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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • I find the logistic map to be fascinating. The logistic map is a simple mathematical equation that surprisingly appears everywhere in nature and social systems. It is a great representation of how complex behavior can emerge from a straightforward rule. Imagine a population of creatures with limited resources that reproduce and compete for those resources. The logistic map describes how the population size changes over time as a function of its current size, and it reveals fascinating patterns. When the population is small, it grows rapidly due to ample resources. However, as it approaches a critical point, the growth slows, and competition intensifies, leading to an eventual stable population. This concept echoes in various real-world scenarios, from describing the spread of epidemics to predicting traffic jams and even modeling economic behaviors. It’s used by computers to generate random numbers, because a computer can’t actually generate truly random numbers. Veritasium did a good video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovJcsL7vyrk

    I find it fascinating how it permeates nature in so many places. It’s a universal constant, but one we can’t easily observe.