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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 6th, 2023

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  • I wish this were true! The problem with Linux is that it is constantly changing. I have been using it for 30 years and have built my own embedded distros from scratch. Yet every time I turn around there moving this setup file to another directory or changing out that language for a slightly incompatible newer version. Trying to configure and maintain a box is a constant battle.

    Windows is the polar opposite. The ui may have some annoying changes but under the hood it is frustratingly stable, often remaining unchanged for 20+ years (even the bugs live forever). Users crave simplicity and consistency. It is something Linux still needs to figure out.


  • By this definition a how to book is intelligent.

    Classic programming is just a list of instructions (steps to take) that the computer follows exactly as written by the programmer. It can appear complex or magical, but we fully understand exactly what will happen in every instance. Nothing unexpected or new ever happens.

    AI as it is today mixes things up just a bit. We allow the computer to program itself by training it on lots of data while it builds up a neural network (think of it as a fancy decision tree) that it can then use to try and guess if the next data matches the training data. This is great, amazing at times, but in a lot of ways it is automated programming (auto classification) and not really intelligent in any sense of the word.

    The magic happens when computers can become intuitive and make a leap. Say we show it lots of apples and lots of tennis balls and tell it one is an apple and one is a tennis ball. Then we tell it an apple is a fruit and a tennis ball is a ball. Can we then show it a soccer ball or an orange and have it intuit that they are fruit or balls. This is the challenge, and we really don’t know how to get there yet, partly because we don’t know how we do it ourselves.



  • My advice is to do things that bring you joy, and if there a hit then consider that an added bonus. I’m a computer programmer and some of my most popular projects were started by me being curious how something works without any intention of doing something with it. If I set out to do something amazing I would have failed outright.

    So write a short story, then write another one. If you end up writing one you feel is with showing off then find a writing club to share it with, or post it to a blog. If that is successful then find a website or magazine to submit it too. Go on up the ladder till your the next Douglas Addams. But do it in many small steps, rather than setting out to conquer the world in one go.


  • Intelligence is a collection of multiple things. Curiosity is a contributor, but far from an integral part.

    Someone can be a brilliant mathematician, capable of computing complex equations that would stump most computers (metaphorically at least), but they may utterly lack creativity and curiosity. In any definition of intelligence we would consider them highly intelligent.

    On the flip side someone may be completely filled with curiosity about the world, but lack the intelligence to read or write.

    Technically that is a learned skill, this is why intelligence is really a fairly useless measure. What is intelligence? Memorizing lots of facts? Having loads of education? A built in understanding of the world that others lack (common sense)?

    I think what really matters is that you find the thing in life where you fit, rather than worrying about how we measure up. I have known very intelligent people who were worthless human beings, and simple minded people who made the world more special every day. We focus too much on being smart, it is one of the least important attributes.