Internet Nuggets
A collection of articles/videos/thought pieces that have stuck in my brain and I reference somewhat frequently. These are some of the nuggets I’ve stumbled across during my internet travels.
This My Dinner with Andre ode has one of my favorite discussions; when rating something, what is the distribution we are using? Do we use a normal distribution with small tails or is it strictly percentile with equal spacing between rankings. It makes me think of this CGP Grey video about the closest planet and how if the question asked isn’t precise enough, you don’t get the correct response.
Stanford Human Behavioral Biology Lecture
My biggest “a-ha” moment came during the buckets/categories breakdown. Placing objects into categories when they are actually part of a continua. It helps with remembering and evaluating stuff. Boundaries make it difficult to see the similarities of things on either side, even though they are close to each other. These are abstract and “definitive knowledge” is much harder to grasp. Can’t wait to finish the series.
how to define food types with geometric principles. This provides a heuristic that end all the “is a hotdog a sandwich?” rhetoric with a somewhat scientific answer.
A video breaking down the different types of profanity and the universal nature of them. The division of blasphemy, sex, excrement, and slurs are useful to understanding why certain words are not used. Also, Vsauce has a breakdown of how they are useful to language games. Why Are Bad Words Bad? - YouTube
A discussion about whether math is an underlying fundamental of the universe or is math the best approximation we can make to accurately describe and predict it? The analysis of something so intrinsic to humanity appeals to me.
A two-part video series about how names come and go in the zeitgeist. It’s sad that Bob is on the decline.
How To Talk To Girls At Parties
Neil Gaiman does a great job to capture the awkward adolescent while also asking some intriguing questions about socializing and how one presents themselves. Plus, it’s just a weird, entertaining bit of writing.
One of the great early YouTube videos. What starts as a quick gag becomes more philosophical. Why are they so strong? Why can’t he make weaker potions? What battle is about to happen?
An example of the internet at its best. Someone created something purely because they want to and it ends up growing into something beautiful and bigger than they thought.
I think about this interview all the time. His description of art and how to enjoy it is beautiful and influential in how I want to develop my own appreciation for it. Here’s my notes on the topic - Darren Staloff Q&A