Typst is better than Latex

I started to use Typst. I feel a lot more productive in it. Latex feels like a slug. Typst doesn't feel like it slows me down when typing math, or code. That and the fact that it has an online collaborative editor, and that rendering is very very fast are the most important features. Here are some more:

• It has an online collaborative editor.
• It compiles instantly (at least for my main 30-page document)
• The online editor has Vim support.
• It's free.
• It can syntax highlight lots of languages (e.g. LISP and Lean3 are supported).
• It's embedded scripting language is much easier to use than Latex Macros.
• The paid version has Google Doc-style comment support.
• It's open source and you can compile documents locally, though the online editor is closed source.

Here is a comparison of encoding the games of life in logic:

Latex

$$
\forall i, j \in \mathbb{Z}, A_{t+1}(i, j) = \begin{cases}
                                0 &\text{if} \quad A_t(i, j) = 1 \land N_t(i, j) < 2 \\
                                1 &\text{if} \quad A_t(i, j) = 1 \land N_t(i, j) \in \{2, 3\} \\
                                0 &\text{if} \quad A_t(i, j) = 1 \land N_t(i, j) > 3 \\
                                1 &\text{if} \quad A_t(i, j) = 0 \land N_t(i, j) = 3 \\
                                0 &\text{otherwise}
                              \end{cases}
$$

Typst

$
forall i, j in ZZ, A_(t+1)(i, j) = cases(
                                0 "if" A_t(i, j) = 1 and N_t(i, j) < 2 \
                                1 "if" A_t(i, j) = 1 and N_t(i, j) in {2, 3} \
                                0 "if" A_t(i, j) = 1 and N_t(i, j) > 3 \
                                1 "if" A_t(i, j) = 0 and N_t(i, j) = 3 \
                                0 "otherwise")
$

Typst in Emacs Org Mode

Here is some elisp to treat latex blocks in emacs org-mode as typst math, when exporting to HTML (renders/embeds as SVG images):

;;;; Typst Exporter
;;; This exporter requires that you have inkscape and typst in your path.
;;; Call org-typst-enabled-html-export

;;; TODO
;;; - Error if inskape or typst is not installed.
;;; - Make it such that it shows up in the org-dispatch exporter and we can
;;;   automatically not export only to output.html.
;;; - Automatically setup the HTML header, and possible also automatically start the server as described in: [[id:d9f72e91-7e8d-426d-af46-037378bc9b15][Setting up org-typst-html-exporter]]
;;; - Make it such that the temporary buffers are deleted after use.


(require 'org)
(require 'ox-html) ; Make sure the HTML backend is loaded

(defun spawn-trim-svg (svg-file-path output-file-path)
  (start-process svg-file-path
		 nil
		 "inkscape"
		 svg-file-path
		 "--export-area-drawing"
		 "--export-plain-svg"
		 (format "--export-filename=%s" output-file-path)))

(defun correct-dollar-sings (typst-src)
  (replace-regexp-in-string "\\$\\$$"
			    " $" ; Replace inital $$ with '$ '
			    (replace-regexp-in-string "^\\$\\$" "$ " ; same for ending $$
						      typst-src)))

(defun math-block-p (typst-src)
  (string-match "^\\$\\$\\(\\(?:.\\|\n\\)*?\\)\\$\\$$" typst-src))

(defun html-image-centered (image-path)
  (format "<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center;\">\n<img src=\"%s\" alt=\"Centered Image\">\n</div>" image-path))

(defun html-image-inline (image-path)
  (format " <img hspace=3px src=\"%s\"> " image-path))

(defun spawn-render-typst (file-format input-file output-file)
  (start-process input-file nil "typst" "compile" "-f" file-format input-file output-file))

(defun generate-typst-buffer (typst-source)
  "Given typst-source code, make a buffer with this code and neccesary preamble."
  (let ((buffer (generate-new-buffer (generate-new-buffer-name "tmp-typst-source-buffer"))))
    (with-current-buffer buffer
      (insert "#set text(16pt)\n")
      (insert "#show math.equation: set text(14pt)\n")
      (insert "#set page(width: auto, height: auto)\n")1
      (insert typst-source))
    buffer))
  
(defun embed-math (is-math-block typst-image-path)
    (if is-math-block
	(html-image-centered typst-image-path)
        (html-image-inline typst-image-path)))

(defun generate-math-image (output-path typst-source-file)
  (let* ((raw-typst-render-output (make-temp-file "my-temp-file-2" nil ".typ")))
    (spawn-render-typst file-format typst-source-file raw-typst-render-output)
    (spawn-trim-svg raw-typst-render-output typst-image-path)))

(defun my-typst-math (latex-fragment contents info)
  ;; Extract LaTeX source from the fragment's plist
  (let* ((typst-source-raw (org-element-property :value latex-fragment))
	 (is-math-block (math-block-p typst-source-raw))
	 (typst-source (correct-dollar-sings typst-source-raw))
	 (file-format "svg") ;; This is the only supported format.
         (typst-image-dir (concat "./typst-svg"))
	 (typst-buffer (generate-typst-buffer typst-source)) ; buffer of full typst code to render
	 (typst-source-file (make-temp-file "my-temp-file-1" nil ".typ"))
	 ;; Name is unique for every typst source we render to enable caching.
	 (typst-image-path (concat typst-image-dir "/"
				   (secure-hash 'sha256 (with-current-buffer typst-buffer (buffer-string)))
				   "." file-format)))
    ;; Only render if neccesary
    (unless (file-exists-p typst-image-path)
      (message (format "Rendering: %s" typst-source))
      ;; Write the typst code to a file
      (with-current-buffer typst-buffer
	(write-region (point-min) (point-max) typst-source-file))
      (generate-math-image typst-image-path typst-source-file))
    (kill-buffer typst-buffer)
    (embed-math is-math-block typst-image-path)))

(org-export-define-derived-backend 'my-html 'html
    :translate-alist '((latex-fragment . my-typst-math))
    :menu-entry
    '(?M "Export to My HTML"
	((?h "To HTML file" org-html-export-to-html))))

;; Ensure org-html-export-to-html is bound correctly to your backend:
(defun org-html-export-to-html-with-typst (&optional async subtreep visible-only body-only ext-plist)
  (interactive)
  (let* ((buffer-file-name (buffer-file-name (window-buffer (minibuffer-selected-window))))
	 (html-output-name (concat (file-name-sans-extension buffer-file-name) ".html")))
    (org-export-to-file 'my-html html-output-name
      async subtreep visible-only body-only ext-plist)))

(setq org-export-backends (remove 'html org-export-backends))
(add-to-list 'org-export-backends 'my-html)

Simply eval this code and then call org-html-export-to-html-with-typst.

Emotionally Detatch yourself from your Ideas

Here is a model of mine, that seems related.

[Edit: Add Epistemic status]
Epistemic status: I have used this successfully in the past and found it helpful. It is relatively easy to do. $\frac{\text{utility}}{\text{time\_investment}}$ is large for me.

I think it is helpful to be able to emotionally detach yourself from your ideas. There is an implicit "concept of I" in our minds. When somebody criticizes this "concept of I", it is painful. If somebody says "You suck", that hurts.

There is an implicit assumption in the mind that this concept of "I" is eternal. This has the effect, that when somebody says "You suck", it is actually more like they say "You sucked in the past, you suck now, and you will suck, always and ever".

In order to emotionally detach yourself from your ideas, you need to sever the links in your mind, between your ideas and this "concept of I". You need to see an idea as an object that is not related to you. Don't see it as "your idea", but just as an idea.

It might help to imagine that there is an idea-generation machine in your brain. That machine makes ideas magically appear in your perception as thoughts. Normally when somebody says "Your idea is dumb", you feel hurt. But now we can translate "Your idea is dumb" to "There is idea-generating machinery in my brain. This machinery has produced some output. Somebody says this output is dumb".

Instead of feeling hurt, you can think "Hmm, the idea-generating machinery in my brain produced an idea that this person thinks is bad. Well maybe they don't understand my idea yet, and they criticize their idea of my idea, and not actually my idea. How can I make them understand?" This thought is a lot harder to have while being busy feeling hurt.

Or "Hmm, this person that I think is very competent thinks this idea is bad, and after thinking about it I agree that this idea is bad. Now how can I change the idea-generating machinery in my brain, such that in the future I will have better ideas?" That thought is a lot harder to have when you think that you yourself are the problem. What is that even supposed to mean that you yourself are the problem? This might not be a meaningful statement, but it is the default interpretation when somebody criticizes you.

The basic idea here is, to frame everything without any reference to yourself. It is not me producing a bad plan, but some mechanism that I just happened to observe the output of. In my experience, this not only helps alleviate pain but also makes you think thoughts that are more useful.

Maybe better name: Let me help debug your math via programming

If you've tried this earnestly 3 times, after the 3rd time, I think it's fine to switch to just trying to solve the level however you want (i.e. moving your character around the screen, experimenting).

After you failed 3 times, wouldn't it be a better exercise to just play around in the level until you get a new pice of information that you predict will allow you to reformulate better plans, and then step back into planning mode again?

Another one: We manage to solve alignment to a significant extend. The AI who is much smarter than a human thinks that it is aligned, and takes aligned actions. The AI even predicts that it will never become unaligned to humans. However, at some point in the future as the AI naturally unrolles into a reflectively stable equilibrium it becomes unaligned.

Why not AI? Is it that AI alignment is too hard? Or do you think it's likely one would fall into the "try a bunch of random stuff" paradigm popular in AI, which wouldn't help much in getting better at solving hard problems?

What do you think about the strategy of instead of learning a textbook e.g. on information theory, or compilers you try to write the textbook and only look at existing material if you are really stuck. That's my primary learning strategy.

It's very slow and I probably do it too much, but it allows me to train to solve hard problems that aren't super hard. If you read all the text books all the practice problems remaining are very hard.

How about we meet, you do research, and I observe, and then try to subtly steer you, ideally such that you learn faster how to do it well. Basically do this, but without it being an interview.

What are some concrete examples of the of research that MIRI insufficiently engaged with? Are there general categories of prior research that you think are most underutilized by alignment researchers?

... and Carol's thoughts run into a blank wall. In the first few seconds, she sees no toeholds, not even a starting point. And so she reflexively flinches away from that problem, and turns back to some easier problems.

I spend ~10 hours trying to teach people how to think. I sometimes try to intentionally cause this to happen. Usually you can recognize it by them starting to be quiet (I usually give the instruction that they should do all their thinking out loud). And this seems to be when actual cognitive labor is happening, instead of saying things that you already knew. Though usually they by default fail earlier than "realizing the hard parts of ELK".

Usually I need to tell them that actually they are doing great by thinking about the black wall more, and shouldn't now switch the topic.

Infact it seem to be a good general idea generation strategy to just write down all the easy ideas first, until you hit this wall, such that you can start to actually think.

Why Physicists are competent

Here is my current model after thinking about this for 30 minutes of why physicists are good at solving hard problems (not ever having studied physics extensively myself).

The job description of a physicist is basically "understand the world", meaning make models that have predictive power over the real world.

This is very different from math. In some sense a lot harder. In math you know everything. There is no uncertainty. And you have a very good method to verify that you are correct. If you have generated a proof, it's correct. It's also different from computer science for similar reasons.

But of cause physicists need to be very skilled at math, because if you are not skilled at math you can't make good models that have predictive power. Similarly physicists need to be good at computer science, to implement physicsal simulations, which often involve complex algorithms. And to be able to actually implement these algorithms such that they are fast enough, and run at all, they need to also be decent at software engeneering.

Also understanding the scientific method is a lot more important when you are physicist. It's sort of not required to understand science for doing math and theoretical CS.

Another thing is that physicists need actually do things that work. You can do some random math that's not useful at all. It seems harder to make a random model of reality that predicts some aspect of reality that you couldn't predict before, and have you not figure out anything important. As a physicist you are actually measured by how reality is. You can't go "hmm maybe this just doesn't work" like in math. Obviously somehow it works because it's reality, you just haven't figured out how to properly capture how reality is in your model.

Perhaps this trains physicist to not give up on problems, because the default assumption is that clearly there must be some way to model some part of reality, because reality is in some sense already a model of itself.

I think this is the most important cognitive skill. Not giving up. I think this is much more important than any particular pice of technical knowledge. Having technical knowledge is of cause required, but it seems that if you where to not give up on thinking how to solve a problem (that is hard but important) would make you end up learning whatever is required.

And in some sense it is this simple. When I see people run into a wall, and then have them stare at a wall they often have ideas that I like so much that I feel the need to write them down.