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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2025

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  • When these went viral in 2022 I read the research paper and found out that not only do they form a non-repeating pattern, but that non-repeating pattern relies on the occasional tile being reversed. That inspired me to 3D print a bunch of these that were a different color on each side and try assembling them. It’s very interesting, because you have a lot of options for how to put them together, but occasionally you’ll hit a point where the pattern itself forces you to put one in upside down, even though it’s non-repeating. Also, it’s possible to put it together “wrong” where at one edge you can’t add any more tiles in either orientation and have to disassemble part of it to continue. Very interesting to mess with.





  • If you try searching for “smartphone augmented reality headset” on AliExpress you might still be able to find the thing I was using. It’s been a few years since I did this. For its stated purpose the product is a rip-off since it’s just overlaying a screen over your vision rather than creating an actual augmented reality effect, but I bought it specifically to do the thing I described and it worked great for that. That said, it was kind of cumbersome to set up and not exactly comfortable to wear for a long period of time, so not sure how practical I’d say it really is. That said, it did work great for being able to see the screen outside. Much better than the laptop’s own screen.







  • I’ve always thought that in the very long term there is hope, and I used to share your viewpoint entirely, but I’ve come to disagree with you. Whether we will live in a utopia or a dystopia depends entirely on politics, not technical solutions. Giving the public new technical solutions empowers the public in the very short term, but those who are in a position of control always have greater capability to utilize those same technical solutions than those who are not. Those in power also have the ability to shape the development of technical solutions to solidify their own position, either through investment in the R&D itself or through the legal system. Introduction of new technology ultimately has no long-term effect on the balance of power. What does have an effect is widespread, unified political movements. I don’t currently see any sign of that occurring, and the prospects for it occurring are actively getting worse, due largely to the influence of the same technology that was briefly liberating us. Unless everyone’s lives get so bad that we no longer have anything to lose, I don’t see that situation changing.