Quartz sync: Sep 19, 2024, 10:25 PM

content/2023-11-25 - On disability and being injured away from home.md

@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@
 #publish
 Written [[2023-11-25]]. Part of [[Musings on philosophy]].
 
-My 26th birthday present was a back injury. I lifted some weights wrong at a hotel gym visiting New Jersey, then, suddenly, _pop_ - the ground is really comfortable and I'd like to keep both knees at 90 degree angles while I'm down here please.
+My birthday present this year was a herniated disc in my back. I was lifting some weights in our family's New Jersey hotel room when suddenly, pop - lying down is suddenly _way_ more comfortable than standing. Both knees at 90 degree angles while I'm down here please.
 
-A herniated disc is such a suitable injury to mark a birthday occasion, too. How better to symbolize one's late 20s[^1] than googling medical questions about your back?
+Getting a back injury on your 26th birthday is such a symbolic thing, too. 26 means I'm officially in my late 20s[^1] and already I'm googling medical questions about my back!
 
 ![[20231124_191040-COLLAGE.jpg]]
-_In the morning, I walk on 0 legs. In the afternoon, 0. in the evening, still 0. Which in-network doctors are open tonight?_
+_In the morning, I walk on 0 legs. In the afternoon, 0. in the evening, still 0. Are there any in-network doctors in my area?_
 
 Having been floor-ridden for 24+ hours, I reflect on several things...
 

content/AI art and human obsolescence.md

@@ -1,36 +1,45 @@
 # AI art and human obsolescence
 #publish 
-_Hitler was also an artist before he was a megalomaniac._
 
 Part of [[Musings on philosophy]]; related to [[The human knowledge horizon]].
 
-Musings dated [[2023-05-06]]. I wonder if my predictions will be proven accurate.
+Musings dated [[2023-05-06]]. I wonder what I'll think of this article in the future.
 
 ![[FB_IMG_1683402904969.jpg]]
 
-AI art is solid cocktail conversation topic these days because anyone can weigh in. Those sympathetic to artists muse sourly over the ethical implications of training AIs without permission. The technically- and economically-minded discuss the current cost of a teraflop. In the corner, zoomers and philosophers take shots.
+AI art is solid cocktail conversation topic these days because anyone can weigh in. Those sympathetic to artists muse sourly over the ethics of training AIs without permission. Engineers and economists discuss compute costs together. In the corner, zoomers and philosophers take shots.
 
-Part of what makes the topic so fun is that largely, everyone already agrees. Stealing is bad, AIs who are more competent than humans are scary, and capitalism is probably going to fumble this one up bad. In general it seems people believe this situation is a universally negative one, and that AI art will be disastrous.
+Part of what makes the topic fun is that largely, everyone already agrees. Stealing is bad, AIs who are more competent than humans are scary, and capitalism is probably going to produce a situation nobody is happy with. In general, most people seem to regard the future of AI art negatively.
 
 ### My opinion
-I want to document a contrarian take, that AI art is a force for net good. It will (1) allow the world to produce a greater quantity of art, (2) spur the average person to train a more critical eye when interpreting art, and (3) have a net zero or net positive effect at lowering the barrier for individuals to produce meaningful art.
+I want to document a contrarian take, that AI art is actually a force for net good. It will (1) allow the world to produce a greater quantity of art, (2) spur the average person to train a more critical eye when interpreting art, and (3) have a net zero or net positive effect at lowering the barrier for individuals to produce meaningful art.
 
 ### 1) AI artists will mean a greater quantity of art
-This is for certain. It's already tough to distinguish some AI art from real art (see [[Stable diffusion fraud]] for my experience with that). Sure, quality is subjective, but that AI art shares the same believability ballpark with human art convinces me it's on par with most subjective experiences of art.
+This is for certain. It's already tough to distinguish some AI art from real art (see [[Stable diffusion fraud]] for my experience with that). Sure, quality is subjective, but that AI art shares the same believability ballpark with human art convinces me it's already on par with most subjective experiences of art.
 
 ### 2) Which means people will train a more critical eye
-With one's senses flooded by generated (and retouched) art, the only way to cope is to find a way to mentally filter though it all. Perhaps I'm projecting but I think often people don't ponder whether they _actually_ like a piece of art. The result of this is, under the right circumstances (e.g. visiting an overhyped museum exhibit), people can convince themselves they are a fan of virtually any kind of art. Exclusivity fuels pointless hype trains.
+With one's senses flooded by generated (and retouched) art, the only way to cope will be finding a way to filter away bad art. But what is "bad art?" People will need to decide on their own. And in the process of doing that, I suspect the average person will develop a more robust opinion on aesthetics.
 
-So AI art is sort of a meritocratizing force. We'll eventually get to a point where teraflops are cheap enough and pretrained models are accessible enough that pretty much anyone with a good idea can generate art. The most visionary artists will probably inpaint or retouch their work using AI. In that sense, stable diffusion is basically a hyper-advanced paintbrush. You can let your robo-paintbrush totally loose and allow it to handle (basically) the creation of your whole art piece, or you can use it with intent.
+Or, maybe not, and everyone will continue to overvalue art with hype surrounding it. But IMO this is no worse than today's status quo. I sense many people defer their opinion on aesthetics to someone else, usually a museum curator or gallery owner, unconsciously allowing that person's opinion's on art to color their own. And so, under the right circumstances (such as visiting a museum), people can convince themselves they like the aesthetics of virtually any kind of art.
 
-I think AI art powered by human intent will start winning out over generic AI art pretty soon.
+So, I see AI art is sort of a meritocratizing force to this. Pretty soon, stable diffusion will be accessible to anyone with a good idea. So, anyone with an idea can create art, thereby making art less exclusive. The average person will need a more critical eye to filter through the noise, and dig deep to understand _why_ they prefer certain art above others.
+
+I like to think this will breed more thoughtfulness. Or maybe it will breed disdain for anything not human-created. I'm optimistic we as netizens will find a middle ground.
 
 ### 3) And for those seeking to create great art, the barrier to entry will either lower or remain unchanged
-The robo-paintbrush becoming universally accessible means anyone with an idea can produce art. I suspect the effect of this will be either (A) lots more art in general -- including perceptibly generic and bad art -- is produced, or (B) more art is produced and it is in general of a higher quality.
+With mainstream AI art, I predict one of the following futures:
+
+(A) more art is produced, in general
+
+(B) more art is produced, in general -- and it is of a higher quality.
 
 There's probably some variance in opinion on whether (A) or (B) is more likely. It'll depend on what you consider "good" art (a whole article topic on its own). I'm torn on this topic because I suspect AI artists will result in a ton of generic art flooding the internet. Is generic == bad? Right now I feel the answer is "no," but maybe I'll change my mind.
 
-Anyways, I think with the barrier lowered, we'll start seeing more art and therefore more great art.
+This also assumes demand for art is roughly inelastic. Right now I feel the answer to that is "yes."
+
+Anyways, with the barrier lowered, I think more art will be created, thereby increasing the odds that some aesthetically great art shows up.
+
+A strong argument against this section is that "created" != "discovered." That is, even if a great artist is out there, they have a harder time distinguishing themselves and becoming findable. I don't have a great answer to this. I hope it doesn't turn out this way, though.
 
 ## Appendix
 I glossed over some huge topics that usually come up in cocktail conversation so I'll try to cover them here since they're interesting.
@@ -68,6 +77,13 @@ This is pretty true imo. The job of a stable diffusion model is to extrapolate w
 
 Like the whole thing is so chaotic. Surely there will exist a tool in the future that's more effective than words in the future, an Adobe Photoshop of Al art, with dials and knobs like "lock alpha layer" that will do something funky with the image.
 
+### The future of the robo-
+Not very well collected thoughts but just a musing:
+
+Visionary artists will probably inpaint or retouch their work using AI. In that sense, stable diffusion is basically a hyper-advanced paintbrush. You can let your robo-paintbrush totally loose and allow it to handle (basically) the creation of your whole art piece, or you can use it with intent.
+
+I think AI art powered by human intent will start winning out over generic AI art pretty soon.
+
 
 ### More thoughts
 [[2023-06-06]]: https://reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/141hg9x/controlnet_for_qr_code feels like an evolution of art. This is a new thing altogether that relies on human creativity yet uses the new tools.

content/Burning Man.md

@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 # Burning Man
 #publish 
-#needswork : Organize my thoughts better here
 Opened [[2024-03-27]].
 
-[[2024-08-04]]: [This 2014 post from eplaya.burningman.org](https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?f=286&t=71830#p1043968) is an excellent account of taking the BxB.
-
 ## 2024's burn
 I camped with Infinite Love between [[2024-08-24]] thru [[2024-09-02]] (9 days)!
 
@@ -14,4 +11,7 @@ Related notes:
 - [[Reflections on Burning Man 2024]]
 - [[Burning Man prep guide]]
 
-Random video but this is a nice view of what playa looks like from the ground: https://youtu.be/TasWKFbHJns
+## Random thoughts
+[[2024-08-04]]: [This 2014 post from eplaya.burningman.org](https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?f=286&t=71830#p1043968) is an excellent account of taking the BxB.
+
+[[2024-09-18]]: This is a nice view of what playa looks like from the ground: https://youtu.be/TasWKFbHJns

content/Contact staff.md

@@ -43,6 +43,24 @@ Working on
 - [[2024-07-29]]: behind passes then reorienting your whole body to match the staff is easy and underrated 
     - Also kept learning the pivot and it's super fun
 - [[2024-09-11]]: (probably) fishtail into Angel roll
+- [[2024-09-19]]:
+    - Angel roll into neck wrap and then reverse Steve
+    - conveyor -> pivot -> fishtail??
+    - Second half of conveyor -> many things. Thrust? Idk how to make it look cool and not like a near drop but there is probably a way
+    - Tip for the pivot: chicken wings on both sides
+    - Tip for fishtails: be patient, wait before pulling up
+    - Tip for angel roll: stick head forward (?)
+
+### Full choreo routines (WIP)
+First try
+1) Front plane reverse figure 8
+2) turn body
+3) rotor
+4) advanced figure 8 in left hand
+5) left handed conveyor -> pivot into left hand
+6) fully extend & pause
+7) neck wrap into prayer Steve
+    8) tip: really exaggerate this movement, it helps
 
 
 

content/Luv Me a Little.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Luv Me a Little
+#publish
+Opened [[2024-09-19]]. Originally wrote this down [[2024-02-02]]. Related to [[Poems and literature I like]].
+
+[Spotify link](https://open.spotify.com/track/1SFA5zEVOsLhEg7ynbvQFT)
+
+That song by Illenium. It gives me vivid imagery for some reason:
+- Girl stands in the rain on a bridge in a city. Low color.
+- 0:43: "Say something different" -- an airplane's trail flashes in color; eyeblink flashback to sitting on a plane with her ex
+- 1:07: Colored ghosts push out of her, overlapping and yelling muted
+- Her eyes widen. She starts running, tears rapidly forming in her eyes
+    - Low angle shot of her shoes splashing in a puddle, gaining speed
+    - More and more ghosts
+- 1:15: She jumps down a short flight of stairs as a shortcut
+- 1:18: Lands in a puddle at the bottom _but falls straight through to the other side_
+    - Blast of overwhelming color
+    - Ghosts fully manifest, shouting
+    - Floating drops of water (blurry: rainwater? or tears)
+- 1:44: Cut back to reality. She is walking, her jacket soaked in muddy water.

content/Marriage advice from Mom and Dad.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #publish
 Opened [[2024-06-10]] retroactively. Related to [[Views on marriage]], and I guess [[Musings on everything else]].
 
-When I RSVP'ed to Anthony's wedding on [[2023-02-11]] I was asked to recount the best marriage advice I'd ever heard. I wasn't sure I'd even heard any, so I asked Mom and Dad. They said something about toothpaste, and another thing. I forget exactly what, but this was response I gave:
+When I RSVP'ed to Anthony's wedding on [[2023-02-11]] I was asked to recount the best marriage advice I'd ever heard. I don't recall hearing any, so I asked Mom and Dad for theirs. They said something about toothpaste, and another thing. I forget exactly what, but this was response I ended up typing in my RSVP to Anthony's wedding:
 
 > For raising kids:
 > 

content/Mom's advice for redeye flights.md

@@ -1,21 +1,25 @@
 # Mom's advice for redeye flights
 #publish 
-#needswork - just port the stuff from my work laptop
-Opened [[2023-10-19]] in the context of planning [[2023 NYC trip]]. Dumped into [[Musings on everything else]].
+Opened [[2023-10-19]] in the context of planning [[2023 NYC trip]]. Backlink: [[Musings on everything else]].
 
-This title is clickbait. Mom's advice is simple: **Avoid redeyes at all costs.**
-## Day 1 advice, redeye or not: Get yourself to sleep when it's nighttime
-Ideally no later than midnight local time. Force yourself to sleep by eating carbs in the evening right before you get into bed.
+This title is a trick. Mom's real advice is: **Avoid redeyes at all costs.**
 
-Related topic: **Sleep is heavily related to what you eat.**
-- Carbs/sugars put you to sleep.
-- Salads/protein on the first day wakes you up.
+But if you must take a redeye, here's her other advice as a seasoned traveler:
 
-### Hypothetical advice for my NYC trip
-Goal: Arrive in NYC at a time when I can plop my body into sleeping.
-- I'll land 9pm EST (6pm PST)
-    - 12am EST is when it's realistic to fall asleep.
-    - Make sure to be disciplined to get up at 7am or whatever.
-        - I'll drag a bit but I won't be totally dead.
-        - Maybe Mom is biased here since she finds doing this easy.
-    - Wake up, do something active.
+## Day 1 advice
+Whether you took a redeye or not: **Sleep when it's night time.** Ideally no later than midnight local time.
+
+Tips for this:
+- Eat carbs in the evening.
+
+## Day 2 advice
+Don't nap. Stay awake and leverage your tiredness to get to bed on time.
+
+Tips for this:
+- Eat something light to keep you awake. Remember:
+    - Carbs/sugars put you to sleep.
+    - Salads/protein wake you up.
+- Do something active or exercise. Exercise wakes you up in the short term (good) and makes you tired in the long term (also good).
+
+## Day N advice
+Keep doing this till your sleep schedule is adjusted.

content/Movies to watch.md

@@ -115,4 +115,5 @@ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E9zn-9I_1F4wEc83ZXUnoYnIUy02u0ogjFr315TK
 - 57 seconds 
 - Orville
 - Ministry of ungentlemanly warfare
-- scavengers reign
+- scavengers reign
+- blue eye samurai

content/Musings on everything else.md

@@ -1,29 +1,39 @@
 # Musings on everything else
 #publish 
-#needswork  - format/polish
 Sharded out of [[Musings]].
 
 ## Written
+My writing
 - [[Forbes articles written by contributors are basically clickbait]]
-- [[DTC fashion brands and dropshipping]]
 - [[History of chocolate]]
-- [[Reflections on The Commons]]
-- [[San Francisco map explained]]
 - [[Why Chinese investors throw so much money into real estate]]
-- [[What are dreams for]]
-- [[Reflections on Burning Man 2024]]
 - [[What the heck happened to mobile gaming]]
+- [[San Francisco map explained]]
+- [[Reflections on The Commons]]
+- [[DTC fashion brands and dropshipping]]
+- [[Reflections on Burning Man 2024]]
 - [[Improved geolocation devices]]
 
+Media review
+- [[What are dreams for]]
+
+Misc notes
+- [[Mom's advice for redeye flights]]
+- [[Marriage advice from Mom and Dad]]
+- [[Trick Mirror]]
+- [[Entoptic hallucination]]
+- [[Choosing a pair of skis]] / [[Choosing a pair of ski boots]]
+- [[Where does Apple maps source its images]]
+- [[Arguments against Christian life after death]]
+
 ## Semi-written
 - [[Modern art exists because of financial loopholes]]
 - [[Ghost kitchens]]
-- [[Kelly Criterion]] - see [[2022-12-30]]; this one is basically written and just needs to be ported
+- [[Kelly Criterion]] - see [[2022-12-30]]; this one is basically written and just needs to be ported from Google Keep
 - [[Musical Main Characters in ToTK]]
 - [[The spectrum of food formality]]
 - [[High schoolers are high value advertisers of your brand]]
 
-
 ## Unwritten
 - [[Warren's long burgers]]
 - [[Modern art exists because of financial loopholes]]
@@ -34,15 +44,3 @@ Sharded out of [[Musings]].
 - [[The fitness enthusiast's guide to eating out in SF]]
 - [[Hysteresis]]
 - [[A causal test of the strength of weak ties]]
-
-
-## Misc notes
-- [[Arguments against Christian life after death]]
-- [[Where does Apple maps source its images]]
-- [[Mom's advice for redeye flights]]
-- [[Marriage advice from Mom and Dad]]
-- [[Trick Mirror]]
-- [[What are dreams for]]
-- [[Entoptic hallucination]]
-- [[Choosing a pair of skis]] / [[Choosing a pair of ski boots]]
-

content/Musings on philosophy.md

@@ -1,21 +1,26 @@
 # Musings on philosophy
 #publish
-#needswork  - format/polish
 Sharded out of [[Musings]].
 
 ## Written
-- [[Rough edges]] (to personalities) -- this was written and now I changed it, pls finish
+My writing
 - [[AI art and human obsolescence]] 
-- [[Stable diffusion fraud]]
+- [[Telic and atelic activities]]
 - [[The cosmic computer]]
 - [[What makes a good recommendation engine]]
+- [[Stable diffusion fraud]]
 
-## 90% written, and I'm too lazy to write the remaining 10%
+90% written, and that's good enough
 - [[2023-11-25 - On disability and being injured away from home]]
 
+Media review
+- [[The Machine Stops]]
+- [[Philosophy and the Good Life with Sam Harris]]
+
 ## Semi-written
 - [[The human knowledge horizon]]
 - [[Beyond the Turing Test]] / [[Defining intelligence]]
+- [[Rough edges]]
 
 ## Unwritten
 - [[Gell-Mann Amnesia]]
@@ -25,13 +30,3 @@ Sharded out of [[Musings]].
 - [[Jhanas and the Dark Room Problem]]
 - [[Towards an objective definition of art]]
 - [[Argument against scientific determinism]]
-
-## Concepts
-- [[Telic and atelic activities]]
-
-
-## Media reviews
-- [[The Machine Stops]]
-- [[Philosophy and the Good Life with Sam Harris]]
-
-

content/Musings on tech.md

@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 # Musings on tech
 #publish 
-#needswork  - format/polish
-Sharded out of [[Musings]]
+Sharded out of [[Musings]].
+
 ## Written
-Longer articles:
+Longer articles
 - [[How protocol buffers work]]
 - [[Life of a DNS request]]
 - [[My tech setups]] (meta page)
   - [[My Obsidian setup]]
   - [[My terminal setup]]
 
-Bite-sized:
+Bite-sized
 - [[Conway's law]]
 - [[Your metrics shouldn't become your goals]]
 

content/My Obsidian setup.md

@@ -67,3 +67,6 @@ This one was annoying to set up. The `&heading=wololo` wasn't necessary until so
 
 Not sure what's going on here; it's not quite a search UI nor is it a backlinks page (if I had to guess, it looks like Obsidian is performing a search for the current date, 04/21). Weird. Anyways, it turns out Advanced URIs opens all pages like this if you previously had a session opened to the same page. Adding a bogus header like `wololo` overrides whatever special logic gets triggered for "open the same file that was open in a previous session," so that's what I'm doing.
 
+## Appendix
+If I ever need clickable graphs, [mermaid](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/s/vP5fBlGx3Q) seems really cool 
+

content/Obsidian setup at work.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Obsidian setup at work
 #publish 
 #needswork: Finish writing this
-Opened [[2024-07-30]].
+Opened [[2024-07-30]]. Related to [[My Obsidian setup]]
 
 TODO: Finish writing this.