As a child I built toy cities from LEGO, now I write software. It feels quite the same to me. I am a PhD student in Physics.
In the US, railways are mostly seen as a means to carry freight, with the passenger rail system in a rather desolate state. Europeans, however, have long prided themselves on high-speed long-distance passenger rail and frequent, dense commuter trains. Rail freight in Europe is often relegated to gaps in the timetable, which mostly exist at night. The limited supply of freight paths is one of the…
It takes much more effort to refute a false statement than to make a false statement. This is called the bullshit asymmetry principle . And we humans have always been more willing to accept something as truth if it confirmed our desires and existing biases. Then, social media appeared. And supercharged the power of the half-truth. In the linear medium of PHP forums, refuting a claim was still…
A day has 24 hours. If I sleep 8, work 8, commute 2 and spend my 1-hour lunch break with colleagues, that leaves 5 hours every day. In this time, I have to buy groceries, eat, maybe cook, shower, go to the toilet, clean the apartment, do the laundry and deal with paperwork and other stuff. So, more realistically, I am left with 3 hours of free time every working day. I call those three hours my…
Let’s assume that Proof-of-Stake does turn out to be possible and finds usage in a cryptocurrency. When this happens, the days of Proof-of-Work are counted. That is because Proof-of-Stake is inherently less expensive. The security provided by both Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake originates in the limited supply of capital to all actors. The only thing between a bad actor and a 51% attack is the…
I was able to reduce the time I waste on the internet like this: Before opening a computer or unlocking a phone, I ask myself: “What am I intending to do?” The answer can range from “I will check my email” to “I will spend some time browsing reddit”. The only rule is that I have to formulate the answer to the question in my head before I proceed. It is crazy how often I catch myself unable to…
Your mind has a limited amount of processing power. You should consciously choose how you spend this mind capital. Any well-organized person will carefully manage her money and time, but few actually consider how they spend their thoughts. One might think that choosing how to spend your mind is the same as choosing how you spend your time. Five minutes of reading a book means five minute of…
Knowledge can be categorized into soft knowledge and hard knowledge. Soft knowledge is what you get by reading the newspaper, popular science books, self-help books, watching a documentary on TV or traveling. It is easily digestible. Hard knowledge on the other hand is obtained by reading textbooks and solving the problems presented there, by studying lecture notes, scientific articles or…
A while ago I built an Android app that solves a very specific need for a very niche audience. It does it well and it is the only app that does it. I put it on the Google Play Store, for free, and after a month, it had about 50 installs and a single, 5 star, review that said: “Nice”. I was satisfied. I find money useful. And so I thought of ways to make money off my app. I didn’t want to put…
I love to work remotely. My dream workplace would probably be some hundred kilometers north of Oslo in a house outside the village overlooking the fjord. But a very big part of my job is to communicate with people. And here’s the thing: I would rather do that in person. Of course I have tried all the different video chat solutions, I have invested in a good microphone and good headphones and a…
There is this popular statement that the technological progress is accelerating. People certainly disagree whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the claim itself is rarely disputed. The argument usually goes like this: By definition, technological progress is the change rate of technological knowledge. And technological progress is proportional to technological knowledge. A quantity…