weeknotes #47
Last updated 6 months ago
- hey! hi there! hello!
- this weeknotes is number 47! 47 is the 15th prime number. how opulent.
- i don't know if i should restart the count after 52 like this has been a normal year's amount of weeknotes? i don't think i will.
- i've been using habit rabbit (if you sign up my referal code is PH4NX8) recently after finch lost its helping-juice for me last year. has been good so far at keeping me on track with self-care, though i am still waiting for aloe bud to be on android. i like tracking my habits a bit more gently than purely streak based apps would have you do.
- reading you gotta eat and enjoying it. it's about feeding yourself when the brain worms are feasting in there. in the author's terms "you gotta eat, but you don't gotta cook".
- also reading more than a glitch: confronting race, gender and ability bias in tech and so far i have been deeply shaken by being reminded of the international baccalaureate process (i am too old to have been burned by the specific lockdown exam shit show, but what do you mean it costs money for a student to challenge a marking decision, and they can also make the decision to lower your grade in this process?!) and also enriched by more examples of horrible algorithm and non-LLM AI usage. i really like the approach of not ceding any ground on AGI; she's of the opinion it will never exist, and it's weirdly refreshing to read a whole book by an expert where it's not given much airtime as a reasonable idea. i probably need to read more contemporary AI crit in general.
- additionally, and finally on books, reading more of listening when parts speak and i think for the "ancestor wisdom" dubious it's a hard read, but maybe i will recommend it to more spiritually inclined friends. there's no explanation of how the ancestor stuff works at all, just that it does lol.
- on a personal note, i think i am finally doing well one of 2024's softer goals (lol at the amount of qualification there), to let go of the need to be exceptional. i think looking at stuff like moral ambition, the general effective altruism (EA) movement, and the tendency of people to want to pin huge sea changes in the world on one or two "great men" or other figureheads, it just seems deeply suspicious to me. i don't think it's as easy as deciding you're going to be as effective as possible and just doing it based on a script/other people's calculations, like EA claims. i don't think everyone who is called to do great things ends up actually being great by anyone else's estimation, no matter how carefully and thoughtfully they manoeuvred, as in moral ambition (i do need to read it fully but everything i've read about it points that way lol. it's in the queue!). i think it's a lot of luck, timing and having the correct conditions (which is another way of saying other people need to be aligned, setting the right challenges, giving the right support...). it annoys me it's all placed on individual shoulders. i have stopped feeling that i have to be great, and started feeling that i'll do my best, try and do what i feel is right, and see what happens.
- started itching to learn more about algorithms again, and it's a shame so much of it is either in university textbooks or focused on getting a big corporate tech job... i will ask in recurse but i'm not too hopeful for alternative venues for learning, and i guess i have to get over my distaste for something in the process, whether puzzles or shallow learning.
- been eating chinese omelette with stir-fried veggies, a lot of boursin, a lot of toast, olives, figs and chicken fajitas. been drinking fizzy water with lemon, tap water and lavender, genmaicha and apple sleepy tea.
- hope you have a fantastic week 💟 see you next time?
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