Julian

spitballer

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

trying to learn more about biology - are there ways I could do that and be useful to you at the same time?

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@DaystarEld I'm curious if there are any other clusters with unusual variation?

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@sp_monte_carlo @HyperboIeva what confuses me is that a function is convex iff the area *above* it is a convex set

which is really weird as a definition because we normally define shapes using the area *below* a curve

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

if you give me small amounts of money I will send you respect the sheep stickers

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

RESPECT THE SHEEP

RESENT THE MACHINE

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

RESPECT THE SHEEP

RESENT THE MACHINE

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

the uno reverses of modern travel:

- Germany requires a visa to transit through
- but not with Frankfurt's Int'nal transit area!
- but not for Indian citizens!
- but not if you have a US visa!
- but @lufthansa won't check in online! (I am here)
- but works at airport (🤞i hope)

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@simonsarris @pli_cachete I like the Percy Jackson take on this: the floating island of Mount Olympus moves to wherever the epicenter of Greco-Roman culture is

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@ycombinator @DanielVlasits @YonedaLabs @DanielVlasits re looking for chemists to chat with you might be interested in talking to @peroxycarbonate who does chemical consulting sometimes

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@pli_cachete @softminus @shobboo welcome to the future

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

v interesting incentive design
cc @ingalala

https://t.co/AEQms2HrHK

[Ashlee Vance @ashleevance]

The contest itself was set up very cleverly. There were prizes along the way to the grand prize but to win them, you had to release your work to the community. I'm not sure this type of hybrid model has been used in a contest before. Open source for the win

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

this is genuinely amazing

[Nat Friedman @natfriedman]

Ten months ago, we launched the Vesuvius Challenge to solve the ancient problem of the Herculaneum Papyri, a library of scrolls that were flash-fried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Today we are overjoyed to announce that our crazy project has succeeded. After 2000 years, we can finally read the scrolls:
This image was produced by @Youssef_M_Nader, @LukeFarritor, and @JuliSchillij, who have now won the Vesuvius Challenge Grand Prize of $700,000. Congratulations!!

These fifteen columns come from the very end of the first scroll we have been able to read and contain new text from the ancient world that has never been seen before. The author – probably Epicurean philosopher Philodemus – writes here about music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures. In the closing section, he throws shade at unnamed ideological adversaries – perhaps the stoics? – who "have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular."

This year, the Vesuvius Challenge continues. The text that we revealed so far represents just 5% of one scroll.

In 2024, our goal is to from reading a few passages of text to entire scrolls, and we're announcing a new $100,000 grand prize for the first team that is able to read at least 90% of all four scrolls that we have scanned.

The scrolls stored in Naples that remain to be read represent more than 16 megabytes of ancient text. But the villa where the scrolls were found was only partially excavated, and scholars tell us that there may be thousands more scrolls underground. Our hope is that the success of the Vesuvius Challenge catalyzes the excavation of the villa, that the main library is discovered, and that whatever we find there rewrites history and inspires all of us.

It's been a great joy to work on this strange and amazing project. Thanks to Brent Seales for laying the foundation for this work over so many years, thanks to the friends and Twitter users whose donations powered our effort, and thanks to the many contestants whose contributions have made the Vesuvius Challenge successful!

Read more in our announcement: https://t.co/rUlrdGXBMs

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

otoh some 1 letter variables like \theta and i and j can only be used to mean certain kinds of things

https://t.co/jZ4khuYr3j

[Lucy Keer 🪣 @drossbucket]

Why single character variable names in maths make sense even though programmers don't like them https://t.co/1Bn6SaVuqy

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

math notation is optimized specifically for quick spatial manipulation (*transfer V to the other side of the equation*) on paper and mentally

also for writing speed - competitive programmers also use 1 letter variables

what would notation optimized for communication look like?

[Dr. Dad, PhD 🔄🔼◀️🔽▶️ @GarrettPetersen]

The convention in math is to use letters as variables. So if I'm writing an equation in a paper, maybe V is trade volume. But when I go to write code, the variable is trade_volume, not V. This makes code much more readable than math, even when it's doing the same thing.

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@CleoOnTheRange huh @gleech interesting that I also like Blank Space and Shake It Off much more than TS' other songs

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@CleoOnTheRange I'm not a fan of taylor swift, but I'm not surprised by the attention - the TS machine has been working on this for a longgg time

https://t.co/IyYxAx75HT

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@visakanv @ElodesNL Tamil especially so!

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@datagenproc there's a bujold quote: "Egalitarians adapt very well to aristocracies, as long as they get to be the aristocrats"

:)

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

legibility asymmetries rule everything around me

[Ryan Moulton @moultano]

There are so many things where "we think this should be handled carefully" turns into "this is too much of a pain to do at all"

HIPAA <-> messaging your doctor
COPPA <-> letting kids use your service
ePrivacy Directive <-> clicking any links ever

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

https://t.co/vY2p3r56Wv

[pseudokaṇāda ☀️ @hestmatematik]

purely negative feedback with zero positive feedback has not ever worked to create socially oriented, moral humans or even compliant and obedient humans. It doesn't work on cats or dogs. it doesn't even work on snails.

but most of us believe it will work on politicians.

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

so-called utility functions and reward functions are usually invariant to adding constants

but for people less punishment vs more punish is vastly different from less praise vs more praise

wonder what implications this has

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@nishitvpandya getting good exercise 3-4 days a week sounds like a big win to me!

I'd say just keep going as you are - sustainability is far more important than optimality

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@pbnvnbp @enhanced_games ahhh it's fake! that makes a lot more sense

[Julian @julianrdcosta]

@ScarletAstrorum this is an incredibly lovely thread omg