Month: April 2013
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A good photo has three elements: good composition, nice light, and an interesting subject. A great photo transcends the present moment. It connects with the viewer emotionally and invites them to tell their own story about the subject.
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Ultimate limits on computation
1: The computer cannot be denser than that which would create a black hole (Bekenstein bound) 2: The temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation sets the minimum operating temperature 3: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Planck’s constant,E = mc2 set a maximum on the energy processing per unit mass (2 x 1047 bits per second per…
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Understanding biology
In my opinion, biology is about just two things: the why and how. The why is evolution. The how is protein synthesis. Evolution is basically just applied game theory. Protein synthesis is basically nanotechnology which is basically self-replicating information systems. Combine the two and you can explain just about everything about living systems. You can…
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Incentives in markets vs politics
People tend to become better at doing the thing they are rewarded for doing. Entrepreneurs are good at turning money into products, politicians are good at getting votes, bureaucrats are good at increasing their budgets and influence, and welfare recipients are good at becoming more needy. In markets with well-defined property rights, there is a tendency…
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The Future of Bitcoin
This is not a prediction, but one plausible timeline out of the many I can imagine: Late 2013: The media reports that organized crime, tax evaders, and “terrorists” are using Bitcoin. Early 2014: Politicians call for investigation of claims that Bitcoin is being used to facilitate illegal activities. The rhetoric is ratcheted up over the…