Optimization hinders evolution

​Alan Perlis, lots of good stuff here.

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I don't exactly know what you don't know.

a moment of zen

In the fog you wear rose colored glasses.

a prescription, not an aphorism.

I'm not a wildlife manager. I eat wildlife, that's about it.

It doesn't have to be a normal-ish distribution, it can be any kind of 'ish' you want.

<brain explodes>

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I'm sick and tired of reading idiotic papers.

You have more statistics than data.

related to the previous.

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It's great because it adds complexity but it's bad because it adds complexity.

too true...

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You can only evaporate water if it's actually there.

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Transience is the permanent state.

Your Honor, I _object_!

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It's predictable, it's just stochastic!

.. .. So... .. .. it's not predictable?

You can't expect drift to do anything, it's completely random.

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...and I'm all about brute force... That's why god made computers.

Lets call this one 'b'... just to make it different.. for the moment...

introducing time-dependent, mutable variable naming, just to keep us on our toes.

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Pattern doesn't equal process.

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Go with feasible.

contestant for most boring corporate slogan? Also just good advice all around.

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Effective management gets trumped by "what can I get away with with the public?"

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Natural selection is in your face.

unattributed, 10.22.14, This really wants to be punctuated like this "..in your face!", but it was really as above.

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Everyone wants an -omics now.

I nominate: 'hicker-omics'

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That didn't work, it just made a mess.

We didn't sort this out until we started looking at duck poop.

how many times do you get to hear that in a lifetime?

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You can make inference about things you can't observe.

suggested definition for magic

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There's a rainforest of bacteria in your gut.

'gutforest' doesn't sound as catchy?

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We don't have any data from the future.

a reason why we need the models. and also a future research project: gather data from the future!

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You don't have to know things that are usually not knowable.

<the sound of a tree falling in the woods>

One of the things continuous time models rely on is continuous time.

<the sound of one hand clapping>

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It is truly a Borgesian smorgasbord of body plans.

io, 11.26.14, recording for posterity on the internet the first occurrence of this little gem. It seems so obvious yet it doesn't show up in google, therefore it didn't exist until now.