I don't know how anyone else feels about this, but to me, sharing a screenshot of chatbot output to make a point of some kind is an excellent way to undermine any credibility that might otherwise be granted to you in the context of whatever you're trying to say.
4-panel SMBC comic update. A teacher is speaking to a class. She tells the kids that today they will be learning about Phi, the golden ratio. She points out that "when you look at flowers, at nautilus shells, at the arms of spiral galaxies... None of those produce the golden ratio because its infinite decimal expansion defies the sort of precision found in nature!" The teacher continues in the following panel with "Nothing is golden in this fallen world, kids!" In the final panel, a student raises their arm to ask if the teacher is still letting the divorce intrude on her work-life, to which the teacher replies "did you know if you count the points on a pinecone they are still less numerous than your sorrows?"
There should be demotivational YouTube math videos. Just to be different.
COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/phi
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
I had never seen this video before, and I'm grateful that you've shared it.
Here's Henri Matisse drawing a portrait of his son. Watch his head and eyes, and how often they look back and forth between his drawing and his son. Why does he look back and forth so frequently—why can't he just draw his son from memory?
And where exactly is he looking?
4/
This video was a complete joy to make. Here's a short preview, but next time you're looking to sit down for 45 minutes of math and art, take a look at the full version on YouTube: youtu.be/ldxFjLJ3rVY
Rationale Usually the chips served are not flavored, or flavored only mildly, and the dip serves as a condiment. Serving them separately allows for simultaneous consumption, while also allowing for the eater to control the amount of dip according to their preference. When made from purchased processed foods, the dish is an easy finger food, as each item requires almost no further preparation. Not to mention, there is a large amount of combinatorial possibility inherent to the choice of dip being paired to the chip chosen.
i think it's smart that the Wikipedia page for Chips and Dip opens with a "Rationale" section. a lot of people are flabbergasted to find out about this concept and need some grounding before they get into the history
Poster: Beach Spectres, we want to make the largest aperiodic tiling ever! What's an aperiodic tiling? It's when you cover a flat surface with copies of a shape like the one above, without any repeating patterns. The Spectre monotile was only discovered in 2023, and mathematicians are really excited about it! What are you doing? We're going to use large “cookie cutter” tools in the shape of the Spectre to cover the beach with the aperiodic tiling. You can help: come to the beach and we'll show you what to do. Where and when? Whitley Bay beach, 7th June 2026. Come and join in, just watch, or talk to some very enthusiastic mathematicians! beachspectres.com
I'm enormously happy to finally be able to announce the date of the #BeachSpectres project: 7th June, 2026. #WhitleyBay beach, UK.
If you can make it to the beach and join in with the tiling effort, I'll be very happy to see you and glad of the help!
Lots […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Greek mythology makes a lot more sense now that I have a set of unaccountable powerful people with stupid and obvious flaws and no way to smite them myself
I've been working on some important research on the forefront of physics: why do my cat's toys end up under the couch so fast?? youtu.be/JMNQ-Y5efGM
"Great question, Croesus! While my status as a delphic model prevents me from elaborating further, I can affirm that by going to war with Persia you *will* destroy a mighty empire. Would you like me to write this up as a set of daily affirmations, or perhaps you'd like a list of mighty empires?"
I've been thinking a lot recently about what programming languages and environments might look like if freed entirely from the shackles of productivity, but I don't have any exciting new answers. See, e.g., esolangs, visual languages, livecoding languages for music, etc.
Agreed. We didn't stop playing chess just because computers are much better at it than we are—it's a pleasurable activity. Similarly, coding will never go away, even if a lot of industry code is written in a soul-crushing LLM-dominated way.
Wait you can just do that instead of talking about it for decades?
I can see how it might streamline tasks that have well understood answers (e.g., snippets of code from SO, or @rms80.bsky.social's Bastard Son of 100 Geometry Libraries). I'm more skeptical/wary of its ability to generate novel research code.
I'm generally against vibecoding. But I saw some examples this morning from a friend that made me wonder if I should throw my current coding problems into an LLM and see if it can outperform me. Sigh.
I confess I wasn't aware of any of Simmons' latter-day delirium. Sigh. I still have some nostalgia for the Hyperion novels. I also like the novella "Muse of Fire".
Only a few days left to submit a short paper or a workshop paper. I'm workshop chair and looking forward to seeing what is submitted!
I'm guessing this is what you're experiencing. I considered the question of "French songs with mediocre lyrics" and here's the first thing that popped into my head. Bonus: casual 80s racism! www.youtube.com/watch?v=aauk...
“Literally doesn’t understand that other people exist” is the skeleton key to understanding Trump
ok folks we are adding compute shaders to p5! the bouncing balls in this test sketch have their state updated in a compute shader.
My doomer-worry about AI is not that the LLMs become omnipotent and take over the world but that the wealthy and powerful use it as a means to consolidate power and marginalize or lay off skilled workers and also everything about our technological and political and social life gets worse
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
I'm happy to be just one of a team of maintainers on p5
You can test new tech ideas using the Seinfeld Test
Would the product eliminate the plot of an episode? (Google maps, cell phones, paypal, battery packs)
Good tech.
Would the product inspire new Seinfeld plots? (NFTs, AI chatbots, crypto currency, blindboxes, metaverse land sales)
Bad tech.
A single-line drawing that is simultaneously an open knight's tour of a 99x99 chessboard and a 3x3 Latin square.
If you're living somewhere outside the USA, one thing you can do is pressure your leaders to boycott World Cup and Olympic events here.
The WIP is tempting. But I'm absolutely holding out for a (signed!) paper copy, whenever one is available. In the meantime, I enjoyed the podcast.
Breaking: Sir Demis Hassabis becomes the latest to say that ChatGPT is a dead-end and that we must turn our focus to world models - Gary Marcus
garymarcus.substack.com/p/breaking-s...
I'm excited to share that I'm going to be a TEDxWinnipeg speaker in May! I will be talking about digital legacy and the lack of tools and policy to support digital end-of-life planning.
tedxwinnipeg.ca/speakers/
#winnipeg #tedx
Some seem surprised that one can hold the following three beliefs simultaneously.
1. The October 7th attacks were appalling.
2. Israel's response has been appalling.
3. The Iranian regime is appalling and it would be great if it were overthrown (assuming something worse didn't replace it).
