Minesweeper is complex enough in its rule set that it needs a little bit of thought in order to program, whoever, it’s not so complex that it needs extra libraries and all sorts of fancy programming tricks. Researchers gave four different AI code assistant instructions to recreate the game, and each delivered different results.
Category: Uncategorized
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The consequences of reality collapsing
Most discussions of this issue focus on the technology. I believe that’s a mistake. The real turmoil will take place in social cohesion and individual psychology. They will both fracture in a world where our shared benchmarks of truth and actuality disappear.
Many people won’t have the toughness or resiliency to survive in this environment. A rise in mental illness is not only expected—in fact it’s already happening. But we also must anticipate new kinds of mental breakdowns never seen before.
And also a very dystopian business opportunity:
I can even imagine new career paths. In the near future, people might work as custodians of reality—a kind of high-powered version of today’s notaries. Their job will be validating the actuality of events and media.
I’m not joking. We will need personal validation of all the things we previously took for granted.
That might actually be a big business opportunity in its own right.
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Ninja style obstacle course added to Olympic pentathlon
A Ninja style obstacle course is added to the Olympic pentathlon replacing the equestrian component.
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Deleting a second brain
Joan Westenberg writes:
For years, I had been building what technologists and lifehackers call a “second brain.” The premise: capture everything, forget nothing. Store your thinking in a networked archive so vast and recursive it can answer questions before you know to ask them. It promises clarity. Control. Mental leverage.
But over time, my second brain became a mausoleum. A dusty collection of old selves, old interests, old compulsions, piled on top of each other like geological strata. Instead of accelerating my thinking, it began to replace it. Instead of aiding memory, it froze my curiosity into static categories.
I suppose the challenge is finding a balance of keeping track of ideas and then executing or developing the worthwhile ones.
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Show #5 – Songwriter Showcase at the Grotto
Green light bathes the stage. Why? Does anyone look good in green light?
First guy (Randy Barnett) has at least 2 songs with whiskey references. Self aware and self deprecating “played for a room full of strangers / and they didn’t like our songs”
He has a ragged country voice that works with the bluesy riffs.
His last song was written about a girl who worked the door at a bar. It received a few laughs from the crowd and gave the female bartender a reason to smile.
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Narrow the Gapp
Gina Trapani built a data driven web app that displays the pay disparity between men  and women, called Narrow the Gapp. It uses stats from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics by job class.  A very simple design with built in sharing functionality that makes the point.
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Stasis promotes mediocrity
When things remain the same, in a state of stasis, there’s no pull in any direction for worse or better. Yes. There are some things where you want the stability of stasis–your house’s foundation. But in a job, how many roles thrive on stasis, things inactive? Yes, harmony is good, but if inactive for too long, does a person really grow? Over time, they’ll seek out actions to remain in harmony, or stable, not really growing or changing or stretching themselves to be better. And that’s what mediocrity is–just ok.
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Looking for treetops or scouring for ground paths
When lost in the woods, do you look for the sky amongst the treetops or do you scour the ground for worn paths?
You’ll need both, to get a sense of direction and to get your footing as your orient yourself.
Communicating’s the same way. You’ll need some higher level goals, supported by details to get to the point.
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A concert on the diamond
There’s something to the first baseball game attended for the season. A concert on a diamond field, underneath bright lights. Instrumental, a bat, ball and glove provide the rhythm to the crowds matching cadence. Tension rises with each fly ball. Drama arises as base runners stand closer to home. Each swing of the bat brings surprises. Each at bat, a song. Each inning, a run in the setlist. The end of the game is rarely set. -
Paul McCuen – Spiral
Taking a sliver of World War II history, cutting edge science in nanotechnology and biology, and a conspiracy of geopolitical consequences,
Spiral delivers a smart and tense techno-thriller.Liam Connor, an Irish soldier who was a scientist during World War II, witnessed a horrific event in the Pacific Ocean, where the military took extreme measures to end a biological outbreak caused by the discovery of a lone Japanese sub whose crew died of mysterious reasons.
Sixty four years later, Connor, an accomplished professor at Cornell University, is found dead of an apparent suicide. Survived by his granddaughter Maggie, grandson Dylan and close colleague Jake Sterling, Liam leaves a series of clues, knowing something might happen to him. A brutal killer follows them, in search of what Liam knew of the incident in the Pacific. Meanwhile, Robert Dunne, a national security advisor hears of Connor’s death and immediately knows what his death is related to.
Spiral’s plot is well paced with a rising sense of tension. Seemingly random details tie in well throughout the book, and the interactions between characters and the characterization of the main characters is well done. Perhaps there isn’t nuance, but there is depth to Jake, Maggie and Robert and even a villain. McCuen isn’t afraid to kill off secondary characters in gory deaths, either, and surprisingly, the dialogue, for a debut novel in the thriller genre, flows well.
Underlying the plot, themes of political paranoia, xenophobia and the responsibility that comes with modern science come out.