The Meaning of Machine Creativity
For a long time there was a narrative that computers would only be good at automating routine tasks, leaving creativity to us humans. I never believed this because creativity isn’t some kind of magic but rather much of it is [...] Read more
Progress vs. Categories
As humans we like to put things into categories. It makes communicating and thinking easier. Scratch that. It makes communicating and thinking possible. Categories go hand in hand with words as providing us with crucial compression of reality. Just like [...] Read more
Progress vs. Categories
As humans we like to put things into categories. It makes communicating and thinking easier. Scratch that. It makes communicating and thinking possible. Categories go hand in hand with words as providing us with crucial compression of reality. Just like [...] Read more
Happy 4th of July: Think Independently!
Every 4th of July I like to reflect on what it means to be independent. Today I wrote nearly an entire post on production independence, starting with energy independence. But I have decided to post that another day because there [...] Read more
Happy 4th of July: Think Independently!
Every 4th of July I like to reflect on what it means to be independent. Today I wrote nearly an entire post on production independence, starting with energy independence. But I have decided to post that another day because there [...] Read more
Joseph Tainter: The Collapse of Complex Societies (Book Review)
Given the ongoing decay of our institutions and their utter failure to address the climate crisis it is not far fetched to ask whether we are headed for some kind of societal collapse. A highly relevant book is Joseph Tainter’s [...] Read more
How Much is Enough?
I had lunch the other day with a friend. He has a has a reasonably high paying job in consulting which he sort of enjoys but would rather be an artist. So the question he posed was “How much is enough?” [...] Read more
Personal Update: Rage Against the Dying of the Light
I have been away from writing here for an entire month. It was a combination of travel followed by a health crisis that is now thankfully nearly over (a “routine” surgery that turned out to be anything but). But there is [...] Read more
Shift EV
Transportation is the sector with the largest CO2 emissions, accounting for 37% of total CO2 emissions from end-use sectors globally. A crucial strategy for the reduction of those emissions is the electrification of transportation. In that regard it is exciting [...] Read more