attributes it somewhere later in the book, IIRC - I believe his title is a shortening (checking, yup: "an instinctive tendency to acquire an art"). 2021-03-07 20:33:12 I later paid a little homage with the opening paragraph of my book on neural networks: https://t.co/RBAyyNDgmL 2021-03-07 20:31:59 I used to think I hated grammar and linguistics. A friend kept bugging me to read "The Language Instinct". Finally, I relented. And then I got shivers up and down my spine when I read the title and first sentence of Chapter 1, & 2021-03-07 20:02:23 As a writer, the title, first sentence, & 2021-03-07 20:00:13 @AmandaLeftCoast @tonyhawk I wonder when was the last time he had to pay for a drink? :-) 2021-03-07 19:58:10 Returning to "When Breath Becomes Air" - and with apologies for my use of a cliche - but it's perhaps the only title to ever hit me like a tonne of bricks. Doubly so when I realized it's a memoir 2021-03-07 19:55:02 @gordonbrander Yeah, I've wondered before if that's an error on my part. "a dah-dah-dah-dah dah-dah-dah". But on their own I think each is an extraordinary title. 2021-03-07 19:53:50 "Most improved" prize goes to "The Great Gatsby", which Fitzgerald wanted to title "Trimalchio in West Egg". I don't think "The Great Gatsby" is a particularly remarkable title (wonderful book, though), but it's about 17 levels up from "Trimalchio..." 2021-03-07 19:48:51 Other remarkable titles: Hillbilly Elegy, The Language Instinct, Desert Solitaire, A Canticle for Lebowitz, Tools for Conviviality, The Evolution of Co-Operation, The Humane Interface. 2021-03-07 19:45:25 "When Breath Becomes Air" https://t.co/5pnOI4jZex 2021-03-07 15:45:12 @paulg A related argument from Alan Kay: https://t.co/WUey1BzXGL https://t.co/6yDKI7Etzg 2021-03-07 15:13:23 @diviacaroline @peternlimberg Really interesting! On "you can't pick your hobbies" I'm reminded of Simone Weil: https://t.co/7YgPr6LPTE 2021-03-07 15:05:35 @DRMacIver @xuenay @Kirsten3531 An ex once commented that the best way to learn to write was to fall in love at a distance. She was onto something. (Also, actually, a good way to learn to type :-) ). 2021-03-07 15:04:08 @DRMacIver @xuenay @Kirsten3531 One reason social media is interesting: it provides an absolutely brutal feedback loop on what your readers are interested in. Not always in healthy ways(!) But far better than school, certainly. 2021-03-07 05:04:07 Embarrassing but true - I often cannot help but read Pilate as Pilates, and think about Christ's exercise habits. (I will never, ever tire of Rembrandt.) https://t.co/EyoRPNedAT 2021-03-07 02:08:30 @chrisalbon At least according to the https://t.co/H3YU6XTGFJ models, we’re undercounting far less now. Seems consistent with other modelers too. 2021-03-07 02:03:17 @chrisalbon True infections are, I imagine, likely to be 3x or more lower. Very little testing last April... 2021-03-07 01:58:26 @jesqa_ But I’m also glad you didn’t have a chicken coup... 2021-03-07 01:57:38 @jesqa_ I absolutely love the notion of a chicken coup. Best typo! 2021-03-07 01:46:22 @moreisdifferent @ChanaMessinger Sounds right. Also just the - quite reasonable IMO - fact of seeing friends and family getting it with no or minor side effects 2021-03-07 01:45:02 Note also - we’re still quite some ways from 3 mill per day every day! But I think it’s very likely we’ll get there later this month. Both Pfizer and Moderna have said they expect big increases this month. And there’s J and J now too! 2021-03-07 01:40:48 This is an amazing graph. 3 mill / day, with 100 mill already vaccinated or infected -> Via @ChanaMessinger https://t.co/kMLWqKC3hY 2021-03-07 01:30:18 @ChanaMessinger Interesting. Metaculus’s median prediction for herd immunity is 5 .5 months from now. I wonder if the issue is hesitancy, not supply or distribution: https://t.co/fgMcCvG8LD 2021-03-07 01:25:05 @Noahpinion @TheSlickrock I’d frankly prefer a more “just in time” model for the second shot. But given the distribution model chosen, it’s impressively efficient! 2021-03-07 01:23:58 @ChanaMessinger It’s pretty great! Even steady at 3 mill doses per day we’ll get to herd immunity in 4ish months. And I bet we do better! 2021-03-07 01:18:16 @Noahpinion @TheSlickrock Fascinating to look at Sf’s numbers. Essentially 100% used or assigned to someone for a second shot. The excess was well under 1% last I checked. 2021-03-07 00:58:59 @maggiekb1 @NateSilver538 Great thread. 2021-03-06 22:27:00 @AriannaSimpson @ljxie Gosh, second that! I can only think they were envious of your intelligence. 2021-03-06 21:08:51 @imperialauditor @diviacaroline I wouldn’t trust any self assessment tbh. But I certainly wonder! 2021-03-06 20:36:36 @sonyasupposedly Thanks Sonya. 2021-03-06 20:33:11 @sonyasupposedly Almost literally - I am sitting in a comfy chair, overlooking the beach! But I do love Caspar David Friedrich's work, & 2021-03-06 20:32:04 @sonyasupposedly https://t.co/WW91xJmZFq 2021-03-06 20:27:18 @abelianraisin @kimmaicutler I'm well aware. My statement is correct even if you ignore the dip and just focus on endpoints: the rate of capacity increase from Dec 17 through Jan 21 was considerably higher than from Jan 21 to today. 2021-03-06 20:19:36 @kimmaicutler This is not consistent with the data. The rate at which capacity is being added has slowed considerably since Jan 21, though the last week is encouraging. Mostly I think unrelated to either admin - it likely has more to do with manufacturing constraints. https://t.co/7qXzn6AFug 2021-03-06 20:09:37 https://t.co/OycbqPGCyO 2021-03-06 20:06:51 @diviacaroline @imperialauditor Tangential, but I bought a CO2 monitor a few years back, and it very rapidly convinced me to keep a window ajar all the time. The difference between 1,000+ ppm CO2 versus ~500. 2021-03-06 06:16:38 @gulley Yup! Language too. 2021-03-06 06:14:48 AlphaFold 2 is thus a kind of computational microscope: it's a [fast, computational] way of _seeing_ protein structure, which is slow & New microscope to see an important phenomenon -> 2021-03-06 00:14:24 @bschne 2021-03-06 00:12:41 I wonder what happens if you show it Magritte’s “This is Not a Pipe”? Is “pipe” now an unusually low classification? https://t.co/sVwItR64Kt 2021-03-05 21:22:44 Something interesting about the Alpha Fold 1 paper: it doesn't seem to make any use of a standard form for an energy functional (e.g., the Rosetta energy). There is a lot of talk about "learning a potential" for each protein, however. I don't understand yet, but... 2021-03-05 21:08:36 Also curious: has the paper for Alpha Fold 2 come out? For the original Alpha Fold, using Nature's reader (sorry): https://t.co/66CVrKkjtB 2021-03-05 20:44:23 @RichardMCNgo I'd suggest doing both and seeing which works. 2021-03-05 20:43:42 @F_Vaggi @yardenkatz I wrote about this a few years ago: https://t.co/7jm1pjeT2E Eg: https://t.co/xARnZFqEY1 2021-03-05 20:38:53 Another point about probing the system: there's certainly going to be two philosophies. One is to study the internals of the system 2021-03-05 20:36:47 There may even end up being a feedback loop, where as we understand more about how proteins fold, we can really greatly improve (and probably simplify) the models. That will in turn be a ratchet helping us understand still further. 2021-03-05 20:34:26 My guess is there will be a few decades (at least) work trying to (a) improve the model 2021-03-05 20:32:27 Here, we understand the underlying principles quite poorly. But deep learning just fills in the gap anyway. 2021-03-05 20:32:26 It's quite different to a lot of numerical modelling work. Very often we start with a model whose underlying principles we know, and then use it to better understand emergent consequences. 2021-03-05 06:07:36 @Meaningness @_awbery_ That was great 2021-03-05 05:41:22 @tlbtlbtlb The fragmentation seems bad (on net) 2021-03-05 05:32:39 (I'm subtweeting I guess hundreds of conversations I've had...) 2021-03-05 05:29:17 It's a case of "oh, that person and their friends mostly use Signal". "That person and their friends mostly use Messenger". And so on. Many people seem to use 1-3 primarily. And if your 1-3 don't overlap with their 1-3 it can be an impediment to communication. 2021-03-05 05:25:02 Fascinated by the gradual increase in negotiation around "do you use such-and-such a messaging app?" I always feel like I'm in different parts of a social graph. Oh, I'm talking with a person in the WhatsApp graph now. Or the Messenger graph. And so on. 2021-03-05 04:41:23 @Meaningness "experimentally induced awe": what an interesting phrase. Thanks David! 2021-03-05 03:19:53 Sontag's remark is in her (wonderful, very rereadable) interview in the Paris Review: https://t.co/nrKix84joN https://t.co/9aG9EMVorc 2021-03-05 03:03:24 Susan Sontag once remarked to the effect that any book worth reading once is worth rereading. A few things I have found worth rereading: https://t.co/IdDzamLVUS 2021-03-05 02:58:10 @tommycollison @jaltma Susan Sontag remarks - in the Paris Review IIRC - that the only books work reading are those worth rereading. A few of my answers: https://t.co/ZN9g7XCYZV 2021-03-05 02:05:58 @gwern These two articles do make me aware of a blind spot in my own thinking, though, about the relationship between literacy and g. (Thanks.) 2021-03-05 02:04:29 @gwern What an unpleasant framing of the OB article. False, too, in many instances: I've met many people who are near illiterate who also certainly have well above average IQs. 2021-03-05 02:00:43 On vulnerability & 2021-03-05 01:48:18 Roughly 4% of US adults are functionally illiterate according to US Dept of Ed. Another 13% have very rudimentary literacy. Those numbers exclude people who can't participate because of a language barrier (ie it's not immigrants who can't speak English) https://t.co/C2RG1HDDpH https://t.co/9GJHPKuC7s 2021-03-05 01:41:16 @lorenschmidt For Le Guin: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" has really stayed with me. (Thank you to @nayafia for suggesting it!) 2021-03-05 01:39:15 @lorenschmidt I've read Carolyn Cherryh's "Cyteen" maybe 5 times. Absolutely love it Lois Bujold is more space opera than sf, but I love it, too. "A Civil Campaign" is probably my favourite Really enjoy CS Friedman's "Coldfire" trilogy, too Cherryh and Bujold are two fave authors, period. 2021-03-05 01:22:01 @kristineberth A wee bit envious! I've been trying to get a ring sizing kit for a month now. The courier keeps losing it! 2021-03-05 01:21:11 Australian international rugby league player Ian Roberts opening up about needing to learn read when he began his new career in acting: https://t.co/8CGLISoWIG https://t.co/NVpJ4GSqdP 2021-03-05 00:51:20 After a year's work, the volunteers at @Covid19Tracking are passing the baton to federal agencies. But a big thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who donated time - if you've seen statistics about Covid in the US you've probably benefited from their work! https://t.co/5TMvoscjYF 2021-03-05 00:47:47 @KrmtDfrog @COVID19Tracking It's done almost entirely or entirely by volunteers - probably tens of thousands of hours. 2021-03-04 01:54:40 @NicoleBarbaro Seems like a leap to me, too. Perhaps useful as an intuition pump & 2021-03-04 00:54:19 @SchmiegSophie Very helpful - thanks for writing this. 2021-03-03 23:27:49 @CoyneLloyd Aw, thanks! 2021-03-03 23:18:37 @anecdotal Congratulations! 2021-03-03 22:52:22 @HigherMathNotes @boarbarktree @FadaliTarek @robertghrist Quite a few examples and some discussion: https://t.co/X9RwRQlBt7 2021-03-03 22:47:03 @brianchristian @latimesbooks Awesome! Congrats 2021-03-03 22:43:48 @chrismichel @RommieAmaro @theNASEM @theNAMedicine @theNASciences @theNAEng Congratulations! Delighted they’re doing this, and delighted you’re doing this! Look forward to seeing your work in this project! 2021-03-03 22:31:09 Earlier thread, same beach! https://t.co/qcII7PsdYM 2021-03-03 22:30:12 Same beach, different view. After a long walk in the rain. Very happy! https://t.co/WZyX7FhM3X 2021-03-03 22:26:00 @HigherMathNotes @boarbarktree @FadaliTarek @robertghrist I use the term often, yes . And like to write it, too. Iirc I gave an explanation here: https://t.co/XDvtXI9Mu1 2021-03-03 13:03:32 @Thinkwert I don't think I'd make a very good hut. 2021-03-03 13:00:36 @AnnaLeptikon Also, while reading. 2021-03-03 05:05:28 "It's like reading about being a bat, rather than being a bat." [On the reading of analysis of experience. Not that it's not sometimes worthwhile to do such reading, of course!] 2021-03-03 04:48:54 @Meaningness Omitted link: https://t.co/U5Eo9bq3O2 2021-03-03 04:48:33 @Meaningness The counties that voted Obama then Trump are particularly fascinating in this vein. I presume that in both cases a lot of people were voting "anything but status quo". 2021-03-03 04:12:57 @peligrietzer Maladroit is such a great word. Carry on. 2021-03-03 03:33:37 More and more friends getting vaccinated, & 2021-03-03 03:21:42 @GhioLena @Twitter It simply tracks which links you click out (and has for years). But there's something buggy in the implementation here... 2021-03-03 03:12:05 Fantastic, if the projection holds! (Also, Twitter tells me not to share articles I haven't read. Except.... I just read it, from the link. Might want to fix that...) https://t.co/DiahPt9CHz 2021-03-03 03:03:33 2020, in visual form. https://t.co/YmTvwKl4Z3 2021-03-02 07:13:04 Funny, the quality is.... not good. But it’s still beautiful. 2021-03-02 07:03:34 @jongold Exactly. And vice versa for being part of a real audience 2021-03-02 06:54:40 Listening to live music on Clubhouse is surprisingly affecting. 2021-03-02 05:33:19 @Austen What a fantastically interesting passage. 2021-03-02 04:43:37 @devonzuegel My favorite pirate: https://t.co/m0wX8iojDY 2021-03-02 04:21:00 @TrueSciPhi I have to kermit that to memory. 2021-03-02 04:06:47 @PrinceVogel Ah, very interesting. Thank you for explaining the thought. Sometimes true for me, too, though I've gradually learned to say the essential (somewhat) more easily. 2021-03-02 03:58:03 @PrinceVogel Haven't they always been at least somewhat transactional? Language evolved and serves an evolutionary purpose. That aside: very curious what you're pointing at? 2021-03-02 03:56:01 @agrissh Beautiful shot! 2021-03-02 03:48:51 @KevinSimler Ah, I see. I originally planned to include many more maps [maps of phases of matter, maps of proteins, and maps of types of star], but even a pretty shallow discussion ends up quite long, as here, so I cut it. 2021-03-02 03:41:43 @simonsarris Gorgeous 2021-03-02 03:40:53 @KevinSimler Is there some reason you think those would have been particularly apt? They're interesting, of course, but I'm not sure I have much to say. Though the prospect of connecting the solution of the Navier-Stokes problem to the theory of computing is interesting, come to think of it 2021-03-02 03:39:02 @KevinSimler There's a zillion other things I could have put in, but it was already 10k words: phases of matter [BEC, FQHE, superfluids, topological insulators...], turbulence, femtochemistry, alternate substrates for life etc etc etc... 2021-03-02 03:31:10 More muppet philosophy, seems complementary somehow: https://t.co/bRT9FptnfE 2021-03-02 03:24:20 @ElsaJansen Curious: had you seen the JBP video before? Or was it just the similarity in pronunciation? 2021-03-02 03:19:30 A Jordan Peterson remix video that I think everyone should be able to agree is : https://t.co/K74z7uf35S https://t.co/V7i47MELR8 2021-03-02 03:18:04 @gulley I certainly ruminate. Just, fortunately, not that much about dates! Though I think I've been lucky that all my unhappiversaries are not near other dates I still celebrate. 2021-03-02 03:16:44 @ElsaJansen You are not the only one: https://t.co/K74z7uf35S 2021-03-01 05:57:46 @Meaningness Sensing is usually a differential equation at work 2021-03-01 05:13:07 @AdamMarblestone @CJHandmer Yup. I also understand poorly the tradeoffs and costs associated to long-distance power transmission [which can ameliorate local variability, provided it's cheap enough]. 2021-03-01 04:25:46 @AdamMarblestone @CJHandmer IOTH for purposes of current discussion you can ignore wind. Though can also take away the lesson there's way more variability in wind (I guess everyone's intuition, but I'm surprised by how large the effect is). 2021-03-01 04:24:25 @AdamMarblestone @CJHandmer You mean in that graph? [It's just separate plots to show how output varies.] 2021-03-01 04:22:24 @AdamMarblestone @CJHandmer So: build capacity which assumes you're at the bottom of that solar graph. You still need some on-demand gas (etc) in the event of major anomalies. But it oughta put a huge dent in carbon useage... 2021-03-01 04:20:48 @AdamMarblestone @CJHandmer It just seems off to me. You can build extra capacity, not more storage, if the capacity is cheaper (which seems likely), or ship in from elsewhere, or from on-demand gas plants. Here's the surprising (to me) graph of variability: https://t.co/jmf5qcV8bX https://t.co/A3YwyNarNf 2021-03-01 03:30:33 @jesqa_ @MartinMalzahn Ah, I didn’t see Capital. In general I’m a big fan of the tradition of small liberal arts colleges in the US. Very different to Australian universities (much more like big US state schools). 2021-03-01 03:22:57 @jesqa_ @MartinMalzahn Was it Denison, perchance? I’ve had a couple of lovely trips to Kenyon and Denison (to visit friends). 2021-03-01 03:07:14 @AdamMarblestone @CJHandmer That’s more than 10% of total electricity useage per year in the US (unless I mixed up units?). That seems far too high. 2021-03-01 02:53:04 @vijay_mocherla Oh, I see. I was referring to my comments about high school and standard arguments, not how professional chemists think. 2021-03-01 02:50:53 @AdamMarblestone @michaelkeenan_0 They have precursors in fractional quantum hall systems, which are reasonably natural (needs high magnetic field and a 2d electron gas and reasonably low temp - all constraints, but not out of the question in nature I guess...) 2021-03-01 02:14:04 @vijay_mocherla Thanks, interesting 2021-03-01 02:13:30 @vijay_mocherla (That notwithstanding, AFAIK it does for reasons described in the paper cited, though not in my notes.) 2021-03-01 02:12:23 @vijay_mocherla I didn’t say it did. 2021-03-01 02:07:59 @Ben_Reinhardt Thanks Ben! 2021-03-01 01:30:09 @jaygambetta @QuantumGosset @HanheePaik @PeterShor1 Thanks Jay! 2021-02-28 15:27:15 @mariachong That's great! 2021-02-28 03:19:41 @ulkar_aghayeva @cowenconvos @tedgioia What an interesting idea - that cool is over! 2021-02-28 03:17:27 @curiouswavefn Thanks - this and the Bronowski are striking. I'd never heard of Eiseley! 2021-02-28 01:24:52 @qualmist A clipboard error. Annoying. Deleting.... 2021-02-27 23:59:25 @bcrypt 2021-02-27 23:58:24 @anecdotal Can you quote an example? 2021-02-27 23:58:15 @drchak Curious, can you quote a particular example? 2021-02-27 23:55:16 @jd_pressman I'm left cold by those. Maybe they'd be better upon a reread. They seem insincere, imitation myth. And insincere writing has no power. 2021-02-27 23:45:59 @KarlSchroeder @Wikisteff 'fraid not Karl 2021-02-27 23:36:40 @zooko Even today it apparently costs < 2021-02-27 23:24:24 @henlojseam Huh. You're quite right! 2021-02-27 23:22:21 @dan_ness @stewartbrand @longnow I very much like this passage. I hadn't read it in more than 20 years, but you're right - it's an example: https://t.co/uu3OOKfUgU 2021-02-27 23:15:39 Let me make that last question more precise: who else on Twitter actively works on this theme? 2021-02-27 23:12:40 In other words, it required an extraordinary combination of skills. What other examples are there of this? And in particular: who else does this kind of work? Who else on Twitter is interested in this theme? 2021-02-27 23:12:39 It's a curious piece, easy to take for granted. But think of the range of skills it combines. Sagan was an outstanding scientist - enough to have the stature on the Voyager team to turn the camera around to take the photo 2021-02-27 23:12:38 ... I've noticed in many scientific writings I admire is a seeming aloofness toward humanity, sometimes even the writer's own humanity. And I'd like to know of more which have both great scientific depth & 2021-02-27 16:36:56 And more briefly: https://t.co/G7kODoS3Sn 2021-02-27 16:34:37 @CorneliusRoemer Thanks! 2021-02-27 16:34:26 @orzelc Thanks! 2021-02-27 16:34:11 @talkrz Thanks! 2021-02-27 16:34:03 @steinly0 Thanks! 2021-02-27 16:33:53 Also: https://t.co/TAde83l3cn 2021-02-27 16:33:05 Thank you - several people (thanks @CorneliusRoemer @orzelc ) pointing out that this is inverse beta decay, eg: https://t.co/CD2QBytm2P 2021-02-27 16:29:32 @CorneliusRoemer Ah, thank you, that's very helpful. Also, it hadn't occurred to me to make the (obvious!) connection to beta decay, which I do recall at least a little. 2021-02-27 16:20:29 Which sounds sorta plausible. But a proton is composed of two up quarks and a down quark Is it right to think that somehow electron + up quark -> 2021-02-27 16:20:28 Curious [and showing my ignorance of particle physics]: I've often heard it said that in neutron stars, electrons are crushed into the nucleus of the atom, where they merge with protons to form neutrons. 2021-02-27 15:21:26 @matt_howlett @JamesClear So many people working tremendously hard in service of goals that don't much matter, and where they're either too tired or lack the perspective to notice and improve their life. Ofc the original tweet has considerable truth: it's also a bad mistake to _not try hard enough_. 2021-02-27 15:19:29 @matt_howlett @JamesClear I've watched a lot of people - including myself - work very very hard. Enough that we don't grow in other ways, don't get enough rest, become too anxious about achieving goals, and get too wrapped in goals to the point of not noticing the goals themselves need to change. 2021-02-27 15:04:30 @JamesClear Learning the ways this advice fails - and can be immensely destructive - is one of the most useful things I have ever done. I've found this an oddly helpful reminder: https://t.co/LBeesUu9nG 2021-02-27 06:00:37 One of my favorite lines from Lois Bujold's "A Civil Campaign". Not quite the way to introduce one's intended to the parents... https://t.co/sGfNR8cLZW 2021-02-27 03:53:25 @explicanda @MatjazLeonardis This is surprisingly hard for anything non obvious 2021-02-26 17:36:53 @wtgowers @littmath Oops, I voted for the wrong option! 2021-02-26 03:29:27 @Scholars_Stage Great piece - thank you for being careful in pulling apart the many aspects. 2021-02-26 02:57:51 @KevinSimler That was excellent. Thanks for pointing it out. 2021-02-26 01:16:07 @littmath Too much of the thread went over my head :-) 2021-02-26 00:56:48 @______1_____0 @Aella_Girl In 12 minutes, 20 people have answered "yes". So it seems like a $200 / month question, with the amount likely to rise a lot. 2021-02-26 00:42:06 @AmandaLeftCoast Yes, it is! First time I've spent much time in SD County, and it's been enchanting! I visited La Jolla for a week a year ago, and that was amazing too. Tangential, but SD County has one of my favourite museums in the world: the Midway. A recent footnote: https://t.co/xV4AFhnqBa 2021-02-26 00:36:16 @AmandaLeftCoast Oceanside, not Oceanview(!) 2021-02-26 00:35:33 @AmandaLeftCoast The one under the pier? Thanks! It's Oceanview, north of San Diego. 2021-02-26 00:32:21 https://t.co/vUKQhPqGbd 2021-02-26 00:28:04 @littmath Substituting, we get: R = 2(2R+1)+1 = 4R+3 = 4(2R+1)+ 3 = 8R+7 etc In general, R = -1 mod 2n :-) 2021-02-25 23:28:08 @sashachapin @DistractedAnna Funny how disconnected subcultures are: I’ve no idea who you’re alluding to? 2021-02-25 23:23:46 @ulkar_aghayeva @BradyHaran @HelloInternetFM Adelaide’s lovely! Where my Dad went to high school! 2021-02-25 22:48:17 @brianluidog Not sure it's still true in the pandemic, but I also enjoy that lots of cafes will still be open at 10pm, and some won't really get popular until much later. In the US cafes typically shut down late afternoon or early evening. 2021-02-25 22:15:18 I really enjoyed this thread of observations about Sydney and Australia. https://t.co/1LzmJk2Puu 2021-02-25 22:13:21 @brianluidog Yes. Coffee and cafe culture in Oz is great, though! 2021-02-25 22:11:22 @brianluidog I love cockatoos! Enjoying your thread a lot though! 2021-02-25 20:41:12 @nellfallcard @juliagalef I considered both carefully before replying. Also the meaning of broadening horizons. But I believe we’d overlap enough that no clarification was necessary. 2021-02-25 06:53:13 Inspired in part by @LauraDeming on the biological flywheel: https://t.co/i4U9kWMeBK & https://t.co/xuVSPPwvKu ) 2021-02-25 06:45:45 @z_chiang @LauraDeming Incidentally, and just to go back to your point, I wasn't arguing that microscopes were especially well suited to building biological tools 2021-02-25 06:44:25 @z_chiang @LauraDeming There's some similarity to the cosmic distance ladder in astronomy, though there it isn't really discovery that is enabled, rather it's calibration. Terry Tao has a lovely lecture on it, which I think he was planning to turn into a book. Slides: https://t.co/HV0cBZBjXi 2021-02-25 06:39:41 @z_chiang @LauraDeming I love the essay - it was partially talking with Laura that has me looking for flywheels everywhere. Historically, I suspect you could simply map out a tonne of microscopes in a network, explaining how each was the result of insights from previous microscopes. 2021-02-25 06:05:46 @z_chiang Eg: using x-ray crystallography (& 2021-02-25 03:06:16 @juliagalef I wonder to what extent this is a self-fulfilling prophecy? Or, alternately, wishful thinking on my part :-) [I very much doubt it, but, of course, that's the point of wishful thinking...] 2021-02-25 02:18:58 Curious: reading many papers about microscopy techniques. And noticing a microscopy flywheel: new techniques let us see better One recent eg (of many): https://t.co/iWd1CfBo5e https://t.co/r6eMJm72bF 2021-02-25 00:59:11 @nwilliams030 Hmm. Reliable sources (I googled it & 2021-02-25 00:41:45 @juliagalef @mindspillage It was very special. We went off the beaten path too - didn't see another human. Highly recommended! (6 days, IIRC, to be pedantic.) 2021-02-25 00:37:22 @mindspillage @juliagalef "noticeably happier and more creative" is very inadequate here. It's the problem with reducing to language something whose main benefits seem inarticulable to me. 2021-02-25 00:36:23 @mindspillage @juliagalef Many other experiences like this where immersion seems to me the key element. I've been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon a half dozen times - very similar. Indeed, I spent a week down there once, and that was different again. Ditto many other experiences. 2021-02-25 00:34:57 @mindspillage @juliagalef Yes. Eg: I sometimes (pre-pandemic) would spend a day working in an art museum, simply for the immersion. I noticed decades ago that simply _not thinking_ while in a gallery would make me noticeably happier and more creative for days or weeks after. 2021-02-25 00:30:11 @stuartbuck1 @juliagalef I hadn't seen this! Look forward to reading it! 2021-02-25 00:28:57 @juliagalef As for point 2, I won't argue, but will note that (unsurprisingly) I have a very different opinion. Not necessarily of the "in principle" question. But as a practical matter many of the most important things are very hard to measure. 2021-02-25 00:28:11 @juliagalef I won't speak for others, but travel has been one of the most important and highest growth experiences in my life. 2021-02-25 00:16:53 @juliagalef Someone once told me "travel is the only education". It's too strong... but has a kernel of truth. [I thought it was @tylercowen, but asked him, and he said no.] 2021-02-25 00:15:03 @juliagalef (An amusing logical feature of this line of argument: in some sense it's making the case that the weaker the argument is, the stronger it is.) 2021-02-25 00:14:10 @juliagalef If it makes you feel any better: I think your original tweet is very wrong Though the most important concrete things you get from travel are inarticulable, and so hard to argue. It's very much a "what's it like to be a bat?" situation. 2021-02-24 20:00:47 Friends in Brisbane and Australia - watch out for @fastdotai, coming (soon-ish?) to a location near you https://t.co/qQvDGLUORL 2021-02-24 19:53:34 @emiyazono @museogalileo Oh I haven’t, thanks! 2021-02-24 19:46:57 @jeremyphoward @fastdotai Congrats on the move. As someone who grew up there, Brisbane is such a great place to live! 2021-02-24 19:22:34 @OptimistsInc Oceanside, just north of San Diego 2021-02-24 19:22:00 @ZoeMcLaren @Bloomberg @business @FT Thanks for writing this - very informative! 2021-02-24 17:53:47 Surprised how much more I exercise when I really love my surroundings! https://t.co/lDaaOWa8jC 2021-02-24 16:46:10 @AdamMarblestone @Ben_Reinhardt Thanks Adam, this looks great! 2021-02-24 04:56:45 @andy_matuschak Thanks Andy! 2021-02-24 03:38:31 @vijay_mocherla @TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @ManuPra18599785 No worries - I appreciate the thoughtful link. 2021-02-24 03:16:30 @Meaningness Nice, thanks! 2021-02-24 03:12:54 Fun to think about what the ultimate limits to microscopy are - speed 2021-02-24 03:08:24 One fun thing to realize while writing the notes: the STM tip doesn't have an analogue in optical microscopes. Indeed, the lens in an optical microscope is perhaps most analogous to the amplifier (I presume some kind of transistor, though I didn't check) in an STM. 2021-02-24 03:08:23 Basically: I realized I understand very poorly how most types of microscope worked. So I thought I'd dig in and try to understand a little about one really interesting class - STMs. 2021-02-24 03:06:01 Rough working notes: "How do scanning tunneling microscopes work?" https://t.co/gBmS5fWXfN 2021-02-24 02:56:15 @JesseGalef @juliagalef I'll take option 2! https://t.co/S4P2wGkh2f 2021-02-24 02:53:36 "If one is convinced that philosophy of science can have a fruitful dialogue with the sciences, how may this dialogue be facilitated in practice?" Notably missing from their list: get MC Hammer to tweet about it! https://t.co/XcLxPSCyGP 2021-02-24 02:52:09 This is quite interesting as a conclusion. I'm not sure how strongly their data supports it - you'd want to show that phil-sci papers are helping drive progress in the other fields, and I'm not sure they show that. https://t.co/1kl4YTBVwK 2021-02-24 02:48:18 @juliagalef So, the way probability works, that means there's a 25% chance it's Christian tradwife lesbian cottagecore propaganda? Right? 2021-02-24 02:41:52 @The_Lagrangian Yeah, that was one of the most interesting things I learned from the paper. Physics still seems disproportionately represented, but less so than I would have guessed! 2021-02-24 02:38:31 This is a fun graph too, showing network of authors of highly-cited philosophy of science articles. I see John Bell, David Wallace, and @chdbennett, among others. https://t.co/ooE2lKPtrc 2021-02-24 02:38:29 I really wasn't expecting MC Hammer to become a source for ongoing research projects. But, well, here we are. This graph is striking, showing the share of citations to philosophy of science papers from other fields. https://t.co/WQD6hy1ari https://t.co/bVqOGZD4A1 2021-02-23 23:05:43 And a direct link to the first six chapters of the notes: https://t.co/LcTbST2YMA 2021-02-23 23:04:18 Lecture notes may be found here: https://t.co/xiqOPLWYHr 2021-02-23 22:54:56 @NickParkerPrint Very interesting question - possibly, though I don't have a strong instinct one way or the other. 2021-02-23 22:39:05 @DavidDeutschOxf I found (& "Just" 12km down, but many fascinating finds. 2021-02-23 22:33:42 @DavidDeutschOxf With the refrigerator possibly powered by another star... 2021-02-23 22:12:45 There's a norm against anything that seems like flattery. But to hell with that norm: @preskill has an incredibly broad and deep view of physics (and of quantum computing), _and_ he's a superb writer and speaker. So if you've got the technical background, go watch! 2021-02-23 22:06:51 . @preskill's lecture notes on quantum computing are absolutely marvelous. Now there's videos to go along with! (Technical, needs a little background in physics.) https://t.co/c9pZW83iui 2021-02-23 21:55:22 @djspiewak @mattmight It's something of an edge case - AFAIK it likely was never (quite) massive enough to have fusion going on, but did form in a manner more like to a star than a planet. Kind of intermediate between a planet and a star. https://t.co/epUvePuMkh 2021-02-23 21:24:53 @Meaningness Sounds like the 11th province of Canada. (Proud Canadian-Australian ) 2021-02-23 21:12:55 Wikipedia's list of the coldest known surface temperatures for stars. For comparison, Tungsten's melting point is 3700 K. [Interesting to think about whether a probe to the surface of a star will ever be possible.] https://t.co/NWHx6PDZi1 2021-02-23 05:36:38 @librarythingtim There's a reason I'm divorced. 2021-02-23 05:28:37 Striking: it comes out at just over 10 hours per month. Which... isn't that much time. I suspect for many they spend much more time in scientific conversation + seminars + conferences. 2021-02-23 05:21:56 (Reading is not a monolithic activity, an action one takes, but a rather complicated and ever-changing network of meaning-making activities.) 2021-02-23 05:20:50 The reading habits of scientists: https://t.co/LyO91wGL9U Very limited, but sort of fascinating. Of course, who knows what is meant by "reading". I read most papers in < 2021-02-23 04:30:43 @robinsloan I see I missed a dialogue. 2021-02-23 04:29:10 @chiefofstuffs @tylercowen This is wonderful to hear! And thank you for sharing! 2021-02-23 04:26:13 @sbkaufman I believe Carl Sagan came close. E.g.: https://t.co/MyNQusKbZc 2021-02-23 04:22:31 @Julian I looked once through all the bios of people on a list of many of my favorite tweeters. They weren't short, but many of the bios were unusually thoughtful and striking, not just laundry lists of accomplishments. 2021-02-23 03:47:06 @zenahitz Nice! Funny how the world works. 2021-02-23 03:43:09 @chiefofstuffs Curious: what happened? And in what sense do you mean it "increased your ambitions"? 2021-02-23 03:41:44 @michelletandler Confused! Which I guess is option 3. 2021-02-23 03:27:06 @chiefofstuffs Curious: how easy is it to imagine that remained you? Was it a close call / could have gone either way? 2021-02-23 00:54:09 @benskuhn Interesting to hear this from inside, so to speak. I often wonder the same about all the (other) supposedly secure systems. I suspect the best way to secure a system is to take it off the internet entirely. [Obv, still not enough, but a good start!] 2021-02-22 22:14:12 @DominicLavelle1 What's a party? 2021-02-22 22:08:46 Do you believe fungi are more closely related to: 2021-02-22 22:06:30 @add_hawk This is a wonderful thoughtful thread. Thanks. 2021-02-22 21:08:46 Some very recent attempts (Jan 2021!) at calculations from the ground up: (via @AdamMarblestone & 2021-02-22 21:05:59 @AdamMarblestone @chrisjorg_1 @pfau @Ben_Reinhardt @gravity_levity Ah, nice, thanks! 2021-02-22 20:50:03 @ChanaMessinger @oscredwin Thanks for collecting & 2021-02-22 20:27:14 @ChanaMessinger Cautious about what this means in practice, but just taking it at face value, that seems like a huge relief! 2021-02-22 01:38:17 Anti marketing FTW! Very curious about this!!! Frank brought the world the paperclip maximizer game. Consider yourself warned! https://t.co/C5Hyn7g8QT 2021-02-22 01:33:17 @tommycollison Perhaps a faculty member somewhere the great books are a central part of the program. @zenahitz maybe? 2021-02-22 01:30:31 @willlowthewhisp Must be convenient if you’re actually a demon! I mean... the demon realm is presumably exactly where the demons they love hang out! I’ll show myself out. 2021-02-21 22:21:59 @SimonDeDeo @jim_rutt Ruby needs 10 Gig? We've come a long way from the Smalltalk VM... I'm partly pleased by this. You can have the von Neumannesque "why would anyone need anything other than machine code" point of view. Or you can embrace more and more capable layers of abstraction... 2021-02-21 18:13:54 @imperialauditor Well, provided the reduction is very nice. If solving 3-SAT requires an n700 algorithm it's probably not going to help much... 2021-02-21 18:12:46 @DKThomp Maybe. Federer had 17 in 2012 at 31! Here's the runup of dominance Federer had in getting to 16. Winning 3 Grand Slams is _really really hard_. And by your accounting, Djokovic needs at least 4 more, maybe 5 or 6. Means he needs more than Andy Murray's total haul! https://t.co/AhJGVOAhC3 2021-02-21 16:44:45 @KevinSimler @s_r_constantin Did you ask Sarah? That seems like a very efficient search mechanism! Although I guess it depends on whether you model the question as a cost or a benefit to her 2021-02-21 15:49:31 @dela3499 @DavidDeutschOxf It's tangential, but a fun question from @brembs, years ago: what would it take for you to regard evolution-by-natural-selection as basically incorrect or fundamentally inadequate? (Ideas like punctuated equilibrium count as mere elaborations) (Any misstatement is mine, not his) 2021-02-21 15:42:02 @dela3499 @DavidDeutschOxf Ah, I like this (and it seems related to David's point) - cranks as stimuli to consider things from an unusual point of view! Even if their reasoning is wrong, the change of perspective is perhaps good for our thinking... 2021-02-21 15:40:12 @DavidDeutschOxf Interesting. It may in part be a question of type. Many cranks I barely understand at all - if there's an internal logic to their thoughts, it escapes me. Others - von Daniken or Velikovsky may be examples - seem quite different, and more interesting in your sense 2021-02-21 15:35:11 The trouble with NP, of course, is that we don't know how to do much better than brute force search for solutions to some NP-complete problems. This is _also_ how it feels to be writing, sometimes. 2021-02-21 15:32:35 @gravity_levity How we see depends on how we think. You don't get telescopes without some theory - albeit, initially, a very rough folk understanding - of how light moves through glass [I don't disagree. I just think seeing and theory are totally intertwined. Kuhn et al were right about that.] 2021-02-21 15:29:22 @jim_rutt @SimonDeDeo Oh, that's fun to think about! A few things we would give up: no SpaceX. Oil prices would be far higher (exploration is now very signals intensive, as you probably know). No prospect of self-driving cars. Maybe(?): a big increase in cost of logistics / supply-chain management 2021-02-21 15:22:12 I suppose this is why they have judges and oversight. Perelman declined the prize for Poincare, I believe in part on the grounds that Hamilton deserved also to be recognized. 2021-02-21 15:20:43 @DavidDeutschOxf Very curious about your first paragraph, David - what's the reason? I have a large collection of crank email - I'm sure you do too. But I don't feel I've gained much from it, except perhaps some thoughts about psychology and sociology. 2021-02-21 15:17:13 I sometimes think of the difference between reading and writing as the difference between the complexity classes P and NP. Of course, NP _contains_ P, for a very good reason... https://t.co/uPhae0nUkJ 2021-02-21 15:15:56 What an amusing hypothetical edge case. Ratcheting up: imagine someone proving all six remaining problems to be equivalent. And then someone solves one of them Who gets the money, and how much... https://t.co/OOaSRtZwsw 2021-02-20 15:14:12 @SimonDeDeo This is excellent, from John Carmack: https://t.co/2ctIQ0npBF 2021-02-20 01:31:12 @willlowthewhisp Lots of delightful stories! I heard in a credible source that baboons will sit down, put their arms around one another, and watch the sun go down I am not seeking disconfirming evidence for this story! 2021-02-19 18:56:30 @PaulRoales @paulg The aptly named Tether was director for 8 IIRC. Nominative determinism FTW. 2021-02-19 18:33:41 @JmsDnns @paulg It’s a little longer I believe. I don’t have good data. 3-5 years is often quoted. 2021-02-19 18:32:53 @SuMastodon @sarah_cone @paulg I’m not sure why it’s true. Process may be part or all or none of it. 2021-02-19 18:29:12 @paulg So the average director tenure is 3 years, for instance. The first 6 were all 1 to 3 years. I find this fascinating, and under discussed. Sort of the opposite of the founder-ceo thesis common in startups 2021-02-19 18:21:34 @paulg A curious fact about DARPA: both the directors and the Program Managers are there only briefly. It’s not relying continually on particular unique individuals. Eg: https://t.co/3j8uAV2UOo 2021-02-19 13:46:17 @HyperboIeva I like this, from Doron Zeilberger: https://t.co/cooYbTmWkb 2021-02-19 03:56:24 Much more true still of some types of conversation (after the fact) 2021-02-19 03:52:39 @ambimorph But there’s definitely an 80-20 pattern, too - if I can learn 1-3 important things from a talk that’s fantastic! 2021-02-19 03:51:24 @ambimorph Taking quick notes and digesting into Anki later is sometimes a good pattern 2021-02-19 03:41:31 @ProfArbel No. 2021-02-19 03:40:04 @udayrsingh I haven’t had a problem. Don’t remember my handle I’m afraid! 2021-02-19 03:39:00 @ambimorph I don’t really need to keep up. Happy to learn important things at a good rate, even if I miss much. 2021-02-19 03:27:41 I ankify at a high rate things learned in high quality Clubhouse rooms. (Even more true of conferences and talks.) 2021-02-18 22:54:23 @cstross @minney_cat @doctorow My apologies for the typo - my phone autocorrects your name in an unfortunate way, and I only just noticed 2021-02-18 21:00:42 So so good. Humanity is awesome. 2021-02-18 20:56:35 @MasonHargrave Me too 2021-02-18 20:52:14 I love how giddy they all are! 2021-02-18 20:47:57 Light speed is frustratingly slow sometimes... 2021-02-18 20:47:12 Here we go! 90 secs... https://t.co/S4QfdBpdt9 2021-02-18 17:51:52 @seattlechunny @jennykaehms Very true. Taste is kind of a multiplier on execution. (Riffing on Derek Sivers.) 2021-02-18 17:50:27 @minney_cat Charles Stress’s book Accelerando explored some ideas in this vein. So did Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Both are pretty good, if you haven’t read them, and like that kind of thing 2021-02-18 17:10:42 @jennykaehms Sounds like a good practice! 2021-02-18 16:23:13 @DavidPerrott_ You can have both to at least some extent. I will sometimes choose to pursue goals in ways that are more enjoyable than the “more efficient” approach 2021-02-18 16:11:44 @celinehalioua @context_ing I am very slowly learning to do that! Glad it’s working for you! 2021-02-18 15:41:45 @S_Flammia @nattyover *in 2021-02-18 15:33:52 @S_Flammia @nattyover Problems often go on and out of fashion. “Oh that was the 3 years lots of people were working on X because of that paper by Y” 2021-02-18 15:28:51 @jennykaehms Curious: how do you develop taste? 2021-02-18 15:28:06 @jennykaehms Love that kind of thing! 2021-02-18 15:27:26 @jennykaehms Totally changed the way I saw those lots! And made me appreciate certain design features. This is an extreme example! More conventional: Julian Barnes has a lovely essay where he explains Gericault’s Raft. He explains exactly how it’s constructed, helping you see. 2021-02-18 15:25:18 @jennykaehms ... shopping mall parking lots in Toronto. I am not making this up. She explained that in certain malls at certain times there was a bbq culture in the lots - families would gather, they’d cook together and so on. 2021-02-18 15:23:34 @jennykaehms On developing taste it’s (obviously) a complicated question. One thing I love, though, is when a friend explains something to me in such a way it expands my taste. Eg a friend once explained to me how much she enjoyed... 2021-02-18 15:13:43 @jennykaehms Yup. I keep relearning it. 2021-02-18 14:55:13 @Marco_Piani @Jess_Riedel Yup, very common. Or that makes you bored. People quite often seem unaware when they're bored by something that they're doing in service of a goal. 2021-02-18 14:42:21 Goal-oriented people - I am one - often suppress their own taste & "Whatever it takes", as they do they do the mundane in service of goals This seems fine, some of the time, but done all the time damages yr taste & 2021-02-18 06:22:00 @david_perell @KevinSimler Curious: what do you _like_ to do? Not what you feel you should do, or which is connected to ambition? But what is just good? 2021-02-18 06:09:20 @context_ing Interesting - reading that, he clearly thinks of writing as a means primarily of communication, not of thought. For me it's primarily a way to think better thoughts. 2021-02-18 06:07:57 @context_ing Great stuff. Though sometimes writing is (reasonably) more for the writer. It's a tool to think with. 2021-02-18 05:53:26 It's only approximately correct. Often you cut some of your best sentences for structural reasons - they don't quite fit - and leave other weaker sentences in (which do fit). But there's more than a grain of truth to it. Also true of paragraphs, sections, & 2021-02-18 05:42:13 From her book "Thinking Like Your Editor", which was insightful. 2021-02-18 05:39:05 I really like the heuristic. It's also rather helpful when reminding myself to cut material I like! 2021-02-18 05:35:35 The literary agent Susan Rabiner observes that the quality of writing is related to the quality of the best sentences you cut If those sentences were just okay, then your piece will only be a bit better than okay. But if they were excellent your piece has a chance at being great https://t.co/bYJRrkoqjK 2021-02-18 02:18:52 @flaviofts Curious: what is this? Very beautiful! 2021-02-18 00:29:26 (Posting screenshots from instagram because my phone/camera is elsewhere!) 2021-02-18 00:16:01 And from the end of the pier, early in the morning, a pod of dolphins: https://t.co/Gc6qQVaDHf 2021-02-17 17:44:19 @patrickc They say you should tear a good book apart, and really digest it. Looks like things are going well at chez Collison! 2021-02-17 17:31:34 @espiers I read every word. 2021-02-17 17:26:43 @espiers Why are you writing to defend a piece full of distortions and misrepresentations that (at best) bordered on outright lying? You don't acknowledge this - it's as though it doesn't matter. 2021-02-17 15:02:11 @michael_murph @willlowthewhisp Never let a good joke go to waste! 2021-02-17 14:16:06 @MarkWhiting @nrmarda @LibraryThing It's been 8 years. Amazon isn't going to do anything with Goodreads. 2021-02-17 03:10:35 (In retrospect he was very generous and gracious, all round.) 2021-02-16 23:49:40 This tweet and the replies are just great! When I was a grad student a well known physicist spent hours explaining his current work to me. The next morning I had a “great idea” and rushed to explain it to him. He was polite but bemused (I was explaining his idea back to him) https://t.co/wHRksMP1qR 2021-02-16 15:26:13 @ChrKroer I didn't read it as meaning you should _only_ do short one-offs. Just that he desires to much more easily do occasional quick one-offs this way. 2021-02-16 14:59:08 @AlexKontorovich @juliagalef They were still going when I walked by again several hours later. Forever endeared me. 2021-02-16 14:58:47 @AlexKontorovich @juliagalef :-). I once saw a different Fields medallist leave a lecture early. Next day I happened to be in the hall outside the lecturer's office when said medallist knocked on the door & 2021-02-16 14:54:34 @juliagalef Thanks for the clarification! 2021-02-16 14:47:55 @juliagalef Curious why you tolerate it? It seems to me like life is too short to spend on often-rude people. For one thing, I find it corrupting - I notice if I spend time with rude or mean people I'm more likely to be rude or mean later. I really want to avoid that! 2021-02-16 13:53:09 @thomasforth I guess you could have said that your tweet was "MySQL" to the thread... 2021-02-16 13:22:10 @willlowthewhisp Quite. I wouldn't want to have been speaking after him on the program. It'd be a little anti-climactic: "Ladies and gentlemen, unlike the previous speaker, I'm doing just fine this afternoon. Maybe coming down with a slight cough." 2021-02-16 12:13:52 @jamesagreenleaf Neither is remotely this. 2021-02-16 05:22:42 @BrianTHeligman Sounds like it succeeded! I can't imagine she wrote it other than to make people very uncomfortable. I think of it very often. 2021-02-16 05:21:45 @MatjazLeonardis Great questions! How is scarcity managed is a good one, too, I think. 2021-02-16 05:17:53 @DrugGovoruna Ah, thanks. 2021-02-16 05:16:29 Incidentally, there is a striking novella by Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", that explores a very different version of my premise above. Recommended, though I found it haunting https://t.co/cMIlyEA7Dr 2021-02-16 05:11:11 A useful clarification: https://t.co/8tRMY55jrU 2021-02-16 05:09:45 @kcimc Interesting post! Thanks for sharing! 2021-02-16 05:04:36 @DrugGovoruna Sounds completely unrelated. 2021-02-16 05:04:00 Something I find fascinating is the way our notion of progress itself keeps being reinvented. Greatly improved suffrage & 2021-02-16 04:59:24 . @timoreilly said it well about the pursuit of money, and the same is true of GDP and technology: it's a means, not an end. https://t.co/jv8PVCUU1X 2021-02-16 04:59:23 I'd enjoy a science fiction novel exploring the (wild) premise of a world in which every single human being was loved and cared for and respected their entire life, and found great meaning in their lives and community. 2021-02-16 04:37:24 I should perhaps say that accepting it uncritically is a bad idea - lognormals (like many distributions) often get cut off. So the conclusion could be wildly wrong. But it's a fun generative idea, and leads you to think about such cutoffs, which is itself interesting. 2021-02-16 04:30:32 Pretty remarkable: we actually know a great deal about the equation of state inside neutron stars: https://t.co/BJJKznuaB1 (In this case, the mass is so large that a quark soup, hyperon, or kaon condensate can't support the star, and so it's likely a sea of neutrons, IIUC). https://t.co/fba4JeGGXO 2021-02-16 04:25:55 @aaronzlewis I love "Dark Knight", but my favorite Nolan is probably the teaser trailer for Interstellar! Which sounds corny, but is true: https://t.co/ot6AAKlaJV 2021-02-16 04:22:53 Hmm. I have a penchant for unusual Christmas trees. This sounds like a fun idea for next Christmas: https://t.co/rohd6oSYY8 2021-02-16 04:21:43 If you don't know how the discovery was made, it's worth pondering how that could possibly be true! 2021-02-16 04:21:09 A marvelous paragraph about Mendeleev's evangelism of the periodic table, and containing one of my favorite facts about scientific history - a fact I learned at 14, IIRC, to my very great astonishment - that helium was discovered first on the sun, rather than on earth(!) https://t.co/od2E03g1rR 2021-02-16 04:10:34 This is a fascinating extrapolative model: https://t.co/9Qe9Y7Uxiv https://t.co/4KX7EX9P11 2021-02-16 04:07:51 https://t.co/BuVUthk2CF 2021-02-16 04:06:22 On the rise of design sciences: https://t.co/GFFJ9xKfYf https://t.co/pp3A2VinAc 2021-02-15 20:44:55 @alangrow That was great. “It is not significant” 2021-02-15 20:40:26 Also: TIL is possibly my favorite acronym produced by the internet. 2021-02-15 20:34:42 TIL Teddy Roosevelt gave a 90 minute speech immediately after being shot: https://t.co/S9QjQ07SG7 The speech was entitled “Progressive cause greater than any individual” Talk about living your values! 2021-02-15 20:29:35 @patio11 CA has moved from 30+ days of vaccine on hand to 10 days of vaccine on hand. In about a month. It’d certainly be good to do better, but that’s also real progress, and it seems worth acknowledging that some things are working 2021-02-15 20:25:59 @patio11 Let me correct that: Very good is “we’re out of vaccine”, most of the time. Ie the bottleneck is purely supply. 2021-02-15 20:21:55 @patio11 My guess: it’ll get to about 5-7 days. I’d consider 2-3 very good. Of course we should do better still, but it’s not trivial 2021-02-15 20:18:56 @patio11 Isn’t the main constraint now vaccine supply (in the us), not distribution? CA has about 10 days supply on hand. That’s too high still, but it’s been coming down rapidly, and approaching “pretty good” 2021-02-15 20:11:26 I enjoyed this short profile of @caroshawmusic “Today, classical music is alternative” https://t.co/K6yevRRQWq 2021-02-15 18:33:40 Amusing to imagine this used in advertising for the movie: “Not a good first-date movie. Good second-marriage movie.” https://t.co/7loheOLZx6 2021-02-14 04:28:00 @KellerScholl Lovely observation! Reminds me of a scene 30 years later, Miles to Aral: https://t.co/jNGeazYb87 2021-02-14 04:16:20 @ihnorton My understanding - maybe I'm wrong - is that the state has a dedicated partnership with long-term care facilities that has been used to vaccinate a million elderly people in CA. This is supplementary to that (and to those people obtaining the vaccine in other ways, of course). 2021-02-14 04:06:17 @uncatherio Great books, both unlike anything else! 2021-02-14 04:05:09 I don't follow SF politics much, or have particularly strong opinions about it. But I must say I've appreciated what I've seen of London Breed's clear, no-nonsense style over what's been a challenging (or worse) 12 months for everyone in SF. Thanks. https://t.co/zeRwMJxUs3 2021-02-14 03:10:27 @uncatherio Likewise: any other recs in a similar vein? 2021-02-14 03:10:07 @ulkar_aghayeva What a lovely description! 2021-02-14 03:09:09 @uncatherio Oh! That makes me understand the connection to Bujold: Bujold is also deeply concerned with identity: crises of identity, and how we form identity. I think that's a big part of why I find them similar! 2021-02-14 03:08:29 @uncatherio Cosma Shalizi captures Cherryh at her best well: https://t.co/HgYHkSFFw5 2021-02-14 03:07:38 @uncatherio it does have something of Bujold's incision about human nature. I didn't find it especially easy to read - nearly gave up for the first 150 pages or so, then flew through the rest (and have reread many times). 2021-02-14 03:06:51 @uncatherio Hmm. Nothing quite like Bujold, no For reasons I can't quite articulate, Carolyn Cherry's book "Cyteen" comes to mind, even though it doesn't fit that description (at all!). But... 2021-02-14 03:03:42 @twinfrey Oh! Thank you for the reference! I had no idea! 2021-02-14 03:02:59 RT @artistkandinsky: Couple riding https://t.co/IS7laFS7PP #postimpressionism #wikiart https://t.co/F1JbULNjWj 2021-02-14 02:51:02 One of my favorite passages in all literature. It's in Lois Bujold's sci-fi book "Shards of Honor". The heroine, Cordelia Naismith, has just married Count Aral Vorkosigan. She's being question by his Emperor about why they married. https://t.co/FUt2TbmL6M 2021-02-14 02:44:17 @AmandaLeftCoast It's not all great, no. But there are many people who overflow with grace, IME. One gift of social media is that you can find and follow them. I guess that sounds odd, but I've found it to be true: there are many people who gently elevate all around them. 2021-02-14 02:40:51 @stevesi I'm jesting. Sort of. It is a very weirdly framed article. 2021-02-14 02:34:08 @AmandaLeftCoast I find the whole thing delightful! (Love the second line in your bio: "More grace, please." Yes!) 2021-02-14 02:33:03 @stevesi The NYT article comes surprisingly close to saying that 2014 Silicon Valley was being run by a blogger working as a resident in a Michigan psychiatric unit. [I believe that's when most of the quoted blog posts date to, roughly.] Which is an interesting point of departure. 2021-02-14 02:15:27 @Austen That pretty much nails it. 2021-02-14 02:07:04 @mindspillage Yeah, I feel that too There's something delightful when someone likes one (or several) old tweets you were particularly pleased by! Instant kinship with a person you may not have heard of 30 secs ago. Like finding out they liked the same neighborhood band in high school. 2021-02-14 00:24:17 @kat_slattery @jessicamalonso Thanks! 2021-02-14 00:24:00 @Insect_Song @Austen @Aella_Girl I meant further. I'm aware of his life rearrangements, and thought the threatened doxxing was unreasonable. Like many people, I contacted the reporter last year and asked them not to do it. 2021-02-13 23:58:29 What a remarkable picture. Wish I understood the elements better - e.g., what gives rise to those filament structures? (via @jessicamalonso ) https://t.co/OYhREOfNMk 2021-02-13 23:46:18 Characterizing Mitt Romney as a YOLO type of person gave me a chuckle. (Congrats to these on their courage, especially Lisa Murkowski.) https://t.co/bRzpyaJt9v 2021-02-13 23:37:33 @AlmostMedia @kimmaicutler I agree with you on the (huge) importance of both sectors. But I do think there are underlying reasons for the rivalry between the sectors: they're rivals for customers (particularly advertisers), and for power to influence the future. 2021-02-13 23:34:42 @kimmaicutler This seems likely to remain true while advertisers remain core customers for both, and while power over the future is a core part of why (many) people work in both sectors. 2021-02-13 23:31:59 @kimmaicutler Tech has eaten the 4th estate's lunch, & 2021-02-13 19:01:54 @ATabarrok @tylercowen Incidentally, I find this amusing: another group who understood Covid early: https://t.co/EyOSahQGh6 2021-02-13 19:00:56 @ATabarrok @tylercowen Curious: I don't get much sense that it was Bayes' rule. Just thinking carefully and imaginatively and not rejecting ideas because they seem strange. Was it specifically Bayes' rule? 2021-02-13 18:21:00 @Austen @Aella_Girl I noticed quite a few inaccuracies and misrepresentations. But whatever. I doubt this will have many negative repercussions for anyone but the journalist and the NYT. 2021-02-13 17:16:34 @LindorffLarsen @arghya_dutta_ @yongwangKU This is great, thanks! 2021-02-13 14:44:00 @nachoquique Thank you! 2021-02-13 14:43:45 @pedrobeltrao Thanks! 2021-02-13 14:32:14 @easternblot Thanks Eva - that's really interesting, exactly the kind of thing I _don't_ [currently] see, but which is really striking! 2021-02-13 14:18:41 @olafdreyer Ah, nice. Interesting to hear he has the same problem. 2021-02-13 14:14:28 @LorenaABarba Thanks! 2021-02-13 07:14:05 More in this vein: https://t.co/4Jzi5wE6Fp 2021-02-13 06:57:48 Fantastic! https://t.co/qIcgcUAmq0 2021-02-13 06:42:45 @Meaningness Protons, electrons, and neutrons, arranged in a cunning order, to misquote Douglas Adams. 2021-02-13 06:40:06 I'm enjoying this - revealing the lack of integration of my knowledge of this (yes, I know - indeed I've tweeted about - the multiple solid phases of water, but I didn't connect that to my question!): https://t.co/qKQG9GKFJU 2021-02-13 06:25:50 @arghya_dutta_ @LindorffLarsen Oh, that's really interesting! I'd love to know more! [From his Twitter bio, I imagine it's just a case of "sudo tell me what this protein does" ] 2021-02-13 06:22:04 @Meaningness Which one are you, David? https://t.co/8bdI8syjnn 2021-02-13 06:19:24 It's strange. I know how to write down the Schroedinger equation for many substances (eg water). And a reasonable model coupling to a heat bath. But I don't then know an easy way of seeing when the partition function is non-analytic, & 2021-02-13 05:51:00 For (much) more info on related topics: https://t.co/CngrODGRbO 2021-02-13 05:49:33 Not photoshop. 2021-02-13 05:49:20 This is just an awesome catch from @mcnees: https://t.co/HWo08tV9bg 2021-02-13 05:48:45 @mcnees That is an absolutely amazing catch. 2021-02-13 05:48:18 @LeahProgram Thank you! 2021-02-13 05:34:01 @FBoondoggle No, I'm asking how to see that there are two lines in the phase diagram. 2021-02-13 05:31:36 One poetic thing: the tree of life they develop is a biological analog to Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot. One gets a strong sense of how tiny a position humanity occupies in the Whole Earth Genome. A pale point of genetic possibility 2021-02-13 05:31:35 The tree of life, circa 2015: https://t.co/R1k2Yi2CHP It's a great paper. https://t.co/IFJSu7ySS8 2021-02-13 05:27:26 I see images (or animations) like this one, often - proteins or similar nanomachines. To me they look like blobs - fun to look at, but are they more than eye candy? Is there useful information you can see? Can you learn to really _see_ such images? https://t.co/tfcpfVJoJx 2021-02-13 05:25:00 In particular, if someone says "Hey, there's this molecule, two hydrogens and an oxygen", is there a nice first principles argument for seeing that there are two equilibrium lines in the phase diagram? https://t.co/ok9XJJt3yv 2021-02-13 05:24:59 Curious: what's the easiest first principles way to see that there are two equilibrium lines in the phase diagram for water? (Definitionally, the equilibrium lines are points at which the partition function is non-analytic.) https://t.co/0vIsxnkfRi 2021-02-13 03:28:04 @nick_farina No worries. Thanks. 2021-02-13 03:15:14 @nick_farina @wolfejosh @quantumVerd Sure, that would have been fine. Thanks for the delete. 2021-02-13 03:12:30 @nick_farina @wolfejosh @quantumVerd Please don’t try to draw me into controversy, or put words in my mouth. Thanks. 2021-02-13 01:36:49 @AshtearLucca Geek out over the defs! 2021-02-13 01:31:27 This is extremely unfortunate. Many thanks to @spinespresso for digging into it. https://t.co/lmFTZjZU5c 2021-02-13 01:02:40 @mayli Nah those are good. “In a personal capacity” is the intent, if that makes sense 2021-02-13 00:56:15 @mayli If I’d been thinking clearly I would have asked people to exclude those. So it’s good! 2021-02-13 00:54:47 @mayli I’d love to know, for instance, if anyone’s been to 100+ weddings, other than for professional reasons. I’ll bet there’s a surprising number of people who have 2021-02-13 00:53:05 @mayli Just curiosity. A friend asked me the question earlier today, and I realized I had little idea of the distribution. 2021-02-13 00:43:44 How many weddings have you been to? Include any in which you were a principal, if applicable 2021-02-12 02:49:35 @JamesClear I love that article, and can re-watch and re-watch Messi. But Messi pales beside Don Bradman. Here's the graph of the batting averages of experienced players of test cricket. One of them is not like the others: https://t.co/N8yiPzzjKi 2021-02-11 22:43:05 @DavidDeutschOxf Curious: what would you replace them by? Appointment by congressional caucus, similar to the way the UK and Australia pick their PM? [Not advocating that] 2021-02-11 20:40:19 (It would plausibly reduce corn subsidies - less political pressure for them - and so increase the price of corn syrup, and thus reduce demand.) 2021-02-11 20:35:44 I occasionally wonder if moving the date of the Iowa caucuses back would reduce obesity and save lives? 2021-02-11 17:12:27 A curiosity: is that Danny Hillis in the background? https://t.co/q48AoN9Gg1 2021-02-11 05:33:59 @annaeverette16 Yes! A favorite heuristic of mine: if someone smart and thoughtful explains some action of theirs with a platitude, they're not telling you the real reason. (They may not know it themselves.) 2021-02-11 05:31:41 @stephsmithio Though CH needs to get their scaling act together. And an Android app. 2021-02-11 05:31:11 @stephsmithio Doubt it. It's existential for CH in a way it isn't for Twitter. Unless Dorsey is spending 60+ hours per week on it, I think Clubhouse will beat them in this particular space. 2021-02-11 04:30:41 @grant_mcgrath @MaxCRoser Pardon the google-stalking, but I looked you up. My Mum used to teach at Wilston State School, and my brother played for Grange Thistle! A small world! 2021-02-11 04:17:19 @aaronclauset It will get better. People are vastly better at Twitter now than they were originally [even ignoring 140 -> 2021-02-11 04:15:59 @gregeganSF @metaweta Also imagining a website containing the collected private story ideas of science fiction authors. It sounds amazingly fun to browse, if understandable that it'd be hard to make happen. 2021-02-11 04:14:01 @gregeganSF @metaweta Sounds fun! I rather like the idea that aliens would think of the quasiparticles as fundamental, and only later discover things like the electron. Fun mystery. First contact would also be interesting. Talk about talking past one another! 2021-02-11 04:11:55 Eminem on the ease of rhyming orange, and the way variation in enunciation creates possibility in language: https://t.co/jPqSrvgAnC 2021-02-11 03:58:15 @Neil12790768 @juliagalef Makes me wonder what Eminem would say. One of my favorite videos: Eminem rhyming orange: https://t.co/jPqSrvgAnC 2021-02-11 03:56:09 @grant_mcgrath @MaxCRoser (Also: greetings from a fellow Brisbaneite! Or former, in my case.) 2021-02-11 03:55:27 @grant_mcgrath @MaxCRoser That's very interesting! What did you like about their country (and values and spirituality)? 2021-02-11 03:18:50 @neilfws "bare metal" made me laugh out loud, for real. "It's a feature, not a bug!" 2021-02-11 03:15:07 @mispy11 Probably better just to list things that don't seem like a recent astral codex post :-) (Nice parallel, thanks!) 2021-02-11 03:09:32 Done with Wahl clippers, and a little searching through YouTube on "How to cut your own hair with clippers". A bit of trepidation the first time, but it was actually very easy, and seemed to come out okay. Def advise starting with a #8 or similar, and working way down. 2021-02-11 03:05:51 Discovering DIY clippers has been a surprising personal happiness generator during the pandemic! To my great surprise, I enjoy cutting my own hair. I'm not saying it's a great cut, but I like doing it, & 2021-02-11 03:01:19 @willlowthewhisp Discovering DIY clippers has been a big personal happiness generator during the pandemic! Never going to a barber again. 2021-02-11 02:55:26 @AmandaAskell This is an interesting point in favor of press releases as sources. 2021-02-11 02:52:12 Please don't point out limitations / inaccuracies in the analogy. I'm aware it's far from perfect. 2021-02-11 02:51:09 So much of science is like this - incredibly indirect inference, through multiple layers of abstraction. (I think about a related thing when I take a pill. Curing a disease that way is like painting a house by dropping one tonne of paint on the house from orbit. Astonishing!) https://t.co/eHKOXxF6Bf 2021-02-11 02:42:01 @SeamusBlackley @WKCosmo Looking at the quote tweets gives this, which is just lovely! https://t.co/mBRjS8wR42 2021-02-11 01:03:38 @kendrictonn Ah, right. 2021-02-11 01:01:07 @kendrictonn Not sure I'm not missing your point - I haven't read the Faulkner. But I assume Faulkner's title is a reference to: https://t.co/upshtrCHlZ 2021-02-10 19:52:54 @cartoon_magoo @zeynep @paulg That's a particularly egregious example, but there are others. And it's a way of building deep distrust of institutions. 2021-02-10 19:51:11 @cartoon_magoo @zeynep @paulg Look at examples like this: https://t.co/8je4IwNSQm tldr: the CDC offered to provide free healthcare to a group of African-American men 2021-02-10 16:14:49 @MaxCRoser They're certainly doing their best to make the month inauspicious. 2021-02-10 16:13:55 @TrevMcKendrick @paulg A friend of mine will almost visibly shift modes. An hour of unrestrained, wildly generative, anything goes, followed by an hour of very skeptical "do we have anything here of lasting value?" Most researchers are a little less sharply delineated. 2021-02-10 16:10:47 @TrevMcKendrick @paulg Fun question in research as well. I hope you don't mind if I give my answer there: Long-term you need to be extremely optimistic. Short-term you alternate optimism with pessimism in an almost fractally nested way. 2021-02-10 04:28:29 @jamescham @minney_cat @jasonylee_ @jubileemedia Oh, I hadn’t seen that. Looks great! 2021-02-10 04:03:27 @minney_cat @jasonylee_ @jubileemedia Tangential, but Bruce Lee's "Be Water My Friend" monologue is just great: https://t.co/CQrnYr7Htc (Very interesting theatrical study, IMO.) 2021-02-10 03:55:41 @PrinceVogel @salaciousgreen @heckinwild Interesting to think of parallels. I suspect Frank Herbert's Kwisatz Haderach (& 2021-02-10 02:55:31 San Francisco vaccine data tracker: https://t.co/WhWTOU5oY4 (Rapidly approaching 5k doses per day. At 10k doses per day we'd fully vaccinate 75% of the adult population in a little under 4 months.) https://t.co/rjGekHGYjd 2021-02-10 01:00:33 @seanrose The horror. 2021-02-10 00:56:56 @davidtlang Newton, arguably Darwin, Einstein, quantum mechanics, Watson & 2021-02-09 06:35:40 @waitbutwhy No artificial scarcities! 2021-02-09 06:24:00 @lfschiavo Very beautiful! 2021-02-09 06:05:55 @lfschiavo Curious: what is it? 2021-02-08 22:54:05 @OckTomi Soft errors occur 1 per 10^10 bits per 10^5 seconds, give or take a few orders of magnitude. For that particular bit to be flipped at that exact moment is something like a 1 in 10^15 event (very roughly). 2021-02-08 22:48:29 @neilfws This is great. Presumably convergent evolution of a sorts... 2021-02-08 22:45:52 (I honestly don't believe this, I'm afraid. But it's a great story.) 2021-02-08 22:44:08 Be the ionizing particle you want to see in the world. https://t.co/tqgoyNIxCc 2021-02-08 22:43:35 @FrankWilczek @betsythedevine Looks like the 2008 housing crash. 2021-02-08 22:39:56 @kaznatcheev I have a soft spot for really negative reviews that make one or more very good points. Makes it sting much less. 2021-02-08 22:29:11 One way of thinking is: you should be thinking in terms of phylogeny. Classification - even classification based on genomes - is really an intermediate step. Where things are on the tree of life is the more fundamental thing. 2021-02-08 22:26:31 Interesting reviewing responses. Lots of different proposed definitions. Several variations on "you don't need definitions" or "this is an outmoded / the wrong way of thinking". A mess. So: very interesting! Thank you all who have responded. 2021-02-08 22:24:53 @emmaconcepts Yes, I use one to sleep. Surprisingly helpful in a noisy environment [first used one in Manhattan]! Or even not-so-noisy. 2021-02-08 22:22:30 @chercher_ai The term "eukaryote" is used frequently in biology papers. Yet the definition often seems to be rather vague. I'd like to know what it means. 2021-02-08 22:12:53 Honestly, it's 100x watching a Marvel movie, even allowing for looking stuff up if you're a biology ignoramus (like me). So exciting!!! 2021-02-08 05:32:54 If you don't like the list, please feel free to address your methodological complaints to @CreditSuisse 2021-02-08 05:30:42 All three have non-fungible assets, however, that are very hard to value in this way. 2021-02-08 05:28:30 Wikipedia's list of the richest countries, by per-capita wealth of median adult: https://t.co/CfEZic3ggt Not PPP, & 2021-02-08 05:23:16 @natselrox This doesn't conflict, at all, with a thoughtful reading of my tweets. 2021-02-08 04:49:28 @salty_chann That's what happens when you keep trying all the way to the end! 2021-02-08 04:47:59 Pitch perfect. I hear this (& 2021-02-08 04:47:07 @PlayNiceInst This showed up in my twitter feed. Mr. Stevens is on Twitter: https://t.co/i3igpWn8oO 2021-02-08 03:44:53 @PlayNiceInst Have you seen them? Both movies are just gorgeous, IMO. 2021-02-08 03:43:55 I don't doubt Clubhouse will be (already has been) subject to abuses - every media form is. But something interesting: it seems to be harder to shout slurs at people and generally be obnoxious when you're sharing the stage with them. 2021-02-08 03:36:13 Oops, forgot the link: https://t.co/GmIzukImJ4 2021-02-08 03:34:07 @PlayNiceInst "The Remains of the Day", maybe??? Not sure what you mean by very good movies with unreasonably sad endings. But that ending destroys me. (Ditto "Life is Beautiful".) 2021-02-08 03:32:29 As a piece of theater, the first 90 seconds of Michael Jackson's halftime show is extraordinary In that time: he stands on stage. He turns his head once. He takes off his sunglasses. Over 90 seconds, with a zillion people watching. Interesting theory of his audience. It works. 2021-02-08 03:28:32 There are worse ideas. https://t.co/utpw23NLLm https://t.co/oGNcAGlGN3 2021-02-08 03:27:12 This interview with Kate Bingham on the UK's approach to Covid vaccines is interesting throughout (and for everyone, not just people who live in the UK): https://t.co/g5QcqSidMp 2021-02-08 03:19:40 An interesting conversational flywheel that Twitter provides: the more you talk about things you're interested in, the more you connect with people who can deepen your understanding, _and_ cause you to branch out. https://t.co/RViNqgVy6d 2021-02-08 03:13:27 https://t.co/s491Ug6MWU 2021-02-08 03:12:29 I hadn't realized how poorly we understood the states of matter that can arise inside neutron stars. This article provides a fun overview: https://t.co/DEBHHkgrB8 2021-02-07 22:43:46 This is excellent (and still going): https://t.co/CYHZAvcSPs 2021-02-07 19:11:09 @eade_bengard Sounds like one of the great romances for the ages. 2021-02-07 19:08:46 @zooko Levity has repeatedly been massively confident, totally wrong, and not admitted it after the fact. By contrast those people seem willing to admit uncertainty when they don’t know. Doesn’t mean levitt won’t have useful ideas, but his judgements of others seem unreliable 2021-02-07 05:15:12 @ulkar_aghayeva Thank you! 2021-02-06 21:33:28 @ellegist Not the worst, but amusing: a friend advertised for a job opening, and then sent all the unsuccessful applicants a form email which began "Dear John Doe". He was (ahem) mortified when he realized the error, and sent personal apologies to all. 2021-02-06 19:31:50 @ElsaJansen Similarly early feminist views were often decried by many as extreme. "Find the sensible middle ground". "They don't really need the vote, instead we can [...]." Etc. But the "sensible" centrists making those arguments were just plain wrong. 2021-02-06 19:28:16 @ElsaJansen I'm guessing in some societies slavery was extremely commonplace, and seemed "natural" [well, to the slaveholding class]. But there's no in-between here, no sensible middle ground or complexity: those people were just utterly wrong. 2021-02-06 19:23:32 @ElsaJansen Interesting question! I think: often, but not always. Sometimes one learns deep new principles, and that makes what would have seemed a priori an extreme position come to be the more natural place. 2021-02-06 18:52:00 @RDMetcalfe @deaneckles @m_urquiola Thanks for pointing this out, looks very interesting. From a policy point of view I wish they'd put the word "currently" in the title. "Why the United States currently has the best research institutions"... 2021-02-06 06:30:53 @sclarsic @orbuch I find it fascinating that there's far _more_ viruses (by count) than anything else, but they're still a relatively small fraction of the total mass, eg: https://t.co/YMzVsHnOjg https://t.co/9qnO61kjwb 2021-02-06 05:38:41 @immad @KDimitratos This sounds unfortunate. I believe most people aren't very happy when we're half-focusing on a bunch of different things, rather than really enjoying one. 2021-02-06 05:36:12 @RohdeAli Some people may enjoy parts of that. But presumably there's some parts of it that no-one would enjoy. Does that mean some people are doomed to be unhappy? 2021-02-06 05:33:37 @AndyDentPerth Sorry to hear it. My Godparents (farmers) certainly did it tough - I remember that, even as a small kid. Drought too, so common in Australia. 2021-02-06 05:24:26 As a matter of history, when did reserve banks start to do inflation targeting? [Also: I believe home loan interest rates in Australia spiked to 17% in the late 1980s. Produced a lot of pain for mortgage holders, to put it mildly.] https://t.co/m4hyG4f7FH 2021-02-06 05:20:59 I guess you'd just add up all the small changes in your appreciation along the way. https://t.co/3ziSFKmLky 2021-02-06 05:07:38 Beautifully said. What an amazing city. https://t.co/iybSYd23q1 2021-02-06 03:38:24 @orbuch Two asides: 1. I actually saw Venter give a talk partway through that trip. He was stopping in my hometown, Brisbane. The talk was _amazing_. 2. I'd love to do a trip like that someday. Maybe write a book while doing it, sailing round the world with friends or family. 2021-02-06 03:37:11 @orbuch (First paper should be findable by searching on "Venter Sargasso 2004", and later ones easily findable from that.) 2021-02-06 03:36:43 @orbuch Take a look at: https://t.co/GDmpKBOStR Every 200 miles they'd pick up a new barrel of seawater, and sequence it. And each time the genetic material was mostly new - thousands of new lifeforms, millions of new proteins. 2021-02-06 03:32:56 @orbuch No! Fun question! 2021-02-06 03:29:57 @sbkaufman Eg, this gave me a chuckle: https://t.co/VEh382vy0E (Thanks for your good humor.) 2021-02-06 03:28:08 @sbkaufman Heaven forfend anyone enjoy themselves. 2021-02-06 03:21:30 Staggering estimate of the rate at which marine viruses destroy marine biomass. I lost the reference (which offers a broader range of estimates, but it's still a very high mortality rate): https://t.co/t87IzMbbfX 2021-02-06 02:35:53 Feynman's thesis reformulating quantum mechanics is a lot of fun: https://t.co/AFwiJIImuW https://t.co/KZJ7i4rpvm 2021-02-06 02:02:05 @talyarkoni I wrote a short blog post about Nobel prizewinning papers in economics that were turned down at review. A journal editor popped up in comments to say maybe the negative reviews made the difference between "reject" and "Nobel quality". I still get a smile: https://t.co/jxVXNKPvKA https://t.co/ufnHbDOwN7 2021-02-05 22:47:40 @timhwang How can I get there? 2021-02-05 20:17:33 Saw Christopher Plummer do "Caesar and Cleopatra" on stage in Stratford (Canada!) quite a few years back. I remember little of the play, except that when Plummer entered, everyone else on stage effectively vanished. He had incredible stage presence, you couldn't look away. 2021-02-05 20:09:43 @DietzVollrath @ATabarrok Please remove me from this Twitter thread. 2021-02-05 19:58:58 (Not wild about animal experiments, and that’s true here, too.) 2021-02-05 19:40:34 His most-cited papers: https://t.co/4QosXIXmGs 2021-02-05 19:40:33 This sounds likely to be a gross anthropomorphization (or just wrong), but so interesting as to deserve investigation. OTOH, it's a beautiful image! https://t.co/1d32fYLhBW 2021-02-05 19:31:04 A magical mystery tour of wonderful materials: https://t.co/x78ddqmX5G 2021-02-05 19:27:16 Also fascinating, this discussion of all the elements yet to be discovered, in the extended periodic table: https://t.co/GTL5FvVvCg The table of contents alone is remarkable: https://t.co/5d1S1ThDt3 2021-02-05 19:24:06 Related, and interesting, this New Yorker book review discussing the history of the periodic table: https://t.co/QXq4elt69a 2021-02-05 19:23:01 In the periodic table it shows up as a noble gas. Except... well, it's neither a gas (it's expected to be a semiconducting solid) nor noble (it's expected to be reactive). 2021-02-05 19:23:00 Alternative periodic tables: https://t.co/tFhKIiEuhG Particularly liked Benfey's, shown below. The periodic table is, of course, not arbitrary: it is really a reflection of underlying principles. I've been learning about the most recently discovered element, oganesson (Z=118) https://t.co/D1QnUAeEt6 2021-02-05 19:18:16 How much of the sun is ionized hydrogen - i.e., really not hydrogen at all, but a sea of unbound electrons and protons? An interesting discussion: https://t.co/zBwSORAEsx I love this plot of temperature inside the sun: https://t.co/mFHTNiQGcF 2021-02-05 14:02:34 @__fembot @visakanv Yes. All of his major work was sole author. Not to say he wasn't still enmeshed in a social milieu. But not a good example to argue that genius is collaborative (at least, not as that word is usually used). 2021-02-05 13:54:58 @__fembot @visakanv Curious what you have in mind. He has an unusually solitary publication record, to put it mildly: https://t.co/rGvucJskmu 2021-02-05 13:47:49 @visakanv @__fembot Narrative violation https://t.co/wBHuI60bJq 2021-02-05 08:30:29 A better instruction: look at the most recent quote tweets, and vote as they suggest. Right now, that means options 1 and 4, occasionally 3, but never 2. https://t.co/lixUSD1y3k 2021-02-05 08:10:25 @ID_AA_Carmack Not sure which properties you want - snowflake formation is a special case of crystal growth, AFAIK. Libbrecht has a nice paper on what we knew about snowflake formation 2005: https://t.co/VcAfDU6IgE Don't think it talks in all that much detail about other crystals, though. 2021-02-05 07:46:05 @KevinSimler Yeah, but which issue? 2021-02-05 07:44:51 @omidvheravi Your first tweet: not enough supply! Blame the previous admin. Second tweet: too much supply, can't possibly get rid of it that quickly. 2021-02-05 07:42:58 @omidvheravi Your original statement was wrong. You are now changing the subject. 2021-02-05 07:42:09 I missed this: Biden upped his goal to 150 million shots in the first 100 days: https://t.co/yx15WRw2Ls Note that by Jan 25 the rolling avg was 1.3 million shots per day. That's also the average today. 2021-02-05 07:32:51 @KevinSimler I love examples where this fails in interesting ways. The paleontologists were pretty much the last to get on board with the meteor impact theory of the dinosaur extinction: https://t.co/knrEc1wq2k 2021-02-05 07:29:26 @KevinSimler It's part of it, yes. It's not _just_ social epistemology. Steve Weinberg has a dicussion of this I really like in "Dreams of a Final Theory"... 2021-02-05 07:28:26 @omidvheravi 20 million doses have been delivered, but not administered. Your statement is flat out wrong. 2021-02-05 07:26:12 & 2021-02-05 07:24:35 @KevinSimler Yeah, there's something weird about that verb, isn't there? Good call. Funny: in practice we often do accept consensus. I believe the LHC found the Higgs. But it's because I have some general model how that whole social-epistemological web of trust and cross-checking works 2021-02-05 07:16:56 From 1:51 of: https://t.co/dMANaNur8I The whole thing is very interesting. 2021-02-05 07:13:27 @nickbarnes On Jan 14 vaccines had reached 814k / day. Biden officials were saying this: https://t.co/XrVL1h4u2T https://t.co/6brRbKAOVg 2021-02-05 07:06:05 I empathize a lot with this. https://t.co/w7DoQeYFcn 2021-02-05 07:04:07 None of this is inconsistent with the idea that when deciding policy it's a good idea to work deeply with relevant experts. But keep in mind that if they're honest they too live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. 2021-02-05 07:01:34 https://t.co/ernTiKvlFp 2021-02-05 07:01:07 I strongly dislike the phrase "follow the science". On important questions science is often unclear and unsure, with lots of confusing and conflicting data and ideas and ways of thinking, trying all kinds of different things. There is no "the science". https://t.co/8eXlmodRR9 2021-02-05 06:50:03 @SarahAMcManus Great, thanks! 2021-02-05 06:49:29 Unlikely to last, IMO, though often makes for beautiful images now. Lots of bespoke work while things are in flux, so you have wires (etc) everywhere. But integration (and scalability) is preferable when you know how to make things work. https://t.co/KjQVuK5NHo 2021-02-05 06:44:04 Vaccine delivery in the US has plateaued in the past 2 weeks - look at the flattening in the graph below Note also Biden's "100 million doses in first 100 days" pledge. In Trump's last week the average was 912k / day, so Biden was aiming for only a small increase. https://t.co/lHxIgF8jF6 2021-02-05 05:44:11 Interesting: I’d guess that if @littmath simply repeats the poll he’s more likely to lose on each iteration (roughly). 2021-02-05 05:36:35 @littmath Great poll! 2021-02-05 05:36:13 Made me laugh, then made me think. Needs a Schelling point. And the Schelling point itself should ideally be common knowledge. Fun! https://t.co/lixUSD1y3k 2021-02-04 05:53:06 @careerconversa1 Neither. I was just really really interested in the subject! 2021-02-03 03:37:31 When the Nazgul need to take their poodle for a walk https://t.co/H4xVlVga8Z 2021-02-03 03:32:25 @nick_farina @TNTMtweets It didn’t seem technical except at the start, in the bits I heard. 2021-02-03 02:59:28 Here’s the link! https://t.co/JumMoCEr1J 2021-02-03 02:55:04 One thing I’d enjoy: a more defined focus on either technical or non-technical aspects. Both good! But very different conversations. 2021-02-03 02:53:34 Enjoying this (ongoing) Clubhouse on quantum computing. Thanks @jfitzsimons and other participants https://t.co/499aLzY0xx 2021-02-03 02:35:38 Fascinating possible bottleneck for mRNA vaccines. https://t.co/iGTnoxrLzu 2021-02-03 02:25:40 @RealtimeAI @ConceptualJames Please delete the tweets. 2021-02-03 02:21:54 @Ben_Reinhardt Pretty sure written language would have sounded silly, a priori. Yet here we all are, in the age of writing... 2021-02-03 02:20:07 @gezelter I don’t need to, I just analytically continue... (IIrc - I’ve actually never looked at it. But it’s based on analytic continuation of the zeta function, right?) 2021-02-03 02:16:09 @emmaconcepts @nwilliams030 Oh great connection! Yes very similar to both. Have both of you seen this? Video of Gallwey teaching tennis. It’s bonkers. https://t.co/HlKo3mPKJV 2021-02-03 02:10:40 -1 = 1 is often done, sometimes inadvertently, when it can cause all manner of problems. 2021-02-03 02:06:35 @nwilliams030 And yet you still have a sense of choice. Sport is like this too. 2021-02-03 02:04:45 I occasionally use 2 = 1 and pi = 1, as well . Surprisingly common amongst theoretical physicists. Though experimentalists often hate it. Astro people OTOH often set 10 = 1 https://t.co/KXqGtvvJhU 2021-02-03 02:01:22 @nwilliams030 Yup! So curious where it goes. A good meme battle is fun, but it’s also interesting psychologically. Like “what the hell state of consciousness was I just in?” 2021-02-03 01:59:38 @emmaconcepts In the short run (decades), yes. Over thousands of years, not so sure I agree. Though I won’t be surprised if we’re using Unix time in 10k years! 2021-02-03 01:54:42 @emmaconcepts Mostly I’d be curious if there are benefits to this notation. Eg maybe it makes it easier to remember large numbers? 2021-02-03 01:52:50 Tangential: one way out of the supposed Great Stagnation is if we can invent really fantastic new cognitive technologies Eg Language was a huge leap for cognition 2021-02-03 01:46:00 It’s by no means clear the way we represent numbers (or words...) is on its final form. https://t.co/WIxAiNi4zf 2021-02-03 01:43:44 There are so many things this might be! Struck me as a nice thought! https://t.co/3sWz7HHf0L 2021-02-02 20:26:36 @eriktorenberg The position is already taken by this book, I think: https://t.co/08qXz1nEHp 2021-02-02 20:23:50 @celinehalioua You can raise your hand for moderator attention. They can then add you to the speakers. Probably a bit hacky. 2021-02-02 02:59:31 A wonderful idea, and most curious to see what it becomes. https://t.co/xlIAbM2U4T 2021-02-02 02:53:26 RT @quantum_aram: @michael_nielsen in macaques, moderna and biontech/pfizer didn't achieve sterilizing immunity, but novavax did. i don't k… 2021-02-02 02:53:01 @quantum_aram Thanks Aram! 2021-02-01 20:20:46 @pavel_bazant Thanks! 2021-02-01 20:20:27 @sacksdaniel Thanks! 2021-02-01 20:20:19 RT @solar_chase: @michael_nielsen Marek's disease in chickens has a vaccine, but it's leaky - they simply become asymptomatic carriers and… 2021-02-01 20:19:52 @solar_chase Thanks! 2021-02-01 19:52:29 @ChanaMessinger Thanks, this is great. 2021-02-01 19:51:38 RT @sacksdaniel: @michael_nielsen some examples here: https://t.co/ZCAE96PRak 2021-02-01 19:49:56 RT @ChanaMessinger: @michael_nielsen As in, transmission? I've been keeping a list: inactivated polio doesn't prevent transmission at all… 2021-02-01 19:44:51 Does anyone know details of past vaccines where (a) the vaccine works I see a huge amount of chatter about the possibility, but haven’t seen anyone mention an actual case where that happened, nor how likely it is https://t.co/AJKhIj6WhO 2021-02-01 19:40:02 @MaxCRoser How often has a past vaccine not reduced infection? I see a lot of people talking about this possibility, but few examples where it’s happened. Are there any? 2021-02-01 05:48:32 That’s roughly a half billion in market cap. We’re all in a weird parody of a William Gibson novel. 2021-02-01 05:44:51 Good grief. https://t.co/EBN5m3ltlo 2021-02-01 03:20:42 RT @michael_nielsen: My notes immediately after a second reread of Arrival (spoilers, of course, and these are very sketchy and needs to be… 2021-01-31 09:05:13 Interesting thread, with some of the backstory on the Covid vaccines: https://t.co/CTMaWz6oC9 2021-01-31 07:45:36 @visakanv @fluffyguy That's great! 2021-01-31 06:46:33 The expression on a singer's face when, for the first time, the audience sings along with her: https://t.co/VEsLeS1zaw 2021-01-31 06:09:20 @qualmist Yeah, it's a port by Dean Menezes. I don't know how exact it is. 2021-01-31 02:17:11 @juliagalef Reflecting: it's weirdly satisfying to find this in the source. (Of course) I'm not in any doubt as to Julia's experience, so why bother? But something about finding the causal origin, the original magic spell as it were, is oh so pleasing! 2021-01-31 02:04:18 @DougOrleans @juliagalef Yeah, I linked to the modern port by Dean Menezes, which is in Inform7, and much easier to read. 2021-01-31 02:01:54 @juliagalef Apparently you could attack yourself too, with the same result: What an amazing game! https://t.co/Bkl4FU1IvD 2021-01-31 01:57:20 I checked the source code, and sure enough there's a bunch of ways to die like this in Zork: https://t.co/S9HFGdwXya https://t.co/vZNsdGa0Au https://t.co/EMMUM9wOjn 2021-01-30 23:55:10 Great article on the history of a wonderful technology, the ion trap. Trapping and controlling single ions is an absolutely amazing thing to have done, and I'm surprised it's not much better known. https://t.co/LQj4vqXrsU 2021-01-30 23:04:39 @zooko @KelseyTuoc @albrgr (Pretty sure I'd disagree with Hersh on a lot. And I wouldn't be surprised if he's made some big mistakes. But his big hits are incredible.) 2021-01-30 23:03:55 @zooko @KelseyTuoc @albrgr Interesting to think about the other end of this - people like Sy Hersh, who have done, on net, astonishing work. https://t.co/ZI1ZiUuLrh If humanity can collectively fund a few thousand people like that, our information supply chain will be in vastly better shape. 2021-01-30 22:52:01 @crypto_hal @zooko What I wrote had nothing at all to do with scapegoating. 2021-01-30 22:19:44 @KelseyTuoc @albrgr @juliagalef Er, to be clear, the results of the reflection have stayed with me. I'd just forgotten what it was that had triggered it, until now. (Self-consciously rereading my tweet and thinking "Gosh, that doesn't sound like serious reflection, he can't even remember the results...") 2021-01-30 22:05:38 @KelseyTuoc @albrgr @juliagalef @mattyglesias Let me reiterate what I said then: https://t.co/OF6LPu2H9Z I'd forgotten until @albrgr reminded me just now, but your thread kicked off serious private reflection for me: what did I know / how was I mistaken about Covid. Thanks again. 2021-01-30 22:00:37 @mattyglesias @albrgr @KelseyTuoc (a) Because they care [or not] about doing better 2021-01-30 21:58:10 @brianluidog @devonzuegel Yup! Others: https://t.co/iCr3NQUgYD 2021-01-30 21:57:30 By contrast, live shot at the editorial desks of major media outlets: https://t.co/4AwZWHekZT 2021-01-30 21:54:15 @DRMacIver https://t.co/mJCY66IT78 2021-01-30 21:53:29 @DRMacIver Exactly! I'm sure that's it! Not that I was, um, wrong, or anything. 2021-01-30 21:51:55 @DRMacIver (Thanks for the comment, appreciate it!) 2021-01-30 21:51:12 @DRMacIver Rats! You're destroying my thought-about-for-10-seconds hypothesis that I am now attached to! 2021-01-30 21:46:55 @devonzuegel I'd love to hear from someone who is very familiar with the other version, but not B's! I wonder if the other version is all they see? 2021-01-30 21:40:47 Curious optical priming effect: one of these - Bouguereau's Venus - I know very well. And that's mostly what I see here, the rest sort of gets screened out. https://t.co/wbyrqgnq5J 2021-01-30 21:37:26 RT @artistkandinsky: Small Pleasures, 1913 #abstractart #wassilykandinsky https://t.co/hd0REcpOB6 2021-01-30 21:25:39 @3blue1brown @acapellascience @TheTierZoo Also: googling "How to sail round the world" and similar search terms leads down a fascinating rabbithole of people doing it [on all kinds of budgets, too!] 2021-01-30 21:24:15 @3blue1brown @acapellascience @TheTierZoo Craig Venter did this - he sailed round the world, sequencing the world's oceans: https://t.co/Z08fruIGBq I looked into yacht rental prices last year, and it's quite doable without being rich, though you'd want a fair sized group. https://t.co/kNut7DZlb6 2021-01-30 21:05:16 @AndrewThappa @zooko @balajis I'm going to bow out of the conversation. 2021-01-30 20:54:43 @AndrewThappa @zooko @ejwillingham @balajis Yes, I saw it at the time. Lots and lots of similar examples, of course [I'd rather not single one person out too much for criticism here, or turn it into attacking that person - it's the general phenomenon which matters]. 2021-01-30 20:44:56 Also, @BessemerVP knows how to do it: their anti-portfolio is one of my top 10 all-time favorite webpages: https://t.co/YtCGdUzNWv 2021-01-30 20:43:49 Thoughtful thread from @KelseyTuoc, via @albrgr: https://t.co/EIyU9TP3id 2021-01-30 20:40:29 @zooko Ah: https://t.co/zuM3qQRmJw 2021-01-30 20:40:12 @albrgr @KelseyTuoc Thank you! Great thread! I saw it at the time 2021-01-30 20:39:26 @LKeturakis @zooko @cwarzel One of the reasons I take 538 more seriously than nearly all other large brand-name political news sources [admittedly, that's very, very low bar] is that they do admit error, and seem to learn from it. 2021-01-30 20:37:27 @LKeturakis @zooko @cwarzel Having space to be wrong is not in the slightest bit inconsistent with doing a serious post-mortem and apologizing when you are wrong. 2021-01-30 20:35:17 @zooko None. 2021-01-30 20:30:19 I'd be curious to know which, if any, major media outlets have (a) issued apologies for minimizing the threat of Covid-19 2021-01-30 20:03:36 @curiouswavefn Most often I just think B is being an asshole. 2021-01-29 22:19:23 RT @simonsarris: Ah how shameless—the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they the… 2021-01-29 16:04:06 @tanyaofmars Retrospectively I think it will be quite legible - we'll understand the world much better, and be able to make much more principled and conceptual sense of these events. 2021-01-29 15:44:26 @balajis @patrickc @ATabarrok Your first paragraph can be entirely true, and yet the way a company presents itself to the market may differ markedly from reality. Shorts are a way of punishing [and, one hopes, thus reducing] that divergence. This seems valuable. 2021-01-29 15:41:05 I wonder how many long-distance friendships lapse because of email spam filters? "Yeah, I tried to stay in touch, but they never replied to my emails" I just fished several delightful messages out of spam. Also, as someone working through a big message backlog: sorry friends! 2021-01-29 05:25:57 @brianchristian @AmandaAskell Unfortunately, no. I suspect it's a transient problem, but it's currently still pretty annoying. 2021-01-29 05:21:52 @tommycollison @AmandaAskell Didn't realize Ireland was in the middle of the Atlantic! 2021-01-29 05:17:16 @AmandaAskell Co-signed, the Australians. 2021-01-28 23:53:47 @joshu Have you seen anything that seemed strikingly insightful? (I’m a very ignorant outsider.) 2021-01-28 21:47:52 @C4COMPUTATION “Hackers and painters”, by @paulg, and “Founders at Work”, by @jesslivingston. Disclaimer: I’ve never been an entrepreneur, in the classic sense of the term. 2021-01-28 20:45:32 @ScienceApostel @careerconversa1 In what base? 2021-01-28 14:15:32 This seems exactly right: https://t.co/2PB6LCwTin 2021-01-28 14:14:25 https://t.co/lRmAxhypSS 2021-01-28 13:58:12 I guess from Wall Street's point of view this is (currently) all a pink-and-purple-polka-dotted swan event. The details will change - I doubt many stocks will remain targets for a short squeeze for long - but the underlying phenomenon isn't going away. 2021-01-28 13:53:04 Wow: https://t.co/89EHZWDwZ3 2021-01-27 23:16:52 @nafshordi @SimonDeDeo @DavidSpergel @seanmcarroll I can see it fine. 2021-01-27 21:05:23 @ljxie I should say something substantive for this fascinating thread. But just want to point out how much I want the standard preposition here to be “on” so it’s “on Pluto” 2021-01-27 20:24:50 @juliagalef More broadly, perhaps I should takeaway the goal of learning to think well with taxonomies. 3/ 2021-01-27 20:22:31 @juliagalef Eg I recently learned that the element Oganesson is likely reactive, despite notionally being a noble gas. That’s interesting to me, since it violates a principle (and incidentally a taxonomy), which suggests further possibilities 2/ 2021-01-27 20:20:39 @juliagalef You use them very well that way. I suppose my preference is for underlying principles. Orbital theory and shells over the periodic table. And then trying to break the principles. 1/ 2021-01-27 20:12:55 @paulg At least you’ll learn some life skills! 2021-01-27 20:11:25 @ArtirKel @juliagalef “Often”. 2021-01-27 20:10:58 @DougOrleans @anandoff @juliagalef Ooh, I love it! Best argument I’ve heard for an increasing rate of tax with corporate head count 2021-01-27 20:09:32 @juliagalef I care less about wrong than generative. The best place to go on the map is usually up I suppose my (irrational, not very sensible) dislike of taxonomies is that they’re often confining. 2021-01-27 20:04:19 @juliagalef A fun taxonomy: people who like taxonomies I’m instinctively in the second camp. But have a grudging fondness for them, nonetheless. 2021-01-27 19:21:33 Reminds me of DogeCoin. 2021-01-27 19:21:06 @DKedmey I didn’t have any trouble appreciating them. 2021-01-27 18:30:49 Tulip mania for the lolz. 2021-01-27 17:51:06 @seanmcarroll @SimonDeDeo Fun oral quals question. 2021-01-27 17:38:21 @seanmcarroll @SimonDeDeo Giving new meaning to “he felt an emptiness inside”. 2021-01-27 16:51:53 @SimonDeDeo But so much of you is at equilibrium! 2021-01-27 01:53:22 @curiouswavefn @gravity_levity The correct response to that would have to be: "Strange, it's the exact reverse for me." 2021-01-27 00:27:59 @TheDavidSJ @liminal_warmth Good luck with that hypothesis. 2021-01-27 00:25:33 @liminal_warmth Eyeballing it, RenTec 's Medallion Fund looks like it's about +30% over the market, over the long term: https://t.co/eS9jdKiGxf 2021-01-26 20:13:57 Wayland's Smithy, about 20 miles from Oxford. About five and a half thousand years old! https://t.co/dZZjnZ1xaU https://t.co/ZHF85cPlUZ 2021-01-26 20:01:00 @Marco_Piani @juliagalef Great example! They've even got enough caps in there, though they could work on their inconsistency... 2021-01-26 19:57:32 @JeffLadish @uncatherio @oldvillagesage Curious: the word "transformer" doesn't appear. Maybe it's implicit. My understanding is: buy enough well-shielded backup transformers & 2021-01-26 19:51:28 @JeffLadish @uncatherio @oldvillagesage (I guess I'm rehashing well-trod ground - just been reading about our [lack of] backup transformers in the event of large solar flares, and what that's likely to do for civilization.) 2021-01-26 19:50:32 @JeffLadish @uncatherio @oldvillagesage Dangers from Carrington-event (or larger) solar flares also seem curiously under-studied (& 2021-01-26 19:09:53 @richsicist @Meaningness @juliagalef Very similar things are true for Cantor's diagonal slash argument, and its close cousins from Turing and Goedel, which are also popular crank email topics. 2021-01-26 19:08:19 @richsicist @Meaningness @juliagalef I suspect the fundamental subject matter helps. What is space? What is time? And then the fact that what we know violates people's intuitions about that. I have dozens of emails which are really about the twin or barn-pole paradoxes, for instance. 2021-01-26 18:58:19 @juliagalef Thank you! Never thought a tweet about cranks would give rise to a nice compliment! Physics, in particular, seems to give rise to crank mail. On the upside I have a collection of essays about why relativity and/or QM are wrong. And a collection of theories of everything... 2021-01-26 18:54:04 @juliagalef Involuntarily and on an anecdotal-but-at-significant-scale basis, yes. 2021-01-26 12:44:46 @ProfWootton @MaxCRoser @mattyglesias A quick skim suggests this is very informative indeed - thanks for the pointer. 2021-01-26 12:41:41 @ProfWootton @MaxCRoser @mattyglesias Thanks! Seems much better than nothing 2021-01-26 12:37:19 @ProfWootton @MaxCRoser @mattyglesias More context. This has a wide range of interpretations, AFAICS. https://t.co/bwSthAMJpY 2021-01-26 12:32:55 @ProfWootton @MaxCRoser @mattyglesias Do you mean the statement about "investing at risk". I don't know what that means. A sensible strategy would seem to be: "We paid for the manufacture of X million doses to be done concurrently with Phase 3 trials". 2021-01-26 12:28:11 @ProfWootton @MaxCRoser @mattyglesias That article does not appear to make any clearcut statement that large-scale manufacture was done early. 2021-01-26 06:35:08 @kimmaicutler @RMac18 It certainly looks like it. 2021-01-26 04:46:23 @MasterTimBlais I admire great musicians and great scientists. I also admire very very much people who try to get good at their own thing, which they’re making up. All fwiw, my 2c 2021-01-26 04:40:58 @MasterTimBlais Does it matter if it’s due to distractibility? If so, more power to your distractibility!!! 2021-01-26 02:21:09 To complete the seriousness arc: I suspect the banning of Trump and co will have large unintended consequences. I don’t know what (obviously), it’s just an instinct. 2021-01-26 02:18:51 Not meaning to make light of either, actually. Though of course I want to follow anyone with strong feelings about the correct approach to integration. For the record, I was pretty unhappy with my understanding of the Lebesgue approach. 2021-01-26 02:15:08 First Trump, now it’s people with strong feelings about measure theory. Where will it end? https://t.co/yn0Srec0bL 2021-01-26 02:12:35 @pt @pmarcas_likes Underrated tweet, I gotta remember that... 2021-01-26 02:09:28 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Omg I can’t believe I forgot religion. 2021-01-26 02:04:21 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Politics too. It’s interesting to look at patterns in how people follow communities, IMO. Some follow only mostly ppl inside a single community, for instance. Very inward. And I think it’s particularly interesting when that’s widespread within a community 2021-01-26 01:56:37 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity On two occasions I’ve met musicians who seemed to have a similar feeling of centrality. One was quite incredulous that music wasn’t at the center of my life (though I love music) 2021-01-26 01:54:58 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity It’s pretty easy in the case of art (and writing), since both are concerned so much with representation and expression, which really are central. And hanging out with artists and writers, some really feel that strongly, at least as much as the rat. comm. 2021-01-26 01:45:53 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Lawyers. Harvard. Physics(!!!!). Parts of the music world. Not all in any case. 2021-01-26 01:40:48 @ChanaMessinger @KevinSimler @ESRogs @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Times like this I’m glad I believe the law of the excluded middle! 2021-01-26 01:39:30 @ChanaMessinger @KevinSimler @ESRogs @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Love it! https://t.co/lrGXZSVuIC 2021-01-26 01:35:12 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Your first hypothesis seems obviously false to me, except in some weak sense which is true of many communities. 2021-01-26 01:33:13 @KevinSimler @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Alternately: the latter says more about the community of Wikipedia editors than Philosophy... 2021-01-26 01:03:34 @ESRogs @zachalberico @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity I think there’s a lot of intertwining between communities. The extropians, Cypherpunks, the Well, early Burning Man (pre Nevada!), and so on, back to the dawn of time! 2021-01-26 01:01:05 @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity @pmarca @MatjazLeonardis Not even close! Just indulging my curiosity. 2021-01-26 00:56:19 @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity @pmarca @MatjazLeonardis It’s a fun question: who on Twitter follows the most diverse set of interesting communities? I’d love more answers! 2021-01-26 00:51:26 @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity @pmarca Another fun source is @MatjazLeonardis. (Sorry @pmarca and @MatjazLeonatdis, not meaning to look over your shoulders! But I guess I do!. Thanks!) 2021-01-26 00:48:34 @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Something I enjoy is looking at the last 1000 or so people @pmarca follows. Always many great new communities in there, whenever I’ve done this! I’d love more lists like this. 2021-01-26 00:42:07 @ESRogs @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity Not even close to true IMO. I see few conversations between opera Twitter and Nigerian tech Twitter (though I’m sure there are some) for instance, yet there are many interesting people in both communities. 2021-01-26 00:36:22 @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity (More directly: I love your tweet. Concluding you already have the best friends is wonderful ) 2021-01-26 00:35:19 @ChanaMessinger @The_Lagrangian @gravity_levity I doubt a quarter of the people on my lists would know what the rationality community is, much less identify as members One hypothesis: you selected for people who seemed like your friends. Nothing wrong with that! But it won’t be surprising if it leads back to familiar places 2021-01-25 05:53:55 @mtyka Pretty sure I’ve tweeted the latter... 2021-01-25 04:44:54 @DavidSchaengold So cool! 2021-01-25 04:44:33 Great implied question here. One version of the question: is the rate at which atoms on Earth are involved in chemical reactions higher or lower than the rate at which atoms in the Sun are involved in fusion? [I suspect higher, based on ~30secs thought] https://t.co/uRJIozaWxS 2021-01-25 04:34:54 @DavidSchaengold Several billion kilos undergoes fusion in the Sun each second (if 3 seconds Googling is to be believed). I'd be surprised if the rate of chemical reactions on earth isn't higher [bacterial fission alone should be comparable]. Certainly, in the solar system as a whole. 2021-01-25 04:11:49 @geodesicvoyager Yes, that's nicely stated (and a theme of many replies, though rarely condensed in the way you've done). 2021-01-25 04:10:17 Fun related thread from @Cosmic_Horizons here: https://t.co/0UL9IGDs1T 2021-01-25 04:07:48 @Cosmic_Horizons I've long since forgotten what I knew of it. Thanks for the pointer. (Was big in Adelaide, as I recall.) 2021-01-25 04:07:10 @Cosmic_Horizons Thanks. 2021-01-25 04:06:22 Another framing of the question: https://t.co/DOL00MrTDM 2021-01-25 04:05:54 @Cosmic_Horizons Another framing: suppose there was a paragraph in the Feynman lectures beginning: "We use chemical reactions routinely, when we cook, breathe, and so on. But nuclear reactions are less ubiquitous, and we think of them as requiring special conditions. The reason is [???]" 2021-01-25 04:03:15 @Cosmic_Horizons I want an understanding deep enough that I would know, for example, how this would change if the fine structure constant was changed, to, say, 1/10. 2021-01-25 04:01:12 @Cosmic_Horizons We use chemical reactions all day, every day, while cooking, breathing, etc. But we don't purchase small cheap fusion reactors, in fact, we don't have any clue how to make them... 2021-01-25 03:52:34 @DavidSchaengold Very little of a star is typically undergoing fusion at any moment. 2021-01-25 03:52:06 @Meaningness @curiouswavefn Somewhat related, albeit more distant still: it's fun to search on "invisible hand" in Google Scholar. "The Invisible Hand for X" is a great generator of ideas. There are even meta-reviews... 2021-01-25 03:49:54 Many anthropic replies, of the form "Well, if they weren't hard, we wouldn't exist". I'm looking for something stronger & Funny: anthropic e's are a bit like evolutionary just-so stories: v often possible, often not so informative 2021-01-25 03:47:07 @DavidSchaengold Not sure about the second, actually. [That's a great question to ask on a PhD quals oral exam!] They do typically require quite a bit more energy to initiate, so in that sense they're "harder". But maybe that's not the only meaning of "harder" that should be applied. 2021-01-25 03:44:57 @curiouswavefn You may be disappointed - I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard the key ideas. I hadn't when I read it (or not in a form that had stuck). 2021-01-25 03:19:02 @kareem_carr Thanks for sharing. I'm so sorry you deal with this utter horseshit. 2021-01-25 03:16:59 Good thread discussion with @PESimeon. Certainly deepened my understanding: https://t.co/af4WtpUHRr 2021-01-25 03:11:18 I may as well say, to avoid misunderstanding: I'm not especially libertarian in outlook [nor interested in discussing why / why not]. But still: great paper! 2021-01-25 03:08:59 @Meaningness That makes me feel quite a bit better! I've always meant to go back to it... 2021-01-25 03:05:11 @gbrl_dick @thogge I think you could reasonably put any of the Big Three in the list, though the case for Federer/Nadal is a little stronger than Djokovic (now). It's insane. But I enjoy Federer's play more than anyone else, ever. 2021-01-25 03:02:37 @PESimeon This is great!!! Makes me understand: if you want to answer the question "Why do we have fire? Cook? Etc? But no nuclear reactors in our kitchens?" you end up with all this stuff about quark confinement etc... 2021-01-25 02:45:46 @PESimeon I've read over this a half dozen times now, and I keep learning interesting things / having interesting thoughts. Thanks. One of viewing what you're saying seems to be that it's a consequence of massive particles mediating the strong force, while massless particles mediate EM? 2021-01-25 02:39:11 Not an original observation, but I had a pretty common problem immediately after reading "The Use of Knowledge..." - I saw the world _too much_ through that lens. Still, great paper! 2021-01-25 02:37:01 @thogge Don Bradman and Esther Vergeer dominated their sports far far more than any of these. (Love the people on your list. Though definitely Ronaldo -> 2021-01-25 02:33:23 I skim read the book ~20 years ago, and have retained almost nothing. On the other hand, Hayek's short paper "The Use of Knowledge in Society" changed the way I view... well, almost everything. It was irrevocable, like discovering the color blue or the taste of chocolate. 2021-01-25 02:31:27 Fascinating, Hayek's famous book just hit 75. Looking forward to reading this, after tracking down a copy I can read https://t.co/WINo6085I3 2021-01-25 02:08:02 @AlexKontorovich @MrHonner (I've never done that kind of competition, so my impression is very limited, to put it mildly.) 2021-01-25 02:07:25 @AlexKontorovich @MrHonner Years ago I looked at some very early Putnams, and was rather surprised. IIRC, there were some questions that were sort of "out-of-scope" (i.e., things I just wouldn't have known). But the in-scope stuff seemed much easier than my impression of recent competitions. 2021-01-25 02:05:16 It's tempting to say: well, the strong nuclear force that binds the nucleus is very, very strong, and that makes the energy scales involved very large compared to a chemical reaction. Again: true, but I guess a much better & 2021-01-25 02:05:15 Curious: why are nuclear reactions so much harder to cause than chemical reactions? In fact: in what sense is this even true, exactly? Nuclear reactions like radioactive decay occur spontaneously. 2021-01-24 19:52:30 @andy_matuschak Very low ratio! Alas, I don’t think Twitteracy is going to catch on. We could all be more Twitterate 2021-01-24 19:16:01 @Julian I’m likely to be sympathetic to this thread, but that may be the worst first example in the history of examples Dinosaurs For The Win!!!!!!!! 2021-01-24 08:18:31 @dlyongemallo By "famous" I meant "well known to a large slice of society", not "well known to a tiny slice of society [eg the qc community]". The latter - a type of micro-fame, with say 10k-100k followers - does seem to be a sweet spot for Twitter, as you say. 2001-01-01 01:01:01