#cadge

LOVE  by Ukrainian sculptor Alexander Milov, features two wire-frame adults sitting back to back with their inner children reaching out to each other from within. At night, the inner children lit up as well.

You’re free to come to your own conclusions about the piece’s meaning (and share them with us in the comments), but here’s what Milov wrote about the piece on the festival’s website: “It demonstrates a conflict between a man and a woman as well as the outer and inner expression of human nature. Their inner selves are executed in the form of transparent children, who are holding out their hands through the grating. As it’s getting dark (night falls) the children chart to shine. This shining is a symbol of purity and sincerity that brings people together and gives a chance of making up when the dark time arrives.”

The beautiful message it sends isn’t the only reason why this work is so important – it’s also the first time that a Ukrainian artist received a Burning Man grant to create his art.

The Power of Collective Action: Changing the Electoral College

TL;DR: The Electoral College is outdated and undemocratic. Let’s explore alternatives like STAR voting and work together for change.

The Electoral College. It’s a term that pops up every four years, sparking debates and discussions across the nation. But let’s be real—it’s an outdated system that doesn’t truly reflect the democratic ideals we hold dear. It’s time we talk about why it’s undemocratic and dangerous, and how we can collectively work toward a better system.

Why the Electoral College Fails Us

The Electoral College was designed in a different era, with different priorities. Today, it often skews the democratic process, giving disproportionate power to smaller states and sometimes allowing a candidate who didn’t win the popular vote to become president. This isn’t just a theoretical issue; it’s happened five times in U.S. history, most recently in 2016. When the will of the people isn’t accurately represented, it erodes trust in our democratic institutions.

Alternatives Worth Considering

So, what can we do about it? There are several alternatives that promise a more democratic process. One of the most promising is STAR voting, which stands for “Score Then Automatic Runoff.” Here’s how it works:

Voters score each candidate on a scale (say, 0 to 5).

The two candidates with the highest total scores enter an automatic runoff.

The candidate preferred by more voters in this runoff wins.

STAR voting allows for a more nuanced expression of voter preferences and can help ensure that the candidate with the broadest support wins. It’s a system that encourages more honest voting and reduces the “lesser of two evils” dilemma.

Building Momentum for Change

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it starts with us. Here are some steps we can take to move toward a more democratic electoral system:

Educate Yourself and Others: Understanding the flaws of the Electoral College and the benefits of alternatives like STAR voting is the first step. Share this knowledge with friends, family, and your community.

Support Local Initiatives: Many states are exploring changes to their voting systems. Get involved in local campaigns and support initiatives that aim to implement more democratic voting methods.

Advocate for National Reform: Contact your representatives and express your support for electoral reform. The more they hear from constituents, the more likely they are to take action.

Facing Criticisms Head-On

Some might argue that changing the system is too complicated or that it could lead to unintended consequences. But let’s not forget the recent story of a small town in Maine that successfully implemented ranked-choice voting, leading to more representative outcomes and increased voter satisfaction. Change is possible, and it can be positive.

Conclusion: The Power of Us

The Electoral College may seem like an insurmountable obstacle, but history has shown us that collective action can lead to monumental change. Just like the community in Maine, we can work together to create a system that truly reflects the will of the people. So, let’s ask ourselves: What kind of democracy do we want to leave for future generations? It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Generative models, particularly GANs, have been hailed as revolutionary, yet they often stumble over their own mathematical intricacies. Mode collapse is one such stumbling block, where the model fails to capture the full data distribution, producing limited diversity in outputs. At the heart of this issue lies the Nash equilibrium in the minimax game between the generator and discriminator. Theoretically, the GAN framework optimizes the Jensen-Shannon divergence, but this optimization can lead to gradient vanishing when the discriminator becomes too adept. This imbalance causes the generator to receive little to no feedback, stalling its learning process.

Spectral normalization offers a partial remedy by controlling the Lipschitz constant of the discriminator. By constraining the spectral norm of the weight matrices, it ensures that the discriminator remains within a stable learning regime, preventing it from overpowering the generator. This technique, however, is not a panacea. It merely mitigates the symptoms of mode collapse without addressing the underlying game-theoretic imbalance.

Meanwhile, in the realm of VAEs, posterior collapse is a parallel concern. Here, the latent space dimensionality and decoder capacity play pivotal roles. When the KL divergence between the approximate posterior q and the prior p approaches zero, the model effectively ignores the latent variables, reducing its generative capacity. This collapse often stems from an overly powerful decoder that can reconstruct data without relying on the latent space, a scenario exacerbated by high-dimensional latent spaces that dilute the information content.

Diffusion models, with their score matching objectives, offer an intriguing alternative. These models connect to denoising autoencoders, optimizing a loss that encourages the model to predict the gradient of the data distribution. This approach sidesteps some pitfalls of GANs and VAEs by focusing on the data’s intrinsic structure rather than adversarial dynamics or latent encodings. Yet, diffusion models are not without their challenges, particularly in terms of computational efficiency and scalability.

Cadge: The Misunderstood Legacy of the Founders

TL;DR: The Founders feared faction and demagoguery, crafting a Constitution meant to evolve with our understanding of equality.

The Founders’ True Intentions The Founders of the United States weren’t the advocates for nationalism or racial hierarchy that some modern narratives suggest. They were visionaries who feared the dangers of faction and demagoguery. Their words and actions were rooted in a deep understanding of human nature and a desire to create a system that could adapt and grow.

A Constitution Built to Evolve The Constitution they crafted was designed to be amended. It was a living document, meant to reflect the evolving understanding of equality and justice. This wasn’t just a happy accident; it was a deliberate choice. They knew that as society progressed, so too should its laws and governance.

Warnings Against Demagoguery The Founders were acutely aware of the risks posed by charismatic leaders who might exploit public fears and prejudices. They warned against demagoguery, understanding that such figures could lead to division and tyranny. This is a lesson that echoes through history, even as recently as last week’s political debates.

Faction: A Threat to Unity Faction, or the division of society into competing groups, was another concern. The Founders saw it as a threat to the unity and stability of the nation. They believed that a strong, free, and secure society was the foundation of a thriving economy and a just government.

Contradictions in Modern Narratives Framing the Founders as proponents of racial hierarchy contradicts their own words and intentions. They laid the groundwork for a nation that could rise above such divisions, even if they themselves were products of their time. It’s a complex legacy, but one that leans towards progress and inclusion.

The Importance of Context Understanding the Founders’ intentions requires context. They were not perfect, nor were they infallible. But their vision was one of a nation that could learn and grow, amending its Constitution as its understanding of equality deepened.

A Call to Action As we navigate today’s political landscape, it’s crucial to remember the lessons of the past. The Founders’ fears of faction and demagoguery are as relevant now as they were then. Let’s strive to uphold their vision of a society that values unity and progress over division and stagnation.

Key Takeaway: The Founders feared faction and demagoguery, crafting a Constitution meant to evolve with our understanding of equality.

Cadge [キャッジ] (slang) - To obtain something by wit or guile; to convince people to do something they might not normally do. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cadge

#Cadge [See: Cadge] #WearYourDictionary