The Future comes first

This is just a note to self, given the time-limited access to the content.

In the documentary "The Rememberer" (episode 2), Matías De Stefano explains the 3-tiered concentric circles of Atlantis.  The inner-most circle represents the future. The future was created first, because in the universe everything was first an intention. The middle represents the experience of the present. The outer circle represents the past. The future created the present so that we live out the past.

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The idea is fascinating.

The analogy even works from a geometrical perspective.

The future is the focal point, and of course the only reason why it's there is because of the intention for it to be. 

The future created by true intent is certain. Fittingly represented by the single focal point of a circle.

The present as experienced is quite uncertain. We do not know where we are. We are anywhere in the circle. "self-locating uncertainty" is the name of the game.

The past is where the wild hallucinations reside. Anything could have been in our past. There is no way to know, but we often guess. It's why people argue endlessly about what actually happened in the past. Most do not realize the past is just an hallucination. It's the stuff outside the circle of uncertainty of present.

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Curiously this answers the question I wrote down a couple days ago:

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This might sound counterintuitive but i find it much harder to deconstruct the past than the future. It feels like the past is truly gone and one can never go back there, so whatever happened has an effect so far as it affects the present only. And since we can choose our present the effect of the past can be very minimal

But the future is much harder to deconstruct. It feels like it is coming. We know it. Ironically, it is the past that teaches us about the future. But we know by the late nighters that we pulled and crucially the ones that we didn’t that tomorrow will come and if we are unprepared for it we will suffer the consequences.

Deconstructing the past made us much freer. Why could we not do the same for the future? What promises does it hold? It must hold great freedom by logic of symmetry. But I have not cracked open the puzzle yet.

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Crazy.

26 principles for prompt engineering (2023)

https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.16171v1

 26 principles for prompt engineering (2023)

#Principle

                                  Prompt Principle for Instructions

1  

No need to be polite with LLM so there is no need to add phrases like “please”, “if you don’t mind”, “thank you”,

“I would like to”, etc., and get straight to the point.

 

2

Integrate the intended audience in the prompt, e.g., the audience is an expert in the field.

3

Break down complex tasks into a sequence of simpler prompts in an interactive conversation.

4

Employ affirmative directives such as ‘do,’ while steering clear of negative language like ‘don’t’.

5  

When you need clarity or a deeper understanding of a topic, idea, or any piece of information, utilize the

following prompts:

o Explain [insert specific topic] in simple terms.

o Explain to me like I’m 11 years old.

o Explain to me as if I’m a beginner in [field].

o Write the [essay/text/paragraph] using simple English like you’re explaining something to a 5-year-old.

 

6

Add “I’m going to tip $xxx for a better solution!”

7

Implement example-driven prompting (Use few-shot prompting).

8  

When formatting your prompt, start with ‘###Instruction###’, followed by either ‘###Example###’

or ‘###Question###’ if relevant. Subsequently, present your content. Use one or more

line breaks to separate instructions, examples, questions, context, and input data.

 

9

Incorporate the following phrases: “Your task is” and “You MUST”.

10

Incorporate the following phrases: “You will be penalized”.

11

use the phrase ”Answer a question given in a natural, human-like manner” in your prompts.

12

Use leading words like writing “think step by step”.

13  

Add to your prompt the following phrase “Ensure that your answer is unbiased and does not rely on stereotypes”.

 

14  

Allow the model to elicit precise details and requirements from you by asking

you questions until he has enough information to provide the needed output

(for example, “From now on, I would like you to ask me questions to…”).

 

15  

To inquire about a specific topic or idea or any information and you want to test your understanding, you can use

the following phrase: “Teach me the [Any theorem/topic/rule name] and include a test at the end, but don’t

give me the answers and then tell me if I got the answer right when I respond”.

 

16

Assign a role to the large language models.

17

Use Delimiters.

18

Repeat a specific word or phrase multiple times within a prompt.

19

Combine Chain-of-thought (CoT) with few-Shot prompts.

20  

Use output primers, which involve concluding your prompt with the beginning of the desired output. Utilize output

primers by ending your prompt with the start of the anticipated response.

 

21  

To write an essay /text /paragraph /article or any type of text that should be detailed: “Write a detailed [essay/text

/paragraph] for me on [topic] in detail by adding all the information necessary”.

 

22  

To correct/change specific text without changing its style: “Try to revise every paragraph sent by users. You should

only improve the user’s grammar and vocabulary and make sure it sounds natural. You should not change the

writing style, such as making a formal paragraph casual”.

 

23  

When you have a complex coding prompt that may be in different files: “From now and on whenever you generate

code that spans more than one file, generate a [programming language ] script that can be run to automatically

create the specified files or make changes to existing files to insert the generated code. [your question]”.

 

24  

When you want to initiate or continue a text using specific words, phrases, or sentences, utilize the following prompt:

o I’m providing you with the beginning [song lyrics/story/paragraph/essay…]: [Insert lyrics/words/sentence]’. Finish it based on the words provided. Keep the flow consistent.

 

25  

Clearly state the requirements that the model must follow in order to produce content,

in the form of the keywords, regulations, hint, or instructions

 

26  

To write any text, such as an essay or paragraph, that is intended to be similar to a provided sample, include the

following instructions:

o Please use the same language based on the provided paragraph[/title/text /essay/answer].

拔刀相助

 

Radioactivity in Dead Sea springs

Interesting.

I mean, the Jews have a history of describing things that sound like nuclear weapons like the Ark....

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1967.tb00623.x

RADIOACTIVJTY OF JERICHO BONES

BY I. M. B,LAKE* and J. CYNTHIA WEBERt+

‘Balliol College, Oxford University. 7 Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the

History of Art, Oxford University.

Research into the hydrology of springs at the Dead Sea shore (west bank) south

of Qumran has revealed that some are radioactive. The radioactivity is peculiarly

localised and not necessarily permanent, the onset of such contamination being

unpredictable (Moyle and Thomas). That the spring Ain es-Sultan (site of ancient

Jericho) is also in the Jordan Valley and may draw water from the same basic

source suggests that, although it is clean today, it may in the past have suffered

similar contamination.

Archaeologically Jericho has seen two major periods of desertion. The first

followed the “Pre-Pottery Neolithic B” period (Kenyon, personal communication).

The second began about 1325 B.C. and lasted until after 800 B.C. (Kenyon 1965,

p. 21 1). This latter desertion is Biblically attested and attributed to a curse laid

by Joshua on Jericho (Joshua, 6. v/26). Subsequent reoccupation is recorded in

connection with the “miracle” whereby Elisha is popularly supposed to have healed

the water with salt (Kings 11, 2,v/ 19-22).

Hebrew phraseology, particularly that of the passage often translated as “the

water is naught, and the land miscarryeth” (Kings 11, 2v 19) offers a clear suggestion that the effect of the curse was a form of sterility. It has been argued that

radioactive contamination of the spring would explain the observed effect recorded

in the Old Testament (Blake 1967).

The alpha radioactivity of 20 animal bones from Jericho has been measured.

‘Two of the samples are from the end of the Middle Bronze age (prior to the

second desertion) the rest being Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN). The bones were

crushed and the alpha radioactivity measured using a thick sample on a 2”

diameter ZnS screen observed by a photomultiplier tube. Seventeen of the samples

ranged in activity from 3.2 to 9.5 counts per kilosecond. The most recent of the

PPN B bones was 15.3 cts/ks and the two MI3 bones were 24.3 and 31.7 cts/ks.

The alpha ray energy spectrum was kindly measured for two of these samples by

Dr. R. D. Cherry and Mr. Julian Hobbs of the University of Capetown. For a

3.6 cts/ks sample they found apparently the conventional Uranium series, whereas

the radioactivity of the 31.7 cts/ks sample was composed almost entirely of 5.24k

0.06 MeV alphas, probably from 210Po supported by its parent zlnPb. If it is

Z1oPb, which has a half life of only twenty-two years, the radioactivity measured at

present cannot be the remnant of radioactivity acquired several thousand years ago.

but must instead be contamination from more recent times. The data may thus

indicate the presence of high radioactivity in the ground water at Jericho within

the last few hundred years.

Measurements on more bones from the area are planned. It is hoped to

confirm the presence of 210Po and zloPb. and to determine the nature of the higher

radioactivity in the most recent PPN (B) bone.

Skeletal material from Jericho was made available through the good offices of

Miss K. M. Kenyon. C.B.E., Litt.D.. F.S.A., Principal of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford. 

Just for the record

 https://youtu.be/pcm8wZ23udE?si=0ReGGw8igKWsM-Cu&t=1223