631
Universal Love, Said The Cactus Person
“Universal love,” said the cactus person. “Transcendent joy,” said the big green bat. “Right,” I said. “I’m absolutely in favor of both those things.…
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 658 posts.
632
Societies with Little Coercion Have Little Mental Illness (2013)
Throughout history, societies have existed with far less coercion than ours, and while these societies have had far less consumer goods and what modernity calls “efficiency,” they also have had far…
633
634
The internet has made defensive writers of us all
I was struck by this passage in Steven Pinker’s article about why academics’ writing stinks :
635
Academics, we need to talk
Although I made the move to industry a bit more than five years ago, I still serve on program committees and review articles for journals a...
636
Neal Stephenson: Why I Am a Sociomediapath (2015)
The personal website of author Neal Stephenson, unless it's been hacked.
637
What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2016?
What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2016? Under the law that existed until 1978 . . . Works from 1959 The films North by Northwest and Ben-Hur, the play A Raisin in the Sun, the books The Naked Lunch and Starship Troopers, the first episodes of The Twilight Zone, and more. . . Current US law…
638
The Myth of AI – Jaron Lanier
That mythology, in turn, has spurred a reactionary, perpetual spasm from people who are horrified by what they hear. You'll have a figure say, "The computers will take over the Earth, but that's a good thing, because people had their chance and now we should give it to the machines." Then you'll have other people say…
639
Why privacy is important, and having “nothing to hide” is irrelevant
The governments of Australia, Germany, the UK and the US are destroying your privacy. Some people don't see the problem...
640
641
My simplified response to Paul Graham's simplified essay
Paul Graham published a simplified version of his essay on income inequality . Here's my simplified response: It is true that many social...
642
Shut Up, Paul Graham: The Simplified Version
As often happens when you say something controversial, there have been some very adventurous interpretations of the essay I just wrote about economic inequality. I thought it might help clarify matters for the undecided if I tried to write a version so simple that it leaves no room for misinterpretation. “I wrote <a…
643
644
T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Applies Indiscriminately
Back in November, T-Mobile announced a new service for its mobile customers called Binge On, in which video streams from certain websites don’t count against customers’ data caps.[fn]To be fair, T-Mobile’s plans don’t have traditional data caps—they just slow down to “2G” speeds once customers...
645
You can't trust Amazon Underground
Bid on the RGP-Domain discours.es. Bid now from €10 and secure the domain at an early stage!
646
Govtech: The $400B Market Hiding in Plain Sight
The Govtech Fund is the first-ever venture capital fund dedicated to government technology startups.
647
How Paul Graham Gets It Wrong in “Economic Inequality”
Paul Graham (PG) is one of my favorite writers. His Essays are just about all well worth the time to read (and sometimes re-read). It’s not…
648
Paul Graham Is Still Asking to Be Eaten
An Obviously Critical Response to “Economic Inequality” by Paul Graham
649
Why Arabs Lose Wars (1999)
Arabic-speaking armies have been generally ineffective in the modern era. Egyptian regular forces did poorly against Yemeni irregulars in the 1960s.1 Syrians could only impose their will in Lebanon during the mid-1970s by the use of overwhelming
650
Redefining Work
The most modern definition of work is “an exchange in which the participants benefit from the interaction”. Interestingly, cooperation is…
651
The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground
After more than four decades of serving as the nation's economic majority, the U.S. middle class is now matched in size by those in the economic tiers above and below it.
652
Income inequality is not the problem, it's a symptom
Paul Graham today published two essays in which he challenges the idea that economic inequality is a problem. Since the 1970s, economic ...
653
654
A Response to Paul Graham’s Article on Income Inequality
While perusing HackerNews today, I encountered this article and this comment thread by Paul Graham (PG for short), founder of Ycombinator. I think that a lengthy response is in order. I originally …
655
656
657
658