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| -rw-r--r-- | posts/2020/cascade-volcanoes.md | 56 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | posts/2022/atproto_thoughts.md | 97 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | posts/modelthing-background.md | 75 | ||||
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@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -PY?=python +PY?=python3 PELICAN?=pelican PELICANOPTS= diff --git a/posts/2020/cascade-volcanoes.md b/posts/2020/cascade-volcanoes.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..778c44d --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2020/cascade-volcanoes.md @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +Title: Trip Report: Cascade Volcanoes +Author: bnewbold +Date: 2020-07-19 +Tags: trip-report, biking +Status: draft + + +- route overview + => google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/YhkzzWePNQgbbE2m6 +- lassen hike + => cinder cone + => bike ride looks good + => sulfur + => covid-19 masks + => lassen summit +- lava tubes +- internment camp +- crater lake +- sisters (mt), bend, smith rocks +- mckenzie pass +- painted hills + => commet +- john day area + => ride-across-oregon guy (!) +- hops, rainier over cascades, hot, seattle cool <3 + +<!-- single photo template +<center> +<a href="/photos/2019/sfla/DSC00489.JPG.html"> + <img src="/static/fig/2019/DSC00489.JPG" alt="DSC00489.JPG" title="DSC00489.JPG" width=750px"> +</a> +</center> +--> + +<!-- thumbnail template +<div> +<a href="/photos/2019/sfla/DSC00610.JPG.html"> + <img src="/static/fig/2019/DSC00610.thumb.JPG" alt="DSC00594.JPG" title="DSC00594.JPG" width="245px"> +</a> +<a href="/photos/2019/sfla/DSC00612.JPG.html"> + <img src="/static/fig/2019/DSC00612.thumb.JPG" alt="DSC00587.JPG" title="DSC00587.JPG" width="245px"> +</a> +<a href="/photos/2019/sfla/DSC00618.JPG.html"> + <img src="/static/fig/2019/DSC00618.thumb.JPG" alt="DSC00618.JPG" title="DSC00618.JPG" width="245px"> +</a> +</div> +--> + +<!-- sidebar template +<div class="sidebar"> +The <a href="https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/pacific-coast/">Adventure Cycling Association</a> maps we used on this trip are +great! They can be read at a glance, are well partitioned, and cover in-city +routes well. I find phones very distracting, and love being able to navigate by +map and bike odometer instead. +</div> +--> diff --git a/posts/2022/atproto_thoughts.md b/posts/2022/atproto_thoughts.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ffb7ec --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2022/atproto_thoughts.md @@ -0,0 +1,97 @@ +Title: What is atproto.com good for? +Author: bnewbold +Date: 2022-11-23 +Tags: tech, dweb + +Bluesky released early documentation for the ["AT +Protocol"](https://atproto.com) (atproto) a few weeks ago, and I've been +noodling around with it. Technically, it strikes an appealing balance between +rigid cryptographically-signed content-addressable storage on the one hand, and +familiar web-friendly schemas and integrations on the other. But at an +ecosystem level, there are already a bunch of existing open social media +projects. Does atproto bring anything interesting to the table? How might it fit +in compared to other similar protocols? + +First, as quick background, atproto is a dweb social media protocol which +aspires to replace Twitter as a centralized platform. Bluesky, the organization +developing it, is a small company with history intertwingled with Jack Dorsey +and Twitter itself. The folks there also have ties to more established dweb +tech projects like IPFS, Scuttlebutt, and dat. + +What sets atproto apart from other dweb and fediverse projects is that it is +explicitly trying to support some of the “big world” features of Twitter. This +means global discovery and “leaderboard” metrics (“likes”, “followers”), and +also means “broadcast” content that gets rapidly replicated to millions +(billions?) of users. It also supports, to some degree, the ability to +redistribute and discuss pieces of content outside of their original context +(“context collapse”). + +I myself mostly dislike these properties for social media, but I do think they +have positive social value in some cases. For example, short-form official +announcements (eg, local weather warnings, flash flood alerts, public transit +disruption), or short-form journalism (eg, as live blogging breaking events). +I do not have a Twitter account, but some of the use cases that I personally +still end up going there for today include local breaking news (what is that smoke +cloud in my city, what is happening at a protest); seeing what “anybody” is +saying about a project (eg, search by project name or domain name); checking if +people or institutions are A Thing (what do they say in public feed, who is +interacting with them); and generally what individual people or institutions +are up to. These are all "big world" use cases that can't be met by the circle +of folks a couple social hops from me. + +It does feel to me that some these use-cases were well served by older web and +indieweb tech, like (micro)blogs and RSS. Especially for the last case (“what +are people up to”), which depending on the person may best be found on a +homepage or blog. Maybe if social platforms were more open and had better +sitemap tech then generic search engines could provide the big world features? + +But many current dweb/fediverse projects try to specifically steer away from +“big world” aggregations, and instead focus on “small world” in-community +discussion. They do provide the technical ability to engage across communities +and with the broader public. But I suspect many want to avoid rapid +aggregation, leaderboards, and global discovery. + +My take is that atproto should explicitly double-down on these use cases, +because others are not. The project should also try to support existing +(indie)web protocols like RSS and (possibly) ActivityPub. I don’t think they +should directly try to support private messaging (leave that to Signal and +Matrix, maybe with some identity/contact level interop), or forum-like +small-world discussion with community-level norms (leave that to Discourse for +web-index-able stuff, or SSB, or Mastodon). + +Speaking of ActivityPub, I see two main contrasts against atproto. The first is +that atproto specifies how user content should be canonically **stored**, while +ActivityPub specifies **event notifications** between servers. An analogy is +that ActivityPub is more like RSS (in which content may be truncated or +otherwise non-canonical in an RSS feed) matter much), while atproto is more +like a git repo (original content is transferred in canonical form; there is +some awkwardness about large blobs/media). I think the atproto way makes it +easier for an ecosystem to be interoperable in the long run, reduces the stress +and obligations of hosting content on servers (because it is easy to backup and +migrate), and empowers individual users. The other big contrast is +full-strength account migration support in atproto, which works even without +any participation by former hosting providers. + +This last feature, building on [decentralized identifiers +(DIDs)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_identifier), is in my view +the least mature and riskiest part of the currently proposed system. DID is a +W3C specification, but really feels like it comes from the blockchain/web3 +world. did:web does exist and should work fine, but itself is a big nothing +burger because it does not enable the interesting account migration features +that a true DID would. It should be possible to implement something like +[Certificate +Transparency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_Transparency) to do +global-trusted and rapidly resolvable DIDs without wasteful proof-of-whatever, +but that would require an effort and institution like Let’s Encrypt did for SSL +certificates. It is unclear if or when that might actually happen. As it stands +today DID has a pile of good intentions and standardization scaffolding, but in +reality is just blockchain and vaporware. + +--- + +As part of noodling around with the protocol, I wrote a simple partial +command-line tool and personal data server (PDS), +[adeonsine](https://gitlab.com/bnewbold/adenosine). You can check out the +minimal web interface at the examples +[pierre-manard.robocracy.org](https://pierre-manard.robocracy.org) and +[voltaire.demo.adenosine.social](https://voltaire.demo.adenosine.social). diff --git a/posts/modelthing-background.md b/posts/modelthing-background.md index 9234f70..ae79211 100644 --- a/posts/modelthing-background.md +++ b/posts/modelthing-background.md @@ -4,35 +4,21 @@ Date: 2020-06-28 Tags: modelthing Status: draft -This post describes the potential I see for collaborative infrastructure to -agument group research and understanding of mathematical models. This type of -model, consisting of symbolic equations than can be manupulated and computed by -both humans and machines, have historically been surprisingly effective at -describing the natural world. A prototype exploring some of these ideas is -running at [modelthing.org](https://modelthing.org). - -After describing why this work is interesting and important to me personally, I -will describe a vision of what augmentation systems might look like, describe -some existing tools, then finally propose some specific tools to build and -research questions to answer. - -Outline - -* personal backstory - => technologist essay - => my previous work -* what would be better? -* existing ecosystem - => latex, mathml - => modelica - => SBML -* proposed system and research questions - => modelthing.org -* reference list +This post describes the potential for collaborative infrastructure to agument +human research and understanding using mathematical models. These models, +consisting of symbolic equations which are semantic and machine-readable, have +historically been "unreasonably effective" at describing the natural world. A +prototype exploring some of these ideas is running at +[modelthing.org](https://modelthing.org). + +After describing why I am personally interested in this work, I will describe a +vision of what augmentation systems might look like, describe some existing +tools, then finally propose some specific tools to build and research questions +to answer. ## Personal Backstory -*Feel free to skip this section* +*Feel free to skip this section...* Much of my university (undergraduate) time studying physics was spent exploring computational packages and computer algebra systems to automate math. These @@ -42,14 +28,27 @@ real-time data acquisition or simulation systems like LabView, ROOT, Geant4, and EPICS. I frequently used an online system called Hyperphysics to refresh my memory of basic physics and make quick calculations of things like Rayleigh scattering, and often wished I could contribute to and extend that website to -more areas of math and physics. In some cases these computational resources +more areas of math and physics. In some cases these computational resources made it possible to skip over learning the underlying methods and math. A symptom of this was submitting problem set solutions typeset on a computer (with LaTeX), then failing to solve the same problems with pen and paper in exams. +<center> +<a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/refr.html"> + <img src="/static/fig/hyperphysics_index_refraction.png" alt="hyperphysics screenshot" title="hyperphysics screenshot" height=500px"> +</a> +<div class="content_caption"> +Example record in Hyperphysics, which has been ported from Hypercard to the web +</div> +</center> + <div class="sidebar"> <img src="/static/fig/sicm_cover.jpg" width="150px" alt="SICM book cover"><br> +This isn't to say that computers as a pedagogical tool can replace +human mentorship and interaction; the SICM course was also one of the most +instructor-intensive and peer-interactive of any I took. And of course this +learning format will not be best for everybody. </div> A particularly influential experience late in my education was taking a course @@ -63,13 +62,6 @@ confusion or misunderstanding of the physics than computer science. I came to believe while teaching another human is the *best* way to demonstrate deep knowledge of a subject, teaching to a *computer* can be a pretty good start. -<div class="sidebar"> -This isn't to say that computers as a pedagogical tool can replace -human mentorship and interaction; the SICM course was also one of the most -instructor-intensive and peer-interactive of any I took. And of course this -learning format will not be best for everybody. -</div> - Some years later, I found myself at a junction in my career and looking for a larger project to dig in to. I think of myself as a narrative-motivated individual, and was struggling to make a connection between my specific skills @@ -125,10 +117,15 @@ Some best practices: acceptable (and often desirable) for software tools. * **Scale up and down** -examples of applying core goal: --> "does veganism make sense" --> COVID-19 modeling --> understand equilibrium finances of large companies/institutions, for the people inside those institutions ("business model") +Examples of applying core goal: + +* "earth systems" and ecosystems +* robotic control systems +* "does veganism make sense" +* COVID-19 modeling +* systems biology +* understand equilibrium finances of large companies/institutions, for the + people inside those institutions (aka, "business model") ## Existing Ecosystem @@ -151,6 +148,8 @@ Proposed system to build: * tooling/systems to combine and build large compound models from components * public wiki-like catalog to collect and edit models +Research questions: + Will mathematics continue to be "unreasonably effective" in the natural sciences as we try to understand larger and more complex systems? diff --git a/static/fig/hyperphysics_index_refraction.png b/static/fig/hyperphysics_index_refraction.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..64c0e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/static/fig/hyperphysics_index_refraction.png diff --git a/static/fig/reinventing_discovery.jpg b/static/fig/reinventing_discovery.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..99e8923 --- /dev/null +++ b/static/fig/reinventing_discovery.jpg diff --git a/theme/templates/index.html b/theme/templates/index.html index f09f77b..82f0d04 100644 --- a/theme/templates/index.html +++ b/theme/templates/index.html @@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ href="http://industry-lab.com/">Industry Lab</a>, MIT). <br /> <h3>Where am I Now?</h3> -<p>As of Summer 2022 I live in Seattle, at the <a href="https://extraordinary.leastsquar.es/">ELS</a> household. I love the volcanoes in this region: climbing them, biking around them, snowboarding down them, whatever. And the big wet mossy trees! -<p>I work at the <a href="https://archive.org">Internet Archive</a> collecting scientific research datasets and publications, and created <a href="https://scholar.archive.org">scholar.archive.org</a>. -Before that I worked on infrastructure at <a href="https://stripe.com">Stripe</a>, attended the <a href="https://recurse.com">Recurse Center</a> in New York City, and built Atomic Magnetometers for a small New Jersey company called <a href="http://www.twinleaf.com">Twinleaf</a>. +<p>As of Spring 2023 I live in Seattle, at the <a href="https://extraordinary.leastsquar.es/">ELS</a> household. I love the volcanoes in this region: climbing them, biking around them, snowboarding down them, paragliding around them, whatever. And the big wet mossy trees! +<p>I work at <a href="https://blueskyweb.xyz">Bluesky</a>, a startup company building a federated social media protocol called <a href="https://atproto.com">"atproto"</a>. Until a few months ago I worked at the <a href="https://archive.org">Internet Archive</a> collecting scientific research datasets and publications, and created <a href="https://scholar.archive.org">scholar.archive.org</a>. +And before that I worked on infrastructure at <a href="https://stripe.com">Stripe</a>, attended the <a href="https://recurse.com">Recurse Center</a> in New York City, and built Atomic Magnetometers for a small New Jersey company called <a href="http://www.twinleaf.com">Twinleaf</a>. <a href="/whatsup/" style="font-size: smaller;">«previously»</a> |
