Great quote and analysis from Alan Jacobs:

ยท Bits and Bobs 6/15/26
  • Great quote and analysis from Alan Jacobs:
    • Freeman Dyson writes:
    • "It often happens that a scientific revolution is accompanied by a change in style.
    • I like to use the names of Napoleon and Tolstoy to symbolize two contrasting styles: rigid organization and discipline represented by Napoleon, creative chaos and freedom represented by Tolstoy.
    • In the world of computers, Napoleon is the massive IBM main-frame; Tolstoy is the humble Macintosh.
    • The computer revolution was an escape from the Napoleonic ambitions of von Neumann to the Tolstoyan anarchy of the Internet.
    • Future revolutions will bring more such escapes."
    • Alan adds:
    • "The big AI companies are the apotheosis โ€” literally, in the view of many who work for them โ€” of Napoleonic science.[a]
    • The open web and the world of hobbyist and small-scale devices (often built on the Raspberry Pi) are our remaining refuges of Tolstoyan computing."
    • What if we took Tolstoyan computing and applied it to using AI?