this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

having done a fair stint in the kink community, most of those into free use aren't ones you want to freel use

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Or it’s just a Star Trek reference.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Body writing and puppy play is the only way to properly experience mathematics!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

skin covered in digits of pi

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

If you'll excuse me, I have to go try that.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 3 months ago (6 children)

I despise the term higher level, probably because I'm a software engineer. High level in software engineering is used to describe the most big picture, abstracted detail view of a design. Deep dive or low level is getting into the nitty gritty. I understand that they mean "discussions at a higher knowledge floor" but just wanted to air my grievance.

Huh? Yes, I am neurodivergent. Why'd you ask?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

as someone who studied both computer science and "higher level" math, i think that the use of "higher level" does kind of loosely match the computer science meaning. "higher level" math is all about abstracting away the details, to focus on the "big picture" of how things work. e.g., measure theory focuses on looking at integration from a very abstract perspective, and this abstract perspective lets you treat summation and Riemannian integration as "the same thing". you can draw a parallel to how in programming, a higher level perspective lets you treat various operating systems/pieces of hardware as "the same thing".

another example would be how abstract algebra lets you treat various algebraic structures as "the same thing", e.g. just about anything is a group, lots of things are modules, etc. and then there's category theory.

probably the biggest difference is that higher level math tends to be more challenging than lower level math, while lower level computer science tends to be more challenging than higher level computer science. (at least in my experience)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

It's because low level in terms of software engineering is like the foundation of a building, while high level in terms of the skill required to do something is like the top of a podium.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I hate saying "high level" around non tech people even when the term applies because non-tech people will interpret it incorrectly.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I mean this is the same issue you see in music where some folks wanna "get low" while other folks wanna "get on up". The conflict between down and up is universal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I haven't observed this yet so I think both are right

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

High level in software engineering is used to describe the most big picture, abstracted detail view of a design.

The same once happened to "basic" and "fundamental". Up to this day, if you want a textbook that will really teach you a topic, you have to get the "fundamentals of X" one, "advanced X" will only have a few concepts here or there.

That's how language evolves. It's often stupid, yeah, because people as a group can't help but act stupid. But it is what it is. If it becomes too confusing some day, we just have to craft a new word for high-level or low-level engineering.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I operate at a higher level pretty much all the time

[–] [email protected] 88 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Of course exploring subspace should be adults only. Can you imagine how irresponsible it would be to hand a Starfleet ship to a bunch of half trained kids?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

It was an accident rather than intentional, but this matches Warframe lore.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Star Trek Prodigy.

And it's bloody brilliant.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I remember there being something like this already. The final mission happens as they say "this is the final training for you". The enemy (aliens) behave differently than expected in this final simulation because they are not immediately aggressive and are waiting while defending their location, but the child successfully eliminates them. And later learns that was the actual aliens and not the simulation. And the aliens were just trying to find a place and protect their new generation, or sth.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

In the books, they didn't understand we were individuals at first, and when they did they were horrified. They were never going to send a third wave, they wanted to find a way to communicate, but humanity just kept cutting a swath to the home world where all the queens lived.

By the final battle, they had managed to connect with Ender, but he was a warped child genius collapsing under the pressure. In the end, they basically accepted their fate out of guilt, and left a baby queen imprinted with their monitors hidden in stasis on one of the colony worlds they had taken

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think that was Ender's Game.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yup, looks like that movie. Thanks, I didn't remember the name.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The book is much better. Translating genius to the screen is difficult at best, and they (the director and producers,) didn't seem to understand the objective.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The first one was great, the rest of them not so much

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The 2nd one was pretty good too. 3 and 4 went kinda off the rails. But then the Bean series was interesting again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

4 was a weird ride, but the last fifty pages ended the series well for me. Enough that when I closed the book there was a moment of sadness that the story I read as a child was finally concluded.

Bean books were amazing. Bought them all on hardback for $5 and felt guilty thinking they should have been more.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If only the author was as amazing as his characters

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I have a book with his autograph and a picture with him, and then a few years later learned who he really is. Made me sad.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 3 months ago

Imagine having to make up an entire series of math lectures just to cover up your search history.