Handling #desistance
I recently noticed (to my surprise!) that computers CAN handle Real World Math better than abstract math methods.

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The most obvious and most intentional failure is statistics. The mean can be figured in an equation, so we use it instead of the median. In fact the mean is rarely a useful 'handle' on real situations. The median is nearly always a better representation of middle or typical. Economists and Share Value Demons use the mean to persuade us that making Bezos richer is good for everyone. Other stats are just fancy ways of lying. An extremely old observation, but we still ignore it and still use stats as weapons.

A more subtle failure is thresholds and log-ness. Our senses function logly, not linearly, and we sense deltas, not steady states, and we sense things when they run over a threshold. Closed-form math can't handle any of this. A well-written algorithm can crudely approximate it.

In both of the above cases, computers are actually pretty good at handling Real World Math, but we don't use them properly because we don't understand that computers are sorters, not calculators.

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The problem isn't the machines, the problem is the abstract and evil people who pay to use and develop the machines.

Now I'm thinking about #desistance. Breaking out of the two-sided "game" that Deepstate enforces.

Does abstract math handle #desistance? No. There's no way to show that a variable has NOT entered the equation, no way to show that the result goes nowhere.

Do computers handle #desistance? At the lowest level, yes. All CPUs have a NOP command, and machine-level algorithms use it. In higher level languages, partly but a lot better than abstract math.

A function call can return nothing. A loop can break and go nowhere.

Various languages make it easier or harder to deal with #desistance.

Python makes it easy. Functions are not obliged to have a return value, and loops can pass when needed. Functions that input a list of arguments don't have to leave space for #desisted arguments. You can simply specify which arguments you're using:

fn=tkFileDialog.askopenfilename(initialdir=PZ2Path, filetypes=[("Pose", "PZ2")] )

C makes it hard. Every function is supposed to return a value, and you have to specify void for a function that doesn't have an output. Every argument must be specified in order.

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How about real ledgers vs blockchain "ledgers"? Here the difference is dramatic.

A real ledger has pages for each account. If the store establishes an account with a supplier, or a customer establishes a credit tab at the store, the ledger shows the account even if no purchases ever occur. There's no cost or time wasted on those pages; they simply sit there until the supplier or customer decides to participate in a transaction.

Blockchain requires ALL participants to handle ALL transactions. #Desistance is intrinsically forbidden and impossible. Even if you never actually spend or receive money, your computer has to process every single transaction.

Labels: #desistance, Patient things, Real World Math

  ¶ 2:16 AM