mashygpig

Maybe a dumb question, but I don’t follow what you mean by “the space doesn’t divide neatly by two” and also how that connects with overflowing ints. Asking because I’m genuinely curious and would like to know more about this. Sounds really neat!

Why do you say funny?

You could argue that the resurgence of neural networks being the dominant paradigm in "AI"/ML is a partial comeback of cybernetics (dynamics of simple systems leading to complex behavior). I'd like to understand the history of cybernetics better, but my current impression is that much of cybernetics, or at least ideas in the spirit of cybernetics, just became rebranded after the original practitioners died.

I agree with your general take though. The history of aviation safety is a good example of taking this systemic way of thinking to heart, but most other fields don't seem to take such a wholistic approach in their analysis. I.e. part of the reason planes are so safe nowadays is that the people in the field worked really hard to understand the systems from their basic mechanisms to the psychological and physiological effects on the pilots/crew (granted wanting to not kill people is a great incentive to figure this out). I'm sure there are other examples of intensive analysis throughout the system, but that's the only good example I can think about.

To each their own. Frankly, I found a lot of solace in the dullness. Life is primarily comprised of dull moments and reading Proust helped me find more appreciation of the banality of life.

I only ever felt it was truly a slog in the Guermantes Way when some dinner parties would run about a hundred pages long.

For posterity: I think anyone really interested in these ideas of remembrance would enjoy reading Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". It's very long, but I genuinely believe the length contributes meaningfully to helping you appreciate the weight of the insights portrayed in it. Basically I think the length helps you feel the passage of time better in a way that could not be truncated.

I think think the digital age is rendering Proust's key insight, that we associate memories with physical places/sensations, obsolete due to the inherent lack of physicality for our brains to work with. Recent work[1] in psychology/philosophy seems to be backing up Proust's observations more concretely, and it makes me wonder if projects like Dynamicland [2] will become more mainstream as we recognize the value of physical interaction in how we think.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embodied_cognition [2] https://dynamicland.org/

Wow, didn't realize that there were major water ditchings prior to the recent Sully Hudson story. Remarkable that they were able to capture the moment of ditching too (in the 50s no less).

Also interesting is the fact that the coast guard intentionally stationed a ship at the "point of no return" specifically to help give planes information during this time period. I wonder what replaced that system and what is used today - presumably satellites?