After conquering both my mental health and the workload I was thinking why does it happen to me and not to others? It seems people around me that are responsible for managing my workload are just doing any thing all the time. So there is no real thought behind the resource allocation strategy and general return value of the work put in. This means it is chaotic and haphazard all the time. It feels like a bad stop motion film where the speed varies greatly and you get jolted and jittered around.

Two quick examples are I was sick for a spell, nothing major like Covid, but it did take me a week out the running. When I got back I asked, you did inform all the customers there will be a week delay as I did not produce anything for a week. They replied with no. They kind of expected me to work 150% for a bit to make up for it. I refused.

Next example is the fact that I have been signalling multiple weeks the workload is too high, the planning is too tight, there is no room for error or outside bad influences. This all accumulated last week as Debian 11 released. That was something I anticipated but got no time allocation for to prepare and fix. I already started in April of this year, and now I had to finish up everything in August real quick with all the risk of forgetting to spot something and therefore not really fix it. Also this week someone was on holiday, yet they did not think of getting a replacement. They did not communicate to a customer that the test environment was going to be delayed, as they discussed with me would be the plan. Next thing I know I get a message on Slack asking when the test env is up? I said I am not working on it currently due to priorities being shifted. The customer said he did not know and it was it not discussed with them.

So I said to the people responsible for my workload, please think before you do things. You got to do something, not any thing. It is the same for me as a DevOps engineer, software engineer, software architect, cloud architect and who knows what other roles I have over the almost 10 projects I have to simultaneously run. I don't just do any thing I think of, I make a strategic plan and I try to run through some scenarios to make sure it works in them as I expect. As a general advice try to think of what it is you have to do and sketch out a plan. Could be a holiday trip, you can think of what if they don't have the accommodation you wanted, the weather is not really that suited for the activities, the WiFi does not work or what have you. Then you might come up with some alternate solutions to deal with the problems and you are better prepared and less likely to fall into disappointment when something does not go your way, more importantly it does not feel chaotic to the whole party as there is a streamlined way out of it. The memories of that holiday trip will be great instead of well that trip was a bit meh.

#thoughts #devlife

That got me thinking, this is great in the fact we accumulated so much knowledge and you can peruse it. It is also a big attack vector for a foreign entity to attack and exploit to bring about change in the modern civilisation. I can now see why some people think a decentralised future is the only option to remove that attack vector, the problem is then however it might be easier to attack lots of smaller targets rather than one humongous one. Not to mention it is really difficult to run decentralised effectively as it costs so much extra storage. That is the one thing that we will consistently run out of.

This is a difficult quandary I have no real solution to. It was just an interesting thought that occurred to me.

#devlife #thoughts

Entanglement

There exists a phenomenon in Quantum Mechanics that is called entanglement. It is when to particles bond, or join together and when you observe one particle you can state something about the other as well as they cannot occupy the same state.

States

There exist multiple states for a quantum particle but mostly let us talk about a binary state plus one extra. The binary state is that a quantum particle can either be 1 or 0. The extra state is that it can be both at the same time, this is called the superposition. It means that until the moment you observe it and therefore collapse the superstate into either a 1 or a 0 then it means there is a chance it is both.

Different kinds of entanglement

When two particles get entangled and they both occupy the super state it is uncertain what state either particle is in. What is known though is that they can either be 0 or 1. There are two types of entanglement: both have the same state, they have opposite states.

Both have mirrored state

Let us say if one particle is observed it is a 1. Then the entangled particle is also 1.

Both have opposite state

Let us say if one particle is observed it is a 1. Then the entangled particle is a 0.

The information travels instantaneously in Quantum Mechanics. So one particle here on Earth and another at the other end of the observable universe will instantly be the state they will be based on the type of entanglement and when observed.

Ethics question

The question I had in my thought experiment touches on the ethics of using/creating entangled particles and doing experiments with them. Let us say there exist an infinite number of entangled quantum particles, entangled right after the Big Bang happened. One will be here on Earth and the other will be out somewhere in the universe. When we observe them we also force the state of the entangled particle.

What if other lifeforms are observing and playing with these particles and therefore forcing the state of those here on Earth. What if those quantum particles whose state where set through this process made life on Earth possible?

However the ethics question is, what if our observing of these particles makes something happen out there in the universe in some civilization that we do not know about, should we keep experimenting with them?

Thoughts

Can an entangled particle cross the boundary of our observable universe? The universe at the edge has a region of space that is ever hyper expanding and therefore photons of light will never reach us as the hyper expansion is too “quick”. What if an entangled particle would be separated, one going into our observable universe, the other to this now closed off universe to use. Can they still communicate? What if the observing of these particles upsets that whole universe that might have different laws?

Can we use quantum particles to communicate with other lifeforms? It would be great though if we could harness the power of the instant communication to send data via quantum channels. Then you could send a probe out to wherever and have quantum tunnels send the information back, maybe even to a VR/AR set. Can those entangled particles communicate across the event horizon of black holes?

#thoughts

It is joined together with ze it seems, but I am not sure. To me it raised a question. They who advocate for this and see it as hyper personal and validates their identity, i.e. their identity is hung on this particular word and wording, say I an identity nomenclature illiterate should ask and respect their pronouns and use it as they see fit.

I have no qualms with this, however the following situation illustrates the problem with this. Four human beings are placed in a situation. One of the biologically born male variety and one of the biologically born female variety and two of whatever.

One of the whatever ones says, oh look at that that person left their bag. You ask who left their bag I will give it to them quickly. The person replies: “She did”.

Now for me, I would immediately go for the biologically born female. Give her the bag. That is the information that was given to me by this other person. In the world of the defenders of the pronoun they will say it could be either one still and I might make a wrong decision by giving it to the woman because that can mean the biologically born male one these days too.

I hate this loss of information. I really cannot stand it. I am all for if you personally tell me to use waka-waka to refer to your state of being, but you also have to accept that you cannot escape, easily that is, the burden that is your biological identity and people will act accordingly to that.

Let us say the whatever one said, “They did”. I would still not know which one left their bag. It is too vague. I would have to ask, can you point to the one who left it? As that will convey the correct information without loss.

Maybe it will be absorbed into our language, but the gender neutral they is fine enough for me.

#thoughts

Evolution

It is said you cannot witness evolution as the processes are too slow. Too drawn out of a process to see it. However I think one such process we might be witnessing right now.

It seems that evolutionary speaking our brain has evolved into making sure that the world outside is just, fair and most of all safe and that no random events can occur at any time to make it so we die.

This makes sense. Otherwise you spend too much energy on thinking you will die making you die instead of getting food. So in this light religion makes a lot of sense. Some other force is responsible for all and everything and nothing is therefore random and if you follow the rules the world will be safe and just. Sounds like it caters to our brain perfectly.

Another way of saying it is religion seems to be a product of evolution too.

Brains

The new way of thinking regarding this, is saying there is no god or denouncing religion in its entirety and therefore accepting the fact that the world is random seems a relatively new and amazing evolutionary step, or mutation. Acceptance is the first step in making progress after all.

I consider myself one of the lucky frontier mutations, also thanking my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who I knew and seemingly are the ones who started it all. At least as far as I can tell. It might be further upstream.

This insight was given to me by the author of The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, Dean Burnett. In that book it is explained that the brain is wanting for an ordered reasonable world in which it can thrive.

Anything upsetting that view is met with fierce resistance. For example, someone that got something done to them horribly. Some crime was committed that is random, so the perpetrator did not have a motive other than the victim happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of us would think we would be empathic to that victim but in actuality it turns out that people act like the victim had it coming, must have done something else to deserve it. This because otherwise it could happen to us at any time and that cannot be, so better to invent a sort of revenge/justification for the victim being a victim.

Conspiracy theories

So how does this all relate to conspiracy theories? Well they are a new kind of religion. It places all responsibility outside the people, where they cannot touch it. Think shadow governments, real power that is hidden in big nameless companies or even whole macro processes that are somehow geared towards making people rich. Within it is a dab of easy to get behind statements that everyone is against, seems pedophilia is chosen for this. A lot of these people in power all run pedophile networks it seems and therefore as a new potential initiate your brain goes well we are against that so we are against the rest too. Kind of the foot in the door principle where you are more likely to agree with the rest of the statements.

They are also based in quasi factual sounding phrases, semi scientifically reasoning and philosophically straw-man positions that make it hard to counter with effective rhetoric. It is also difficult for the scientifically illiterates to distinguish these “theories” from actual science.

I am unsure of the defense to this, I think asking questions and making them think on this is the most logical course. I am unsure of the effectiveness of this as it seems they can do faulty reasoning and conclude things on false premises. Two questions I would have is why and how? Basically for their whole reasoning. I think Occam's razor is lost on them. Maybe it is also a form of identity creation, like religious groups can give as well. An identity that makes you belong somewhere is a powerful tool.

Education

I sincerely believe our educational process needs some huge reforms. In order to make our new generation better equipped to deal with subtle mind altering techniques we need to teach them critical thinking, what used to be called rationalism. Critical thinking and the power of your individual identity, not eschewing the responsibilities you have as an individual in the society. Accepting the fact that the person next to you is an individual that has needs, wants, desires, fears, hopes and dreams like you but ultimately all use their talent to uplift and make the society better as a whole. The simple act of trying to leave the place around you slightly better than you arrived in, means the cumulative improvements will have a net difference of positive gain.

New normal

Hopefully it will become the new normal that our brains accept randomness and keep on evolving. With us moving more and more towards a unified model of the whole universe, space exploration being affordable, AI tech coming into it's own right and hopefully will not be used for just commercial purposes, it seems we can elevate our species to the next level.

#thoughts

#thoughts

Freestyle

Rodney starts out as a freestyle skater and that means a good mix between art, dance, ballet and skateboarding. He does not just get a board, no. He has to beg his parents for one. This is already a big thing, nobody acted out in his household. So asking for something you really wanted must have border-lined on treason. He gets a board, but only until he falls or gets hurt. Then it is immediately over. The agreement has been made. He gets padded up and starts practicing. He has to wear special boots to overcome an condition to his feet. This does not stop him. He enters a competition and becomes fifth. After having the skateboard for only just over a year.

He moves to an even remoter part in Florida and only has a small space in the garage to practice skateboarding. It is all he can do. Then something happens after winning a lot of tournaments and competitions. Freestyle dies out.

Loss of identity

What do you do when something that defines you is no longer there? This is a question that Rodney asked himself as the one thing he could do was no longer existent. Well, he took what he could from freestyle and applied it to street skating. It is the act of doing the tricks and moves out unto the streets and what you might call the real world. Not the flat ground of free style tournament pavement.

He takes like a duck to water. Invents even more tricks than before in free style.

Issues

He states he has issues, but he is not a special case. Everything is relative. I think most of us can identify with this statement in some way, shape or form. I know I can. Something from his youth fractured something inside him and he started to resent the trophies he had rightfully earned so far. Although he does not feel like that. He played it safe when he won those and so they are not a testament to his skill, rather to his cowardice. Some might argue to the ineptitude of the other contestants. That is just what you get when you have to ride the competitor that is from the future or in other words way ahead of his time.

He throws away and gives away all his trophies and is freed from his shackles.

True test

Then at the age of 41 he is still skating, still going strong. Apart from the fact that his body is grinding his left femur into the hip bone. He sees a doctor who tells him with his eyes what he does not say with words, that Rodney is done skating. He gives Rodney a tool, a sort of small plastic screwdriver, to try and wrench the scar tissue loose. Try to create a little room to stretch the muscles and create more room and get the scar tissue loose. This is excruciatingly painful. Again what do you do when the identity that defines you for the last couple of decades at this point is stripped and becomes seemingly unattainable?

He eventually moves up to an actual screwdriver and on to fire hydrants to get more leverage. He gets better and better at this practice. Finally after three and somewhat years, 13 days out of 14, hours on end hanging upside down in his car and using the wheel well to get the maximum leverage he feels like a tree trunk breaks in his leg. He starts writhing around on the floor, screaming and kicking. He gets up. He can walk again, he can walk again, with a ball and socket in his left leg. Not the stick shift hobbling gait he had before.

Formless

In skateboarding you are either regular or goofy footed. You either lead with your left or right foot respectively. At the age of 43 Rodney had to relearn skateboarding, the “wrong” stance. This is also called switch. Now you can liken this to having drawn your whole life with right hand and then due to paralysis you can only use your left hand and so relearn to draw with your left hand.

However he can skate again. So he gets back up again and realizes that the tricks he is doing not-switch are the same movement in switch. So for example, an ollie in regular stance means you pop your back foot and slide with your front foot. In switch however you would do the same with same feet in the same motion to do a nollie. A nose ollie. The idea of switch and regular went out of his head. He skated. He learned new tricks that were unattainable before.

Soft spoken

Rodney did not speak for a long time. In his childhood mostly in whispers. Another token of perseverance and dauntlessness is the fact he did TED talks and other seminars starting in 2013 and onward.

Getting back up

The power of getting back up and keeping at it, cannot be undervalued nor overstated. The trick is to keep going, calibrating as you go, fine-tuning yourself to make sure the path is correct, to the end goal of landing a trick. Or for that matter, any other attainable goal that you set your sights on. If you stop just short of obtaining it, all is for naught.

I do think there is in his life in every aspect something you can find inspiration in. Strength has nothing to do with muscle, it has to do with willpower and the fact what you do in the face of extreme adversity. The will to defy people and peers that will counter what you are trying to do whilst knowing you are on the right path. The mindset to not let pain, suffering and failure stop you from getting you where you need to be. On the other side of where you now are, the other side of more than you were but still less than what you can become. The power of not overthinking too much and dealing with problems as they arise. Being oblivious to what the barrier of disbelief is. All of these things contribute strength and Rodney Mullen is one of the strongest people I can think of.

This applies to so many more fields than just skateboarding. This is how you should live your life.

Almost Round three

The skate video Almost Round Three features a segment of Rodney Mullen, and under that segment is the song of The Clash – Train in Vain (Stand by me). The reason why this song fits so well is for many reasons. For one the band added it to the record as a last minute addition thinking it deserved to be out there when having it for a promotion failed. It was written and recorded in one night. The title of course I liken not to a train, but to the verb to train. So to train in vain would be what most people would feel like when you have to reinvent yourself after your sport dies out and most assuredly at the age of 41 when it is said you cannot do a certain sport anymore. Then the second part is the lines in the song:

Did you stand by me? No, not all Did you stand by me? No way

Rodney did it on his own. His parents never stood by him. Then the love part of the song also applies in the fact that he had a genuine love for skateboarding and it betrayed him almost. It all came tumbling down, however he never lost his love for skateboarding.

#thoughts

Stop doing this, if you feel attacked by me right now.

Switch trick that cannot be done switch

This only means something to skateboarders. Also they might know who said this. The person who said this, is Rodney Mullen. One of the greatest skaters ever to have graced us with his presence.

Now for most skaters, they will say something like “What does that even mean?” “What are you talking about Rodney?” or other similar thing.

You must know, Rodney Mullen does not just say stuff randomly. Every sentence is meticulously constructed.

What does switch mean? Well in skateboarding you are either regular or goofy footed. Meaning you either skate with left foot or right foot forward respectively. So then switch means the opposite of your default stance.

For me, this means an opportunity to do the following.

What I understand

You get to say, I am not sure I understand but this is what I understand.

For me the sentence above means that some tricks require a mindset other than just thinking in this trick is switch or this is done regular. It is a trick that only exists in the formless state of mind where you do not think about concepts like switch and regular anymore.

Rodney Mullen talks a bit about this, he states your foot does a certain motion to make a kick flip in your default stance. If you make the same movement in switch you will do a switch late flip with the same forward motion. This means the concept of switch and regular is in your head only. If you trust your body to make the motions then you will be more successful.

Relating to tech

How does this relate to tech? Or better yet how can I possible relate this to tech? Well try to isolate the technique itself and apply it wherever you see.

If you think of a traditional REST API you might conjure up the endless routes of all the entities and all the verbs that each do something to that resource. Then comes up the fact that there exists this cool new thing, GraphQL.

However that is nothing more than just a specific implementation of RPC way of making APIs. You have Query and Mutations but they are just invocations of functions that you call from the client. With RPC you do not always have one endpoint but you might as well have.

You could opt for the hybrid where you call functions depending on the HTTP verb for example.

#thoughts

⋮

Welcome back. I am curious as to what it is what you came up.

Quantum states

So in quantum mechanics there exists the concept of quantum states, and this is linked to probability of where a specific particle gets to be. So a quantum state is the full distribution of probability where a particle can be. This is described by the so called Schrödinger equation. This is underselling the equation stating it so matter-of-factly, but it is a big deal this thing.

Naturally you might wonder about the concept of a probability of a particle being somewhere. It is wherever it is right? To quote something:

Where ever you go, there you are.

Now then there must be a trick of some sort. There is, and the trick is observation determines it.

Schrödinger's experiment

For some this will trigger memories of passed away cats, but for others it will do no such thing. I will not invoke the cat for this one, instead I will cuddle the cat as I explain a similar experiment.

There exists a box, a container. Within there is one particle. From the outside you cannot look in and there is only one particle. The particle gets a distribution of probability using the equation mentioned above, this is super shallow explanation but suffice it to say it cannot be everywhere in equal matter.

What we do, is suddenly open the box and see where the particle is. Then close it. Then open it again. The particle will not be in the same place twice, although that is probable, just highly unlikely.

This means before you open the box the particle can be anywhere, except outside of the box.

Hermaphrodite

First briefly explaining this term. It stems from the Greek myth about Hermaphroditus (Hermaphroditos) and it is a boy born with such beautiful looks that someone wishes to be forever with the boy. This certain someone is a Naiad, a nymph, and more importantly female. A god hears this and fuses/merges the two together to create an androgynous form, but in modern times it is meant to represent someone who has both reproductive organs.

Quantum Hermaphrodite

So now it might become clear what this word means. It came about in a discussion with a colleague. It was regarding someone else who would take on the gender only on observation of a male but in all other states would have a probability distribution of being female and male.

We coined this term for people that appear to act in a certain cisgender way when observed directly by other people but when not observed seem to have a certain probability of being other gender identities, not only limited to the male/female kind.

Hope you can use this in the future.

#thoughts

Disguising simplicity

So first thing you do is you state that your product is simple to use. How many services/products can you think of from the top of your head right now that promised this? It is the golden rule right? Well there is a trick, don't make it actually simple to use. You have to get the sweet balance between a service that looks easy to use and is actually hard to use. This is something Google has perfected.

IKEA Effect

What happens when you sell a service that is difficult to use but is marketed as simple? Well people will start using them, reasonably intelligent and well thinking people, and they will run into blockades. Then start to wonder; why is it difficult for me to use? I am smart, I should be able to do this. So they keep on going. Then something starts working, something not necessarily clicks but it seems to be correct. Some parts are unused and other parts are not used correctly, that is not important. What is important is the fact that you did something yourself. The fact you created something after spending time, regardless of what is created, it will be more highly valued than any other store bought service or off the shelf product.

This is what is called the IKEA effect, the propensity of people to value their own made things way higher than anything else.

Trigger the virus

Now the viral marketing will trigger itself. The people that conquered this product, will feel the need to share that with the world. Telling the world it is simple to use this product/service, after all they figured it out. So the news spread of this difficult to use service under the guise of simplicity.

Google in a nutshell

Almost all the products of Google fall into this category: AMP, Kubernetes, Gmail, Golang to name some. However some do not fall in this category at all, like Bazel for example. Why? Well they did not apply this marketing to Bazel. It is actually a good tool therefore. I think Dart used to fall in the first category, but after the overhaul it falls in the second one. I have yet to confirm this though. Same goes with Flutter.

To reiterate the formula of success, make a service difficult to use whilst stating it is simplicity itself and trigger the IKEA effect with anyone who will use it.

#devlife #thoughts