Quick tip: how to check the Python version and packages installed in a Python virtual environment

 Activate the environment and run python --version or python -V

To check a specific package e.g. streamlit run pip show streamlit inside the anaconda prompt

How software rots - Uncle Bob (YouTube video)

The memory paradox: why our brains need knowledge in the age of AI

I have this aching feeling - which might sound familiar -  but I never saw any academic research on this: offloading too much thinking to AI and digital tools is weakening our cognitive abilities (in plain words - AI makes us dumber ...) . 

In the white paper "The memory paradox: why our brains need knowledge in the age of AI" - the lead author - Barbara Oakley points to changes in education and the rise of cognitive offloading to why IQ scores are declining in developed countries. 

If she is right, the outlook for companies in the near future does not look good ...

Understanding conda channels

 Conda channels are package source - locations where conda looks for software packages when you run conda install. Each channel can contain different package versions, build configurations, platform-specific binaries, etc ...

In the screenshot above, you will notice 4 different conda channels:

• defaults: the official Anaconda repository, has stable, curated with conservative updates
• microsoft: Microsoft maintains its own channel mainly for AzureML environment support or packages tuned for Windows performance.
• anaconda: similar to the defaults channel
• conda-forge: community driven, massive ecosystem with the latest versions. Receives updates within hours of upstream releases

You can add a channel using this command: conda config --add channels microsoft. Conda searches channels in order, from highest priority to lowest. So from my configuration, it first try to install from defaults. If not found, it falls back to microsoft, and so on ...

Quick tip: fix eID Viewer installation - a driver can't load on this device

I recently had to use the Belgian eID software and couldn't get it to work on the Windows 11 - it always failed with "A driver can't load on this device" - in the end I had to Turn off memory integrity setting (Microsoft support)

Since keeping the memory integrity setting is highly recommend - I would change the setting as soon as possible. Uninstall the Belgian eID software after you have used it and run pnputil to remove the faulty drivers so that you can enable the memory setting again.