mpax

> If anything, modern economics starts with the fiction of a perfectly liquid medium of exchange that can be infinitesimally divided, borrowed and loaned.

Yes, this is what I have in mind.

I believe the barter hypothesis is already in Aristotle, so it’s perhaps several millenia old.

Anyway, the issue does run deeper, since the barter theory is implicit in for instance theories of banking, inflation and the money supply. See “veil over barter”. It’s pretty important economists get it right.

There is this top down space rts game which does just that. Browser based, had electron port. I can't for the life of me remember it's name. The AI construction was very limited/simplistic though, still a good deal of fun.

STRIPS was the original algorithm Monolith used for fear. The interesting thing about STRIPS is that it uses A* pathfinding to solve a decision-making graph.

More info: http://aigamedev.com/open/review/planning-in-games/

I think laws should come with expire dates by default.

> It is false to say that people don't know they're giving out their data when they're consciously doing so.

That's missing the point, it's about the data they're unconsciously giving out. For example, my parents did not know that their Android phone could silently track their location. And even the stuff they do consciously put out often comes with strings attached.

Because they don't know they're giving out their data voluntarily, or don't understand the repercussions.

In some idealized notion or legal fiction everyone might at all times be perfectly aware what they're signing up to, the reality is much messier.

Virtually no one reads the fine print, because it's obfuscated. If you have bad eyesight and are not computer literate (a good portion of the population) you will most likely not even be able to read the TOS on the average webpage. Most people have no idea what "cookies" are, or what "GDPR" means. Even if they did, there's a huge opportunity cost to doing so. [1]

Then there's network effects.

When enough people do something, it becomes a norm. I have been required by many state institutions to go through private networks whenever I need to administer something online. Yes, ones that use tracking, because they have some private/public agreement. Likewise, if everyone around a person uses Facebook, and they use it to organize their social life, then they will expect that person to do the same -- it's collectively cheaper for them than it's expensive for the individual.

I've been surprised by the amount of times I've gotten texts "oh you aren't coming"? To some event I never even heard about, because apparently everything goes through Facebook nowadays. "My cell? Just search me on Facebook."

[1] http://techland.time.com/2012/03/06/youd-need-76-work-days-t...

I often see the rule of thirds suggested as a compositional tool. Yet I have never encountered any convincing justification for it. Ditto for the golden section. Anyone have strong opinions on this?

I feel like it doesn’t touch upon one of the most important aspects of composition: tangents.

https://curiousoldlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/10/schweizer-gui...

Perfect!

Don’t apologize, this is super informative! :)

Regarding the cloudyness... Has anyone ever tried to levitate photovoltaics into the stratosphere? Blimpy-space-elevator kinda thing? Is such a thing even possible?

Afaik the problem is that the currently installed nuclear generators cannot stop their operation in the middle of a fuel cycle.

“You only sell hot air?”

“Yes, I’m full of it! And quite dense!”

I’m not sure empowering individuals is the solution when they’re operating inside a major attractor space.

That’s the idea :)

Really neat!

2 features which might cool: stellation and .obj export

Iirc these things apply to 2d tilings also? I remember trying to do some esher-esque drawings using such tilings a bunch of years back.

While on the subject, handheld Arduino console: https://gamebuino.com

Has anyone here tried it? I’m thinking of getting one.

The generational narrative is misleading. People are getting squeezed because of accumulating debt-servicing costs.

http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4cf45f1d4bd7c8a2371...

It’s not just the web, software in general is getting increasingly bloated.

Not in features, but in more and more layers of abstractions.

I used to own Flight Simulator ‘98. Which proudly stated “photorealistic graphics” on the box. Technically they were correct... all the textures were photos!

The jitteryness is an artistic choice (no tech limitation).

Here’s a short pdf breakdown of the shading tricks used in this game:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ltkinwnmmzurjw/GuilltyGearXrd_sha...

complexitylabs.io offers plenty of gentle introductory material.