Lost Futures
114 posts
Lost Futures
@LostFutures22
I write at https://t.co/8LpYgrgJoD
United States Katılım Ekim 2022
32 Takip Edilen13 Takipçiler
Not as wild but it’s always fascinating to me that the 20th century had a vice president whose first language wasn’t English but Kansa
Matt Glassman@MattGlassman312
There’s a U.S. president whose first language wasn’t English.
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@starbaser @jack_ceroni I didn’t say that they were right, only that it’s a common sentiment. Also, not even four years have passed since chatGPT’s release. Seems early to be tabulating the score.
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First AI came for the software engineers, and I did not speak out because I was not a software engineer. Then they came for the mathematicians, and I did not speak out because I was not a mathematician.
Meanwhile in reality, more and more engineers are hires every day and each gets their own bag of compute. Shouldn't we do the same for each mathematician?
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Why are so many people calling this guy stupid and a bad person for expressing this sentiment? How is this not a completely understandable reaction to the work that you know and love being automated away?
Tomás Bjartur@BjarturTomas
Mathematician reacts to OpenAI's recent proof:
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@starbaser @jack_ceroni I fail to see how its ragebait, its an increasingly common sentiment
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@jack_ceroni What kind of mathematician adopts a premise of a world where:
- math isn't combinatorially unbounded
- intelligence is a fixed quantity that the human contribution amortizes to zero against
- his own worth is a zero-sum position to be taken from him?
imo it's fake ragebait
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@Aelthemplaer I wrote about this last month
lostfutures.substack.com/p/the-popes-co…
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Over a thousand industrial mills are documented from 770 to 1600 in Europe. This count is an underestimate as it does not include some types such as water-powered paper or silk mills.
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Cool story: pray tell what the Ming dynasty plan for this moment was
Lara Logan@laralogan
When I was reporting for 60 Minutes in China, I was told by people I met that they regard America as inferior, specifically because they say the U.S. does not understand how to play the long game. They said with disdain: “We think in terms of centuries - Americans can only think in terms of minutes.”
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New post. Ming Dynasty China’s short-lived maritime empire
open.substack.com/pub/lostfuture…
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli My favorite African civilization is probably Nubia. The Nubians were sick but yeah their civilization is ancient and ended a long time ago
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@LostFutures22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli OK bro if you put it like that I'll agree, my big refutal was when you say europe was better than Ming Dynasty and even going as far as comparing it to England. If we speak about from Qing then yes. Also don't mention Africa, we've never been in a game in 1k years 😔
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He thinks that the Chinese, who literally invented the navigational compass, used paper money, and had gunpowder when Europeans were still swinging spears and swords, didn’t know that Australia was there all along. 😂🤦🏾♂️
Foxford Comics@FoxfordComics
Always hilarious to me that China and India didn't even know this massive continent in their backyard. And then some English dude from the other side of the world just came along and yoinked it.
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli I mean Ming Dynasty China was still very impressive. It defeated the Dutch and Russians in war. But imo it was a civilization already entering decadence and was less willing to experiment with new technologies. Europe on the other hand devoured new inventions hungrily
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli It was a large and impressive fleet. It was not new tech. The Qing were asleep at the wheel certainly but the seeds of Western Europe’s lead were established by the mid 14 and 1500s. By 1650, Europe’s experimenting with telescopes, steam engines, all cutting edge tech at the time
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@LostFutures22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli If it wasn't then what was it? It was like the US carriers today. Also Qing Dynasty was closed of from the world with zero outside knowledge and that's why Europe took the lead. Not printing. That's like saying the US is leading because it's a democracy
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli If you like Chinese technology, you should focus on the Song Dynasty imo. This was China’s technological golden age. Paper money, gunpowder weapons, mechanized factories, production of iron at scale. The Ming maintained and improved but they did not innovate the way the Song had
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@LostFutures22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli I'm not biased bro. Ming China was like the US in the 29th century. Now during Qing that's when China started to drop the ball and Europe ruled. All the tech and military inventions yes, qing was still the most prosperous but Europe was out-innovating them.Just don't mention Ming
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli Asia and Africa did not follow Europe in adopting the printing press (China’s writing system was not suited for it). As a result, talented Euro engineers could share their knowledge by publishing at a scale that did not happen elsewhere
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli The treasure fleet wasn’t an invention. The printing press requires both printing and paper which both originate from ancient China. But the printing press itself was a European invention that caused the cost of books to drop 5-20 times. This is part of why Europe took the lead.
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@sigfig Fair enough. To me, the IR describes an event comparable to the agricultural revolution in that it redefines everything, not just an event where industrial intensification takes place. But it’s an interesting frame. England’s IR probably began in the late 1500s by ur definition
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@LostFutures22 i think i probably do not share the normative priority for what is a true industrial revolution. it seems fine to me to say many previous examples had some (but not all) aspects of the transformation we saw in the 19th century, and were still meaningfully "industrializing"
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i tend to believe that most broad-strokes statements about history must carry an implied "except in the indian subcontinent" clause, so i am not shocked that the mughal empire started an industrial revolution in the 16th century, but it is odd how little writing there is about it
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@sigfig I would really like to research more about medieval and early modern machinery in India but it’s very hard to find sources. Maybe within information about the karkhana there may be some insights though
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@LostFutures22 that's the thought, though i would need to know quite a lot more about the karkhana system to make a case for similarity of any particular enterprise. it's still a new subject to me
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@sigfig Perhaps, I think it’s just an unhelpful frame of reference because it implies states were on the road to a true IR like England but imo they were not. That goes for The Mughals, The Song Dynasty, and likely even the Dutch Republic. And I suspect the Mughals were even further away
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@EmperorTony22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli Zheng He’s fleet was very impressive. Europe’s overtake happened roughly around the time the voyages ended. And yes Imperial China was a very impressive civilization. But by the early modern period, technology was flowing more so from Europe (via Jesuits) to China than vice versa
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@LostFutures22 @KgW2lb33Lk16218 @Mayoveli Also read more about Beijing and Nanjing. During that time the capital Beijing was like heaven on earth, nothing ever seen, European kings wouldn't have build if given a chance. I hope it isn't bias talking in you. The Ming Dynasty was unrivalled. The treasure ships? God
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