Max Goldstein

Software engineer at Apple; formerly creator of visualizations. Hobbyist woodworker. Thinks too much, knows too little, and wants to save the world. he/him

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

Rebuttals to "AI can't be racist": a thread

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@RobertTalbert - not actually proof by contradiction
- "Since the product..." is backwards, better: since at least one factor of an even must be even
- n^2 odd => n odd does not imply anything about n^2 even. If we prove n positive => n^2 positive, does that mean n negative => n^2 negative?

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

I owe Mastodon an apology. (Based on https://t.co/E5TKaPWVA6)

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@mpershan Something about putting tokens based on, or in anticipation of, the result of 2d6.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@codinghorror Factorio. The fans don't call it "cracktorio" for nothing.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@lightediand I saw determinants in high school, and college linear algebra, and it wasn't until @3blue1brown's videos that I was told that it's the area/volume of a rhombus/parallelepiped. That interpretation unlocks so much about linear transforms compared to "number that goes w/ a matrix".

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@m4gw4s @richardstartin Indeed. Seeing a red test before making app changes helps avoid forgetting to compile, wrong source tree, etc. Then it acts as a controlled science experiment.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@mpershan @TheLincoln Another commenter says "horror is when the magic is malignant". But works often have magic that is and isn't evil. Alien has the alien, but the spaceships are ok. LOTR has the ring, but the glowing sword and immortal beings are ok. So horror can be its own genre, or a component.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@mpershan @TheLincoln You can mix two genres, e.g. sci-fi fantasy.

Also, dread = something isn't right but not sure what, no immediate threat

terror = fight or flight reaction, clear that there is a threat

horror = processing the trauma, revelation, or consequence of a terror experience

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@TheLincoln Unexplained, but in the best horror is follows its own dream-logic. I've heard that horror writers should figure out what the explanation is, even though they won't give it (explicitly).

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@howie_hua The teacher said that x is what we "want to find", and writes x = WTF on the board.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@singaporemacro And here I thought at least arachnids would be spared arachnophobia.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

.@0xmchow, any thoughts on the GTA VI leak? Seems to be up both your alleys (games and security).

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@MathHistFacts Even if we agree that 2 is written without the loop in the lower left, 0 has a loop so this joke would've been better if you said 1652.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

Math opinion: Whenever you see τ (aka 2π), there is a hidden circle. But e shows up wherever the hell it feels like.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@MathHistFacts James Clerk Maxwell is responsible for one third of the four equations that bear his name. Freeloader.

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@redblobgames @braifun I kept waiting for the linear algebra -- modeling asymmetric attractions between n things seems like an obvious fit for an n x n matrix. But apparently the weights of the directed complete graph on n vertices is more natural?

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@adereth Pretty sure I could've been persuaded this was a real painting. (Insert Turing Test reference here.) How long until we get an art museum putting together an exhibit of these? Something about interrogating the meaning of art in the (supposed) absence of an artist?

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

@midjourney (Another user asked for "the handsomest man ever". He is apparently white or vaguely middle eastern, but definitely has a well-trimmed beard and mustache.)

[Max Goldstein @maxgoldst]

I asked @midjourney for beautiful people and ugly people. It doesn't seem to produce dark skin unless you ask, but that's better than using it for the uglies. It also seems to skew female in both. But it's not terrible.

[Jen Gentleman 🌺 @JenMsft]

I am a:

⚪️ man
⚪️ woman
🔘 person who works in software

Looking for:

⚪️ a good time
⚪️ a long walk on the beach
🔘 the bug in this screenshot someone shared with me with no context other than the words fix this