Equational

I use to be a believer in type centric software designs. Hell, I hired and led Haskell developers to implement a smart contract language ! However, just like software languages get reduced to numbers when they run on computers, types can also be reduced to numbers. Yet that is not enough as types capture invariants, therefor more than numbers are needed to implement types. We need numbers and math! The figure below is a seven dimensional binary space partitioning of one hundred random segments. It is a modern re-visit of code I wrote in summer 1984 for an integrated circuit CAD tool. Here I want lots of dimensions, because types as numbers need them. Focusing on our topic:  Shallow designs are better. Yet shallow implies wide. And wide is hard.  Monolithic design are by nature local. Adjunctive, multi-dimensional designs, can be distributed. Yet they are also hard.  Math is good at dealing with hard.  To wrap this up:  In 2024 and onwards we do not build la...

 "A bit shallow" is my short review of Michael Lewis Going Infinite book on the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). Still, I don't have an issue with the lack of content, as that reflects the reality of the open legal situation. I do however find the psychological presentation of SBF a bit shallow.  (Background info is that SBF started his career as a trader at  Jane Street Capital , a high frequency trading firm). When hiring a trader, you are looking for someone that balances drive and analytical thinking (personality state 2 below). You also want a trader that is emotionally connected to their work. In high-frequency trading the software and the math trades, not the person. As a result the trader must have "empathy" for their models, for their algorithms, as these do the trading. These models and algorithms are complicated, and need clear mind to be felt. As a result, when hiring an electronic trader, one might look for people that can "shut out n...

Here is a handy way categorize levels of software sophistication: Software implements features Software  supports software that implements features Software supports software to support software that implements features Here is handy way to categorize levels of people skills: Person implements features Person supports people that implement features Person support people that support people that implement features Let us combine some of these people skills and levels of software sophistication: Person implements software that implements features Person implements software that supports software that implements features Person supports people that implement software that implement features Person implements software that support people that implement software that implement features Person support people that support people that implement software that implement features ... Note how entry 4 is a hybrid of people skills and software expertise! The above lists actually makes sense, ye...

Sentient ML? ChatGPT and the new Bing have been recently (early 2023) providing more and more "this feels real" moments.  Or said differently, there are moments where the ML entity feels alive and sentient .  What gives? Are these ML entities sentient? False(?) sensations As a vehicle driver, many of us are familiar with the surprising "false" relative sensations of movement. For example, we suddenly feel that the world coming toward us, more than us going forward. Or, we may be stopped, and for a moment the car feels like we are moving backwards, when in fact it is the other car lanes that are moving forwards. I put quotes around "False", as in fact, technically, there is nothing false about these sensations. These are in fact "projected" sensations: we are feeling what we would expect from a specific context, for example, from the relative view of our car. The world continues to function around us,  and we choose the wrong reference context to ...

I like this personality model when working in technology: It is an extension of the classical primary model of personality: Goal Oriented, Analytical, Emotional. It highlights the important complementary personalities that are: Consumer, Follower, and 'Preserving a depleted emotional space'. Without additional context, people tend to have favored primary and complementary personalities. For example: a goal oriented person might also be a follower (e.g. of social trends), yet chances are that a goal oriented person is more likely to be a consumer or 'emotionally reserved', as these complementary personalities are 'closer' within above model.   All original content copyright James Litsios, 2023.