Shared posts

06 Jun 17:07

The Skeletons at the Lake | The New Yorker

06 Jun 14:03

FPTs: Pure Fungibility on the Blockchain

by Stephen Diehl

FPTs: Pure Fungibility on the Blockchain

You may have heard a lot about NFT speculative mania in the news and how people are shelling out millions of dollars of monopoly money for digitally signed URLs. And I too initially thought this was an absurd farce and that the emperor was running around with no clothes, up until I realised a way I could personally profit from it, and then it all made perfect sense. It’s time to lean into the crypto grift but with purity.

The key idea of this functional pearl is based on the simple notion that we shouldn’t be trading URLs to Nyan Cat GIFs for millions of dollars, but instead we should be trading pointers to functions for billions of dollars!

Now say you wanted to do some super complex logic, like printing to stdout. Normally we would perform the arcane dark category theory rites and summon the IO monad from the nameless void with the following incantation:

main :: IO ()
main = print "Hello World"

Now this works just fine, but it has a serious problem. It doesn’t involve blockchain. Let’s fix that:

import Control.Monad.Fpt

helloWorld :: FPT '[IO] ()
helloWorld = bid $ 100000 (print "Hello World")

There we go, now this this function involves a monadic wrapper which encodes what we call an FPT (Functional Programming Token) represented at the type level. It is a higher kinded type that wraps a type-level list of effects of the functions we wish to bid on for evaluation. In this case we’re bidding $100,000 for the exclusive rights to print “Hello World” to the screen. This is probably too low an ask, but it’s just an example.

Now instead of just evaluating the IO function directly, we want to evaluate it exclusively using the paradigm-shifting power of the blockchain to write to stdout. We do this by providing our bitcoin private key in the first argument to the runFpt function which evaluates the auction monad to bid on the evaluation of the function we wrote.

main :: IO (Either MoarMoney ())
main = runFpt privKey $ embedToFinal @IO helloWorld
  where
    privKey = "$PRIVATEKEYHERE"

This function will run for about 32 hours while your transaction propagates through the bitcoin mempool, then through a bunch of coal-guzzling server farms in Xinjiang. This ultimately burns through an acre of rainforest in the Amazon, but we can ignore that because it’s an unobservable side effect. If the market is good it will eventually evaluate and yield a response. The result is wrapped in a Either value where the right success value will contain the result of your function or a left failure value in the case where you’ve been outbid. If you’ve been outbid, you’ll simply have to bid higher to evaluate your code because that’s how code under capitalism works.

Many people claim that lazy evaluation is actually a misfeature. Au contraire, consider the real world application of computing the nth Fibonacci number. Since every call to fib will cost us upwards of tens of thousands of dollars (depending on rapidly fluctuating exchange rates) we want to minimize the evaluation of unnecessary calls to the market. With FPTs we’ve finally found the only killer application of laziness: not draining our bank account with useless computation.

fib :: FPT '[IO] ()
fib 0 = pure 0
fib 1 = pure 1
fib n = liftM (+) (fib (n-1)) (fib (n-2))

In the brave new frontier of cryptocurrency our business logic will probably involve some combination of money laundering, ransomware, securities fraud, puppy smashing and IO. It’s important to note that effects aren’t necessarily commutative, we don’t necessarily want to smash the puppies before we launder money, but we can do securities fraud and launder money commutatively. And we’ll probably end up adding a logging interface after-the-fact if our budget affords that level of luxury.

To facilitate with money laundering there is a set of wrappers provided by Control.Monad.WireFraud module which provides a high-level streaming interface for cleaning money tied to crime in a space-efficient way. Simply chain together a bunch of sources and sinks using the launder combinator, which will compose the dirty funds through a series of seemingly legit business and the output will be squeaky clean and run in constant memory.

import Control.Monad.WireFraud

launder :: DodgySource m o -> LegitSink i

Using the effect system of FPT we can magically combine all of this business logic together locally into a single token and then put it up for auction.

cryptoBusinessLogic :: FPT '[IO, Puppy, LaunderMoney] ()
cryptoBusinessLogic = bid $ 10000000 $ do
  profits <- runRansomware
  launderMoney profits drugCartels
  void $ smashPuppies

As with NFTs this token can itself become a laundering instrument, so an FPT can become a higher-order money laundering token in which we launder money through money laundering, just like we do with higher order functions. This “Internet Computer” is vastly more advanced than just shuffling art for organized crime around in a freeport in Switzerland.

Perhaps it’s a valid criticism that functional programmers aren’t concerned with the side effects of their work, and fair enough … only time will tell on that. But at the very least we should be able to use the type system to abstractly model the harm we do to the world at a more granular level using advanced type system features. Because at the end of the day purity and fancy types are what really matters.

The FPT token presale starts next week. To the moon. 💎🙌🚀

19 May 23:33

Necesitas este vídeo pero aún no lo sabías.

by wiselwisel

La entrada Necesitas este vídeo pero aún no lo sabías. se publicó primero en WiselWisel.

11 May 23:01

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Question

by Corey Mohler
Dumbledore: "Welcome back, Harry, we have missed you here at Hogwarts.  "
Harry Potter: "Thanks Dumbledore. You know, there was something i was wondering. "
Dumbledore: "What is it? "

Harry Potter: "Well, during my regular muggle education I've been reading a lot of moral and political philosophy."

Harry Potter: "So i was sort of wondering, what is the philosophical justification for keeping magic a secret?"

Harry Potter: "Magic can cure diseases, feed the hungry, and empower the oppressed to up rise against their oppressors."

Harry Potter: "Some philosophers think we should maximize global happiness, other say we should base our society on universal justice. What principle does Hogwarts operate on?"

Dumbledore: "You see, Harry, we here at Hogwarts believe above all else in upholding our own power and privilege, even if all the muggles in the world have to suffer."

Harry Potter: "Based on what philosophical grounding? How do you justify it?"

Dumbledore: "How do we justify it? I thought that was obvious."

Dumbledore: "Harry, we are English."
08 May 18:21

“Mommy, Why Do The Kids in These Books Get to Walk Around Without an Adult?”

by Let Grow Staff

Books from the 20th Century seem odd and unreal to today’s constantly supervised kids. The disconnect between the adventure in children’s books and the reality of kids’ lives today makes the 1970s and even ’80s seem as mythic as the […]

The post “Mommy, Why Do The Kids in These Books Get to Walk Around Without an Adult?” appeared first on Let Grow.

07 May 11:16

Una ciudad de suiza encuentra una manera muy polémica para deshacerse de los sin techo de sus calles

by Wurmspiralmaschine

El servicio migratorio de Basilea ha decidido deshacerse de las personas sin techo en las calles de la ciudad suiza ofreciéndoles pasajes de tren y 20 francos (unos 22 dólares). Cualquiera que lo solicite y se dirija a las autoridades podrá viajar gratis a un destino de Europa a cambio de comprometerse por escrito a no volver a Suiza nunca más. En el caso de que estos sin techo violen el compromiso y los vuelvan a encontrar en el territorio del país, correrán el riesgo de ser deportados.

etiquetas: suiza, basilea, europa, sin techo

» noticia original (diariodeavisos.elespanol.com)

06 May 20:39

Frankreich will 2.500 Euro für ein E-Bike zahlen, wenn Bürger ihr Auto stilllegen

by Ronny
mkalus shared this story from Das Kraftfuttermischwerk.

(Foto: Anrita1705)

Ich bin jetzt nicht der größten Fan von E-Bikes, unterstütze diese Idee der französischen Nationalversammlung allerdings dennoch voll und ganz. Die nämlich sieht vor, den Käufern eines elektrischen Fahrrads einen Zuschuss von bis zu 2.500 Euro zu zahlen, wenn sie im Gegenzug ihr bisheriges Verbrennerfahrzeug abwracken. Geiler wäre natürlich, wenn das auch für Bio-Fahrräder gelten würde – und konsequent wäre das allemal.

Die ungewöhnlich konzipierte Abwrackprämie ist Teil eines Maßnahmenpakets, mit dem die französische Regierung bis zum Jahr 2030 die Emission von Treibhausgasen um 40 Prozent – ausgehend vom Level des Jahres 1990 – reduzieren will. Mit der Abstimmung ist die Förderung noch nicht beschlossen, darf aber für die endgültige Lesung des Gesetzes als unstrittig betrachtet werden.

06 May 13:07

I always get you and Garth Nix mixed up. Any suggestions on avoiding this?

You could paint one of us red. Garth, perhaps. And then, when you are wondering which one of us is which, you could examine us for red paint, and if you couldn’t see any it would be me, and if you could, it would be Garth.

06 May 12:45

Goat Towers

by swissmiss

Goat towers are a thing?

04 May 19:07

uno-universal:“I love you too”

uno-universal:

“I love you too”

30 Apr 11:58

jgthirlwell:Faig Ahmed “Osho” handmade woolen carpet at the...



jgthirlwell:

Faig Ahmed “Osho” handmade woolen carpet at the Frieze Art Fair NYC.

30 Apr 11:58

Photo





27 Apr 18:43

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - FSD

by tech@thehiveworks.com


Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Technically all cars are self-driving, for at least a little while.


Today's News:
26 Apr 17:46

my employees won the lottery and quit, but now they want their jobs back

by Ask a Manager

This post, my employees won the lottery and quit, but now they want their jobs back , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I’m a divisional manager. I manage several smaller teams and report to the manager of our entire department. Several years ago (before I worked here), one of the teams won the lottery as a group. The entire team played except for Mary. Mary was invited to play but chose not to. After the win, everyone quit, including the manager.

In the years since the win, Mary has moved up to team manager. The lottery money has been a problem for her former team members and manager. One died from an overdose and another is in prison.

Our department is expanding, and some of Mary’s former team have applied to work here, citing financial issues and the need for an income. The departmental manager, Jon, has said he wants all of them to work on Mary’s team. Mary and I both think this is a bad idea. Mary thinks her old team will be bitter about having to come back to work and to have her as manager (when they left, she was entry-level and the most junior person on the team). A few of them have publicly expressed bitterness and regret about spending all the money and needing to work again. There are spots on other teams they would be qualified for, but the spots on all the teams are entry-level only. Jon said he doesn’t think that Mary managing some of her old team members will cause conflict, but Mary and I both disagree. Do you have any idea how I can approach Jon with these concerns?

I answer this question — and four others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

Other questions I’m answering there today include:

  • Client asked me to disclose the salary of someone I recommended
  • New coworker dresses much more nicely than me
  • My employee communicates terribly
  • Should I tell my new boss about a personal problem that’s affecting my work?
26 Apr 12:47

Apple’s ransomware mess is the future of online extortion

by Eric Bangeman
Apple’s ransomware mess is the future of online extortion

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

On the day Apple was set to announce a slew of new products at its Spring Loaded event, a leak appeared from an unexpected quarter. The notorious ransomware gang REvil said they had stolen data and schematics from Apple supplier Quanta Computer about unreleased products and that they would sell the data to the highest bidder if they didn’t get a $50 million payment. As proof, they released a cache of documents about upcoming, unreleased MacBook Pros. They've since added iMac schematics to the pile.

The connection to Apple and dramatic timing generated buzz about the attack. But it also reflects the confluence of a number of disturbing trends in ransomware. After years of refining their mass data encryption techniques to lock victims out of their own systems, criminal gangs are increasingly focusing on data theft and extortion as the centerpiece of their attacks—and making eye-popping demands in the process.

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

25 Apr 02:30

Sea Glass Cats

by John Farrier

Katerina Murphy, an artist in Ukraine, makes three-dimensional stained glass sculptures. They're made, specifically, out of sea glass, which is weathered glass that washes up on beaches. Slide a light inside and they turn into vibrant cat lamps.

-via So Super Awesome

21 Apr 14:23

A Tribute’s First Day of the Hunger Games or a Teacher’s First Day of School Reopening?

by Matt Cheung

1. No one wants to say it out loud, but the public expects you to die for your district.

2. As the day begins, everyone lines up six feet apart. They size each other up with uneasy glances, and that’s when you realize that even the smallest people here can kill you.

3. Kids have no boundaries. The youngest ones won’t stop following you around, and the oldest ones keep trying to grab you. You’d prefer everyone stay at least six feet or six miles away.

4. It definitely seems like the white, good-looking, rich kids have all the advantages in this game.

5. You wonder why the parents who constantly complain about the government are so willing to turn their kids over to this government institution.

6. You make a big show of how excited you are to be locked inside a completely artificial environment with no ventilation in hopes that anonymous donors will have pity on you and fund your basic needs.

7. You make eye contact with your work friend. You’re deflated when, at the sound of the morning bell, he turns and runs off-campus.

8. You would literally get stung by hornets to escape some of these teenagers.

9. It’s only the first day, but half of your co-workers aren’t coming back tomorrow.

10. The end of the day leaves you traumatized and exhausted, and people expect you to do this over and over until you die.

- - -

First Day of Hunger Games: 1-10
First Day of School Reopening: 1-10

20 Apr 15:08

ampervadasz:

20 Apr 12:14

bomberman:artistformerlyknownsandmandaddy:

14 Apr 01:39

PoDvision Puntata #2 | Dylan Dog nel videogioco

by Lorenzo Quadrini
Prosegue il percorso di PoDvision, il podcast firmato GameDivision a tema divulgazione videoludica. In questa puntata (della durata complessiva di 35 minuti ca., abbastanza per essere dettagliata ma sufficientemente breve per non stufare) si parlerà con Massimo Costante del rapporto tra Dylan Dog e il videogioco. Un percorso che tra alti e bassi ha segnato anche […]
10 Apr 11:08

:c

by Fino

09 Apr 17:11

Source: [x]Click HERE for more facts!

08 Apr 12:59

Sebastian Stan Says Fans Try to 'Activate' the Winter Soldier in Public

by Joseph Knoop

Imagine you’re Sebastian Stan, star of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. You’re getting your coffee order one morning when suddenly a stranger starts spouting the supposed code words that make your character Buckey Barnes, a formerly brainwashed assassin, turn into a murder machine.

Such interactions happen “quite often,” Stan confirmed to BBC Radio 1.

“It happens at coffee shops,” Stan said. “It happens a lot. And it's always very funny. It's an honorable thing I guess. You're very taken with it all the time. You do have to sometimes look at people in the face and say, 'No, I will not become the Winter Soldier when you say that. You can keep saying it, and maybe you should say it, maybe that's a moment we both need to have together, now, here. But nothing crazy will happen.'”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/03/falcon-and-winter-soldier-episode-3-this-mcu-character-reveal-changes-everything-canon-fodder"]

Fans first got a look at those mysterious code words, which the nefarious Hydra used to continually brainwash Buckey, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. They were then later used by Helmut Zemo, a former Sokovian colonel, to reactivate Buckey’s Winter Soldier persona in Captain America: Civil War.

If you were wondering what the code words were in case you happened to stumble into Stan at your local coffee joint: “Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car.”

Good luck trying to say it in Russian, though. Even that took Zemo some practice. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/02/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-episode-3-review"]

If you’ve missed Zemo and his adversarial relationship to the Winter Soldier, you can check out IGN’s review of The Falcon and Winter Soldier episode 3. We’ve also got a lot of theories about the questions that episode 3 raises.

For more, visit our hub for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/Manchurian Candidate for IGN.
07 Apr 23:21

¡Es la microbiota, idiota!

¡Es la microbiota, idiota! Sari Arponen. #SoberaniaSalud #EPUB #PDF

07 Apr 23:09

selfies online versus me irl



selfies online versus me irl

07 Apr 20:44

Un barco bloquea el tráfico en una autopista de Florida

by Matías S. Zavia
Osias Jota

virou modinha

El Departamento de Bomberos de Crestview, en Florida, tuvo que acudir a despejar la autopista Interestatal 10 después de que un barco se soltara de su remolque y dejara bloqueados los dos carriles del sentido oeste.

Read more...

04 Apr 15:29

fencehopping:Beautifully cut Amethyst stones.









fencehopping:

Beautifully cut Amethyst stones.

04 Apr 00:17

Capitol Riot Suspect to Judge: I Don’t Need a GPS Monitor Because I’m Christian

by Hemant Mehta
Christianity should never be a Get Out of Jail Free card.
04 Apr 00:14

fuforthought:A great look at the practical effects that went...









fuforthought:

A great look at the practical effects that went into making what most people assume was a largely CGI T-1000 from “Terminator 2″.

31 Mar 20:41

Shadow Perfection

by swissmiss


How satisfying are these shadows?

(Thank you Michelle)