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Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,065 posts.
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Prepare for That Stupid World
Prepare for That Stupid World par Ploum - Lionel Dricot.
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Superhighway84 – a Usenet-inspired decentralized internet discussion system
Superhighway84 is a USENET-inspired decentralized internet discussion system, featuring a retro text user interface and powered by IPFS and OrbitDB.
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Our Boss Will Call Your Boss
On February 17, seven Blackwater-like security contractors were arrested in Haiti while driving in unmarked vehicles and transporting illegal weaponry and tactical equipment. They claimed to be on a government mission. Four days later the US “rescued” them. None are expected to face charges. What happened?
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All of life has been utterly, profoundly changed thanks to Facebook...
I don’t mean to overhype this, but frankly I don’t think it would be possible to overhype something as huge and profound as what Facebook introduced yesterday, at least from what I gather reading the reports coming out of F8. Timelines. Open Graph. Apps. Music. Video. Bam! It’s all there and it’s all amazing and huge…
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Lessons from the Gnome Patent Troll Incident
First, for all the lawyers who are eager to see the Settlement Agreement, here it is . The reason I can do this is that I’ve released software under an OSI approved licence, so I’m covered by the Releases and thus entitled to a copy of the agreement under section 10, but I’m not a party to any of the Covenants so I’m…
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The Backing Up of the Internet Archive Continues
A little over a month ago, I cooked up a grandiose plan with the Archive Team to back up the Internet Archive, and discussed what that might entail and how one might approach it. How’s that t…
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To Serve Man, with Software
I didn’t choose to be a programmer. Somehow, it seemed, the computers chose me. For a long time, that was fine, that was enough; that was all I needed. But along the way I never felt that being a programmer was this unambiguously great-for-everyone career field with
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Twitter Steps Down From the Free Speech Party
In 2012, when Twitter announced in a blog post that it was launching a system that would allow the company to take down content on a country-by-country basis—as opposed to taking it down across the entire Twitter network—EFF defended that decision as the least terrible option. After all, when a...
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Stupid Patent of the Month: Selfie Contests
Patents are supposed to be an incentive to invent. Too often, they end up being a way to try to claim “ownership” of what should be basic building blocks of human activity, culture, and knowledge. This is especially true of software patents, an area EFF has been speaking out about for more than 20...
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It's 2012 and your kids have an iPhone - Do you know where they are? I do.
The strangest thing just happened. I'm sitting here in a hotel in New Zealand ...
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Twitter, but for Math, with Toots
Hooray, it’s yet another social network for you to join! I’m skeptical about new social media, but I’ve been seeing enough posts about mathstodon.xyz that I finally caved and got an account. Mathstodon is the math(s) “instance” of mastodon , a new open-source, decentralized microblogging social network. It’s a lot…
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Linux Instal Fest Belgrade
Linux Install Fest will be held on December 9, 2025 in the JAG3 classroom of the Faculty of Mathematics, at Jagićeva 5, Belgrade . Entry to the classroom is possible from 6 pm to 9 pm.
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David Holladay, blindness technology pioneer, has died
This week brings sad news for our Duxbury Systems family. Our colleague, David Holladay, passed away in a hospital on Thursday, February 15th, following an accident at home that morning. David was a cancer survivor and valiantly battled multiple medical problems over his last five years.
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Introducing “Ask a Female Engineer”
Read more on Y Combinator's blog.
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Approaching Peak Housing Dysfunction in California
San Bruno, California laid out a detailed blueprint for more housing. One developer followed that blueprint. $3 million and 3 years later, the city killed his project anyway.
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Globalization is dead and no one is listening
This is the end of the beginning.
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A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay
Wade Foster [https://twitter.com/wadefoster] is the CEO of Zapier [https://zapier.com/] (YC S12). Read Zapier’s de-location post here [https://zapier.com/blog/move-away-from-sf-get-remote-job/]. If you are interested in remote work, you can also check out our interview with Gitlab…
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Do Adults Really Not Remember School Sucked?
One of the constant refrains which has bemused me during the pandemic is all the people saying how much kids want to go back to school.
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Can a Tarot card reading be defamatory?
Crazed Tik-Toker's Tirade Against University Professor Raises Fact v. Opinion Issue
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Regarding the Compact
The U.S. Department of Education recently sent MIT and eight other institutions a proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education," along with a letter asking that MIT review the document.
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English speakers should learn math instead of a second language
An old joke goes: Q: What do you call someone who knows three languages? A: Trilingual Q: What do you call someone who knows two languages? A: Bilingual Q: What do you call someone who knows just o…
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The American suburbs are a giant Ponzi scheme
Krugman spells out the Paradox of Thrift: when the interest rate goes to zero — like the past five years — cuts in spending reduce