Nanosecond's New Writeups

genetic algorithm (idea)

2005-03-26T22:39:01Z

Everything you need to code a genetic algorithm

A genetic algorithm aims to solve a problem by using a process analogous to biological evolution, but it is important to note that it is not the same. Also, be careful not to confuse genetic algorithms with genetic programming.

The key difference between genetic algorithms and genetic programming is that genetic programming involves actual random generation of programs to solve a problem, and then breeding the ones that are best at solving the problem. With a genetic algorithm, rather than randomly generating a program, instances of a genetic mapping are randomly generated and bred.

A genetic mapping is relationship, determined by the programmer, between a gene sequence, usually a string of 1s and 0s, and a phenotype, some sort of process for solving the problem determined by the programmer. For example, say we are trying to use a genetic algorithm to learn how to navigate through a specific…

The Fountainhead (idea)

2004-04-17T22:28:32Z

The following is an essay of my (Joseph Garvin's) interpretation of the novel The Fountainhead. Hopefully if you've read the novel this will enlighten you in some way, or make you notice a nuance you didn't before. It was written for an annual writing contest for Ayn Rand's works. I chose to wait until my essay was submitted before I posted it on E2, because it's against the rules to seek outside assistance. The essay is a response to the prompt: "The conventional view is that in life an individual can either achieve practical success or be moral, but not both. Do you think Ayn Rand accepts or rejects this conventional view in The Fountainhead? Explain by reference to characters and events from the novel."

Fountainhead illustrates that the conventional wisdom, that practical success and moral integrity are mutually exclusive, is false. This 'wisdom' comes from two main suppositions. First, that the only way to achieve success is to make moral sacrifice; the only way to…

style (idea)

2004-02-23T05:08:34Z

Answer to the prompt: What words have reached you?

On the evening of February 14th, 2004, Style crawled ashore the polluted sands of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. He rasped deeply, his hair matted and his face unshaven. His suit was tattered and hung loosely from his shoulders. He effused exhaustion, not absorbing anything's energy but simply acting as a pitless black hole, wilting the sand's dreams of becoming glass. He dragged himself towards me, ignoring the grit collecting under his fingernails and between his teeth, his glasses' missing lens, and that he was supposed to be dead. Style couldn't simply die at sea. He finally reached my feet and crumpled onto his side. He pursed the butt I'd been smoking seconds ago between his lips and inhaled deeply, savoring the taste, filling his lungs to the brim, smiling. He exhaled, the cinders dimmed, and his life extinguished. He resembled a soldier that had died with his finger in…

counterplan (idea)

2004-02-23T04:41:49Z

The counterplan is an argument in policy debate, run by the negative team.

I. What does it do?

Every argument that the negative makes, optimally, serves as a reason to reject the affirmative or their plan. The negative usually claims that a counterplan serves this function in one of two ways:

Best Plan Theory - This sets up the debate as a game, in which the judge should simply choose whichever plan he thinks is better. (Rarely used)
Opportunity Cost Theory - This is the more generally accepted of the two, and the most common in higher levels of debate. This argues that the judge should vote negative, because a policy maker shouldn't pass the affirmative plan, because he would lose his chance to do the counterplan. This requires being competitive through mutual exclusivity or net benefits (see below).

Under the former, the counterplan must be mutually exclusive and be net…

feminism (idea)

2002-06-22T19:30:09Z

Contrary to some of the writeups within this node, feminism goes far beyond equal rights for the sexes. Feminism, has, infact, diverged into so many different sects that it goes far beyond the scope of this writeup to even give a quick one sentence abstract of each one.

Feminism has several main tenets. The first of these is the, "patriarchy." This is the current state that feminists believe the world is in; we are dominated by men and men use the state to oppress women and retain power. Depending on the feminist you talk to, you'll get a slew of different possible alternatives. The weakest of these (note that when I say weakest I refer not to strength but of least action) is that women should have equal rights, and that measures currently imposed by the state that discriminate against women should be removed. Keep in mind though that this is feminism only in its most mild form.

Delve a little farther into feminist literature and you'll find not only radical ways of…

alphabet soup (idea)

2002-01-15T04:19:30Z

Alphabet Soup

"Thanks Dave." I say again for the thousandth time as I'm served. Dave's a big guy, huge muscles, a real bruiser. Despite bestsellers he never had more than a one-bedroom apartment, heroin addiction keeping his savings low. We're all the same, possessing the same tenuous link. Look at Archie or Gary for example; only completed one piece in his life, did poor in the market too. Inheritance made Archie rich, and he's never even touched alcohol. Gary's famous book was about his college, a psychic spy training school in which the other students were trying to kill him; Gary is schizophrenic, but has since acquired medication. We all have the same reason for being here, we write.

They keep on trying to catch us. Words scrawled on hundreds of cocktail napkins, newspaper cutouts on restaurant tables, reams of toilet paper, classroom chalkboards, ingredient labels, tattoos, hidden files, and the insides of cereal boxes. They try to dismiss it,…