Working backward to solve problems

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A while ago I stumbled on Farnam Street blog [1] somehow and I am glad I’ve followed this blog. It puts forth really interesting ideas based on the readings of the author. He attempts to “master the best of what other people have already figured out”.

Recently, Shane the author, shared a post [2] with a TED talk on inversion [3]. The summary of the talk is as follows

Imagine where you want to be someday. Now, how did you get there? Retrograde analysis is a style of problem solving where you work backwards from the endgame you want. It can help you win at chess — or solve a problem in real life. At TEDYouth 2012, chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley delves into his favorite strategy.

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MakerBot Thingiverse

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MakerBot Thingiverse

MakerBot Thingiverse [1] is a repository of designs for 3D printable things for use with RepRap 3D printers [2], humanity’s first general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing machine.

Referenced from: J.M. Pearce, Commentary: Open-source hardware for research and education. Physics Today, November 2013, page 8 [3].

[1] Thingiverse http://www.thingiverse.com/
[2] RepRap http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap
[3] http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.2160

[Video] Greg Asner: Ecology from the air

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[Video] Moving atoms: The World’s Smallest Movie

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How they did it: http://youtu.be/xA4QWwaweWA

source: http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/madewithatoms.shtml

Image from history: Programma 101

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Image from history: Programma 101

Programma 101, the first commercial personal computer.
It was invented by the Italian Giorgio Perotto and had a memory of 240 bytes.