In the game "First Loser Wins" you win points by coming in second place in competitions, and then you win the game overall by having the second-most amount of points. http://firstloserwins.com
The Byzantine Generals Problem's only prereq is familiarity with basic mathematical notation and a willingness to read carefully. The paper is seminal; it articulates a major computer security concern, the concern that rogue nodes in a network may lie in their communications.
> The closing quote: "The legacy I'd like to leave behind is basically a set of benchmark data that can be used by future weapon physicists."
That's a misleading selective quotation: here's a fuller quote:
> When asked why this project is so important to him, he voiced the dominant perspective among weapon scientists at LLNL: He doesn't want nuclear weapons to be used and passionately believes the key to ensuring they aren't is to making sure the U.S. stockpile continues to be an effective deterrent.
> "We need to be able to validate our codes and trust that the answers that are being calculated are correct," Spriggs said. "The legacy that I'd like to leave behind is a set of benchmark data that can be used by future weapon physicists to make sure that our codes are correct so that the U.S. remains prepared."
hahah I know, right! I have such mixed feelings about this. There's no changing our actions during the cold war, and we should certainly better understand what happened, but doing so to help future makers of nukes? Very unsettling to say the least.
I went to the museum at LANL a few months ago and in a lot of the videos the scientists and engineers expressed similar sentiments. They feel that the work they are doing is instrumental in the relative peace humanity has had since the end of WWII. I don't know a ton about that subject but it is hard for me to to disagree that without nukes and MAD the world would have a net increase in bloodshed.
Writing a monad blog post is obligatory for all who know monads. Here's mine: a monad is a class with a sensible flatMap operation. Hope that helps you understand monads...
> I'm very willing to assent to the idea that spiritual masters experience less loneliness
Chogyam Trunpga, founder of the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, said "Egolessness is a concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way constantly, and I think it's a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling."
There is an important difference between meditating on a game and meditating on your breath: meditating on your breath is boring --- and that boredom is good for you. According to Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche "Boredom is part of the discipline of meditation practice" [1].
As for the relevance of arguing / debating: not everything is non dual (in a manner of speaking). In Tibetan Buddhism this is reflected in the Two Truth doctrine, where there are two levels of truth: relative and absolute. Absolute is non-dual, whereas the relative is where we live our dualistic lives. Tibet has a long history of debate.
"The argument [for building a civilization on Mars] that I actually find most compelling is that it would be an incredible adventure. I think it would be the most inspiring thing that I can possibly imagine. And life needs to be more than just solving problems every day. You need to wakeup and be excited about the future, and be inspired, and want to live." -- Elon Musk
They do in the UK. If you don't acknowledge a debt for 6 years, and during that 6 years the creditor doesn't take legal action against you, the debt becomes unenforceable - statute barred debt is the technical term.
The debt still exists, they can still harass you about it, but you cannot be taken to court and made to pay.
Now, in most cases, that doesn't happen that frequently, as most creditors would take you to court well before the 6 years are up.
It's difficult to develop a winning strategy.