Here are a bunch of links to a few nontechnical articles/essays I read and bookmarked this year. I discovered most of them on HN, Reddit and other similar timewasters news sources or via spam e-mail from friends. Not all texts were written this year, indeed, some might be decades (or centuries:) old. Enjoy! (Previously)
Random
The seven rules of nationalism and some more insight on nationalism in a book review.
An unusually bitter critique of Stefan Zweig.
Spelling reform in English and its pitfalls.
Doomsday prepping for the less crazy.
Keynes on the economic prospects of our grandchildren. No, I don’t want your rewards card.
Math
William Thurston on mathematics, also in a longer essay. In a similar vein, Feynman’s letter on “what problems to solve“.
What is combinatorics? Computers and math. Zeilberger’s Opinion 44 on the same topic. Erdős. Unorthodox proof techniques. Interview with Preda Mihăilescu.
Tech / Science
The funniest person at Microsoft: To wash it all away. This world of ours. A similar sentiment expressed in this essay by a different author.
Bad scientific code is usually not so bad. On the other hand, some over-engineered systems are indistinguishable from parody.
Machine learning AMA with Michael Jordan.
1 comment so far ↓
I appreciated the letter by Feynman on “problems to solve”. I am not a scientist (well BS in Computer Science but that doesn’t really count) but I love to tinker and build contraptions – not from a mathematical perspective but just a common-sense mechanical aptitude. I liked Feynman’s reasoning but the things I build do not really benefit anyone except myself and my curiosity. But they make me happy.