A good essay on Le Chatelier's Principle (systems resist change), why we fail at building or modifying highly complex systems, and how starting over is a better path to success:
I'm exploring what happens when we treat our minds as extended (socially-shaped) systems, and what that means for living through a polycrisis.
https://blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-models-polycrisis-2/
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #Complexity #DigitalLiteracies
A good essay on Le Chatelier's Principle (systems resist change), why we fail at building or modifying highly complex systems, and how starting over is a better path to success:
We often treat decision-making as a purely cognitive exercise. But bodies, context, and relationships are doing quiet work in the background.
Some of our worst decisions come from our "best" analysis, so here's how a more embodied approach can help:
https://blog.dougbelshaw.com/decision-making/
#DecisionMaking #SystemsThinking #CriticalThinking #Complexity
🧬 New paper by Dera et al. in Science Advances proposing a geometric complexity space to map the full morphological diversity of life.
Striking result: life occupies only a tiny, clustered region of all geometrically possible forms, with large heteromorphic regions systematically avoided. The authors argue that this reflects deep physical and developmental constraints shaping evolution.
🧬 New paper by Dera et al. in Science Advances proposing a geometric complexity space to map the full morphological diversity of life.
Striking result: life occupies only a tiny, clustered region of all geometrically possible forms, with large heteromorphic regions systematically avoided. The authors argue that this reflects deep physical and developmental constraints shaping evolution.
Do you have a topic you want to debate, but no one willing to sit with the complexity instead of rushing to conclusions?
I am here for that kind of conversation.
Let us think out loud without turning it into a performance.
#ThoughtfulConversation #DeepThinking #Nuance #Complexity #CriticalThinking
#Ideas #Debate #IntellectualCuriosity #Philosophy #LongTermThinking
#FediMeta #AskFedi #WritersOfFedi #TechCulture #IndieWeb #OpenWeb
🥊 React vs Backbone in 2025
｢ The Backbone code is brutally honest about what it's doing. An event fires, a handler runs, you build some HTML, you put it in the DOM. It's verbose, sure, but there's no mystery. A junior developer can trace exactly what happens and when. The mental model is straightforward: "when this happens, do this."
The React code hides a lot ｣
#Introduction
Hi everyone! I’m Carlos Tomas Grahm, an independent mathematician who previously worked on NSF-funded modeling and continuum mechanics research under a Hopkins-affiliated PI.
My current focus is the intersection of mathematical logic, complexity theory, and applied modeling — how rigorous math can clarify or even accelerate discoveries in other sciences. I enjoy discussing ideas that connect theory to real-world systems and would love to meet others exploring similar links.
Looking forward to learning, sharing, and helping translate tricky math into useful models!
#Math #Modeling #Complexity #SciComm #AcademicChatter #NewHere
#Introduction
Hi everyone! I’m Carlos Tomas Grahm, an independent mathematician who previously worked on NSF-funded modeling and continuum mechanics research under a Hopkins-affiliated PI.
My current focus is the intersection of mathematical logic, complexity theory, and applied modeling — how rigorous math can clarify or even accelerate discoveries in other sciences. I enjoy discussing ideas that connect theory to real-world systems and would love to meet others exploring similar links.
Looking forward to learning, sharing, and helping translate tricky math into useful models!
#Math #Modeling #Complexity #SciComm #AcademicChatter #NewHere
The world is becoming less colourful. Across #Brazil and much of the #tropics, #butterflies are fading as #forests give way to industrial #plantations. Once vibrant with flashes of red, blue and gold, their wings are now turning brown and grey. New research shows that colourful #species struggle to survive in eucalyptus plantations where the #light is harsh, the #air is dry and the forest floor is stripped bare. The result is an eerie quietness.
#Scientists describe a sense of emptiness where the rich texture of life has drained away.
Colour in #butterflies is not decoration. It evolved over millions of years as a language of #survival helping them attract mates, evade predators and blend into complex forest backdrops. In diverse #ecosystems colour signals #abundance and #complexity. In degraded #landscapes drabness becomes an advantage. The most colourful species are often the first to disappear when native #vegetation is lost,
The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.
-- Doug Horton
🔪 The bloat of edge-case first libraries
https://43081j.com/2025/09/bloat-of-edge-case-libraries
#software #programming #api #libraries #complexity #softwaredevelopment #computing #engineering
🔪 The bloat of edge-case first libraries
https://43081j.com/2025/09/bloat-of-edge-case-libraries
#software #programming #api #libraries #complexity #softwaredevelopment #computing #engineering
｢ Everything’s optimised for developers – and hostile to everyone else.
This isn’t accidental. It’s cultural. We’ve created an industry where complexity is celebrated. Where cleverness is rewarded. Where engineering sophistication is valued more than clarity, usability, or commercial effectiveness.
It’s easier to win an argument by citing SSR compatibility issues than it is to ask, “Why are we using React for a blog?” ｣
https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/javascript-broke-the-web-and-called-it-progress/
｢ Everything’s optimised for developers – and hostile to everyone else.
This isn’t accidental. It’s cultural. We’ve created an industry where complexity is celebrated. Where cleverness is rewarded. Where engineering sophistication is valued more than clarity, usability, or commercial effectiveness.
It’s easier to win an argument by citing SSR compatibility issues than it is to ask, “Why are we using React for a blog?” ｣
https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/javascript-broke-the-web-and-called-it-progress/
