181
Random selection is necessary to create stable meritocratic institutions
Why random selection is necessary to create stable meritocratic institutions
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 666 posts.
182
183
Let's Ban Billboards
Most improvements to cities are hard — they take millions of dollars and years of planning.
184
If nothing is curated, how do we find things
Bjork is currently promoting a new concert film being released called Cornucopia. She's been releasing new photoshoots and interviews almost every day for th...
185
In Praise of RSS and Controlled Feeds of Information
The way we consume content on the internet is increasingly driven by walled-garden platforms and black-box feed algorithms. This shift is making our media diets miserable. Ironically, a solution to the problem predates algorithmic feeds, social media and other forms of informational junk food. It is called RSS (Really…
186
We're losing our voice to LLMs
We are losing something precious in the age of LLMs: our unique voices.
187
Autism's confusing cousins
A differential diagnosis for the weird and the awkward
188
Why English doesn't use accents
And why French is full of them
189
BuyMeACoffee silently dropped support for many countries (2024)
Silent changes in payment methods on big creator funding platforms raise some unpleasant questions.
190
Open Sauce is a confoundingly brilliant Bay Area event
This is the second year I brought my Dad (a now-retired radio engineer and co-host of Geerling Engineering) to Open Sauce, a Bay Area maker faire-like event, dreamed up by William Osman and featuring hundreds of exhibits ranging from mad science, to vintage electronics, to games, to world-record-breaking Rubik's Cube…
191
How many video games include a marriage proposal? At least one
Also: World League Basketball
192
I hate screenshots of text
Why do people take screenshots of text?
193
Over-regulation is doubling the cost
After building a software company to a multi-billion dollar exit, I made the jump to hardware. Now I’m working on carbon removal + steel at Charm Industrial , and electric long-haul trucking with Revoy . It’s epically fun to be building in the real world, but little did I expect that more than half the cost of…
194
A change of address led to our Wise accounts being shut down
For years, one of my businesses has been a regular user of Wise (formerly TransferWise). Wise is a financial service that lets you send and receive money across currencies, often at a better rate and lower fee than traditional banks. Sounds great, right?
195
You are how you act
You are the sum of your behaviors not your intentions
196
Bag of words, have mercy on us
OR: Claude will you go to prom with me?
197
Deliberate Internet Shutdowns
For two days in September, Afghanistan had no internet. No satellite failed; no cable was cut. This was a deliberate outage, mandated by the Taliban government. It followed a more localized shutdown two weeks prior, reportedly instituted “to prevent immoral activities.” No additional explanation was given. The timing…
198
The Polymarket users betting on when Jesus will return
Thanks to Jesse Richardson for discussion. Polymarket asks: will Jesus Christ return in 2025? In the three days since the market opened, traders have wagered over $100,000 on this question. The mar…
199
Poison, Poison Everywhere
When I was in high school, my teacher once told us a crazy story.
200
Product Hunt is dead
Thoughts on FOSS and fintech, layered by Mahmoud Hashemi
201
202
You did no fact checking, and I must scream
I'm neither a journalist nor a professional fact checker but, the thing is, it's has never been easier to check basic facts. Yeah, sure, there's a world of misinformation out there, but it doesn't take much effort to determine if something is likely to be true. There are brilliant tools like reverse Image Search which…
203
Mikeal Rogers has died
Mikeal Rogers, my best friend, my colleague, confidant, and one of a kind partner in countless late night chats and restless travel sprints, has died. Mikeal died of aggressive cancer. Words feel wholly inadequate because I want to capture the sweep of what he meant to me and to the
204
Guess I'm a rationalist now
A week ago I attended LessOnline, a rationalist blogging conference featuring many people I’ve known for years—Scott Alexander, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Zvi Mowshowitz, Sarah Constantin, Carl…
205
The Church FAQ
A few years ago, we bought a church building. Since then, every time I mention it online and/or on social media, someone always responds, “wait, you bought a church, what” and then asks…
206
X Just Accidentally Exposed a Covert Influence Network Targeting Americans
How a new X feature led to the most sweeping public exposure of covert foreign activity on a major platform since 2016.
207
It's rude to show AI output to people
Feeding slop is an act of war
208
When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts
I try not to write anything even vaguely political on this blog because we have a variety of views on a variety of subjects and no one is ...
209
210
The strangest letter of the alphabet: The rise and fall of yogh
The rise and fall of yogh