Matjaž Leonardis
@MatjazLeonardis
Interested in learning and creativity. In both humans and machines. (Tweets about education, relationships, institutions, math and computation).
New post: on the value of alive knowledge, explained in the context of a well known sorting algorithm.
I always wonder this with advocates of all forms of static self-satisfied elitism.
Odd how the men simping for Andrew Tate’s polygamy stuff are so confident they’d be in the 30% of men who reproduced with multiple women. Work on obtaining one woman first then we’ll talk
You can not invent a principled ethical theory that wouldn’t have a hypothetical that renders it absurd.
This video shows a Slovenian passport when it talks about Germany.
🇯🇵 WHO RULES THE WORLD OF PASSPORTS? JAPAN, AGAIN. Japan holds the most powerful passport on Earth, granting visa-free access to 194 countries - flash it, and borders basically roll out the red carpet. Singapore, South Korea, Germany, and the U.S. round out the top 5, with…
To put this hypothetical in perspective note that there are only around 10^80 *atoms* in the *observable universe*.
The chief value of this post is demonstrating that the philosophy majors who promote this sort of thing are not only hopelessly blinkered, but full of contempt for people like you
Why would being cultured have anything to do with building businesses?
Thinking about this observation from @tylercowen again:
The problem with libertarianism is that it takes civilisation for granted. In the long run no society can really afford to do that.
I want a Twitter algorithm that shows me things I want to engage with not the current thing I have zero interest in thinking about around 85% of the time.
One problem with critiques of historicism is that world-historic narratives are one of a few things that make people really come alive.
In the end all prejudice is just exploitable blindness.
Is it possible to have a sense of urgency unless you feel like you’re in mortal danger at least on some level? That a future or an identity or something like this is at risk of dying?
Beautifully put.
AI can't figure out the inverse square law looking at 10M solar systems, Newton figured it out looking at 1
Focus makes you forget everything else exists and for some reason it always takes some time to remember.
i used to think multitasking is hard, but what's really hard is switching between a mindset that's zoomed-in and a mindset that's zoomed-out
Half of what makes writing difficult is that it’s such a solitary activity.
Air conditioning was only really invented in 1902. People have populated essentially the same areas as they do now before that.
So does Europe just live without air conditioning? Is this a real thing? How is there not revolution? Are they too dehydrated to fight?
"The best theory is inspired by practice. The best practice is inspired by theory." - Donald Knuth
Half of attraction to conspiracy thinking is the desire to live in an enchanted and mysterious universe.
It's amazing how you can keep doing numbers with tweets like this when the NYT did an extensively researched piece on how him over a month ago: nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/…
I don’t believe in stupidity because stupidity and sophistication are indistinguishable. In both cases you’re faced with either thought or action you don’t understand.
People keep telling me I ask great questions. If you agree, what is great about them?
I love this letter because it’s the only piece of writing I’ve seen that acknowledges being oneself is a constant battle against the environment.
Really exceptional. @JeffBezos