Towards a Unified Theory of Power Are political power and physical power the same thing? Or are they close enough that we can draw equivalence relationships between the two of them? Physical power is measured in terms of “Energy per unit of time.” Almost all of physics is describing systems in terms of energy and […]
“We have to kill them before they kill us.” My neighbor Dave (not his real name) has helped me out a number of times. He helped us move a heavy tool chest from a truck into our garage. He’s lent us power tools. Dave, a rough looking older guy with a mustache and tattoos on […]
This essay is in memory of my Uncle Joe Neyer. Everyone knows that if you want to get better at something, you need to practice it. Less widely understood is the fact that you can’t just repeat something over and over – you need to be deliberate about improving. There’s a saying, “perfect practice makes perfect”. […]
I am writing this paragraph, but I do not believe that I am writing it. Believing would get in the way of writing. Thus, I’m writing, and not believing. I try to do one thing a time. I also try to minimize the time and energy I spend doing various things – like browsing the internet, frowning, […]
A fugue on symbols, consciousness, zen, choices, and enlightenment People are happier when they think less about themselves. In this essay I want to propose a computational reason for that difference. In Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, author Douglass Hofstadter describes a process where a brain mirrors the external world, and gradually starts […]
The last two cars we’d sent into this damn neighborhood on drug busts both had “unexpected issues.” Both times, the same story — the cruiser stops at a stoplight, and then — Bam! — it just turns off. The thing won’t start up again. We call a tow truck, and wait for a ride. “We’ll serve that warrant later,” we told […]
The real battle isn’t among us — it’s between the defenders of the old, dying way, and a newer, better way. Like many of you, I’m a bitcoin early adopter. I bought into the idea in 2010 because I saw how broken and corrupted our financial system was. Like many of you, I’d hoped that we’d see our […]
What if the truth is too complex to fit inside one human mind? A poker player sees the world as a hand of Texas holdem. A playwright sees the world as a stage. I started my career managing a few hundred machines as they talked to each other about the stock market, and so I see […]
These questions are rarely asked, which is unfortunate. I have gathered their answers here, for your edification. Q. If I am navigating a high-dimensional space, how do I avoid getting lost? A. Move slowly and observe as much as possible. Q. Do I currently believe anything that is false? A. Yes. Almost certainly. It would be very […]
Consider the economy as software governing a chemical reaction. Note: Previously, I wrote about one way I look at money: as a mathematical language. Because people found that essay interesting, I thought I’d write another in the same vein: let’s look at the economy as a process of energy, as if it were a chemical […]
Mark P Xu Neyer 