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The Daily Triptych032 / 365

1 FEB 2026

Day 32

The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim.

Edsger W. Dijkstra · The Threats to Computing Science
A miniature ivory mask depicting a woman's face with a serene expression, wearing a beaded headdress and choker. An openwork crown rises above, carved with small figures including bearded heads and stylised fish. Three vertical lines mark the forehead.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

The Queen Idia Pendant Mask

Edo people, Kingdom of Benin · 16th century · Ivory with iron inlay

Ivory carved as a miniature portrait, worn as a pendant by a king. Looted in 1897, it became the emblem of a continent-wide festival eighty years later.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Rotary Position Embeddings

2021, RoFormer paper by Jianlin Su and colleagues · Transformers · Most large language models from 2023 onward

Absolute position embeddings tell a model where each word sits in the sequence. Rotary embeddings let it work out relative distance instead, by encoding position as an angle.

Enter lesson 7 MIN

Written before source checking was enforced · facts in this lesson are unverified

A church carved in the shape of a cross, sunk into the ground, with vertical rock walls forming a deep trench around it. The roof is flat and level with the surrounding earth.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela

14th century · volcanic tuff · Ethiopian Highlands

Most buildings are assembled from parts brought to the site. These were cut downward out of the ground itself — churches shaped by removing stone, not stacking it.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

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