March 2022 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Computer science for cypherpunks
by professor rat 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

Though modern computer science increasingly resembles quantum-physics and list policy informally sorts long technical posts for ' Coderpunks ', there could always be a place for basic machine logic here. An if statement is a programming conditional statement that, if proved true, performs a function or displays information. Below is a general example of an if statement, not specific to any particular programming language. " If a cypherpunk supported Jeremy Hammond they are far too stupid to be an activist let alone any kind of anarchist."

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[spam][julia][wrong] Probabilistic Program Synthesis?
by Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

The first thing you think when reading about julialang is probably along the lines of, "oh i could totally make a hyperintelligent computer virus that took over the world, with that". Imagine crowds and crowds of engineers thinking this. Well, I websearched for "julia function synthesis", and lo and behold, it's in the standard library. Or maybe they just centralise the docs for the package repository, I'm not sure. https://docs.juliahub.com/Synthesizer/b8Maw/0.1.0/ I'll read this while typing it into this email, so that I might get farther. It sounds cool. Note: It may be productive to focus on speeding the crafting of tests. Additionally, the function generator does not yet consolidate and optimize its result. - This is the documentation for the Synthesizer.jl program synthesis system. [ https://github.com/femtomc/Synthesizer.jl ] The goal of this package is to provide a set of interfaces for probabilistic program synthesis via sketching. he hope is to faciliate research into probabilistic program synthesis, as well as provide a pipeline to optimize synthesized programs as IR fragments, before compilation into a method body in Julia. The idea behind sketching is to provide a high-level skeleton of the program (or function) you want to synthesize. This high-level skeleton contains a number of "holes" which the synthesizer should fill with an expression or function. Let's say we wanted to synthesize a sorting program. function sort!(x::Array{T}) where T <: Number while !check(x) x = hole(array_operation, x) end return x end Here, I've provided the high-level structure of the function (e.g. control flow) but I've also inserted a hole, and I'm telling the synthesizer what sort of hole it should be (an array_operation function, which acts on x). array_operation is defined by a miniature DSL. @lang (array_operation) _1 expr = begin 0.20 => swap!(_1) 0.20 => reorder(_1) 0.20 => swap_head!(_1) 0.20 => swap_tail!(_1) 0.20 => reverse(_1) end This DSL is probabilistic - the numbers on the left-hand side correspond to probability of selection by the synthesizer. Furthermore, we've specified that holes of array_operation take in a single argument (here, by specifying _1 before defining the expr of type array_operation). In our high-level program, we've cheated a bit by providing a way for the program to determine if it's sorted the list correctly. The function check checks if the array satisfies the sorted condition. function check(x::Array{T}) where T <: Number length(x) == 1 && return true i = x[1] for j in x[2 : end] if !(i < j) return false end i = j end return true end To summarize: in Synthesizer.jl, the user writes small probabilistic DSLs (specifically, probabilistic context-free grammars) which can then be used inside holes in other functions. The process of synthesis is expressed using a universal trace-based probabilistic programming system. [ https://github.com/femtomc/Jaynes.jl ] The core of the engine is a multi-threaded rejection sampler. function synthesize(sel::Array{K}, fn::Function, pair::T; iters = 50) where {K <: Jaynes.ConstrainedSelection, T <: Tuple} in, out = pair success = Jaynes.CallSite[] Threads.@threads for s in sel for i in iters ret, cl, w = generate(s, fn, in) out == ret && push!(success, cl) end end return success end function synthesize(fn::Function, pairs::Array{T}; iters = 50) where T <: Tuple local cls constraints = [selection()] for p in pairs cls = synthesize(constraints, fn, p; iters = iters) cls == nothing && return cls constraints = map(cls) do cl get_selection(cl) end end return cls end Here, synthesize requires that the user pass in a function with holes, as well as pairs of (input, output) tuples. generate generates a set of possible solutions. This version of synthesize will return an Array of successful traces (if the search succeeds). The CallSite representation is a trace of the original function, as well as a recording of the choices made by the PCFG. In future versions, Synthesizer.jl will support the ability to compile these traces into IR and generate a new (optimized) method body for the synthesized function.

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Computer science teaching endorsement in WA state
by Douglas Lucas 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

Hey cypherpunks, I am thinking of getting a computer science teaching endorsement here in Washington state and was looking at this and thought it might be of general interest here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?year=2022&billnumber=5389&initiative=fal… It looks like the bill (like everything else) slowed down a while due to the latest pandemic. Anyway I am curious if people have suggestions for computer science certifications etc. In terms of Punch-Out!! I was able to defeat Mr Sandman on my emulator last night. There are speedruns online of people defeating Punch-Out!! blindfolded, which is pretty impressive. I mean, I've defeated Mike Tyson (Mr Dream in some editions) before on the old console back in the day, but the last few bosses are pretty tough! Sorry for the off topic. If anyone could be so kind as to respond, I was thinking of going to the Washington state legislature in Olympia and covering some cybersecurity legislation and things of that nature, I mean maybe even this next workweek and such! It's an exciting time full of possibilities! Douglas the straightforward

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The History of Litigation Finance in Canada
by Gunnar Larson 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

In 2015, Omni Bridgeway opened the first litigation finance office in Canada’s history. Omni’s overarching goal was to offer access to Canada’s justice system. Since then, demand for investment in the Canadian litigation finance industry has continued to grow exponentially. Sophisticated, bespoke solutions are being developed in Canada to support marketplace innovation. Omni Bridgeway’s new insights <https://omnibridgeway.com/insights/blog/blog-posts/blog-details/global/2022…> into the Canadian ligation finance industry suggest that ‘funding is not a monolith.’ All metrics point to the market supporting a cornucopia of different products and services to fit a variety of client needs in the space. Canada’s litigation finance space was born by funding large meritorious cases that afforded access to the risky enterprise of litigation. Litigation finance investment now serves as a risk mitigation tool in Canada. A basket of litigation claims can serve as a cross-collateralization facility. Anchoring a portfolio of cases can produce multiple returns for future firm and investor success stories. AmLaw 100 firms are starting to embrace pooling portfolios for even grander return expectations over the long term. Similarly, the evolution of Canada’s litigation finance space is begging the question of what other financial products are needed to meet opportunities for revenue generation.

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NAACP - EMERGENCY
by Gunnar Larson 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

PETER ROSE Member, NAACP National Board of Directors https://naacp.org/people/peter-rose Peter Rose is the Vice Chairman of Sard Verbinnen & Co., one of the leading strategic and crisis communications firms in the world. He is also a Senior Advisor to Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager. From 2007 to 2016, he was a partner and global head of public affairs at Blackstone. There he was responsible for media relations and government relations, as well as communications to a broad range of public and other constituencies. Before joining Blackstone in 2007, Mr. Rose was at Goldman Sachs for 20 years. He was a lobbyist and political analyst in their Washington office and in 1996 moved to New York to open Goldman Sachs's first-ever media relations office as it began the transition from a private to a public company. In 1998 he moved to Asia to set up a corporate communications function for Goldman Sachs there, returning in 2003 to head the media relations function for the firm in the Americas. Before joining Goldman Sachs, he was Chief of Staff for Congressman Mike Synar (D Okla) and a partner with a Washington DC law firm. He is a member of the board of DMC Global, a NASDAQ-listed industrial holding company. He is also a member of the board of the Poetry Society of the United States. Mr. Rose has a BA from The George Washington University and received a JD from The Yale Law School. -- *Gunnar Larson - xNY.io <http://www.xNY.io> | Bank.org <http://Bank.org>* MSc <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> - Digital Currency MBA <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-646-454-9107 New York, New York 10001

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POTUS Lame-Duck admission leaks
by professor rat 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

BIDEN - " Today I am announcing some regulations we are enacting for the new crypto-currency sector of the economy. These regulations were sent over to us for rubber-stamping since the USG lost the Crypto Wars long ago and must submit to basically whatever they tell us. As Tacitus once said, " The strong do what they will. The weak suffer what they must ". God bless America and fuck help us.

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Ansible video theory
by professor rat 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

Or at least an approach towards one. Some years ago I wondered how a television type ansible might work. The basic idea is like a digitized plasma TV with Bose-Einstein-Condensate pixels alternating with ' color conductive ' ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose–Einstein_condensate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark–gluon_plasma A significant engineering challenge without fusion and full-spectrum quantum computers.

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Every assassinphone an ansible
by professor rat 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

While the humble ' half-brick ' assassinphone has come a long way since its 2002 debut on this list, the best may be still yet to come. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_crystal In terms of practical use, time crystals may one day be used as quantum computer memory.

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The net is one really great anarchist tracking and monitoring system
by professor rat 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

And before " Belling Cat " there was " Smelling Rat "! https://www.mail-archive.com/cypherpunks@minder.net/msg30780.html All New England area anarchists are requested to help one ' Karl Semich ' stop spamming the anarchist cypherpunk site on the anarchic internet. He claims to be broadcasting his anarchist-hating ' noise ' from SE Vermont. Tia

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Karl. You are an asshole. Stop it.
by professor rat 08 Mar '22

08 Mar '22

Fuck yes. Even a Batshit-Crazy, antisemitic, COINTELPRO-style list cop can see this. Stop acting like a spamming moron and an asshole. Just stop. If you need help I'll see if any local anarchists can wean you off. Where, exactly are you?

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