There is so much here! The definition itself is executable. (i/definite-integral (compose L (Gamma q)) t1 t2)) Here’s a function that defines the formula for the “action” of some path q governed by a Lagrangian L : (defn Lagrangian-action But the hidden beauty of SICM is that every new concept ends up distilled into a Scheme function, waiting to be brought to life by appropriate sorcery. Working through SICM feels much more traditional and dead than Jack’s demo, or any of Maria’s other examples. It’s so simple! Read on while I drape flesh over these bullet-point bones, and describe what is is about these ingredients that makes them so powerful.

These ingredients open the portal to a future where notes, exploration, research and learning fuse. Roam Research ’s bidirectional linking functionality upgraded to work, not just with text or phrases, but between actual function definitions. The prototype I’m building is, concretely:Ī Clojurescript (and therefore browser-based) port of the computer algebra system that powers the SICM book, effectively Mathematica in the browser, with a REPL scratchpad on the side to experiment with as you follow alongĪ port of physics lessons inspired by the SICM book into a custom fork of the Maria.cloud executable notebook environment, with I’m working on a prototype of what I’m calling a “Dynamic Notebook” that I think could provide an answer. This doesn’t help anyone, or make any incremental difference to the problem. I learned a lot on my own, but every essay I put together to share reads like a mini-textbook. I started this newsletter with the goal of reading Penrose’s Road to Reality and bringing others along for the journey, in particular others with brains that had recoiled from the usual gauntlet of equations and symbols that hits you right out of the gate. Reclaim our humanity from the machines! Overhaul education ! But how do we get there? This has become a very personal problem. The last few letters have been grandiose.

Wolfram mathematica plot has no line