Predominantly Erroneous (Exohedron nonsense blog)

Discussion in 'Your Bijou Blogette' started by Exohedron, Dec 15, 2018.

  1. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    I want to say that there's something tragic about the fact that two identical programs that can read each other's source code and are programmed to cooperate unless they find a short proof that the other program will defect will, in the end, defect if their notion of "short" is long enough, basically by Godel. It sounds like such a program is just a little wary but willing to give the benefit of the doubt unless there's something "obviously wrong", but then it turns out that sufficient paranoia forces the programs to work themselves into the both-defect state.
    Conversely, two identical programs that can read each other's source code and are programmed to defect unless they can find a short proof that the other program will cooperate will, in the end, cooperate, if their notion of "short" is long enough, for the same reason. Anthropomorphizing again, we get that each program will protect itself by default, but holds out hope that it can be convinced to trust, and sufficient hope is rewarded.

    It sounds like there's a lesson here, about caution and hope and getting what you're looking for, but instead it's just Godel and the fact that "proof" in this sense is really weird.

    One situation to think about is what happens when the two types of programs play against each other, one cooperating by default and looking for a short proof of defection, the other defecting by default and looking for a short proof of cooperation.
     
    • Informative x 1
  2. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    "Never find your body? What, you think I'm going to feed you to a pig or something? Oh, no, of course they'll find your body! Just not enough of it to be identifiable."
     
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  3. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    If the first bullet point in the callout post is "Doesn't pay attention to callout posts" then maybe a callout post isn't quite the right medium to convince the target that they're in the wrong.
    On the other hand, if the first bullet point is "Makes callout posts" then callout posts probably aren't the right medium here either.
     
    • Agree x 2
  4. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    But yeah, the real way that I'm disappointing my ancestors is that despite them pouring millions of years of evolution into equipping me for it, I've never learned to throw things well. I can probably get decent speed out, but aim? Not a bit.
     
    • Agree x 1
  5. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    Speed is just arms as levers really. It basically physics itself as long as there aren’t interfering bodily issues.

    Aim is like, fine, if you get me a dartboard or whatever, and I spend all my time listening to podcasts and throwing darts, I’ll probably have pretty good aim. And then how is this getting me much besides personal satisfaction and possibly a repetitive stress injury?
     
  6. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    No, but like, human arms are uniquely suited, out of all the limbs in all of the animals, to throw things. Even chimps only manage like 20 mph or something. Our ability to hunt, other than just walking things to death, was based on our ability to attack lethally from distance.
    And I, personally, am not taking advantage of that ability.
    I can't even juggle. Like, there are three physical things that mathematicians can do; I can solve Rubik's cubes and I can play an instrument, but I can't juggle because that involves things leaving my hands and not immediately shooting off in the wrong direction.
     
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  7. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Just like everyone else learning about the new Italian royal succession drama, I would be much more interested in a tv show about Italian royal succession drama than in one on English royal succession drama, solely because Italy abolished its monarchy 75 years ago and so this is fighting over a throne that no one actually holds.
     
    • Agree x 1
  8. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Okay, so the SOCKS crypto token is super dumb, but unlike other crypto tokens it is actually backed by something, and that something isn't just US government fiat currency, so in comparison it's brilliant.
    Three guesses as to what physical item you can redeem SOCKS for.
     
  9. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    I didn’t know that about human arms. Neat! Thanks, ancestors. I can’t juggle anything with more heft and less drag than scarves. I could at one point just about manage those. I do really like darts though, despite having been viciously attacked by a dart rebound through no fault of my own. I was fine. I’m not very good with them, but I’m probably much less good with anything that crosses the midline of my vision because that’s supposed to interact with my learning disability. Really encourages use of the neurological speech related things that humans do though, so you win some you lose some I suppose.

    How annoying that we’re evolutionarily well suited to baseball I guess, and I don’t even like baseball.

    I’m somehow completely flabbergasted by SOCKS. Why does it sound like a pyramid scheme chain letter from the 90s?
     
  10. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    I mean, things being pyramid schemes doesn't really stop people from joining up. A lot of the early Ethereum Smart Contracts were explicitly pyramid schemes, and people still signed up in droves. Which is not to say that current Smart Contracts aren't still mostly pyramid schemes; I just haven't been paying attention to Ethereum lately.
     
    • Agree x 1
  11. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Fanfic title: "My Anaconda Don't".lower()

    Summary: I like big data and I cannot lie.

    Genre: Romance, Data Science, Porn without plotly
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2021
    • Winner x 1
  12. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    I have a shirt that says that summary across the front. I think it’s Splunk.
     
  13. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Take me to [church|funkytown]
     
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  14. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    It's like arguing over whether something is a sandwich or not, except the purported sandwich also gets a vote.
     
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  15. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Is it difficult to give up tumblr accounts? Because as far as I can tell, deactivated.tumblr.com is unused and I kinda want to grab it, but I would totally underutilize it.

    I would post nothing but copies of the "this image has been removed for violating one or more of Tumblr's Community Guidelines", each with a different filename, but I'd also stir up trouble in the notes of other people's posts.
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2021
    • Agree x 1
    • Winner x 1
  16. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    The sudden realization that, due to a bunch of unrelated worldbuilding decisions, your main oc is unable to not cheat at rock-paper-scissors.
     
    • Winner x 1
  17. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Is it still gatekeeping if you're using the gate to keep them in?
     
    • Like x 1
  18. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    Moving the goalposts, but so the other person can’t help but win the argument
     
  19. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    It turns out that, despite the hype, merely getting all the type declarations correct doesn't actually ensure that you're computing the right thing.
    I'm glad Rust makes writing and running unit tests so easy.
     
    • Witnessed x 1
  20. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    RIP Kentaro Miura

    It sucks that Berserk isn't finished, but I'm not sure if I'd want someone taking over it. At least it didn't end in an entirely awful place.
     
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