timelets

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 04:03:51 GMT

The sharp-cut scientific classifications are essential for scientific method. But they are dangerous for philosophy. Such classification hides the truth that the different modes of natural existence shade off into each other.

There is the animal life with its central direction of a society of cells, there is the vegetable life with its organized republic of cells, there is the cell life with its organized republic of molecules, there is the large-scale inorganic society of molecules with its passive acceptance of necessities derived from spatial relations, there is the infra-molecular activity which has lost all trace of the passivity of inorganic nature on a larger scale.

Whitehead. Modes of Thought, Chapter 8, Nature Alive. 1938.
https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Whitehead/Whitehead_1938/1938_08.html

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Tue, 23 May 2023 06:43:15 GMT

1 --> T1  --> T2
        \     /\
         \    |
          \   |
          _\| ]
             P

In the beginning...

e: 1 -> T1 is an equalizer
f: T1 -> T2
g: T1 -> P
h: P -> T2

f = h g

T1 is a narrative
T2 is an enablement

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Fri, 30 Dec 2022 10:07:03 GMT

Пока ковырялся в своих примерах для книжки, обнаружил фундаментальную разницу между нарративами успеха в России и Америке.

В России: герой умер, но дело его живет. (нарратив мифа)
В Америке: герой жив, и дело его живет. (нарратив сказки)

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Fri, 08 Apr 2022 05:42:53 GMT

“...he [Lincoln] managed polarities: they didn’t manage him.
...
Scale sets the ranges within which experience accrues. If, in evolution, edges of chaos reward adaptation; if, in history, adaptation fortifies resilience; and if, in individuals, resilience accommodates unknowns more readily than rigidity, then it stands to reason that a gradual expansion of edges better equips leaders for the unexpected than those that shock, leaving little time to adapt, or those inherited, which breed entitlement and arrogance, its companion.
..
Space is where expectations and circumstances intersect."
...
Tolstoy suggests, in the last pages of War and Peace, that the interdependence of time, space, and scale simultaneously reflects choice and necessity: the illusion of agency causes us to believe in free will even as inexorable laws deny the possibility. ”

---John Lewis Gaddis. “On Grand Strategy.”

We can model this as an interval and/or 10x pushout/pullback.

Creating a new scale, i.e. expanding the range, e.g. via a technology can be viewed as an equalizer.

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Wed, 16 Mar 2022 04:51:52 GMT

( Read more... )
Is there a formal way to distinguish between checklists vs commandments? Checklists are more like probability distributions, while commandments are like laws, i.e. defined state transitions. Hard to say.

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Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:41:36 GMT

This course should be a prerequisite for learning CT

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Quote of the day: intelligence vs motivation

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 06:36:18 GMT

“...the goals are extraneous to the intelligence: Being smart is not the same as wanting something.”

-- Steven Pinker.

Quoted from: Gary Marcus. “Rebooting AI."

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TIL: Varnashrama-dharma

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 04:17:23 GMT

https://iskconeducationalservices.org/HoH/concepts/key-concepts/varnashrama-dharma/

Key Points
- Varnashrama-dharma – duties performed according to the system of four varnas (social divisions) and four ashrams (stages in life).
- Focus is on responsibilities (which naturally fulfil the rights of others).
- Four varnas – brahmanas (priests, teachers, and intellectuals), kshatriyas (police, army, and administration), vaishyas (farmers, merchants, and business people), shudras (artisans and workers).
- Four ashrams – student life, household life, retirement, and renunciation.

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Fri, 06 Aug 2021 18:19:37 GMT

( Read more... )

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Mon, 12 Oct 2020 06:22:56 GMT

The wolf is an equalizer.

Also, "work and play don't mix". A x B -> ∅

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Fri, 22 Mar 2019 04:42:43 GMT

Similar to the case of big banks vs small banks, access to capital makes a huge difference in hacking:

Today even the smallest countries can buy digital espionage services, enabling them to conduct sophisticated operations like electronic eavesdropping or influence campaigns that were once the preserve of major powers like the United States and Russia. Corporations that want to scrutinize competitors’ secrets, or a wealthy individual with a beef against a rival, can also command intelligence operations for a price, akin to purchasing off-the-shelf elements of the National Security Agency or the Mossad.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/politics/government-hackers-nso-darkmatter.html

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Mon, 04 Mar 2019 06:18:15 GMT

Luther's translation used the variant of German spoken at the Saxon chancellery, intelligible to both northern and southern Germans. He intended his vigorous, direct language to make the Bible accessible to everyday Germans, "for we are removing impediments and difficulties so that other people may read it without hindrance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther

Luther's work fundamentally changed the salvation industry. It obliterated huge swaths of intangible capital that the Catholic Church invested in its organization, including learning Greek and Latin for the sake of understanding the Word of God. It established a new logic of salvation.

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

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Где купить дракона?

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 22:12:35 GMT

С одной стороны, один огнедышащий дракон помогает легко победить войска противника, даже если их по числу рыцарей-коней больше в пять раз. То есть, технология "дракон" компенсирует доступ к традиционному капиталу.

С другой стороны, технология "интернет" в руках маленького банка не дает возможности конкурировать с большим банкoм. Даже наоборот, преимущество в капитале позволяет большoмy банкy с помощью "интернета" наголову разбить все маленькие банки.

Такие вот фокусы с теорией "дисрапшн."

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Urban vs Rural - 5

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 06:02:47 GMT

(WSJ, 3/2/2019) Big banks have boosted profits in recent years by focusing on the largest U.S. cities, which are densely populated and more affluent. The community banks trying to fill the gaps they leave behind, meanwhile, are struggling.

The 4,600 U.S. banks with $1 billion or less in assets—small community banks—today hold 6.6% of all bank assets combined. Three decades ago, around the time new laws spurred industry consolidation, they held 31.5%.
....
Technology is causing strains throughout the banking industry, especially among smaller rural banks that are struggling to fund the ballooning tab. Consumers expect digital services including depositing checks and sending money to friends, which means they don’t necessarily need a local branch nearby. This increasingly means people are choosing a big bank over a small one.

People who think that blockchain (bitcoin, etc..) is going to be this great equalizer are fooling themselves. The learning curve is too expensive to climb for the small players. On the other hand, enabling large banks to compete in the emerging space is going to be a lucrative market. What would be the leverage outside of big banks?

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Social media as equalizer

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 11:31:41 GMT

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-45501496/the-woman-reclaiming-nude-for-women-of-colour

In the interview, the businesswoman uses the term "leveler" in describing her SM strategy.

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