Recent submissions

Comment · 1 year ago
Machines have been making kill-or-no-kill decisions for decades, and they were a lot more indeterminant. Heat-seeking missiles largely kill whatever is hot. Proximity fuses in WW2 detonated whenever they got near something. Anti-personal mines kill whenever pressure is applied. A CIWS will target things that get too close to it that don't identify IFF. Naval mines kill if something magnetic is near them.

At the end of the day, it's still humans deploying these weapon systems and accepting the risk that they might cause unintended casualties.

Comment · 2 years ago
So how would this work? Does this mean Microsoft will build a directly connected data center nearby?

Or is Microsoft just buying power from the plant's owner on the energy market?

Comment · 3 years ago
This isn't always possible, though. You could grow up with parents and teachers who do not push you to study. Perhaps you are malnourished or abused. Having the environment and support to study hard is something not all students have. You cannot hand wave studying as the solution to the disparity in educational outcomes.
Comment · 3 years ago
I think universities can probably come up with a different set of non-protected criteria to lift underrepresented communities out of social/financial oppression. This might even provide greater access to some equally needing students that are looked over by racially-based criteria. In a perfect world, everyone would have equal opportunity and support throughout their primary education, and college admission could be much more merit-based. Unfortunately, that is not the country we live in and there is little appetite to invest in ensuring all Americans have access to high-quality primary education.
Comment · 3 years ago
I was a Rutgers student when this was happening. I recall some final assignments and exams getting canceled when they attacked the Rutgers network.

When the news broke about the perpetrators behind Mirai and specifically the Dyn attack, I was shocked that such a high-impact attack originated from one of my classmates in the CS department.

Comment · 3 years ago
There's probably some virtualization overhead on the c7g.large, right?
Comment · 3 years ago
I really want an EV, but they don't work for me. I live in an urban area and park on a city street. EV ownership would add a lot of complications to my life due to the current state of charging infrastructure.

I think EV adoption will eventually plateau until we solve overnight charging for cars parked on city streets or there is a large increase in rapid charging availability and speed.

Comment · 3 years ago
What's the reasoning by the IRS to not refund you if for some reason you do not receive the shares you are paying taxes early on?
Comment · 3 years ago
You still have to trust that data was recorded into a blockchain correctly/faithfully.

So you can never truly remove trust. I'm not sure a immutable ledger is any more useful than a database if there is still some sort of required trust component.

Comment · 4 years ago
> Ten years from now, looking back on the 2022 tech recession, we may say that this moment was a paroxysm of scandals and layoffs between two discrete movements.

The author is suggesting the first "movement" was the "browser era, the social-media era, and the smartphone-app-economy era".

It seems they think the next era will vaguely have something to do with AI.

What do HN'ers think the next "movement" will be (if any)?

Comment · 4 years ago
I was in Montessori through kindergarten. I do remember feeling a bit disadvantaged socially when I entered 1st grade in a conventional school.

Most of the other students had done kindergarten at my new school and already knew each other. I did eventually make friends, but I always felt like a bit of an outsider since I didn't have that shared kindergarten experience with my peers.

I imagine this would only get worse the longer a child stays out of the conventional schooling system.

Comment · 4 years ago
I often wonder if it is currently more environmentally responsible to dispose of plastics in the trash rather than the recycling. If we can't recycle plastic or it ends up in the ocean/waterways, then landfill seems like a better alternative.
Comment · 4 years ago
Comment · 4 years ago
Comment · 4 years ago
> The solution is always, always, having (building) more supply than the demand, yet nobody seems to get it.

It is easy to hand wave "more building supply", but that's a medium to long term solution. What do we do in the short term?

Are we supposed to just allow landlords to hike people's rent anywhere between 10-40% year-over-year forcing them to be displaced?

There needs to be some middle ground.

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