In the land of numbers things can get pretty competitive. Zero is often touted as the ultimate number invention even though it means nothing. Without the zero much of modern math wouldn’t be possible. It’s also a part of another favorite, the 10 which forms the global base ten system. Zero also makes up the dynamic duo of binary. Which brings us to number one. By definition it should be the best. It also represents the boundary between nothing and something, between fractions and a whole, and is the easiest part when learning multiplication and division. It also forms a…

How adaptability and stable thinking emerges, collides, and the place best suited for each type

Recently I’ve been getting back into tennis, and I started watching a bunch of matches of the Big 3 boys: Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. As an amateur I was simply watching out of interest (and maybe hoping to absorb some skills from osmosis) so the actual skill is a little beyond me, but one thing that was very apparent were their differences in play style. Federer has this elegant kind of style where his movement and strokes are very fluid, especially his signature backhand swing…

Exploring the concept of inertia in thoughts, ideas, and beliefs through the lens of psychology and computer science

I was talking with friend during lunch recently about how we didn’t get along with our parents because we felt more progressive than them. We talked about how my friend’s Indian background affected his life, like how Indians can covet White people yet prohibit marriage to them, or talk down to White people and move to the West. I also mentioned how I never really thought much about racial bias as an East Asian, but with the recent surge of attention on…

The Medium Partnership program motivates writers to write for writers

When I first started to dig into how to become a content creator, it was very much a slog to dig through all the legitimate tips and tricks from the ones that lure you into thinking they can give you a way out of the 9-to-5 living into the passive income, fast cars, big houses, live how you want without working ploys. The former provides insight into how the industry and the algorithms work so that you can plan your work and start the climb. The latter focuses on selling…

The use of symbols in modern times almost seems like a given, like a natural part of the world around us. There are icons on every screen, logos on every device, the colorful geometry of street signs, emojis in our texts. Their ubiquity makes it seem like it could be no other way, yet we have to remember that it is part of a visual language we’ve learned through the process of decomposition and recombination.

Let’s step back for a second and first look at abstraction. Of all the symbols in our daily lives, the one that carries with it…

I recently finished reading Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, the first book in a sci-fi trilogy written by a Chinese author. It is very much a Chinese story that takes place against the history of the Cultural Revolution with distinctly Chinese backdrops. It was constantly brought up as one of the top books to read in recent times, and I thought I’d finally give it a try. I was glad I did. Typically I don’t read a lot of genre fiction. Something about the language and the types of storylines don’t seem to appeal to me. …

Simulation theory has gained a lot of traction lately thanks to the spread of more conspiratorial thinking, and a rich billionaire with a wide audience and a wild imagination. Statistically given a few possible trajectories of humankind, the most likely outcome is that computation has advanced so far that we are a result of that advancement. We are simulated beings in a wider simulation. At least, that’s how the general argument goes.

A lot of the anecdotal arguments come from the advancements in video game technology. The way Musk puts it is that we’ve come from the square ball of…

Everything we do is about building bridges, making connections that weren’t previously there. These bridges allow people to cross over to places that would have been nearly impossible otherwise. It allows people to explore new territory, expand their views, and let separate worlds meet. There are bridges we build every day in small and large ways. Like when we say hi to a stranger, or ask our friends how they’re doing. Or when we go to work to keep the machinery of the world running. …