You have new mail. % finger qarl@ecl.wustl.edu Login: qarl Name: Karl Stiefvater Directory: /home/qarl Shell: /bin/tcsh Plan: Ode to the Forgotten Dotfiles In the terminal’s quiet cathedral, dim-lit, Where prompts blink soft like candlelit wit, Once lived the files, the sacred, the terse — A .plan, a .forward, the UNIXverse. .login would whisper, .cshrc would […]
A Universe That Must Be Lived, Not Solved: Determinism, Free Will, and Computational Irreducibility
The Clockwork Universe and the Fear of Determinism For centuries, the universe has been imagined as a grand clockwork governed by elegant equations. In this classical view, if one knew all the initial conditions and laws—like a vast celestial equation—the future could be calculated with certainty. Laplace famously described an intellect (later dubbed Laplace’s demon) […]
complete
chatGPT is Turing complete. why? because it can run BASIC, and BASIC is Turing complete. for example, this slightly skewed Fibonacci sequence: and it works.
in the workshop
etsy made a beautiful little video about the work we do for Santa.
jwz
i just had an upsetting exchange with jwz on his blog. he deleted it all, and i always hate that. i’m posting it here without comment. jwz: Well, the “they” of which we speak — artificial general intelligences — are, and I cannot emphasize this enough, fiction, and very likely always will be, so arguing […]
you
i asked an AI to draw itself.
examining Barr’s clever fibbing
an exceptionally good take on how Barr is stretching the truth to justify the clearing of lafayette square last monday. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/08/attorney-general-barrs-dishonest-defense-clearing-lafayette-square/
it’s a cult. no really.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/05/23/we-need-to-speak-honestly-about-the-gops-evolution-into-a-conspiracy-cult/
silence
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. MLK Jr.
proper shaking
Zizzerzinch, the snow globe elf, demonstrates proper globe shaking techniques. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @qarl
Hitler
we’ve been talking about whether Trump is Hitler for a while now. i just realized that the question is sorta moot – there is a much more relevant and threatening situation in front of us that deserves more attention: whether or not Trump is a Hitler – one thing is certain – his supporters are […]
trigger warning
found on facebook:
from birmingham
“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted […]
bullies
Everyone knows there’s only one way to handle bullies: sit down with them calmly and rationally explain how they are hurting you. Try not to get them upset, as that will impair their reasoning. For example: “It really upsets me when you hold me down and take turns sitting on my face. I’m a bit […]
pacifism
social animals (like us) have an instinctual drive to preserve social order. like all our instincts (fear of fire, fear of strangers, etc.) it is largely a good thing. but when exploited and taken to extreme, it becomes a problem. game theorists made an interesting discovering in the mid 80s. they found that the best, […]
why are you such a dick?
“Karl, you’re usually a nice guy. why are you being such a dick?” because i love you. i’m going to be blunt. there is something very very wrong with you. my best guess is that you’re in a cult. you’ve been brainwashed. i am not kidding. there is a shitstorm coming that is very similar […]
listening to trolls
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti?Semites have the right to play. They even like […]
ownership
good grief. back when we had pikazo, we bought a bunch of ipads. i have them lying around the house. i made the tragic mistake of trying to reinstall one of them today so that i could give it to my daughter. take heed – never try to use apple products this way. the ghost […]
lies
hey folks – lies of omission are still lies. you can tell from the name.
in someone else’s words…
There’s an old saying: “When the horse is dead—dismount.” It’s time to stop beating that horse, America. It’s not going anywhere. I’ve tried for three years now. I’ve tried to understand them. I’ve tried to listen to them. I’ve tried not to assign motive to them, not to speculate as to why they voted the […]
anger
i once saw a picture of a man and his daughter in a time of war i couldn’t understand until i realized she had no head
civility
i want to make my beliefs perfectly clear. if the sound of wailing children does not inspire you to politely ask the perpetrator to kindly leave your restaurant: there is something wrong with you. it’s sure looking like pacifism is just a flimsy excuse for cowardice.
SIGDIV0
i tried to tesser.
st. elon
a neural style face swap with artwork i found on the web. if anyone recognizes the original artist, please let me know so i can assign proper credit.
american gothic 2017
generated using the neural style transfer algorithm.
005
for the last year or so i’ve been obsessed with the neural style transfer algorithm. in this video i break-down how i’ve been making my recent renders. all the files from the above video can be found here: 005.zip.
handmade (?) gifts (!) for the holidays
1. take a picture of someone you love: 2. take a picture of some of your scribbles: 3. use my super new app pikazo to draw your friend using your scribbles: 4. print on fancy wood/glass/paper and give! 5. utilize any and all refrigerator art for everyone you love!
my god, it’s full of stars
not too long ago an old friend sent me a link to the starry expanse project. i am blown away. these guys are rebuilding riven lovingly, frame by frame, from scratch. i cannot possibly be more honored and humbled. thank you guys. you are beyond awesome. to show my appreciation and lend a virtual hand […]
prez
continuing in my explorations of image generation with neural networks – i present the presidents of the united states of america, rendered as if by Picasso, in Picasso’s various styles. many thanks to Matt McFarland for the inspiration and nice writeup.