If storytelling is the telos of analytics, that essential human capability we enhance through technique and information, what is the corresponding telos of data engineering?
This systematic collection and ordering of data is worldbuilding.
open.substack.com/pub/stkbaile...
Wrote just a tad bit more about it here.
Discussion: The AI Era Liberal Arts open.substack.com/pub/stkbaile...
The big change is moving from a worldview that worships pure forms and into one that appreciates built forms. It still revolves around "number", but we need to operate in context. Information is "number in noise", technology is "number in contraption", and aesthetics is "number in form".
I’d keep the Trivium. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric are perennial subjects when interpreted broadly. They teach how to gather information, order it, and argue with it.
There's some play in the Quadrivium, though. I'd keep arithmetic, but bring on:
- Information
- Technology
- Aesthetics
Interesting thread on Twitter proposes:
- Logic
- Statistics
- Rhetoric
- Research
- Agency
- Investment
- Rhetoric
It's a bit hustle-bro for my tastes, but the focus on thriving in uncertainty resonates. Great jumping-off point for discussion.
x.com/Devon_Erikse...
In 1200, the liberal arts were:
The trivium:
- grammar
- logic
- rhetoric
The quadrivium:
- arithmetic
- geometry
- music
- astronomy
What are they today?
#1 - Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
This is history, but it reads like a thriller. The challenges get greater with each step of the journey. The stakes get higher. At the end, I gave Shackleton and his team a standing ovation. (I mean this literally.)
www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...
#2 - The Farthest Shore
Just loved the wisdom.
"For discipline is the channel in which our acts run strong and deep; where there is no direction, the deeds of men run shallow and wander and are wasted."
www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...
#3 - The Acts of King Arthur
What stands out are the never-ending episodes of knight antagonizing knight. They look for any opportunity: they camp out on hills, they provoke, they quest. We do this now, too--but we murder with words those we used to with spears.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/93...
#4 - Bea Wolf
Bea Wolf is the crown jewel of dad jokes. An entire published book, complete with splendid illustrations, premised on trolling—ahem, reimagining—the epic poem Beowulf. It works flawlessly. (Just like dad jokes.)
www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...
#5 -- Death's End
Death’s End is where things get weird. It’s always interesting and sometimes delightful. Even when it doesn’t work (viz. Australia), it moves on quickly enough. And when it does work, it’s original, thought-provoking, and well worth the read.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/25...
Read 47 books last year, and I threw together some mini-reviews of them.
Worst place goes to Wuthering Heights. I had low expectations, and it didn't meet those. (But I have talked about it a lot to people, so maybe that's the appeal.)
Top 5 in the thread >>
Approx. a two car garage incl. roof. Thinking monster truck or construction equipment. Takes up most of road, would need a ladder to climb aboard, but shorter than tower size.
Hyperion Cantos to Animorphs is a reading transition that fully and surprisingly checks out to my brain
Cool, happy to share notes, will DM. High level, I see branch deployments as a killer feature, although CI/CD deployment times can creep up over time and reduce value. Asset framework is mostly good, but you need guidance for developers around how to use it, otherwise it degrades in coherence
What do you want to know?