Modeling Reality and Foundations

.gitignore

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 .calva/output-window/
 .classpath
 .clj-kondo/.cache
+.clj-kondo/.lock
+.clj-kondo/inline-configs
 .cpcache
 .eastwood
 .factorypath

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
 # Change Log
 
 Follow along here for any changes or updates to the essays.
+
+## [unreleased]
+
+- #5 adds the introduction essay and follows up with edits to the tools, FAQ,
+  index and project README pages.

README.md

@@ -8,16 +8,22 @@ Welcome to the Road to Reality!
 
 The Road to Reality is an essay series by me, [Sam
 Ritchie](https://samritchie.io). Starting with the basics of Lisp (the
-[Clojure](https://clojure.org) programming language, specifically), I'll attempt
-to build up all of the tools required to explore and play with gems of modern
-physics like variational mechanics and general relativity, taking the time for
-interesting side-quests the whole way through.
+[Clojure](https://clojure.org) programming language, specifically), we'll build
+a modern computer algebra system and use that system to explore and simulate
+gems of modern physics like variational mechanics and general relativity.
 
-The essays live at https://reality.mentat.org.
+The only way to really learn how a machine works is to build one yourself. By
+the time we're through, you'll understand modern physics with the intuitive ease
+of a mechanic debugging the drivetrain of a familiar car. You will have _built
+the car_, and will be able to drive the car with confidence into the strange
+country of quantum mechanics, general relativity, chaos theory and phase space.
+
+The essays live at https://reality.mentat.org. Get started reading at the
+[Introduction](https://reality.mentat.org/essays/reality/introduction).
 
 I publish updates on the essays in the ["Road to Reality" Substack
 newsletter][substack-url]. Please subscribe at
-https://roadtoreality.substack.com!
+https://roadtoreality.substack.com.
 
 ## How can I help?
 
@@ -65,7 +71,6 @@ These essays are successful only to the extent that you feel empowered to edit
 and fiddle with them, and maybe even use the tools to explore and learn on your
 own.
 
-
 ## Why are you writing these?
 
 My work on this project stemmed from my own frustration at the one-way nature of

deps.edn

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
         {:git/sha "4329fa31b75bf26c04bdcc803a52fe642baec56e"}
 
         io.github.mentat-collective/emmy-viewers
-        {:git/sha "3297ff0dae061d6b16a75a50eea48e69bc4750f7"
+        {:git/sha "0ae1d00133cc49fcd6a32363abaf3cf0c7a71f06"
          ;; This is required because Clerk specifies SCI using a
          ;; git dependency and `clojure` can't resolve the
          ;; conflict.

essays/reality/foundations.clj

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+^{:nextjournal.clerk/visibility {:code :hide}}
+(ns reality.foundations
+  {:nextjournal.clerk/toc true})
+
+;; ## Foundations, Lisp, Clojure
+
+;; I want to talk about starting at the floor for a system like this. There are
+;; various floors you can start at. These are called __axioms__ in formal
+;; systems.
+
+;; We're going to use Clojure, a Lisp, since it gives us a partner that can
+;; execute statements that we write down. Unlike other books or series, we are
+;; going to build... well, not quite everything, but we are going to start with
+;; Lisp and go up from there. I'll try and call out places where we cheat.
+
+;; You can start from different axioms! You can start from boolean algebra, and
+;; work your way up from there.
+
+;; You can start with sets, and the axioms behind set theory, and build your way up
+;; from there.
+
+;; But this is going to get us where we need to go. We are going to take this
+;; language as our "raw ingredients" and do a plausible take on a system that can
+;; pretend to be various classical bodies; then pretend to be an evolving wave
+;; function, and finally the evolution of the spacetime fabric of the universe.
+
+;; If we do this well, the thing we build along the way will be a tool that you
+;; can use to think through your own questions computationally.
+
+;; Clojure overview, how evaluation works, plus the basic data structures and
+;; some of the core library. NOTE ON THIS from Jack: probably don't do this,
+;; point people but note that we are going to build as we go.

essays/reality/index.clj

@@ -2,25 +2,42 @@
   {:code :hide}}
 (ns reality.index
   {:nextjournal.clerk/toc true}
-  (:refer-clojure :exclude [+])
-  (:require [emmy.env :refer :all]))
+  (:require [reality.viewer :as rv]
+            [nextjournal.clerk :as clerk]))
 
 ;; # Road to Reality Essays
 
 ;; Welcome to the Road to Reality!
 
 ;; The Road to Reality is an essay series by me, [Sam
-;; Ritchie](https://samritchie.io). Starting with the basics of Lisp (the
-;; [Clojure](https://clojure.org) programming language, specifically), I'll attempt
-;; to build up all of the tools required to explore and play with gems of modern
-;; physics like variational mechanics and general relativity, taking the time for
-;; interesting side-quests the whole way through.
+;; Ritchie](https://samritchie.io). The essays live at
+;; [reality.mentat.org](https://reality.mentat.org).
 
-;; The essays live at https://reality.mentat.org.
+;; Get started at the [Introduction](essays/reality/introduction).
 
-;; I publish updates on the essays in the ["Road to Reality" Substack
-;; newsletter](https://roadtoreality.substack.com). Please subscribe at
-;; https://roadtoreality.substack.com!
+;; Over the course of the series, you are going to build a workshop full of the
+;; tools required to create and explore simulated worlds that behave like our
+;; most advanced models of reality.
+
+;; Each tool in the workshop will take the form of a program written in the Lisp
+;; programming language[^clojure].
+
+;; [^clojure]: More precisely, in a dialect of Lisp called
+;; [Clojure](https://clojure.org/).
+
+;; The only way to really learn how a machine works is to build one yourself. By
+;; the time we're through, you'll understand modern physics with the intuitive ease
+;; of a mechanic debugging the drivetrain of a familiar car. You will have _built
+;; the car_, and will be able to drive the car with confidence into the strange
+;; country of quantum mechanics, general relativity, chaos theory and phase space.
+;;
+
+
+;; I publish updates on the essays at the ["Road to Reality" Substack
+;; newsletter](https://roadtoreality.substack.com). Please subscribe:
+
+^{::clerk/visibility {:code :hide}}
+(rv/substack)
 ;;
 ;; ## Essay Index
 ;;