It never gets old seeing what humanity can do with math and science while we continue to battle against our base instincts down here on Earth.
math
#Philosophy/ #physics / #math poll:
Is it fair to describe quantity as having agency? I.e., is quantity as such a causal force?
Sorry to force a binary choice, happy to read comments.
Options: (choose one)
Edited 185d ago
Negative space
Activating Two Trap Cards at Once, or: A Gentle Response to the Popularity of Vibecoding https://lobste.rs/s/8lbmm8 #ai #math #plt #python #vibecoding
https://gist.github.com/MostAwesomeDude/560185c24f959f6fec229739cb5a6735
A New Perspective on Drawing Venn Diagrams for Data Visualization https://lobste.rs/s/g2jq2n #math
https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06980
For reasons that aren't even clear to me, I'm about 1/3rd into Barry Jay's Reflective Programs in Tree Calculus and about 1/10th into Frank Waaldijk's Natural Topology, which I've been reading side-by-side. Smashing these two into each other is pretty fascinating, even as I'm not sure what to make of the mixture yet.
Having sat with the notion for about six months now, I think Jay's critique of the Church-Turing thesis has legs. I don't see clearly yet exactly where and how the limits of computation manifest in his own system(s), which of course they must. But I think he's correct that this thesis as it's colloquially presented (and taught to students, including me!) is misleading at best and false in a certain important sense. Apparently he is regularly called a crackpot for forwarding this critique even though it's straightforwardly demonstrated.
Waaldijk's book is more of a constructive mathematics exploration. In this it is closely related to computer science, but it's focused on traditionally mathematical notions like topological space. The latter is usually quite complicated, but Waaldijk shows that the core concept of compact space can be represented with finitely-branching trees, making these spaces amenable to computation. Since we imagine physics taking place in spaces that are topological (among other things) there's potentially an interesting bidirectional flow of ideas between computer science and physics.
Jay calls his central notion "natural trees". Waaldijk calls his central notion "natural spaces". In both cases I think the intended sense is "with minimal artifice".
#ComputerScience #computation #math #mathematics #topology
Having sat with the notion for about six months now, I think Jay's critique of the Church-Turing thesis has legs. I don't see clearly yet exactly where and how the limits of computation manifest in his own system(s), which of course they must. But I think he's correct that this thesis as it's colloquially presented (and taught to students, including me!) is misleading at best and false in a certain important sense. Apparently he is regularly called a crackpot for forwarding this critique even though it's straightforwardly demonstrated.
Waaldijk's book is more of a constructive mathematics exploration. In this it is closely related to computer science, but it's focused on traditionally mathematical notions like topological space. The latter is usually quite complicated, but Waaldijk shows that the core concept of compact space can be represented with finitely-branching trees, making these spaces amenable to computation. Since we imagine physics taking place in spaces that are topological (among other things) there's potentially an interesting bidirectional flow of ideas between computer science and physics.
Jay calls his central notion "natural trees". Waaldijk calls his central notion "natural spaces". In both cases I think the intended sense is "with minimal artifice".
#ComputerScience #computation #math #mathematics #topology
Babylon and the Square Root of 2 (2011) https://lobste.rs/s/ywatcf #historical #math
https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/babylon-and-the-square-root-of-2/
Floating point from scratch: Hard Mode https://lobste.rs/s/4r5nkb #hardware #math
https://essenceia.github.io/projects/floating_dragon/
Nash Equilibrium for Terminal Maneuvers https://lobste.rs/s/ytfkkm #games #math #science
https://r6.ca/blog/20260402T135216Z.html
Deterministic Primality Testing for Limited Bit Width via @fanf https://lobste.rs/s/ilmasz #math
https://www.jeremykun.com/2026/04/07/deterministic-miller-rabin/
Optimization of 32-bit Unsigned Division by Constants on 64-bit Targets https://lobste.rs/s/wm1uxw #compilers #math
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07902
Did you ever like the groove of a music track, starting to dance to it but then you stumble because the beat seems to reset itself randomly? I've got a bunch of those tracks this time in
RADIO IRRTUM! !!
so happy dance lurching :)
--- ↓↓↓ Deutsch Version below unten ↓↓↓ ---
The next issue of #RadioIrrtum! will arrive this Saturday, 2026/04/11, 8:00pm UTC+2/Berlin time/CET. On Alex Berlin at DAB+ K12D in #Berlin/Brandenburg and worldwide @ https://www.alex-berlin.de/radio-livestream .
A German language #radioShow exploring the sonic vastness of the #underground. Emitted transmissions may raise attention for new unheard #music. Don't worry about the #GermanLanguage aspect - this is about #music!
So what's in it?
- #AlternativePop
- #offline Music
- cluttered #Beats
- super #slowBass with DnB elements
- #UKGarage
- #fingerdrumming
- #ByteBeat from #Math formulas
- #microtonal #MathPunk
- #Punk of various flavors (Post~, Garage~)
- #livingroom music from Brazil and Lebanon
On top I will pronounce words wrong at an embarrassing amount, & play stuff that isn't available at #Spotify, which simply shows how much this service sucks.
Besides unusual rhythmic structures there will be examples of microtonal music (explained even!) – if you followed the music news the last weeks you may already know which project will be featured.
Featured are #FediverseMusicians as well, like @ScottHuehnerkrisp or @herrkaschke .
But a very special one among those #fediartists will be @stephan.
This is probably your ONLY chance to have a listen to one piece of his offline album "Strategies against Algorithms" if you don't already own it. It will only be played during the aired show, it won't be contained within the archive version! You know: That's what "offline" is all about.
I'll post playlist + manuscript later here. Having questions? I'll gladly answer. Just ask. CU all on Saturday! :)
--- ↑↑↑ English version above, the Deutsche welche jetzt ↓↓↓ ---
Radio Irrtum! kommt näher → Samstag, 11.04., 20:00 isses soweit auf Alex Berlin (DAB+ K.12D / Stream URL oben).
Also die seltsam funke(ln)de Radiosendung, in der planetenumfassende Weiten des musikalischen Untergrunds erforscht werden.
Mit:
- Alternative Pop
- offline Musik
- Bass / Garage
- Fingergetrommel
- ByteBeat aus Mathematik
- microtonaler Mathepunk
- mehr Punk
- Wohnzimmerpop
Viele Sachen davon gibz nich auf Spotify, und Fediartists sind auch dabei (s.o.); vor allem Schall und Stille: Da wird nur in der Ausstrahlung was vom aktuellen spektakulären (!) Offline-Album gespielt; aus meinem Sendearchiv ist es rausgeschnitten. Offline muss Offline bleiben!
Details in englisch oben, Playlist/Manuskript nach der Show hier drunter. Fragen einfach stellen – ich antworte!
Bis zur Sendung… vielleicht? :)
#SchallUndStille #fediArtists #musicRecommendation #MathInMusic. Radio Irrtum! stands for: #NoAi #NoAiInMusic
RADIO IRRTUM! !!
so happy dance lurching :)
--- ↓↓↓ Deutsch Version below unten ↓↓↓ ---
The next issue of #RadioIrrtum! will arrive this Saturday, 2026/04/11, 8:00pm UTC+2/Berlin time/CET. On Alex Berlin at DAB+ K12D in #Berlin/Brandenburg and worldwide @ https://www.alex-berlin.de/radio-livestream .
A German language #radioShow exploring the sonic vastness of the #underground. Emitted transmissions may raise attention for new unheard #music. Don't worry about the #GermanLanguage aspect - this is about #music!
So what's in it?
- #AlternativePop
- #offline Music
- cluttered #Beats
- super #slowBass with DnB elements
- #UKGarage
- #fingerdrumming
- #ByteBeat from #Math formulas
- #microtonal #MathPunk
- #Punk of various flavors (Post~, Garage~)
- #livingroom music from Brazil and Lebanon
On top I will pronounce words wrong at an embarrassing amount, & play stuff that isn't available at #Spotify, which simply shows how much this service sucks.
Besides unusual rhythmic structures there will be examples of microtonal music (explained even!) – if you followed the music news the last weeks you may already know which project will be featured.
Featured are #FediverseMusicians as well, like @ScottHuehnerkrisp or @herrkaschke .
But a very special one among those #fediartists will be @stephan.
This is probably your ONLY chance to have a listen to one piece of his offline album "Strategies against Algorithms" if you don't already own it. It will only be played during the aired show, it won't be contained within the archive version! You know: That's what "offline" is all about.
I'll post playlist + manuscript later here. Having questions? I'll gladly answer. Just ask. CU all on Saturday! :)
--- ↑↑↑ English version above, the Deutsche welche jetzt ↓↓↓ ---
Radio Irrtum! kommt näher → Samstag, 11.04., 20:00 isses soweit auf Alex Berlin (DAB+ K.12D / Stream URL oben).
Also die seltsam funke(ln)de Radiosendung, in der planetenumfassende Weiten des musikalischen Untergrunds erforscht werden.
Mit:
- Alternative Pop
- offline Musik
- Bass / Garage
- Fingergetrommel
- ByteBeat aus Mathematik
- microtonaler Mathepunk
- mehr Punk
- Wohnzimmerpop
Viele Sachen davon gibz nich auf Spotify, und Fediartists sind auch dabei (s.o.); vor allem Schall und Stille: Da wird nur in der Ausstrahlung was vom aktuellen spektakulären (!) Offline-Album gespielt; aus meinem Sendearchiv ist es rausgeschnitten. Offline muss Offline bleiben!
Details in englisch oben, Playlist/Manuskript nach der Show hier drunter. Fragen einfach stellen – ich antworte!
Bis zur Sendung… vielleicht? :)
#SchallUndStille #fediArtists #musicRecommendation #MathInMusic. Radio Irrtum! stands for: #NoAi #NoAiInMusic
Running the first program https://lobste.rs/s/rkxqhq #historical #math #retrocomputing
https://enigmaticcode.wordpress.com/tag/bernoulli-numbers/
The Problem of Pedagogy in Advanced Mathematics via @abnv https://lobste.rs/s/ztrxoj #math
https://susam.net/advanced-mathematics-pedagogy.html
An OpenAI model has disproved a central conjecture in discrete geometry https://lobste.rs/s/hqzkqg #ai #math
https://openai.com/index/model-disproves-discrete-geometry-conjecture/
Generating universes within universes with a single seed https://lobste.rs/s/twbi1s #math
https://www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2026/04/13/seeds-predetermined-universes/
Tries for Polynomials via @abnv https://lobste.rs/s/7jll50 #haskell #math
https://doisinkidney.com/posts/2026-04-28-poly-trie.html
All elementary functions from a single binary operator via @fanf https://lobste.rs/s/rnx6fh #math
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.21852
The fall of the theorem economy https://lobste.rs/s/fid0x2 #formalmethods #math #vibecoding
https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-fall-of-the-theorem-economy
And today is a #Mathematics day in our podcast. More than a year ago I had a great conversation with Ric Crossman, about #Decolonising #Maths and how mistreated they were by the right wing press #Math #Decolonise
I spent 31 hours on the math behind TurboQuant so you don't have to https://lobste.rs/s/osi4oa #ai #math
https://www.baseten.co/blog/i-spent-31-hours-on-the-math-behind-turboquant-so-you-dont-have-to/
A recent experience with ChatGPT 5.5 Pro https://lobste.rs/s/kabx8f #math #vibecoding
https://gowers.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/a-recent-experience-with-chatgpt-5-5-pro/
Fast Fourier Transforms Part 1: Cooley-Tukey https://lobste.rs/s/fpxg9k #math
https://connorboyle.io/2025/09/11/fft-cooley-tukey.html
Generalising monads to arrows (1998) https://lobste.rs/s/t0qrhj #pdf #math #programming
https://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/cs257/archive/john-hughes/arrows.pdf