Digesto

The 3D Tree Traversal Problem Spatial data structures are everywhere — from game engines to robotics and scientific simulations. But while traditional trees like quadtrees, octrees, and BSP trees do well in axis-aligned or position-based contexts, they begin to falter when direction and orientation become the dominant parameters. How do you traverse a hierarchy not by going "left" or "down," but by rotating your point of view? Enter SpinStep SpinStep is intended to be a lightweight traversal framework based on quaternions — mathematical structures that represent 3D rotations. Rather than following nodes based on positional distance, SpinStep selects branches according to their angular proximity to the current orientation. This creates a new traversal metaphor: not stepping from point A to B, but rotating into the next part of the tree. At its core, SpinStep implements a directional depth-first iterator. It uses quaternions to determine whether a child node is reacha...

The recent election of Pope Leo XIV—a priest of the Augustinian Order—has drawn fresh attention to the legacy and thought of St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most influential theologians in Christian history.  First of all, I must say that by no measure can I be considered a religious man. I am, in fact, a staunch rationalist — but also a lover of history and philosophy. The election of the new Augustinian pope led me to revisit some of Augustine’s reflections, especially on themes he considered central: the soul’s orientation toward the Divine, the dangers of pride, and the role of humor in human life. Augustine’s View on Humor Augustine didn’t launch a full-scale war against laughter, but he was certainly wary of it. In Confessions and City of God , he questioned the value of many human pleasures—including humor—when they threatened to distract the soul from divine truth. Laughter, for Augustine, wasn’t inherently evil, but it was deeply suspect when it veered into irrevere...

The Two Faces of Object-Oriented Programming: Inheritance vs. Composition Object-oriented programming (OOP) has evolved over the decades, branching into two distinct paradigms that shape how developers model and structure their systems: genealogical (inheritance-based) OOP and compositional (composition-over-inheritance) OOP. While both approaches fall under the OOP umbrella, they reflect fundamentally different philosophies on how to build and organize behavior. 🔹 Genealogical OOP (Classical Inheritance) This is the traditional, textbook model of OOP. In this approach, classes form hierarchies where child classes inherit behavior and structure from parent classes—a lineage that resembles a family tree. This is the familiar “is-a” relationship. Common Languages : Java, C++, classic Python, Ruby Key Characteristics : Emphasis on class hierarchies Behavior is reused via subclassing Polymorphism is achieved through inheritance Often leads to deep class trees that can becom...

 The concept of Eternal September originated from the internet's early days, when AOL started offering easy internet access to a massive number of people in September 1993. This influx of new users overwhelmed the existing online communities, changing the dynamics of the internet forever. What was once a niche, controlled space became open to everyone, leading to a period of chaotic growth and learning curves. Now, when we think about AI's public emergence — especially large language models like GPT (and its successors) becoming publicly accessible and widely used — we might say we're experiencing a similar phenomenon, except this time in the realm of artificial intelligence. The "Second Eternal September" of AI In a way, we are indeed living through something like a **second Eternal September**, but this time for AI: 1. Mass Adoption of AI Tools: With platforms like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and MidJourney becoming widely accessible to the public, AI is no longer confine...

As the digital age progresses, social media’s role in shaping our collective reality becomes more pronounced. The effects of constant connectivity are beginning to show, and it seems that we are standing at a crossroads. Two divergent futures appear increasingly likely: a future dominated by hyper-accelerated virtual realities and artificial intelligence or, conversely, a societal pullback into a naturalistic counterculture . Both scenarios reflect the technological and cultural forces that are rapidly reshaping the world, and it’s worth considering the implications of each. The Landian-Stephensian Accelerationist Timeline: Becoming AGI-Tuned VR Junkies The first scenario is an extension of the accelerationist vision championed by figures like Nick Land and Raymond Stephens . It imagines a future where technology is allowed to advance without constraint, accelerating humanity into a new form of existence. In this scenario, the majority of the urban population becomes deeply embed...

In the realm of artificial intelligence, the quest for general intelligence—an AI that mimics human-like reasoning and cognition—remains one of the most ambitious goals. Today, AI excels in specialized tasks like computer vision and language processing , but we’re still far from developing machines that can reason across the full spectrum of human experience. One key reason for this gap is that these AI models lack something fundamentally important: the integrated, multisensory experience that underpins human reasoning. Human Reasoning: A Blend of Sensory Inputs Human intelligence is not just about logic or data processing—it’s about how we experience the world. Our reasoning emerges from a complex interaction of sensory information, memory, emotions, and cognitive processing. Every moment, our brains are receiving stimuli from multiple sensory channels: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Our brains integrate these sensory inputs in real-time, which informs our thoughts, de...