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The Universe Is Not Infinite
A theory that the universe is actually finite due to having a nontrivial topology (i.
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Janna Levin
Theoretical cosmologist who researches black holes and gravitational waves. In particular, the universe is finite in size.
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Incremental Writing
A process for long form writing where you start writing independent units of ideas/topics (similar to ‘atomic notes’ in Zettelkasten) and synthesize them in a separate step.
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Cooperative Cryptonetwork
Applying crypto/blockchain concepts (e.g. proof of work, aligning incentives) to building large scale co-ops that require cooperation and governance.
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Load-Bearing Quirks
In software development, code describes what the program does, but is not helpful when we need to understand what it is intendedto do or why.
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Emotional Thermometer
A framework to improve mindfulness of anxiety and emotional distress. You can use this mapping to plan what to do when you find yourself at various points in the scale.
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Sushi Train
Visualize your thoughts as a sushi train that constantly revolves around you with different dishes that represent the flavor of thought.
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Self-Compassion
People tend to be more judgmental and harsher on themselves than on others.
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Mindfulness
The practice of bringing your attention to the present moment without judgment.
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Working Copy
An iOS app that provides version control over folders using the Files API.
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Useful Friction
Slowing down a process can be valuable when applied thoughtfully. For example, confirmation when deleting a file or charging a nominal fee.
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Personal Note Taking Practice
Knowledge work processes should be accretive (rather than ephemeral or ad-hoc).
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Knowledge Work Should Be Accretive
Most knowledge work is ephemeral–we write documents, emails, code and then it’s done.
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Duplication Over Abstraction
It’s better to favor duplication over the wrong abstraction. The wrong abstraction starts out as a way to remove duplication and then gets altered over time to handle more and more conditions to the point where it’s unique to all the callers.
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Three Tribes of Programming
Describes the differences between programmers by grouping them into three buckets–poets, hackers, and makers.
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Rule of 72
Estimate how many weeks it will take for a value to double if it continues to grows at a certain rate e.
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Powers of 2 and 10 Turn Multiplication Into Addition
An estimation technique where you round variables to the nearest power of 10 then when you need to multiply or divide these powers of 10 you just need to add/subtract exponents.
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Experience Is an Illusion of System Completeness
We tend to think of experience in a given role is obviously good–it provides pattern matching and intuitions built up on lived events.
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Gödel Incompleteness for Startups
An essay that relates Gödel’s incompleteness theorem (along with the Halting Problem) to startup disruption—arguing that all successful startups discover one or more G-statements and extract value by building a formal system around it.
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G-Statement
An unprovable, but true statement as described in Gödel’s incompleteness theorem.
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Formal System
A formal system consists of axioms (statements that are true) and rules (how axioms can be manipulated).
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Delightful UX Is a G-Statement
Having a delightful UX (user experience) is obviously good, yet not provable.
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Org-Mode
A package built into Emacs which combines outlining, task management, scheduling, code execution, spreadsheet, and much more.
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EBNF
A context-free grammar can be described using Extended Backus–Naur form (EBNF) notation.