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Oct 20, 2023Liked by Ben Recht

Interesting tidbit about maximization vs. minimization -- a bit deeper than the usual "control theorists are pessimists while reinforcement learning designers are optimists". Interestingly, many engineering disciplines and even core CS seem to default to the language of cost/loss/energy minimization. On the other hand, economics seems to be all about (utility) maximization...

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Along a similar, but darker line in the Cold War: Cliff Stein pointed me to a paper by Schrijver that traces the history of max-flow/min-cut problems. The max-flow problem was first proposed to in the Soviet Union to study the capacity of the Russian railway system. The min-cut problem was later formulated in the US to find the most efficient way to bomb the same system to take it out of commission.

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Oct 21, 2023Liked by Ben Recht

I suppose you intended to write "there's no cost or benefit to *not* taking Paxlovid when you don't have covid".

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Yes! Excellent catch. Thank you. There are too many negatives in that sentence. I have corrected the text.

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