Category Archives: choice headaches

Unix

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Linux is headache. It gives you too many choices.

— Me@2011.07.14

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But Linux is necessary.

— Me@2020-01-23 08:53:29 PM

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Applicants must also have extensive knowledge of Unix, although they should have sufficiently good programming taste to not consider this an achievement.

— MIT job advertisement

— Hal Abelson

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2020.02.15 Saturday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Creative constraints

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Imagine you were asked to invent something new. It could be whatever you want, made from anything you choose, in any shape or size. That kind of creative freedom sounds so liberating, doesn’t it? Or … does it?

If you’re like most people you’d probably be paralyzed by this task. Why?

Brandon Rodriguez explains how creative constraints actually help drive discovery and innovation.

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With each invention, the engineers demonstrated an essential habit of scientific thinking – that solutions must recognize the limitations of current technology in order to advance it.

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Understanding constraints guides scientific progress, and what’s true in science is also true in many other fields.

Constraints aren’t the boundaries of creativity, but the foundation of it.

— The power of creative constraints

— Lesson by Brandon Rodriguez

— animation by CUB Animation

— TED-Ed

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We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

— Carl Jung

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2018.02.17 Saturday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Action | Uncertainty

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Action can decrease your uncertainty. That’s why the policy of “go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you’ll see farther” works, as long as the overall direction is correct.

— Me@2011.07.25

Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you’ll see farther. — Thomas Carlyle — Me@2003

見步行步, 行步見步 — 卓韻芝

2014.11.15 Saturday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

The Nice Guy Paradox, 2

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Being a nice guy can be a problem, because “always being nice” gives no feedback and no directions. In effect, “always being nice” gives people an infinite number of choices. Remember,

choices ~ headaches

In other words, you should be nice as often as possible, but not always. Be angry when you have to.

— Me@2011.06.26

— Me@2014.06.22

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2014.06.22 Sunday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Deadline 5

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投之無所往，死且不北。死焉不得，士人盡力。兵士甚陷則不懼，無所往則固，深入則拘，不得已則鬥。

— 孫子兵法

Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.

Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard.

— The Art of War (Sun)/Section XI

When there is no choice, there is no uncertainty.

You do not have to use any brainpower to make any decisions.

So you take the actions directly.

— Me@2011.04.26

choice ~ uncertainty

fear ~ the feeling of uncertainty

no choice ~ no fear

別無選擇 ~ 沒有不安

— Me@2013.09.08

2013.09.09 Monday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Constraints, 2

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Give me a million dollars and I’ll figure out what to do. But it’s harder than it looks. Constraints give your life shape. Remove them and most people have no idea what to do: look at what happens to those who win lotteries or inherit money.

— How to do what you love

— Paul Graham

Constraints decrease the number of choices, thus decrease uncertainty. Therefore, constraints give shape to your life.

— Me@2010.12.27

2013.04.02 Tuesday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

無限循環

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A time to fear, 4 | Recursion 8

人害怕「不確定性」，簡稱「未知」、「未定」、或者「不安」。「未知」是知識狀態；「不安」則是情緒起伏。「未知」導致「不安」。

人腦的特定是，時刻都想確定，下一步應該怎樣做。「不確定性」導致人腦，不能立刻決定，下一步的行動是什麼。那樣，人腦就會處於，一個「不斷企圖做決定，但又做不到決定」的無限循環（infinite loop）、跳上跳落的躍動狀態：

要做決定 –> 資料未夠–> 再試 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> 要做決定 –> 不行 –> …

所以，「未知」導致「不安」。

對電腦程式來說，要打破一個「無限循環」，要麼到達「終止條件」（terminating condition / boundary case）；要麼乾脆把它，從程式碼中刪除。

對人腦心靈而言，要結束一個「煩惱不安」，要麼有新的資料，導致做到決定；要麼索性把它，從思考中忘記。

簡而言之，要麼「解結」，要麼「斬結」。

— Me@2012.03.08

— Me@2012.12.31

2012.12.31 Monday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK