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Competition and Free Market

Definition of Competition: Competition arises whenever at least two parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game) But when one should get the loss? Like not providing better-desired services? Is it always the case? Take for example Windows vs Linux on desktop computers. We have more users for Windows despite a more robust open-source alternative. Fewer users of good products also limit their development due to less spending on it. The is no good or bad, but there are optimum results. Any model can have strengths and weaknesses. From an economic point of view, the gain or loss is taken in terms of money. The free market can be competitive in terms of competing for providing quality services, but it's not a zero-sum game, because many service providers are present and all good sellers manage to sell their products. A monopoly market is also another form of competition that's mor

How much does retrieval practice help in learning?

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Students do forget things, we measure the effectiveness of the retrieval practice based upon how much they have remembered it.  But forgetting doesn't mean that students have unlearned what they have learned. Neither learning means remembering things. Paul Hewitt Physics Yes, the best strategy to get a high score is retrieval practice. But high score relies on the ability to recall things, not test the actual learning. We need not have to do retrieval practice to do programming,  just re-reading and using the code is enough. The best way to learn to program is to use and apply it the hard way. The more you use it and apply better strategies, the more better your programming skill will be. The same principle applies to all subjects, whether its maths, physics, biology or philosophy. What is required is understanding of the subject, through strategies like the Feynman Technique. Understanding creates an index in your brain, which later can be used to retrieve the whole

The Competitive Collaboration Algorithm

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Competitive Collaboration Algorithm: It's a decentralized network where you compete to collaborate. Edge weight represents difficulty to get connected. Difficulty depends on factors such as distance, location, quality, price. We need to choose subgraph containing all the required nodes (e.g. nodes containing a,b,c,d ) that has a minimum weight or optimal weight. a,b,c,d can represent different services, whereas a1, a2 represents the same services from a different service provider. For example, 'a' can represent a student, 'b' can represent a teacher, 'c' can represent content provider such as a biology textbook and 'd' can represent a classroom or building. Similarly  'b1' represents teacher1, 'b2' represents teacher2, etc. So, For student1 (a1), the optimum subgraph or subgraph with minimum weight containing all the required services are a1,b1,c2, d2 with weight 0.5+2.3+4.2 . Usefulness of the model: 1) Predictio

Apps can solve the basic social security problem

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Designed by Nidhi Mishra The public distribution system is inefficient in terms of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and lacks inclusiveness. You can view the fallouts of PDS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_distribution_system Apps can solve the basic social security problem, bring healthy habits of spending money and can be used to run experiments, test it and improve it to get the best results. Features: 1) API endpoints that any app developer can use and integrate it with their e-commerce apps.  Separate types of account for seller and customer. 2) Statistics about how you spending money. General statistics should be publicly available, where experts can review, critic and improve the results. 3) Tagged money, which means you can buy only particular types of products with that money. e.g. Tagged money for grocery, or tagged money for cooked food, or tagged money for education which gets transferred to the seller in untagged fo

Aadhaar: It's time to encrypt all biometric data with password

All biometric data should be encrypted. During authentication, the user needs to provide both aadhar number and password. So only the user can decrypt and access the biometric data. Biometrics of the little finger can be kept in the unencrypted form, to remove duplicates. In case you forget the password: One has to submit the aadhaar number and little finger biometrics to obtain another. The ciphertext of aadhaar number should be replaced with new ciphertext (obtained from new password) In case you lost both (Password and Aadhaar Number): The person must come under scrutiny and old aadhaar number should be removed by using his/her little finger, and new aadhaar number can be given. To change the password: Enter the old password and aadhaar number, match the ciphertext with your fingerprint and then replace the ciphertext with new password. All the steps should be done in aadhaar center. The python code: from Crypto.Cipher import AES obj = AES.new('Aadhaar No:123

Universal Basic Income and Education: A beginning to a continued resilient human ecosystem

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Universal Basic Income is a welfare regime in which all citizens (or permanent residents) of a country receive a regular, liveable and unconditional sum of money, from the government. The central claim that UBI tries to solve is the end of poverty and financial insecurity by the indsicriminatory supply of free money which can be exchanged to buy your basic need requirements. But the problem lies with execution and design that nullify the damaging possibilities speculated by the critics. Speculation: It disincentivizes people to work, so can create an adverse condition for wealth creation. A proposed elaborative solution: Morally, the basic required need for survival such as food, clothing, shelter are not incentives. Its a fundamental right of the people. But biologically, these are the incentives to pacify our hunger or appetite. Food, clothing, shelter are basic needs for survival, but we need lot more for thriving. One of the essentials to thrive is education that nouris

Explaining true experiment to a 13-year-old

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Let's start with a Twitter Joke: Conversation over breakfast. ME: Whoa, you lost another tooth? A: Yes! ME: Why didn't you tell me? A: I'm conducting an experiment. If I lose a tooth and don't tell anyone, will the tooth fairy still come? If not, then I know the tooth fairy isn't real. ME: ... HUSBAND: 😮 A small introduction to true experiments True experiments involve changing one variable and then measuring another. A variable is any factor, trait, or condition that can exist in differing amounts or types. The two main variables in an experiment are the independent and dependent variable. An independent variable is a variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable. A dependent variable is a variable being tested and measured in a scientific experiment. Independent variable: Cause Dependent variable: Effect The researcher is looking for the possible effect on the dependent vari