Kolmogorov complexity with Python

[DeathIIV]

4 people dont believe in math :(

[DeathIIV]

4 people dont believe in math

[way2jaded1]

"my head herts"*10

[azzy314159]

@ZJemptv Damn! Sweetheart Darling Baby Rosie Jones, you are the first person ever to have influenced my pronunciation.

[newperve]

Loved it, ignore those 4 idiots who disliked it. Do more.

[TheCeejReturns]

Damn you for saying, in an earlier video, that people accused you of saying, "Shtring." I can't stop hearing that now even though I never noticed it before. The next time someone points out something annoying about you, just ignore it. Most of us probably don't notice.

[Caconymic]

@TheCeejReturns I'm more surprised to find out that people don't pronounce it like 'schtring'

[memoize]

Excellent introduction.

[paroxyzm21]

Nice vid bro, but I wasn't expecting a woman at the end :/

[personalityson]

to be precise, you need to include description of the python language in the compressed description

[ThaFacka]

'schtring' ... lol :)

thank you.

[openuptheireyes]

PS: dude what are all those icons on your taskbar!? (ocd kicks in)

[openuptheireyes]

ZJ you rock dude (hope that is acceptable, ((unisex)).

[tomatowatcher]

Yes VERY helpfull

[De4sher]

that's just what shtrings do!

[Myriachan]

I think an important example you could show is that just because something looks random, it doesn't mean it is. The first 1000 digits of π look very random, but they actually have a very low Kolmogorov complexity: you could write a rather short program to calculate and output them.

[HebaruSan]

Someone makes a good point below--the measurement depends on the instruction set available. For instance, I could define a programming language in which the '#' character (arbitrarily) prints "ABABABABAAABABABABAB". In that language, that string's Kolmogorov complexity would be LESS than that of "AB"*10. Do they do the formal theoretical work on this with Turing machines or something?

How about some Huffman coding in Haskell?

[FMota91]

@HebaruSan Kolmogorov complexity depends on the description languuage being used. In this case, it is Python. You can have a different Kolmogorov complexity if you're using a different language, such as C, Java, Ruby, etc.

[technopagan724]

@FMota91 I think Kolmogorov complexity is independent of language. That is, it's equal to the length of the shortest description, regardless of language. For example, take the string "AB" the the shortest description in python would be four characters: "AB" but in a language that does not necessarily require quotations, the shortest description would be two characters: AB. Since AB is shorter than "AB" the kolmogorov complexity would be 2.

[FMota91]

@technopagan724 No, Kolmogorov complexity _must_ be dependent on language. Otherwise, I can prove that the Kolmogorov complexity of every string is 1.

Theorem: If kolmogorov complexity works for any language, the complexity of any string w is 1.

Proof: For any string w, construct a description language with the property that, for some string of length 1 in the language, it reduces to the string w. For example, the language f("x") = w. Thus, w's complexity is 1.

[technopagan724]

@FMota91 The problem with this argument is that even if you do define a language in which a function f is defined such that for any string x f(x) = w, then w ceases to be a a description of one specific string. If you apply f to x and get w and give me w, there is no way for me to take w and find x (in other words f^-1(w) is undefined just like x*0 = 0 but 0/0 is undefined) Therefore w ceases to be description of x and w cannot be used to say the complexity is 1.

[Eidetiv]

Great video. Too bad it's windows though.

[FMota91]

@Eidetiv are you on a mac? Just open Terminal and enter the command: python

Then you can enter any expressions you desire.

[halflifeproductionz]

i didn't know your a programmer! nice.

[CanisLupus1987]

I think you could go on on this kind of videos. I think it will blow the mind of all of those who go against you...

[generaleskimo]

WHY in python. WHY?!?

[FMota91]

@generaleskimo Why not?

[generaleskimo]

@FMota91 Python: It's Fucking Slow™

[FMota91]

@generaleskimo That's completely irrelevant.

[generaleskimo]

@FMota91 Herp derp a programming language being one of the slowest in its paradigm doesn't matter because it's not like speed has ever made a difference in computers, and it's not like teaching the next generation of programmers that speed is unimportant and that the use of highly inefficient practices is OK because there's no way they will get hired by someone who cares about speed who will be frustrated as hell at how unprepared they are!

[FMota91]

@generaleskimo Nobody is teaching anyone here to be "the next generation of programmers", so your "argument" doesn't even make sense. Speed is entirely irrelevant in a discussion about Kolmogorov complexity. Kolmogorov complexity works in many description languages, and Python is fairly easy to show (compared to faster programming languages, such as C/C++/FORTRAN/ADA/etc).

Furthermore, your idea that speed is important in most/all contexts is completely misguided. It's only important sometimes.

[generaleskimo]

@FMota91 Tisk tisk, either someone is intentionally misrepresenting me or they didn't read my post. I was arguing that teaching people to program in a language which is inherently inefficient and promotes inefficient practices is a bad idea, because when they do eventually have to work in a context where speed is important, their skills will be lacking. This is why I oppose the use of python for teaching; speed should be always be a major focus when learning, else you end up with idiot coders.

[generaleskimo]

Also, you shouldn't take me so seriously. I was clearly flame-bating a bit :D

[FMota91]

@generaleskimo I completely disagree. Most people will not work in situations where knowing how to program in a fast programming language is important. It's easier to teach Python than it is to teach C/C++ (and it is easier), and most people don't need the latter. But also, ZJ never set out to teach people how to program.

It's quite irrelevant whether ZJ used Python or some other description language for this video, because Kolmogorov complexity doesn't care about speed.

[mitchells00]

CTHULHU! How many people have noticed this? H. P. Lovecraft is great... almost as awesome as Zalgo... HE COMES! :)

[stalven0290]

stop sounding so smart in your videos! XP

[nawkwan]

I really enjoyed your introduction of Kolmogorov complexity

[Naminehaha]

I've just learned so much.... Wow. :D

[SLEOGTO]

Thanks for the video. I have seen your work and feel happy that intelligent people like you are putting their ideas on the web. Let me add that the code of any programing language contributes to the Kolmogorov Complexity, that is in addition to the sequence of commands employed.  Best wishes and keep it up.

[sreenidhi07]

Amazing....

[katanaman423]

You can just run it, it saves memory, and it still installs.

[otonanoC]

I always do my makeup before hitting the discrete math books.

[cheez1982]

awesome!!!

[SconeMason]

Now that you've drawn attention to the shtr/str thing, I notice it all the time. I think before it went by without me knowing exactly what I was hearing, but having been alerted to it I listen for it now and it is quite pronounced. There's nothing wrong, it doesn't make you less understandable, but it is interesting.

[Kargoneth]

Funky.

[amoxtlacatl]

ZJ,

One person said on this page that you are "reading from the book".

Though I know little about you, I think you are smart enought to have written the script you are reading.

I honestly stand impressed by you.

Your number of subscribers is only now beginning to equal your level of awesomeness.

AND YOU ARE ONLY 20 YRS OLD!!!

Please keep it up!

[JulianMorrison]

Please continue and make more like this one. Maths is interesting :-D

[fuduzan5562]

@JulianMorrison ..It's not relevant to mathematics, really. Just information theory.

[seflersinsburg10]

Fascinating, yet easy to understand.

[hollium]

Wow, I really notice the whole 'str' thing now...it's really pronounced with your voice, I wonder what it's like in other parts of the world? Like with Estuary English you can usually hear a little 'sh' but it's not very pronounced. You'd have to be very articulate to be able to subconsciously say 'str' with the 'sh'.

[VeridicusX]

"ZJ, Ive got a job for you. Be there tomorrow for 10-ish".

"Tennish, but I don't even have a racquet".

[AntiChristAntiFail]

CTHUU FHTAGN!!!

[espressotruths]

How are you so awesome?

[Abzu93]

I watched some of your other videos... very good stuff. Then I saw this one. Result? Subscribed.

[parastina]

She is reading from a book.

[micashergan]

it is the basis of science and math!... who are you people?

[parastina]

that doesn't change the fact that she still reads from the book.

[dizzythegreat]

Soooo I started watching this at 11:40. Aaaaand at 11:43, my brain exploded.

[SteevDragon67]

interesting, but what does this accomplish? what is this used for?

[Mephistophilus]

Many uses. You can use it to predicate the space, time and energy required to compress and store data. I've personally used it for bitwise operations to carve excessively large databases up into chunks so that the program would reassemble them in at run time thus ensuring faster downloads and immediate interaction. You can also apply it to how the brains learn or to render complex forms like plants in videogames, 3d programs or generating tiles for landscapes in 2d scrollers.

That help?

[powerpetslover]

I almost didn't watch this because I thought I wouldn't understand any of it.

Thank you so much for making it understandable for someone like me who is not good with math and science.

I do not think I will ever need to know this information, but I enjoyed myself. Thanks!

[RustyCyler]

thats was cool

[defiantskeptic]

Magic isn't real, god isn't real, and mathematics is not sorcery.

Fly away, idiot.

[Spyderd20]

I can't concentrate... All I can focus on is my laughter due to your pronounciation of string! Schtring schtring schtring

[FatGermanBastard]

> Schtring

Yup...I noticed that too :D Not like my pronounciation is any better though.

[piotrm0]

The universe, with its vast stretches of time and space, can be exactly described by a Python script of exactly 42 characters.

[0xfadedead]

No, that would be lisp (or Perl; see xkcd 224)

[ThoughtCriminal696]

Lovecraft FTW!

[Novjunulo]

1: Pick a random string

2: Create a programming language

3: Set string as standard error message when no command is entered.

4: ???

5: Profit!

[58694003]

schtring? u r germanchshce? fantastiche!

[Spacemonkey2084]

My favorite quote of the day:

"I'm assuming most of you are on windows and if you're not I'll assume you know what you're doing."

Am I misunderstanding or is Kolmogorov complexity dependent on the instruction set you're allowed to use? Does it count the machine instructions in some way or is it a more surface measure that I guess I would call platform dependent?

A simple example would be writing a compiler to have a very simple instruction for certain string patterns.

[Vwassel]

.....What?

[PhoenixsFlames]

Very cool. The visuals were very helpful in understanding how Kolmogorov complexities work.

[Cairnarvon]

Shtring shtring shtring.

Why ActivePython instead of vanilla CPython or any other mainstream implementation? Just for their ENTERPRISE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS?

[SeverusZed]

Is it wrong that I absolutely adore this?

[blueboyblue]

Python seem very much like FORTH. Does anyone remember FORTH?

The easiest way to determine whether you understand something, is to try and explain it to someone else. If you can't explain it, you don't really understand it.

So, things like this video are valuable in confirming your own knowledge and understanding of a give subject.

Plus, I found it interesting.

[RobTheMonk8]

And, while I found it interesting, I don't see the use of Kolmogorov Complexity: if it's incalculable and only has an upper bound for cases we know to be relatively simple, it's a bit like saying, "I'll know its order of complexity when I see it." And, additionally, how can we call an idea a "measure" if it can only produce an upper bound in specific cases, but nothing otherwise?

I guess my question is: what am I missing?

[RobTheMonk8]

Haha... decoding Cthulu? Brilliant :D

"Talk nerdy to me" why don't ya?

[Kakashinoor]

Are you a boy or a girl? I honestly can't tell by your voice and the way you look. And you do know that Python 3.0 has been out...

[anubis2814]

He's gay, I love his knowledge, but cross dressers tend to mess with my head and libido. And he makes a hot chick. Lucky eddie izzard doesn't look sexy enough to make me turned on and off at the same time

lol.

[yamaha893]

the book meta math by gregory chaitin is helpful too

[UtopiaLtd]

Interesting stuff.

[iloveterriers]

Pardon if this sounds stupid but what does Lovecraft have to do with this.

[Mglosk]

What doesn't Lovecraft have to do with this. That's the real question.

[iloveterriers]

No offense to zjempty, he's pretty smart, but I am a right-brained type of person and listening to him go on and on about this made me feel like I was back in high school or college when I was confused over some algebraic formula or statistics. All I caught was a glimpse of "Cthulthu" and I sort of wondered what it was all about.

[saib4u2c]

I'm not using windows and I don't have a cue as to what I'm doing. Stop assuming shit!

Just kidding! Lol. :-)

Kolmogorov complexity is like pure randomness and you could use it to bulid better random number generators based on the algorithm. You can also use it for like encryption and a lot of other shit.

[flawedheart]

Pardon me, liberal arts major over here, how is the Kolmogorov complexity relevant to anything? How does one use it and why?

[Tommerman89]

This is fucking awesome. It rapes my brain with its intelligence.

Such philisophical applications are countless.

[BUDA20]

Very good, one thing im sure you know, in your example you use A=0 and B=1, you can use binary to express the whole string in less that 2 ASCII characters.

[goodlittlewitch2006]

so what would be the practical use of this?

[Tommerman89]

making impressive youtube videos.

[NitaBMe]

Hey ZJ

If I download this, can you give me an example of what I can do with it, Any kind of practical application? I know this may sound silly to you, but seriously, if you learn how to use it, what can you create?

[Nextstopearth]

Awesome. Do more programming vids.

[xGeemaa]

Very good video. I think I remember from your last live video you did, you said you know PHP too, would be great to see a video about it. Dont know much php

[Neppybutt]

ZJ, It is too early to try to digest your Kolmogorov complexity with Python theory. Any chance of getting you to make your favorite dish in your kitchen that is EASY to make?

[PluralOfEverything]

I did not find the information helpful, but having dabbled in programming, it was interesting.

[WindChildsWorld]

OMG..... I've never been more confused! AH! words I dont know!!!

[BethRN74]

I will re watch this when my brain has been given it's first dose of caffeine today :)

[gorilladogs]

Of course you didn't give instructions for Macs. Maybe that is because Mac users already know everything. Almost. But we watch your videos to catch up on what we missed!

[tomydearestlove]

you are so smart. I have never heard of this, thank you for showing me something new.

[Bongwyre2112]

warn us next time you are going to post something intelligent so I can prepare my brain and get rid of totally useless stuff like venom fang X videos!

I can only fit so much in this noggin!

[Bongwyre2112]

Oh no, I-I-learned something! Brain...oozing.....out...of...­ears...information.....overflo­w..

must expel knowledge of old crash test dummies video......ack...not enough.....deleting memory of Independence day movie. Aaahhh much better.

[Kloxboy]

You're frecking awesome! oO I love information.

[AncientAtheist]

I don't know if I found it helpful, but it *was* interesting....

[cyphonyx]

would the Kolmogorov complexity include the size of any algorithm/program needed to compress/decompress the information? For instance, if I used a strong compression program to compress a file, but the file would need to be decompressed by that same program in order to be read again, would that mean that the program is included in the information to decode the info?

I'm also curious now as to the Kolmogorov complexity of our DNA. I think that might be interesting to look into.

[HAL9000unit]

Cool!

[shooshX]

I watch these videos only just to listen to your eerie voice. Interesting topic though. I wonder if you're a programmer...

[killpath]

You should become a teacher!

[Mglosk]

I was going to say that!!!!!!! 8I

eerrrr

[killpath]

I win!

[Mglosk]

eeerrrrrr

[killpath]

Its ok. :)

[UnkemptSage]

Interesting. I have no idea if I'll ever have an opportunity to use any of this information, but it's always good to learn something new.

[pers0nage]

Is this one of the reasons it's so hard to teach history properly?

[randyhelzerman]

Woot!

[hunkamonkiman]

My brain hurts.

[Emperorerror]

Lol, OMGOMGOMG. ^^

[acesilver01]

this was really interesting. I don't think I will be able to apply the information to anything I know, but it is great to learn new things, especially things that test one's ability to understand.

[gagnashdiak]

Helpful will it be for me for what I wonder, but definitly interresting, and comprehensible.

Good job.

[maitriparamita]

Ha - that was a major change of topic!

I think it helped me understand how video files are compressed.

[BaronesaReturns]

great Video...

[fraterla93y]

Cthulhu Fhtagn!

[d0n7r33dd15]

fuck python perl ftw