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Monthly Archives May 2010

Meta notes: 1+ year with Monomorphic blogging

After 13 months and 51 posts, my experiments in blogging continue, although they are perhaps better described as polymorphic than monomorphic. Maybe it’s time for some reflections. On the whole blogging in this format and at this frequency has been a pretty fun and fulfilling process. I get to practice writing free-form, nonscientific texts, and [...]

Posted 29 May 2010 † johan § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

The identity crisis of the internet

The architecture of the Internet is fundamentally decentralized, a fact that continues to impress to this day. The breadth and depth of the sea of applications and uses we have made of it, and its resilience, impress perhaps all the more, because many of our experiences from everyday life tell us that some of the [...]

Posted 26 May 2010 † johan § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , ,

A problem solving method

Here’s a general method for synthesising solutions to complex problems, intended for use by people. 1. Enumerate the constraints 2. Find an initial solution that feels right but doesn’t quite work, based on previous knowledge of the domain 3. Use the information contained in the constraints to adjust the solution, so that it works 4. [...]

Posted 25 May 2010 † johan § Life ‡ Comments (0) °

The aesthetics of technology

Different technologies have different kinds of aesthetics, and they affect us in various ways, whether we are particularly fascinated with technology or not. The easiest technologies to understand on an intuitive-emotional basis seem to be those that involve physical processes. Objects rotating, moving, being lifted and displaced, compressed, crushed. Gases and liquids being sent around [...]

Posted 18 May 2010 † johan § Philosophy § Software development ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , , , , ,