Entry 12/26/20
Entry into the log. Christmas is in. “The Process” succeeds and an update at AMPEL.
Experiment #1, flexible material
This experiment represents a step for AMPEL. Having developed expertise in printing with the “normal” hard materials of ABS and PLA, I was lucky enough to acquire the Ninjaflex material mentioned in the previous entry. This material handles differently on the spool, under application, and in action as the finished product.
There are three purposes to this experiment: to integrate the material, to devise a system of application, and to devise a system of learning. First, I should end up with roughly the same confidence in Ninjaflex as I do with ABS or PLA. Next, a template should exist in the slicer with print details set for this new material. Finally, a meta-purpose: to establish a system of integrating new materials. This final purpose will mostly be based on information collected during the integration period itself.
Details can be found in the work log. The test model can be downloaded here.
The test model (below) makes use of component redundancy. On the physical model, one “connector” broke during post-processing. Due to component redundancy, the other connectors were more than capable of compensating for the failure and the model performs as intended.
A couple conclusions stand from this integration. This substance should be now appropriate for current projects, and I should not be surprised as projects spring up around this new capability.
thoughts on org structure
The power of this organization lies not only in their ability to achieve things but also in their belief in their ability to achieve things. Belief is a powerful force which affects human action, thus manifesting a belief into the physical world. I try to work with people who believe in their work as I do, because the mere act of working together can create incredible things.
Some jobs are worth doing for the sake of building a network/establishing contacts. As I build my team, I should do so strategically and find the balance of “specialists” versus “agile operators”. Should I come across more “applied specialists” who can assume both roles, I should actively recruit them. Should I come across another visionary, I suspect that they will be a “believer” too.
News!
I subscribe to a couple different newsletters to stay updated on what’s happening. One of these is Fintech Collective, which sends out a newsletter simply called Curated News with Context. This newsletter is concise and provides a summary for most companies that they follow, at least the ones most active. Each summary is 1-2 sentences and describes what the organization is up to and any big updates. These companies fall into the following categories: New Portfolio Additions, Capital Markets, Wealth & Asset Management, Banking Lending Payments, and Insurance.
I rely on Fintech Collective for news which keeps me on the cutting edge of financial technology and you should too. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Download
I compiled a list of all the articles I’ve read or cited (since beginning the log) or plan to use in the future. With this I can systematically “catch up” to my own pace of downloading pdfs. It’s a project which will probably take me the next 4 months, but potentially longer as I will continue to download good things to read.
Today’s article was from the University of Southern California at the Annenberg School for Communication, care of Dr. Kwan Min Lee. “Evolutionary nature of virtual experience” from 2006 describes why reactions to actual stimuli differ from reactions to virtual stimuli. You can download it here.
There’s three types of experiences (real experience, hallucination, and virtual experience) which can be perceived in a variety of ways (sensory vs mulit-sensory) and fit into three ontological categories of experience (actual vs imaginary vs virtual).
When interacting with virtual social objects (such as computers) humans subconsciously reciprocate interaction. The human brain also rushes to perceive, sort, and assign a stereotype to the virtual social object; this is a culmination of environmental triggers (ex: we pay attention to things which are red because red typically means blood which means danger). People even apply social stereotypes to virtual social objects, even when its clearly known that it is ridiculous to apply those stereotypes to non-human objects.
Perception of a machine-like voice (a la Apple’s Siri) automatically activates [the part of the brain] made for processing actual human voices. Further, the human brain is then compelled to identify and assign a social identity to something even when they hear a clearly non-human voice. This identification of a non-human voice even assigns gender to a known asexual entity (ex: Siri).
Humans have specialized mind-modules allowing them to enter and participate in imagined worlds. The human mind is hard-wired to be fascinated with five culturally universal media contents: news, violence, sexually explicit, horror, and humor. These 5 content categories are the branches of evolutionary sedation of basic fight-or-flight instincts.
This evolutionary sedation is a bulk of Lee’s analysis and concludes the study.
Christmas
Merry Christmas to all! Thanks for reading the blog.
