Eboys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work by Randall E. StrossMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Saturday, February 26, 2022
Review: Eboys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work
Eboys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work by Randall E. StrossMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Friday, February 18, 2022
Review: Black Mischief: Language, Life, Logic, Luck
Black Mischief: Language, Life, Logic, Luck by David BerlinskiMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wanted to like this more than I did... Berlinski weaves together linguistics, computer science, mathematics, statistics, and molecular genetics to come to reveal enlightening connections between them on the nature of life and success of evolution. For instance:
“Let us contemplate the following experiment,” Schutzenberger said, “the Weizenbaum Experiment.”
Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT had just published a book on the misuse of computer theory. Largely because he wished that he had said many of the things that Weizenbaum had said, Schutzenberger had taken an immense boisterous dislike to Weizenbaum and hence thought it appropriate that our experiment be named after him.
Now mention thus of an experiment may suggest that something or other is about to be executed or performed; in fact, the Weizenbaum Experiment is one of those purely imaginary affairs in which trains of thought are allowed to meander and then merge by anastomosis.
“In life,” Schutzenberger went on thoughtfully, “there are two mathematical structures or spaces. There is a space made up of DNA or the proteins. This is an alphabetic space. Its objects are words. And there is a zoological space. Its objects are organisms. This is a space of alphabetic representatives. We say that in both spaces a natural metric exists – the natural metric – and that evolution proceeds in both spaces according to this natural metric. What is more, there is a mapping between the two spaces. It is this mapping that establishes that my DNA serves to express me.
I nodded and began to take notes.
“Furthermore,” Schuztenberger said, “there is in the space of the nucleic acids or the proteins a probability transition system.”
“This probability transition system – do you have in mind a finite-state Markov process?”
“Yes,” said Schutzenberger dreamily, “a finite-state Markov process.”
Schutzenberger stopped pacing and folded his hands in front of him, the long, curled, tobacco-stained fingers locked.
“We now observe,” Schutzenberger said, “that the probability transition system is roughly in accord with the natural metric. We are speaking only of the alphabetic space, remember.”
I looked up, for the moment unconvinced. “Why?”
“We say that the probability transition system is in accord with the natural metric because the most likely changes in the system are those that transform strings into nearby strings.”
“I don’t see this principle follows from the idea that alphabetic changes are independent.”
“It does not,” Schutzenberger agreed. “It follows from the observation that the probabilistic structure of the alphabetic space is not uniform. Indeed, it is this observation that shows ultimately that life does not comprise an ergodic system.”
This was the sort of lovely lunatic leap that Schutzenberger was forever taking in conversation. I must have looked up with an expression of radiant confusion; Schutzenberger directed a warm, beaming smile into the ambient atmosphere, and went on, untroubled by my lack of confidence.
“Life,” he said, “is conservative. Not everything that can change does change. For the most part, biological strings do not change at all. When they do change, they change in only one position. It is highly unlikely that a given string will change in respect to every position. We do not in life see a strand of DNA change its character at every possible codon in one sudden mutation.”
I caught Schutzenberger’s point.
“Now we need something more,” he said, with the air of a man constructing a wonderful instrument, “a mirror, so to speak. We wish to say with regard to arbitrary strings not only how far apart they are under the natural metric, but how far apart their representatives in the real world are. For this we require an induced metric. Very common in mathematics.”
I stopped writing to look up, and shook my hand to release its cramp.
“So when we talk of strings of DNA or strands of protein,” Schutzenberger went on, “we can talk of the natural distance between them or their induced distance. Two sets of strings may be close under the natural metric and far apart under the induced metric. You know, there is the famous experiment in which chimpanzee and human polypeptides were compared. Simply considered as strings there is virtually no difference between them. Evidently there is some difference between a chimpanzee and a human being.”
We were for the moment both quiet.
“In fact, zoologists often assume that the chimpanzee and the human being are closer than they really are.” Schutzenberger held his own hand in the air, palm outward.
Having grown impatient with his own digressions, Schutzenberger finally said, “Let us now perform the Weizenbaum Experiment. We suppose that we have certain strings of alphabetic objects, and that there is some initial probability distribution defined upon them. That is to say, at the beginning of the experiment, the strings are most likely to be in a certain initial configuration. We also have – are you writing? Good – a probability transition system, one that tells which changes in the strings are probable and which are not.”
What detracts from this is Berlinski is enamored of his airy, peripatetic academic life and insists on inserting vignettes of his career ranging from name dropping to trite scenes to a recurring focus on breasts ("curiously bustless coeds", "humungous knockers", etc.). Chomsky gets special focus for his work in linguistics. Apparently, many of his peers are not impressed and more so since he only knowns one language. These criticisms are presented in a way that seems catty.
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Thursday, February 17, 2022
Monday, February 14, 2022
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Review: It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the Politics of Extremism
It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the Politics of Extremism by Thomas E. MannMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am interested in how we came to be in a state of what appears to be permanent partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill. From the vantage point of Obama's first term, this book offers insightful, intelligent analysis on the recent history of deep, party divisiveness.
McConnell’s statement indicating a desire to cut a deal and avoid default changed the dynamic, but as he said, it was not because he feared the economic consequences for the country,
but because the failure to do so would damage the Republican brand. The clear implication was that if default brought economic hardship and the president and Democrats got blamed, that would be just fine. That kind of calculus—putting partisan advantage ahead of problem-solving, with the stakes for the country being sky-high—was not politics as usual, at least not as we have seen it practiced through several generations of party leaders.
From his perspective, the president had put himself out on a limb to reach a deal, accepting painful changes in Medicare and other entitlements that his party stalwarts passionately opposed, and in return had been openly disrespected by Boehner. He faced the real possibility of a major jolt to an already weak economy; experts predicted that default might send the economy into a deeper tailspin. So he went on national television to offer his own version of what had happened, underscoring his support for the $4 trillion plan he had come close to securing with Boehner. He
placed blame not on Boehner but on the other Republicans in Congress who had insisted on a cuts-only approach that Obama chastised as unfair because it spared the wealthy alone any sacrifice.
He expressed alarm at the dire consequences, including the first time in history that the nation’s AAA credit rating would be downgraded, and decried a six-month extension of the debt limit
as irresponsible. He called for compromise and said, “The American people may have voted for divided government but they didn’t vote for dysfunctional government.”
While calling out impractical such possible solutions as a third party, final chapters suggests as workable solutions including:
* Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) This is a topic I am interested in and have done interviews to cover.
* Universal voting through such carrots as freely available IDs, weekend voting, or a lottery and such sticks as a mandate or fine.
* Open primaries to reduce focus on ideologically extreme candidates.
* Reducing the corrupting influence of monied lobbying with special attention to the crimes and confessions of Jack Abramoff
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Review: Douglas Adams Live in Concert
Douglas Adams Live in Concert by Douglas AdamsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's great to hear Adams himself relate some episodes from his works, which he does with little elaboration. I think the only footnote he offers is that the rock star Hotblack Desiato, who is reported as "spending a year dead for tax reasons", has a name used with approval of an actual firm. So many Adams fans called the firm, however, that they had to change their name.
The first piece, of which are delivered solo is Chapter 1 from Life, the Universe and Everything:
The regular early morning yell of horror was the sound of Arthur Dent waking up and suddenly remembering where he was.
It wasn’t just that the cave was cold, it wasn’t just that it was damp and smelly. It was that the cave was in the middle of Islington and there wasn’t a bus due for two million years.
Time is the worst place, so to speak, to get lost in, as Arthur Dent could testify, having been lost in both time and space a good deal. At least being lost in space kept you busy.
...
From the same work, Dent is confronted with the being has has unwittingly killed time and time again:
...With a sudden ping, there was a rabbit there in the black labyrinth with him, a huge, monstrously, hideously soft and lovable rabbit - an image again, but one on which every single soft and lovable hair seemed like a real and single thing growing in its soft and lovable coat. Arthur was startled to see his own reflection in its soft and lovable unblinking and extremely huge brown eyes.
"Born in darkness, - rumbled the voice, - raised in darkness. One morning I poked my head for the first time into the bright new world and got it split open by what felt suspiciously like some primitive instrument made of flint.
"Made by you, Arthur Dent, and wielded by you. Rather hard as I recall.
"You turned my skin into a bag for keeping interesting stones in. I happen to know that because in my next life I came back as a fly again and you swatted me. Again. Only this time you swatted me with the bag you'd made of my previous skin.
- Arthur Dent, you are not merely a cruel and heartless man, you are also staggeringly tactless"....
In conclusion, there is "one last short piece" from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe where Marvin faces a Frogstar battle tank at the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy offices in Ursa Minor Beta.
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Review: The Demon
The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In art such as film or literature, the extreme psychological states of intense dreams, euphoria, mania, etc. are rarely effectively portrayed. Selby comes very close with stylized writing that freed of much punctuation and other tethers can keep pace with the a mind that is, as Jim Morrison would say, "squirmin' like a toad." Casual sex, thefts from office rooms, murder by stabbing through layers of clothing; always penetrating. The subject of this story devolves from promiscuity to psychopathy breathlessly and assuredly.
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Friday, February 11, 2022
Review: Chrome - The Story of Pat Stevens
Chrome - The Story of Pat Stevens by Neil MartinsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This 40-page, album-sized paperback is the equivalent of a hundred page book on the Chrome story. The earliest days are covered and each part of the discography from preparation to reception, including negative reviews for Red Exposure. There are plenty of interview excerpts with Helios Creed and other Damon Edge collaborators with lots of full cover images on heavy, glossy pages.
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Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Monday, February 7, 2022
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Literary Miscellany: containing Select Pieces by Dr. Franklin by Benjamin Franklin My rating: 3 of 5 stars ...
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Witchcraft in the Western Tradition by Jennifer McNabb My rating: 4 of 5 stars In episode one (about one...
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Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-and-Death ** by William H. Frist My rating: 3 of 5 stars ...
