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Slow

michaelnotebook.com

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Re: Slow

#91

Post by Timwi »

neilk wrote: post #79

I personally find these examples underwhelming. Most of them are processes that require time, like the pitch drop experiment. I suspect that the things in our lives that truly have value and take a long time aren’t easy to identify as projects. No one person starts it with a clear idea of where it will end. Investment in future capabilities. Knowledge gathering without clear application or business model. Strengtheni…

Depending on how you draw the line, it could be argued that science — the project of uncovering the workings of the universe — is the longest-running of all. Although the word “science” isn't that old and is generally associated with the Age of Enlightenment, the desire to understand the world goes as far back as humans can think.

Re: Slow

#93

Post by tombert »

7373737373 wrote: post #86
tombert wrote: post #4

In my free time, I have taken to trying to prove the Collatz conjecture. People much smarter and more educated than me have failed at this quest, so I will nearly certainly fail at it, but that's not really the point in my mind. Even if I'm not the one to actually prove it, I can at least try and contribute to the body of work towards proving it. Mathematics is, more than nearly anything else, the result of generatio…

Interesting new contender for simplest to state unsolved problem: The Antihydra Does this program halt? a = 8 b = 0 while b != -1: if a % 2 == 0: b += 2 else: b -= 1 a += a//2 (// being integer division, equivalently a binary shift one to the right: >> 1) https://www.sligocki.com/2024/07/06/bb-6-2-is-hard.html https://bbchallenge.org/antihydra

Interesting, I hadn't heard this one.

I should see if I can model this in Isabelle or something and see what happens.

Re: Slow

#94

Post by 7373737373 »

tombert wrote: post #93
7373737373 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting new contender for simplest to state unsolved problem: The Antihydra Does this program halt? a = 8 b = 0 while b != -1: if a % 2 == 0: b += 2 else: b -= 1 a += a//2 (// being integer division, equivalently a binary shift one to the right: >> 1) https://www.sligocki.com/2024/07/06/bb-6-2-is-hard.html https://bbchallenge.org/antihydra

Interesting, I hadn't heard this one. I should see if I can model this in Isabelle or something and see what happens.

for reference, the statement has been formalized in Lean in Deepmind's open problem database: https://github.com/google-deepmind/formal-conjectures/blob/e...

Re: Slow

#95

Post by russellbeattie »

The article conflates a few different "slow" projects, rather than the premise which is efforts that required decades to come to fruition.

He mentions projects started long ago but are still ongoing, like the Sagrada Familia. Then there's innovations from long ago which are still being used, like Linux. Also, he includes ideas which took decades to finally be implemented, like LIGO.

In my opinion, none of these examples are particularly good at demonstrating, "What problems can human beings only solve over a very long period of time?", except for Fermat's Last Theorem.

All technology builds on that which came before, step by step. You can trace Unicode directly back to Morse Code, via various steps like ASCII, Telex, Baudot Code, etc. But the original goal of Morse wasn't to display emojis.

I'd say General Relativity might be a good example, starting with Newton's efforts to quantify the forces of the real world, ending with Einstein's explanation of spacetime. But again, it's not as clear of a problem as Fermat's Last Theorem which was a single problem that required centuries to solve.

AI may be a good example as well, starting with the advent of the digital computer. The very first scientists who worked with them like von Neumann immediately looked forward to the day of an electronic brain. It's taken nearly a century so far and is still underway.

Re: Slow

#97

Post by Timwi »

mzajc wrote: post #37
qcnguy wrote: post #27

Cool list, but to be a party pooper: > Will Unix Time or TCP/IP ever be replaced? Modified: sure. UNIX time is already being replaced with a 64 bit value instead of signed 32 bit. TCP/IP has already been replaced, that's QUIC over IPv6 which is what my computer uses every time it connects to Google. I mean you can claim IPv6 is still "IP" because it shares the same first two letters, but IPv6 is different enough to b…

From TFA: > Modified: sure. Fundamentally, IPv6 and 64 bit UNIX time are modifications of their predecessors. QUIC not so much, but it's still a long way from replacing TCP on the web, let alone the internet.

But then you could argue that UNIX time is just a modification of other forms of date/time reckoning. It becomes a semantic debate over what counts as a separate thing, and that's not a fantastically interesting question anymore.

Re: Slow

#98

Post by jxf »

Long-term projects make me strangely proud to be a human (for all of our faults and foibles). "A society grows great when the old plant trees in whose shade they will never sit."

Re: Slow

#99

Post by Timwi »

hnthrow90348765 wrote: post #35

Figuring out a good reason to colonize the solar system An optimal manufacturing and logistics network for the solar system Inventing replicators and dispensing with capitalism

Replicators won't dispense with capitalism, at least not automatically. Replicators need tremendous energy which can be privately controlled, plus capitalism can maintain minority control over a technology like this via trade secrets etc. and keep selling the technology for high prices. If you're thinking that you can just use a replicator to make more replicators, that's kinda like asking a 3D printer to 3D print another 3D printer, or asking an LLM to just program another LLM.

No, we need to dispense with capitalism ourselves instead of hoping for a magical technology to do it for us.

Re: Slow

#100

Post by Votrex_278 »

. My work aims to help create systems which support creativity and discovery. Currently, my main projects are working on metascience, programmable matter, and tools for thought. In the past I've worked on quantum computing, open science, and artificial intelligence, and there's a lot of crossover with my current interests. Bio (2020).
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