"Optimism is a moral imperative. That said, it needs to be reality-based optimism. Sometimes the things we want to work aren't the things that are going to work."
says Michael Tobis on Gristmill. It is a good essay on dealing with what he calls the "train wreck of development, energy, food, environment, and warfare, all driven by a hugely overpopulated planet", and on the folly of false solutions.
More like this
Yet another term that we frequently hear, but which is often not properly understood, is the concept of optimization. What is optimization? And how does it work?
This post is really frustrating to write.
Its frustrating because this paper could (should) be FANTASTICALLY COOL, but it was just really frustrating to read:
When I last wrote about game theory, we were working up to how to find
the general solution to an iterated two-player zero-sum game. Since it's been
a while, I'll take a moment and refresh your memory a bit.
General introduction to optimal control theory and how to control matter at the quantum level
David Tannor gave the Director's Blackboard Talk at KITP today: