Ask HN: Teach me something new • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#771

Post by tmaly » Tue, May 03, 2022, 11:58 AM UTC

jonwest wrote: post #626

andrei_says_ wrote: post #212

What we call “free will” consists of a multitude of forces we have no control over. Look at your choices and try to find an independent entity making a decision. You will likely notice your conditioning and preferences, beliefs, emotions, thoughts, physiological and psychological state in the moment, your environment, habits, trauma patterns, all collaborating toward one thing or another. “Free will” is a shortcut fo…

I think Sam Harris used something like this to argue that there is no self. Basically he said something along the lines of like “picture a movie in your head” and then “where did that choice come from? You had the ability to choose if the movie that appeared in your head was the movie you wanted to focus on, but you didn’t have a choice about which movie popped into your head first”. And then he talked about like, if…

Was this on a particular episode?

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#772

Post by tmaly » Tue, May 03, 2022, 12:24 PM UTC

b0ner_t0ner wrote: post #280

Humans might just be the stupidest animals on the planet when it comes to seasonal migration, we get tied down by our monetary system, taxes, government policies, borders, etc., while polluting our planet with patchwork solutions like air conditioning for the summer or burning fossil fuels to heat our surroundings in the winter. We can't simply just "move" to a different location like other animals.

Maybe more remote work jobs could push us in that direction?

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#773

Post by tmaly » Tue, May 03, 2022, 12:25 PM UTC

Turing_Machine wrote: post #55

sin(0) = sqrt(0)/2. sin(30) = sqrt(1)/2. sin(45) = sqrt(2)/2. sin(60) = sqrt(3)/2. sin(90) = sqrt(4)/2. You probably knew all of those, but may not have seen it set out in this fashion before.

How does one calculate an initial set of values for sin for using in a table in the computer?

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#774

Post by tmaly » Tue, May 03, 2022, 12:31 PM UTC

mdp2021 wrote: post #186

sillysaurusx wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s true. But isn’t that tautology? Either it’s the most important or unimportant.

> Either... Logic of natural language does not work that way. It's paraconsistent: statements are attributed a value within T(A)^T(¬A), T(A)^F(¬A), F(A)^T(¬A), F(A)^F(¬A) because we judge meanings, interpretations, multiple per expression.

You lost me at T

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#775

Post by tmaly » Tue, May 03, 2022, 12:33 PM UTC

Timwi wrote: post #163

In Windows, pressing Win+1, Win+2, etc. activates the first, second etc. icon on the taskbar.

I like using Window + right or left arrow to setup my primary windows on a large screen then choose a second window for the other side.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#776

Post by mdp2021 » Tue, May 03, 2022, 12:36 PM UTC

tmaly wrote: post #774

mdp2021 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Either... Logic of natural language does not work that way. It's paraconsistent: statements are attributed a value within T(A)^T(¬A), T(A)^F(¬A), F(A)^T(¬A), F(A)^F(¬A) because we judge meanings, interpretations, multiple per expression.

You lost me at T

"Both the statement and its negation are true; the statement is true and its negation is false; the statement is false and its negation is true; both the statement and its negation are false"

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#777

Post by wildmanx » Tue, May 03, 2022, 7:15 PM UTC

ToJans wrote: post #110

I watched a piano/music teaching video from the 60s yesterday that made it all "click" [1] Most modern music chords patterns are easy to find out on piano. Start on any of the white keys, and play 7 white keys left to right. That is called a mode: a series of notes separated by certain intervals to compose a song. Different modes have different vibes. Atmosphere of the song ( sad or happy) is directly correlated by h…

> One step further, is learning different chord fingerings

By the way, pianists use the term "fingerings" for which finger is placed on which key. For example your C-E-G chord which you wrote with 1-3-5, the standard way of playing this as a beginner is the 1-3-5 fingers (1 being the thumb etc). More advanced players often play it with the 1-2-4 fingers. That lets you quickly change to the C-F-A chord with 1-3-5 fingering, which is essentially the F-A-C chord. By moving the hand one key to the right, you get D-G-B with 1-3-5 fingering, and voila, you got your first chord progression:

C-E-G (1-2-4 fingering) C-F-A (1-3-5 fingering) D-G-B (1-3-5 fingering) C-E-G (1-2-4 fingering)

Etc etc.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#778

Post by Turing_Machine » Wed, May 04, 2022, 1:28 AM UTC

tmaly wrote: post #773

Turing_Machine wrote: post #55

sin(0) = sqrt(0)/2. sin(30) = sqrt(1)/2. sin(45) = sqrt(2)/2. sin(60) = sqrt(3)/2. sin(90) = sqrt(4)/2. You probably knew all of those, but may not have seen it set out in this fashion before.

How does one calculate an initial set of values for sin for using in a table in the computer?

Oh, gee... Numerical Methods class was a long time ago.

The Taylor series comes to mind immediately. There may be (probably are) better methods.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#779

Post by stevenhuang » Wed, May 04, 2022, 9:03 PM UTC

poulpy123 wrote: post #770

stevenhuang wrote: post #58

The study of unidentified aerial phenomena (UFOs) and the acknowledgement of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (or extra dimensional) will become mainstream. https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/gillibr... Soft disclosure has happened already via the USS Nimitz encounter. If UAPs are true, then the floodgates are open and will lead to a forced re-evaluation of other high strangeness phenomena (telepathy…

Unidentified aerial phenomena are just what as their name say: aerial phenomena that are unidentified. There are no aliens playing in the US sky

There are enough recorded exigent cases across history suggesting of extraordinary flight characteristics & bizarre behaviour of UAPs. It's an open question if they're aliens or not, there's not enough public hard data to tell.

But I would encourage you to suspend disbelief and approach the topic methodically, there genuinely appears to be something deeper here.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#780

Post by FartyMcFarter » Sat, May 07, 2022, 12:41 PM UTC

cman1444 wrote: post #702

Beldin wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take a stab. An odd number is a number that ends in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. - ends in a 1: times 3 + 1: it now ends in a 4, which is even, and thus reduces to the even case. - ends in a 3: tomes 3 is 9, + 1: ends in a 0; even again. - ends in a 5: ×3 ends in a 5 again, +1: ends in a 6; again even! - ends in 7: x3: now ends in a 1, +1: ends in a 2; even yet again! - ends in a 9: ×3 then eens in a 7, +1 thus eens in an…

I think this is getting at a pretty good point. Half of all numbers (all evens) will scale by .5 to the subsequent number. The other half (odds) will effectively scale by approximately 3/2, as you have shown here. Obviously over a large amount of iterations this should cause the calculations to trend lower and lower.

One difficulty with this approach is that it doesn't help disproving the existence of cycles, it only makes it less likely that the sequence diverges to infinity.