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\chapter*{Acknowledgments}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Acknowledgments}
\singlespacing
To John, you have truly been better than the best adviser I could have hoped for. %
Your mentorship has helped me realize what truly matters, and you have helped me to find myself
professionally and personally. %
Thank you so much. %
To my colleagues, you have each been at times mentor and at times friend.
I am so proud of the work we have done together.
I am excited to see what each of you accomplishes next.
To Tyler, thank you for showing me how to try hard and have fun.
To Claire, thank you for being my confidant and foundation for these last nine years.
To Sam, thank you for walking beside me through this crazy life.
To my parents, thank you for being endlessly supportive, despite my obstinance.
Finally, thank you to all humans who have and continue to undertake the ongoing free and
responsible search for truth and meaning. %
Thanks to free software / free culture / open science advocates who have worked to create
and share foundational tools and ideas, often at great personal opportunity cost. %
Thanks to thought leaders who have shown me what it means to have a good life without abandoning
moral principles. %
And thank you to those who bravely speak truth to power. %
This universe is stranger, more terrible, and more fantastic than we want to believe. %
We must find ways to describe it's complexity without falling victim to the sometimes-overwhelming
power of simple, ``useful'' narratives. %
\begin{dquote}
The explanatory stories that people find compelling are simple; are concrete rather
than abstract; assign a larger role to talent, stupidity and intentions than to luck; and focus
on a few striking events that happened rather than on the countless events that failed to
happen.
The ultimate test of an explanation is whether it would have made the event
predictable in advance.
Paradoxically, it is easier to construct a coherent story when you know little,
when there are fewer pieces to fit into the puzzle. Our comforting conviction that the world
makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.
\dsignature{Daniel Kahneman \cite{KahnemanDaniel2013a}}
\end{dquote}
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