ncase
patreon
Clearing out the idea closet (47 projects on my backlog)
🕑 Added 2024-02-22 16:28:53 +0000 UTC(⏱️ read time: 3 min)
Hi all!
1) Apparently "eating my hair if I broke my promise" crossed the line from funny to actually unhealthy & disturbing. So, I won't use self-punishment for failing to get AI Safety Part One out this month. Again.
Instead...
. . .
2) I wrote a 20,000-word(!!!) mega-post summarizing all the projects that have been on my backlog for the last few years!
🧹 CLEARING OUT THE IDEA CLOSET (47 Projects on my Backlog) 🧹
💡 (47 sections × ~2 min each, can be read in any order.) 💡
😬 (it is 90 minutes reading in total, though.) 😬
Here's a random sample of fun drawings I made for it:
So if you want a smörgåsbord of ideas ranging from game theory to virtue ethics to dystopian satire to nerdcore music to bad puns... well, bon appetit!
Let me know which projects you want most to exist! Or tell me any other thoughts you have on 'em.
. . .
3) I want to ship less-polished, smaller projects more frequently. So I extracted one section from the above mega-post, and published it on its own:
❎ Why don't brackets matter in multiplication? (3 min read) ❎
I'm pretty happy about this, coz it features a never-before-seen visual proof! (as far as I know) Here it is below, though it'll make more sense with the article:
I hope, two decades from now, when I teach my kid algebra, they'll find this delightful & intuitive, instead of believing "yup math is just a bunch of boring, random-ass rules."
. . .
"If the treatment isn't working, question the diagnosis."
~ (quote Ali Abdaal quoting his mentor)
I've beaten myself up for 12+ months about the AI Safety series, always promising Part One will "be out next month", every month.
AI Safety Part One will be out whenever it's out. In the meantime, please enjoy random short fun unpolished explainers & simulations I'll post whenever.
It's good to, finally, after years(?!), feel like I'm having FUN with projects again. Methinks I misdiagnosed my problem as "not enough willpower", when maybe it was "not enough fun".
It's head-slappingly obvious when I put it that way, but... god, I missed that.
Having fun.
See you next month!
Cheers,
~ Nicky Case
Comments
Manual Cookie
Glad you're having fun again! I read some projects and skimmed through the rest, and would love reading the one on faith in humanity and the one on virtue ethics. Also, enjoyed the square hole nod ;)
Daxia
Awesome, cause I have the same problems you have, I like to start many project one time. You give me a great method to categorize and rate them. And the 41 project is the one I like the most, you have great talent on it. If you finish it. I would ask my friends and my families to learn. Wu hu~~~~~~~~. Fantastic.
7777777
the "A group of catgirls is called a polycule/dev team" image, which is captioned as "artist unknown", is by reddit user u/AntisocialRavens.
Brian Handy
It’s like we deserve to thrive and grow. I consider introducing myself to new things in life to be a health expense. That creativity juice from new ideas inspiring us goes a long way to creating fun.
Isaac
also footnote 39 is borked
Isaac
RE 19: https://probmods.org/ exists and is similar to what you proposed
Tim S (Banana Juice Tech)
Nice insight regarding the diagnosis is likely wrong if the treatment isn't working. I'm so glad you're having fun again. Regarding the see-saw circuits, it seems you've independently discovered reversible circuits. To simulate a classic circuit on a quantum computer you have to do something very similar to what you describe so that all operations are reversible. This means adding a whole bunch of "junk" cubits in order to do much useful with classical algorithms.
Parker Bond
I've only looked at a handful so far but several seem pretty interesting! However, please DON'T solve the backwards logic gates, the world isn't ready for encryption to be broken!
CmdEngineer
Glad you are having fun
