4201
There is no retirement
Paul Erdös used to say that mathematicians “die” when they retire or cease to do math; when they physically die they simply “leave.” Well, my father wasn’t a mathematician but he did leave last night.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 8,148 posts.
4202
Rsync and outrage
I gave up blogging a long time ago (apart from an occasional thing about ArduPilot), I tend to just write code and hope people find it…
4203
A Chat With Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz , now in his early twenties, rose to internet fame as technology whiz kid a couple of years ago, working on such things as W3C standards or the Creative Commons. He was also blogger behind the very successful Google Weblog. Via instant messenger, I interviewed him on Reddit, activism, Google and more.
4204
Mass timber is great, but it will not solve the housing shortage
A short policy memo recently posted on the Federation of American Scientists’ (FAS) website argues that “mass timber can help solve the housing shortage.” It was posted as part of the Housing Ideas Challenge, a collaboration between FAS, Matt Yglesias and a few other organizations to generate new, innovative ideas for…
4205
America's pensions can't beat Vanguard but they can close a hospital
$6 trillion in patient capital, $60+ billion in annual fees, and the infrastructure that never gets built
4206
The Abundance of Silicon Valley
Abundance is fragile, it is accidental, and it is the most incredible thing on earth.
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AI Responses May Include Mistakes
The other day I wanted to look up a specific IBM PS/2 model, a circa 1992 PS/2 Server system. So I punched the model into Google, and got this:
4209
Terrorism is not about terror
Terrorists act irrationally from a rational activism perspective, and groups act in ways most consistent with terrorism being about social status and belonging
4210
AI and the Ship of Theseus
Slopforks: what happens when a library gets rewritten with AI?
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Looks like it is happening
Update: Sorry, but a commenter points out that this may just be an artifact of counting based on when most recently modified, not on original submission date. Numbers using original, not most recen…
4214
Inverted computer culture: A thought experiment
Imagine a world where computers are inherently old. Whatever you do with them is automatically seen as practice of an ancient and unchanging tradition. Even though new discoveries do happen, they cannot dispel the aura of oldness.
4215
The Disappointing Surprise From Apple
Fully custom responsive WordPress development using semantic and accessibility coding practices for web developments agencies and designers.
4216
Wise refuses to let us access our $60k AUD
Wise has stolen more than $60,000 AUD from us, and refuses to let us access it. We’ve had a Wise account for around 5 years (since they were called TransferWise). It’s been a really useful …
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On me, and the Media Lab
(Please be sure to read the addendum at the end of this post.) A week ago last Friday, I spoke to Joi Ito about the release of documents that accuse Media Lab co-founder Marvin Minsky of involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific crimes.* Joi told me that evening that the Media Lab’s ties to Epstein went… Read More »On…
4219
Software is eating the world, all right (2024)
I retired from my IT career a couple of months ago after 43 years of commercial software product development and transitioned to the real…
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4221
How to fend off a jerk
When I was fifteen, I worked for a full-service gas station and auto repair shop. I know what you're thinking (unless you're in New Jersey or Oregon), "what is a full-service gas station?" Yes, there was a time when a smiling gas jockey would greet your car and fill up your gas. You didn't
4222
TechCrunch covered Vic Gundotra's departure badly
Mad rantings from a computer guy. My thoughts are my own, and don't represent my current or past employers.
4223
Google and Microsoft have opaque and unpredictable ad moderation
Yet another sad story of how big companies kill small ones because of poor processes.
4224
Anonymous message to NATO
Greetings, members of NATO. We are Anonymous. In a recent publication, you have singled out Anonymous as a threat to “government and th...
4225
Facebook is what happens to the Web when you hit it with the stupid stick
A friend of mine noted recently that I seemed a little antagonistic about Facebook recently — mostly on my Facebook account, which is some irony for you — and wanted to know what I had …
4226
Hacker News, Sans AI
I like HackerNews, but I don't love that so much of it has turned into discussion of a single topic: AI. This is a version of HackerNews, filtered to remove any article focusing on __AI__. Refreshes about every ten minutes.
4227
Against Hickelism
Poverty is falling, and it isn't because of free-market capitalism
4228
Chomsky praises Snowden and condemns US hypocrisy
Typically eloquent Noam Chomsky, speaking this weekend at the Geneva Press Club: My own opinion is that Snowden should be honored. He was doing what every citizen ought to do, telling. [Applause] He was telling Americans what the government was doing. That’s what’s supposed to happen. Governments as I mentioned before…
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Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy
Why your outdated brain is making you unhappy and how to hack it.
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