SystemicPlural's recent activity
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Comment on Introductions | February 2019 in ~talk
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Comment on What programming language do you think deserves more credit? in ~comp
SystemicPlural LinkI've never used Perl5. It's been over a decade since I used Perl at all. So I can't comment on it. What do you use it for? Everyone loves to hate on it, but my favourite language is modern...I've never used Perl5. It's been over a decade since I used Perl at all. So I can't comment on it. What do you use it for?
Everyone loves to hate on it, but my favourite language is modern JavaScript. ECMAScript 6+. Sure JavaScript comes with lots of Wat, but when combined with Node it is so universal in scope. There have been a lot of growing pains and the eco system is messy, but it has really started to tidy up in the last year. I do almost everything in it these days and it is great to not have to constantly switch syntax when I switch from client to server code.
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Comment on Introductions | February 2019 in ~talk
SystemicPlural LinkI've been on Reddit since the lisp days. Once - many years ago - I tried to create my own replacement that was designed to put the users first and be more transparent. I struggled to get users so...I've been on Reddit since the lisp days. Once - many years ago - I tried to create my own replacement that was designed to put the users first and be more transparent. I struggled to get users so today I do my best to support projects like this one.
Programmer by trade. My main interests are emergent complexity, systems theory and applying that to society to create a more just and equal socio political order.
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Comment on What non-fiction books have had lasting explanatory power? in ~books
SystemicPlural Link ParentThe Transparent Society and his earlier novel Earth were both formative books for me. It is a great shame that society has not headed them and instead we have a great imbalance of privacy where...The Transparent Society and his earlier novel Earth were both formative books for me. It is a great shame that society has not headed them and instead we have a great imbalance of privacy where only the powerful get to know everything and the rest of us are drip fed through opaque algorithms.
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Comment on What non-fiction books have had lasting explanatory power? in ~books
SystemicPlural (edited )LinkCosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature - Eric Chaisson Explores how pretty much everything in the universe emerges out of non equilibrium thermodynamics. Completely changed my view of...Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature - Eric Chaisson
Explores how pretty much everything in the universe emerges out of non equilibrium thermodynamics. Completely changed my view of life. In my opinion this understanding is more important than evolution - since evolution is just a subset of emergent complexity due to non equilibrium thermodynamics - but it remains an obscure topic despite first being explored by Schrödinger about 70 years ago. There are other good books on this subject such as Into the Cool, but Eric's was the first I read and it has really stayed with me.
Consciousness and the Social Brain
By far the best attempt I have read to explain what consciousness is and how it works in practical terms. Also, naturally fits in with theories of emergent complexity. Formed my current view on sentience.
Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
A very good characterisation of tribal life mixed in with the authors transformation from missionary to humanitarian. No other book on tribal anthropology has made me see life through their eyes as this one has.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Meditation as it simply is.
The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work
For someone who is not naturally good at relationships, this has become the bible of our marriage. And it is based on science!
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Comment on What are you planning to read this year? in ~books
SystemicPlural Link ParentI also have at least a shelf of books that I have yet to read... or have only read a small section of. Mostly Anthropology, politics, ecology, physics, systems theory etc. I do read them, but it...I also have at least a shelf of books that I have yet to read... or have only read a small section of. Mostly Anthropology, politics, ecology, physics, systems theory etc. I do read them, but it always takes a lot of effort and I only have so much brain space after a day of working!
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Comment on What are you planning to read this year? in ~books
SystemicPlural Link ParentIf you haven't read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and it's sequels by Becky Chambers, you should check those out as well. Other great female science fiction authors include: The Murderbot...If you haven't read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and it's sequels by Becky Chambers, you should check those out as well.
Other great female science fiction authors include:
- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
- The Centenal Cycle by Malka Older
- The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
- To Say Nothing of the Dog - and many more by Connie Willis
I tried to make a social networking protocol that could be used to generate any kind of social networking site http://www.babblingbrook.net was the theory site. http://cobaltcascade.net/ was the reddit themed version. It is still online, but I havn't touched it in almost 5 years and the designs are about 8 years old... so don't expect it to look like much, but if you sign up you will see it has lots features to enable community control, such as users being able to create their own algorithms for sorting results.