The idea that simple rules lead to incredibly complex behavior is not new and wolfram was not the first mathematician to realize it even if he wants to pretend he is.
I'm big into fractal geometry so I would say Mandelbrot was the first 20th century mathematician to really get that concept along side the founding chaos theorist but even their realizations about the fractal nature of the universe ride off shoulders of others work.
I guess for computational mathematicians, the fractal nature of the universe and the simple rules making complex systems is new and mind blowing, for me and everyone whos read through deep simplicity its old ideas recycled into a new branch of mathematics reworded in terms a computer scientist thinks in.
Its not that the ideas aren't important or mind blowing, they just aren't new and the academic community has had decades to digest them.
And before the academic community came along many eastern religions came to similar concluions about the nature of the universe a couple thousand years earlier thanks to some good old fashioned shrooms and pot, so these general ideas have also been floating around forever and academics weren't even the first to suggest them only the first to kind of prove them right with logic and experimental evidence.
Have you taken a look at c/politicalmemes ?If a humorless poorly constructed wall of doomerism text lamenting the flaws of modern capitalist society counts as a meme, just about anything does these days
We as in you and me? Try our best to reduce waste, things that contribute to carbon emission, and plant some crops that put nutrients back in the soil. Donate some money to charities and institutions that further environments science research.
We as a country and international effort? Long term policy changes like carbon taxes. The 1%s and politically well connected finally being personally inconvinenced by climate change. About when the sea water rises to destroy their private villas and beach getaways is when some real progress will start to get made. 3rd world countries will hopefully transition from burning fossil fuel to cleaner energy
The bigger issue for me is every device advertised to be linux based and privacy oriented is >400$ usually around 700-800$
I understand that tech savy IT people are usually financially cushy enough that they can eat a almost thousand dollar bill on their laptop and not think twice about it but man I just can't ever see myself willing to shell out that much cash for a fancy laptop with physical kill switches or modularbility. Bring that price tag down a couple hundred dollars system 76 and Purism, then well talk. Until then the dude on ebay selling librebooted ghostpads are more likely to get my money.
Been rocking a real mp3 player with a metal shell for years now. Nothing quite like having a dedicated device you curate yourself. The last time I used spotify was 2016
If youtube-dl/yt-dlp ever stops working im in trouble
The people who try to compare caffeine to a drug are both trying to make a mute point and have likely never done any real drugs that are truly addictive.
Yeah under the strict technical definition a drug is something you ingest that affects your body on some level. Yes caffeine is technically a drug under this definition as its a stimulant which represses the chemical signals in your brain responsible for tiredness.
Billions of people drink multiple cups a day, and some feel like they would really like some coffee in the morning. If you want to define that minor desire for coffee as an 'addict craving' well I guess nobody is stopping you from seeing it that way. So there, if you want to play the technicality game and do some mental gymnastics with your world view then I guess all frequent coffee drinkers are technially addicts to the most commonly used drug in the world.
Buuuut, heres where reality comes in. On the grand scale of all drugs that exist in the world today and their level of addictiveness/potential to destroy your life caffine is so so so far off the left side of the scale it may as not be there.
When we have a serious big boy conversation about drugs and their potential harms with people who actually know what they are talking about and lived that life, nobody is going to bring up caffeine.
I've worked in rehabs. Ive seen first hand what true addiction and harmful drugs can do to people. I've had friends whos lives/minds were destroyed by real hard opioids and narcotics. I've helped homeless strangers try to build up their lives from scratch. A vast majority of them had issues with alcohol and opioids, you want to know the demographic of affine addicts we treated? None.
You want to consider caffeine as a drug and point out how 'lots of people are technically an addict lol' fine fair enough. Just keep in mind that real truly hard drugs exist which caffeine can't hold a candle too, that severe addiction is real and infinitely more hellish than coffee cravings in the morning. And maybe by trying to compare the two and think of them on the same level is an unnuanced overly simplified opinion
Theres a lot of smart financially minded people in these comments. any advice for how someone can get started with the market, and investments in general?
Man I really want to play disco but I really don't want to pirate it either. Everyone's always saying dont pay for it so I havent but is keeping 10$ out of a publishers hands and holding off on experiencing an awesome game just to 'own the corpos' really worth it? feels dumber every year I hold off on it.
I think this every time I watch a bargain bin baby show on YouTube with the kids like dude Disney princesses, comic book characters, and more are all copyright trademarked you can't just use their likeness for your finger puppet songs without paying fat royalties. maybe come up with some original characters or at least knockoffs for your finger puppets I know I would. definitely do not fuck with the mouse
Believe it or not its the opposite for me. I help take care of my elderly parents keep them independent and they both do this. I am compelled to physically take dishes out and rearrange them to reclaim like a second loads worth of wasted space. Some days I'm also tempted to disown them!
Also good piracy requires understanding torrenting and navagating the 7 seas with a vpn. And know what a good/bad torrent looks like.
My parents LOVE to tell all their friends and family how I can magically get any tv show or movie for them through the computer 5$ a month without all that subscription crap which gets everyones hopes up and I have to gently let them down that it requires a bit more computer knowhow than a regular non-tech person ]possesses.
If you think you can properly educate people on safely torrenting be my guest but for most people who have neither the time or desire to learn computer nerd stuff instead they choose the simple and convinent option of just coughing up dollars
The idea that simple rules lead to incredibly complex behavior is not new and wolfram was not the first mathematician to realize it even if he wants to pretend he is.
I'm big into fractal geometry so I would say Mandelbrot was the first 20th century mathematician to really get that concept along side the founding chaos theorist but even their realizations about the fractal nature of the universe ride off shoulders of others work.
I guess for computational mathematicians, the fractal nature of the universe and the simple rules making complex systems is new and mind blowing, for me and everyone whos read through deep simplicity its old ideas recycled into a new branch of mathematics reworded in terms a computer scientist thinks in.
Its not that the ideas aren't important or mind blowing, they just aren't new and the academic community has had decades to digest them.
And before the academic community came along many eastern religions came to similar concluions about the nature of the universe a couple thousand years earlier thanks to some good old fashioned shrooms and pot, so these general ideas have also been floating around forever and academics weren't even the first to suggest them only the first to kind of prove them right with logic and experimental evidence.