Table of contents

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Tools for Thought Rocks: February 2022

videoyt

%3 cluster_681a1904_d4ed_4116_a618_b74f8997e331 Tools for Thought Rocks: February 2022 cluster_a94b4eee_8c44_48df_b72f_2f126a76a8d7 [2/3] Presentations cluster_b421ab62_77b0_4b68_a3ee_09a94b1113b8 modeling, simulation, feedback systems cluster_539d0482_b5dc_4695_8890_881eec9b315b Questions cluster_f1026b76_0982_4d3a_a38f_8a37dfb86ce7 Using twitter to cultivate ideas cluster_8a70e040_a7a4_467f_ad72_8de8418f5bae Questions cluster_7ec4b774_189e_47d0_987e_2d1578fbfcb0 Techniques cluster_209627d6_fe7a_4574_8e7f_93018b813400 [0/0] The future of personal computing cluster_46c24ad2_b22b_4719_8123_4473190798dc [0/0] Questions _ddf8fb77_f589_432f_bf26_6a55c5b8b8ca How do current works and areas are related to this? _7130d996_74fe_4050_894b_53de5f48fd3a Viewpoint on what are the common compontents of Tools for Thought from this point of view _7d89b99d_2743_458b_b8f8_34759b69dc47 Thinking of making a tool? _d12b1113_b8c2_4d0f_a845_328af4e51ba8 Comment on downsides of simulations _477c366c_0412_4588_bdd4_442247d5805b References [Bret Victor]'s work _f0a46096_1bf4_4f28_b379_37a9b831f8c2 On sustainability: how can we help support it? _1aa7dabb_ef81_42e7_9fdd_b26c41f9c1cf Does this find really old tweets? _b75fe17e_1890_44b2_89a6_2f3fdc2f99ad Can the fact that many people use the extension help do things that are not possible by the API? _f3c4f41d_aaa3_4ee1_a5ff_ce082675b1c7 Thoughts on how Twitter can help things _f52f042b_c834_4b4b_9339_7802046ea44e Principles _eac882ea_c666_44e0_ba66_cb57d5a646c9 Reflections _19b0908f_0e9d_4f9a_8f49_3c9dcd7f4337 Future plans _1a886869_e8e5_42db_8ea6_4ffbc4b5aac1 What new math would help this kind of ideas _dadf4a5f_19f9_44f6_a0e7_7bdae3394830 How would other parts, like algorithms fit here? _c699b35c_6f9f_4d6f_886a_13761739326f Which are the inspirations _55df0e21_05d4_455b_880c_abab1a8bd841 Smalltalk _c699b35c_6f9f_4d6f_886a_13761739326f->_55df0e21_05d4_455b_880c_abab1a8bd841 _d247cb98_43db_4be9_8fba_e9ffdc3aad8a Hypercard _c699b35c_6f9f_4d6f_886a_13761739326f->_d247cb98_43db_4be9_8fba_e9ffdc3aad8a _3d276d4a_66c0_43fc_af40_d7fb48a62da6 How are items different from FS files _bd9a80e0_e3fa_4943_96f3_c14921adeb93 How to deal with services that is too complicated/not itemized _d173e159_40cb_4bc0_963a_97b60a9a5907 Security _39309f19_94e9_4c36_98e5_e91f26d6b092 Thoughts about mobile devices _cdbe753f_1086_4a57_aa84_e3ae68c0f7d7 Ink&Switch _48764664_c813_4031_8ab1_c9cfde12746c Tools for Thought Rocks _48764664_c813_4031_8ab1_c9cfde12746c->__0:cluster_681a1904_d4ed_4116_a618_b74f8997e331 _3251a1bc_c952_4c83_b301_a47b7ed611ff Tangent notes _7ffb9a67_fdb3_4d50_aeb2_26a7fbf05201 Viewpoint demo _e9fe78da_e5f1_442b_8d63_9679fc526726 Alexander Obenauer notes __1:cluster_209627d6_fe7a_4574_8e7f_93018b813400->_3251a1bc_c952_4c83_b301_a47b7ed611ff __2:cluster_209627d6_fe7a_4574_8e7f_93018b813400->_e9fe78da_e5f1_442b_8d63_9679fc526726 __3:cluster_f1026b76_0982_4d3a_a38f_8a37dfb86ce7->_cdbe753f_1086_4a57_aa84_e3ae68c0f7d7 __4:cluster_b421ab62_77b0_4b68_a3ee_09a94b1113b8->_7ffb9a67_fdb3_4d50_aeb2_26a7fbf05201

[ 2/3 ] Presentations

DONE

[ 0/0 ] The future of personal computing

video

  • Start/end

    00:01:00 -- 00:25:00

  • By

    Alexander Obenauer

  • Rethinking the user environments across your entire personal computing domain

  • How personal computers help to think

    • How we represents things affects our capability to reason about it

  • Rethinking the OS

    • Central elements

      items

      • Example

        notes, todos, emails, podcast episodes

      • Items might reference other items

        • Possible some items might be transcluded into others

          • This allows using and manipulating them from the other item's views

      • Associated items

        When items show together in a context, the system is able to connect them

      • Also, browsing contexts (eg. browsing paths)

        • Non-volatile workspaces

      • Separation of data from services and interfaces

      • Their transformations can be captured

        • Daily summaries, activity logs, ...

        • Create automations from the changes detected

          • Eg. user-defined notifications

    • Advantages

      • Might enable data sovereignty

      • Higer-level primitives for software development

      • Reduced duplication in third-party software development

      • Users would be able to move beyond the app

    • References

      Tangent notes talk on Tools For Thought rocks Jan 2022

[ 0/0 ] Questions

  • Start/end

    00:25:00 -- 00:40:00

How would other parts, like algorithms fit here?

  • Start

    00:26:00

  • Algorithms specifically might be implemented as system-wide views

Thoughts about mobile devices

  • Start

    00:28:40

  • Services might support interfaces they are not directly addressed, as UI's are other components

How are items different from FS files

  • Start

    00:30:20

  • Items can be supplied dynamically by "item drives"

What new math would help this kind of ideas

  • Start

    00:31:00

  • Question asker is working on mathematics for digital representation and asks which kind of tools would be useful

  • Work will continue on this

Which are the inspirations

  • Start

    00:33:30

  • Potential inspirations sent by question asker

  • Not clear, but thinks about which are the problems that led to the demise of these systems

How to deal with services that is too complicated/not itemized

  • Start

    00:35:10

  • Examples

    • Email

    • Slack

    • ...

  • Lean on "item drives"/metalayer to link elements that do not support functions like two-way-linking

Security

  • Start

    00:38:10

  • How to deal with accumulating this many micro-pieces of code from a bunch of people

  • Probably isolation is a good path

    • OCAP

    • Capabilities

DONE

Using twitter to cultivate ideas

Principles

  • Consider using Twitter not as a "village café", but as a Memex, a web of interconnected ideas

    • Having it be "blocks" be short helps this

  • Problem

    twitter is not prepared for this, there's no easy way to do this

    • An extension (Twemex) was created to solve this

Techniques

  • Show most liked tweets from random followed user

  • Show most liked tweets from user in the selected post

  • Show conversations between the reader and the selected user

  • Search for tweets published by the reader's followees

  • Search for tweets published by a specific user

Future plans

  • Search likes and bookmars

  • Profile notes

  • Curate multiple highlights

Reflections

  • Tools can shape behavior

    • Extensions let us reshape it

  • How to preserve this (twitter)?

    • Decentralize it?

Questions

  • Start/end

    00:59:20 -- 01:07:00

Does this find really old tweets?

  • Start

    00:59:20

  • Probably, the API used by the extension is different from the public API

On sustainability: how can we help support it?

  • Start

    01:00:00

  • Community support or subscription

Can the fact that many people use the extension help do things that are not possible by the API?

  • Start

    01:02:08

  • (Not explored directly, but...)

    • The app can do things that the API does not directly support with some "clever engineering" (like searching for most liked tweets)

Thoughts on how Twitter can help things

  • Start

    01:05:06

  • Question

    Prefers for Twitter to bring in the functionality or better to stay independent?

  • Answer

    does not expend for Twitter team to care about it, as it's very niche

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modeling, simulation, feedback systems

  • Start/end time

    01:07:00 -- 01:24:15

  • Looks for inspiration on CAD <-> SIM -> FAB systems

    • Closest local maximum on software

      [ Functional Reactive Programming ]

      • Issue

        chaos theory

  • References

    Viewpoint demo

References [ Bret Victor ] 's work

  • Manipulation software design is hard

  • Most software is information software

    • Pet peeves

      what does "information" mean here?

Questions

  • Start/end time

    01:24:15 -- 01:49:04

Viewpoint on what are the common compontents of Tools for Thought from this point of view

  • Start/end time

    01:24:35 -- 01:31:51

  • Things will take of when "we can run each other's systems on our own systems"

    • References OCAP model

    • Roam-style interface

    • In real-time

  • [ 01:30:00 ] Issues are produced in the interface between the real domain and the domain represented in the tools

Comment on downsides of simulations

  • Start/end time

    01:31:51 -- 01:39:12

  • Question asker mentions differences between simulation styles (like game engines) and functional styles (where everything is "separated") and that they don't mesh together

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How do current works and areas are related to this?

  • Start/end time

    01:40:07 -- 01:44:58

  • There's a groundedness on [ Control Systems ] and that field on engineering

Thinking of making a tool?

  • Start/end time

    01:44:58 -- 01:49:04

  • Still on the discovery stage, not thinking of making a tool yet

  • Considering the downsides of developing tools with a small team for a small audience

  • Thinking about developing a sort of Personal OS

  • Thinking about not using text as the grounding model for systme design

    • Looking for a system that can be boostrapped without textual processing