People design systems for humans based on their conception of human nature. This has worked pretty well so far! But there’s a lot problems happening right now that can’t be addressed by these old ideas. We need a new, unifying idea of why people make choices. This is where Value-Based Human Systems comes in.
Tag: Waterloo
Life: What is it?
The evolution of our definition of life and species isn’t as static as you might think. You might say it’s *evolved* over time!
Non-Euclidian Geometries and Art
Euclidian geometry is generally how we think about space. You have a grid and the lines in a grid never intersect. But there’s tons of other versions of space, like the grid on a sphere where some lines do meet as they go to infinity. This is non-euclidian geometry and it offers interesting opportunities to create fascinating art.
The Emperors of India: The Mughal/Mogul Empire
Not the Mongol empire, the Mogul Empire. It’s the most epic empire you’ve never heard of, a tale full of romantic figures and it’s incredibly foundational to modern Indian/Pakistani/Bangledeshi culture.
Why was I neverd told about Kernel Density Estimation?
When you want to see the distribution of a bunch of data-points, like grades, you usually make a histogram. But how do you choose the right bin size? Well, with Kernel Density Estimation, you don’t need to. Throw that histogram out the window!
What is colour?
Why are there so many representations for colour? Why are some of the cylinders? Why is RGB and YMC both legit? Nat blows your mind into a billion colours.
Polyamory: Not for Everyone
The “mono” in the word “monogamy” means having one romantic partner. Similarly, “poly” in the word “polyamory” means multiple romantic partners. It’s a VERY personal choice that many people make that basically boils down to eschewing cultural norms (with all the challenges that implies) in exchange for greater relationship freedom and versatility.
Music Composition Using MuseScore2
You don’t need to be good at playing an instrument to make music. Software can do the heavy lifting for you!
Graphs Graphs Graphs
A talk based on Edward Tufte’s book “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”. In the history of graphs, some are exceptionally good at representing their information, others use trickery to mislead readers. Graphs should include a certain degree of context to fairly represent the big picture. You’ll be surprised at the range of information that graphs can effectively represent! (Train schedules, Napoleon army’s size and how it correlates to the temperature and the army’s proximity to Russia)
How to Get Started with DJing
An overview of the user interface of a DJ software that integrates with Spotify. The talk also demo-ed a real DJ mixer and how the buttons correspond to the different functions on the DJ software. DJs use the software and the mixer to edit tracks such that two overlapping tracks can sync to the same key and tempo. The software and mixer also allow for seamless transition from one song to the next.
