Michael Will 🍁
@scidata.ca
computation from first principles 0101
FORTH PROLOG GOFAI RISC-V HPC Spaceflight Astronomy
Zebrafish SciFi CitSci Archaeology Anthropology Psychohistory
Website: www.scidata.ca
Discussion: worthdefending.blogspot.com
GOFAI Forum: gofai.discourse.group
FORTH PROLOG GOFAI RISC-V HPC Spaceflight Astronomy
Zebrafish SciFi CitSci Archaeology Anthropology Psychohistory
Website: www.scidata.ca
Discussion: worthdefending.blogspot.com
GOFAI Forum: gofai.discourse.group
November 26, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Always remember, the human brain models the universe in real time, with advanced communication and sensors, almost unlimited learning capacity, and true intelligence
- and uses 25W.
- and uses 25W.
November 26, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Always remember, the human brain models the universe in real time, with advanced communication and sensors, almost unlimited learning capacity, and true intelligence
- and uses 25W.
- and uses 25W.
Do not send to know for whom the bell tolls
November 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Do not send to know for whom the bell tolls
I ran a #CitizenScience team from 2008-2018 that used GPUs, mainly to sift thru Arecibo data looking for pulsars and other astro & bio searches. We got squeezed out of the game during the insane crypto age. Nobody on our team could afford Maxwell GPUs. Now it's data centers. Greed won't stop GRBs.
November 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I ran a #CitizenScience team from 2008-2018 that used GPUs, mainly to sift thru Arecibo data looking for pulsars and other astro & bio searches. We got squeezed out of the game during the insane crypto age. Nobody on our team could afford Maxwell GPUs. Now it's data centers. Greed won't stop GRBs.
November 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
You know, I really wish they'd worked a wee flash of #Forth into the movie CONTACT (1997). It would only have req'd a brief screen glimpse during the Vega primes signal detection scene. Would have been dead brilliant and a great tip-of-the-hat to Chuck Moore. Would have made the movie immortal.
November 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
You know, I really wish they'd worked a wee flash of #Forth into the movie CONTACT (1997). It would only have req'd a brief screen glimpse during the Vega primes signal detection scene. Would have been dead brilliant and a great tip-of-the-hat to Chuck Moore. Would have made the movie immortal.
I'm in the enviable position of only needing a circa-1980 computer to do 80% of my work. Storage, text editor, and #Forth programming. I'm even considering taking another look at Lynx, the text web browser. That's much more than Einstein, Turing, von Neumann, Feynman, and Crick had, and they did ok.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I'm in the enviable position of only needing a circa-1980 computer to do 80% of my work. Storage, text editor, and #Forth programming. I'm even considering taking another look at Lynx, the text web browser. That's much more than Einstein, Turing, von Neumann, Feynman, and Crick had, and they did ok.
Two fast 6809s, 64K RAM, and a GI AY-3-8910.
In 1982. Wow. That would have moved me ahead three years back in the day.
#GOFAI #Forth #Aerospace #Psychohistory
In 1982. Wow. That would have moved me ahead three years back in the day.
#GOFAI #Forth #Aerospace #Psychohistory
November 23, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Two fast 6809s, 64K RAM, and a GI AY-3-8910.
In 1982. Wow. That would have moved me ahead three years back in the day.
#GOFAI #Forth #Aerospace #Psychohistory
In 1982. Wow. That would have moved me ahead three years back in the day.
#GOFAI #Forth #Aerospace #Psychohistory
Heh. This is exactly what people used to say to me about computational psychohistory. I've since abandoned prediction (Bayesian priors rapidly fizzle out) and focused on history (archaeology, anthropology, ancient languages, etc). Much more scientific and useful. I expect AGI to also find its niche.
November 22, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Heh. This is exactly what people used to say to me about computational psychohistory. I've since abandoned prediction (Bayesian priors rapidly fizzle out) and focused on history (archaeology, anthropology, ancient languages, etc). Much more scientific and useful. I expect AGI to also find its niche.
Ad astra.
the scientific spirit is of more value than its products
- Thomas Huxley
#CitizenScience #NASA
the scientific spirit is of more value than its products
- Thomas Huxley
#CitizenScience #NASA
November 21, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Ad astra.
the scientific spirit is of more value than its products
- Thomas Huxley
#CitizenScience #NASA
the scientific spirit is of more value than its products
- Thomas Huxley
#CitizenScience #NASA
Sometimes you have to go back to go forward. In 1959, Isaac Asimov (one of the true parents of AI) had some thoughts on what we now call 'deep learning'. Hint: he didn't advocate for LLM slop.
www.technologyreview.com/2014/10/20/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2014/10/20/1...
Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”
A 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity
www.technologyreview.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Sometimes you have to go back to go forward. In 1959, Isaac Asimov (one of the true parents of AI) had some thoughts on what we now call 'deep learning'. Hint: he didn't advocate for LLM slop.
www.technologyreview.com/2014/10/20/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2014/10/20/1...
The ultimate 'tell' of AI is sycophancy. Only powerful (natural) intellects are capable of giving criticism. It's the Stepford lesson.
November 21, 2025 at 4:46 AM
The ultimate 'tell' of AI is sycophancy. Only powerful (natural) intellects are capable of giving criticism. It's the Stepford lesson.
Even scarier than Gödelian is Lovecraftian. His 'Shoggoth' is an accurate meme for GenAI.
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Even scarier than Gödelian is Lovecraftian. His 'Shoggoth' is an accurate meme for GenAI.
Life itself is concatenative (incremental)
www.scidata.ca/concatenativ...
www.scidata.ca/concatenativ...
Concatenative Biology
There are several ways to categorize programming languages. One is to distinguish between applicative and concatenative evaluation. Most languages are applicative – functions are applied to data. I…
www.scidata.ca
November 19, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Life itself is concatenative (incremental)
www.scidata.ca/concatenativ...
www.scidata.ca/concatenativ...
Hopefully we can contribute a lot more than money to the effort. Exploration is deeply embedded in our science, history, and culture.
#Space #Robotics #CanadianAI #Forth
#Space #Robotics #CanadianAI #Forth
November 19, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Hopefully we can contribute a lot more than money to the effort. Exploration is deeply embedded in our science, history, and culture.
#Space #Robotics #CanadianAI #Forth
#Space #Robotics #CanadianAI #Forth
Very sorry to hear of her passing. ProFORTH forever.
November 19, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Very sorry to hear of her passing. ProFORTH forever.
Beowulf - one of the best HPC ideas ever.
www.scidata.ca/ancient-meta...
www.scidata.ca/ancient-meta...
Ancient Metaphors
New nations often use comparisons and metaphors to build a more familiar and solid framework or ‘story’ using the past, especially to evoke visions of ‘glory days’. One example is the symbolism of …
www.scidata.ca
November 19, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Beowulf - one of the best HPC ideas ever.
www.scidata.ca/ancient-meta...
www.scidata.ca/ancient-meta...
I've been an AI dev for four decades. The main irrationality with LLMs is calling it AI. It's not. It's algorithmic token wrangling using vast amounts of compute.
It's clever, but is it Art?
- Rudyard Kipling
It's clever, but is it Art?
- Rudyard Kipling
November 18, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I've been an AI dev for four decades. The main irrationality with LLMs is calling it AI. It's not. It's algorithmic token wrangling using vast amounts of compute.
It's clever, but is it Art?
- Rudyard Kipling
It's clever, but is it Art?
- Rudyard Kipling
We raised our kids on the 13th floor of a condo. I took every opportunity to tell them to avoid superstition and to hit the math homework. Calculemus!
BTW, the Red Ensign on the tail of that RCAF trainer makes me proud whenever I look in on your cosmology news.
#CitizenScience #FirstPrinciples
BTW, the Red Ensign on the tail of that RCAF trainer makes me proud whenever I look in on your cosmology news.
#CitizenScience #FirstPrinciples
November 18, 2025 at 12:44 PM
We raised our kids on the 13th floor of a condo. I took every opportunity to tell them to avoid superstition and to hit the math homework. Calculemus!
BTW, the Red Ensign on the tail of that RCAF trainer makes me proud whenever I look in on your cosmology news.
#CitizenScience #FirstPrinciples
BTW, the Red Ensign on the tail of that RCAF trainer makes me proud whenever I look in on your cosmology news.
#CitizenScience #FirstPrinciples