Had lots of fun at @modjam.bsky.social an alternative controllers games mod jam at Newspeak House.
I modded Doom to have voice control. Video and details here:
frabcus.itch.io/voice-doom
It was especially satisfying being able to lengthen out notes and stop precisely at an exact time.
Hmm, although this hazard would also happen with funds. Even pre-index funds, if too many people buy a pension that has fixed stock/bond allocations, the unit trusts can choose stocks but have to choose *stocks*. So not sure worse than that actually, but still a problem.
Thinking myself beyond this: That also means *larger* companies that are indexed are over-invested, compared to capital going into smaller/riskier/growing companies. And investments aren't happening in as many interesting things as they should given large capital supply.
More importantly, the *overall* market investment is inflated - every $1 in stocks increases aggregate market value by $3-8 (due to prices increasing). So *all* stocks become inflated if more capital is in index funds than the underlying companies are actually worth.
Part of it is that hedge funds are really as large or flexible as needed to actually make decisions and root the market in reality, although they do do that a lot.
I've always been a bit suspicious of index funds - I use them, but it feels intuitively like there's a moral hazard if *everyone* uses them, which increasingly they are.
This Economist article summarises a paper by Gabaix/Koijen on what the problems seems to be.
www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Land Talks #5 is soon! I'm running another evening of lightning talks about land policy.
This one's got quirky stuff about the impact of driverless cars on land, and crunchy stuff about how liberalising planning can reduce trust and cause more problems.
luma.com/avdjw348
Come along!
Excited to announce we're running a second season of Land Talks! Evenings of lightning talks in London about radical land policy.
Come along to the first one two week's tomorrow (Monday):
luma.com/ba8uvclo
Or follow us on Luma for updates as we announce speakers for all of them!
I think meditation is a particular area where more comparison to the variety of normal experience is important. Everyone's mental experience before they meditate is so different, it makes lots of the conversations confused esp. about early stages.
Pleased with Vynn and my new episode of our podcast "Imagine an apple".
We talk with Jess - who organises JessCamp where Vynn and I met! - about the inner experience of meditation.
Brilliant, thank you! I've signed up!
Am interested! That doesn't seem like the full link though - just takes me to Luma home page. Am struggling to find it!
And happy Christmas!!
Yes! Well technically I'm hypophantasic as I have some spatial imagination. I have SDAM though, which is an important part in terms of daily life impact.
Crosswords can have a theme? I'm not quite getting how it is themed after aphantasia from looking at the clues!
Jeeps that sold out fast! Thanks for continuing to run it!
He clearly really doesn't want to believe humans are machines, AND wants to believe physics can explain things. Which are contradictory desires, if you're studying minds and consciousness.
Oh gosh, no-episodic-memory-me didn't remember you'd come to that too!
The thing I do remember (and you can maybe correct me) is I asked the question "But we could make computers that use the same quantum effects you say are used in our minds, so AI still possible right?", and he said "Yes"
I've had fun running Land Talks this last year, and we're ending it with a pub quiz.
If you're in London two week's on Tuesday, and fancy a more relaxing and social evening, with people who want to improve Britain's land system, see you there!
luma.com/c5944qgc
Really happy to interview @michaelashcroft.com on my podcast "Imagine an apple" about the inner experience of Alexander Technique.
What is it like to experience “open awareness”? What’s the difference between doing and non-doing?
Really enjoyed this one!
zencastr.com/z/ST9vDWiJ
I found the book very emotionally connecting, making me warm and connected to the variety we have as humans.
It's about how people think in lots of varying circumstances - from schizophrenia to playing the guitar. All based on a random mind-sampling technique, which is more like a therapeutic practice than a psychology questionnaire.
New season of my podcast "Imagine an apple" starting. Today is my co-host Vynn interviewing me about my new favourite book...
zencastr.com/z/MlzU79lP
(more in thread)
Times of day when I wake up from a dream and react well enough to record a description of it.
Screenshot is a quote from Hurlburt's writeup of someone who most of the time has no particularized inner experience.
hurlburt.faculty.unlv.edu/ieo/mel/mel%...
My review of Silksong and the difficulty discourse around it... It doesn't need an easy mode, it needs a *hard* mode.
People with naturally good reactions and observation skills are finding it too easy.
They need a hard mode to make it as hard as it is for me!
If you're in London - my third evening of lightning talks about Radical Land Policy is next Tuesday - have a look at the Luma page to see the speakers!
luma.com/v8knl21z
Agreed, each metaphor is getting closer, more like a simile!
And I was having a long conversation with @berbank.bsky.social about the whole thing being compression just yesterday... Hadn't thought about the scientific method being that, but it is.
We're doing that a bit with LLMs too. There's something very architecturally different about human minds that we still don't know/understand. LLMs help solidify things we knew anyway about the mind (it is made by composing trillions of connection weights), and give a feel for that. That's all.
Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind has a brilliant opening chapter explaining how we *always* make simile's of current technology to the human mind. e.g. It's like a steam engine.
