Recent submissions

Comment · 6 years ago
Like I said, I just don't really care and it's not going to affect my life. I'm all for improving technology and efficiency and believe that it will never truly be a life threatening issue and it's foolish to sit around and be afraid of it. You say it's going to be my problem but how? What would that look like exactly? Maybe in 1000 years it would literally be a problem but by then through the natural course of technological evolution it will just not be a problem. If freeman dyson, a man who solved some of the hardest problems of the 20th century, can say that there is little scientific rogor in our models, estimation and understanding of our affect on climate change, why should I pretend like you know what you're talking about?
Comment · 6 years ago
Yea I just don't care about any of that and I don't think that's wrong.
Comment · 6 years ago
I've been on here for 10 years. When did hacker news loose all resemblance to hacker culture? And i'm not a truther (thanks for making me use a word like that btw), maybe a rationalist is a better word. Let's all wake up an be afraid of asteroids too.
Comment · 6 years ago
And when exactly will it become an actual problem in the sense that it actually affects anyone's life? 1000 years? 10000 years? Like global warming is going to suddenly show its teeth on some random day and we'll all be sorry. You sound like someone preaching the coming rapture, thinking people are crazy for rolling their eyes and continuing on with their lives.
Comment · 6 years ago
It's not 'harder' to take mass off earth than it is to bring mass back. Assuming you want to bring the mass back 'gently' and not have it collide with earth like a comet. Think like pulling a rock out of a hole vs lowering it back down in a controlled manner, controlled here meaning velocity=0 by the time it reaches the bottom. In both cases you are responsible for transitioning the same amount of energy into or out of the rock. To do this with a rocket would required the same integration of force and thus fuel. In the case where you are lowering the rock, ie returning mass back to space, you have to bring fuel to the rock to 'lower' it back down so it is actually harder to bring mass back.
Comment · 6 years ago
Mattermost seems pretty to-the-point. Really not getting what's so hard about chat with some basic formatting.
Comment · 6 years ago
No I think my advice is don't code on your break because coding is boring, repetitive and the culture is shit and it took me too long to realize this.
Comment · 6 years ago
It may be an age/experience thing. I spent many years coding in my free time, worked on all parts of the stack from boot loaders to single page applications. The magic is kind of gone for me now and I prefer to try to expand my physics and math skills which capture how I used to feel about code.
Comment · 6 years ago
Build a compiler or small emulator if you want to get better not more web CRUD. But really don't code on your break, i'd say buy some shrooms and walk around the woods.
Comment · 6 years ago
Is that a quote from Hitler? I honestly can't tell.
Comment · 6 years ago
This is assuming that the torturers are dumb (not true in the case of nation states) and that the information is not verifiable. This is not always the case. And the argument is that torture can and does work not that it always works. In the context of a password that I know you know and we can type in right now to make it stop, this will be effective.If you don't think the torture will ever stop and just want a 'fuck you' then you may keep quite. When your kids/family are brought in the 'fuck you' mentality goes out the window. Torture works, but it's like war. You have to go all in. This isn't a pro torture argument necessarily. But saying torture never works is dishonest and tanamount to saying I would keep all my secrets while being tutored to death, which I know I wouldn't.
Comment · 6 years ago
Bring his kids in. He'll talk. Downvotes for unpleasant reality.
Comment · 6 years ago
Interesting anecdote. Sounds like he didn't want to talk politics but you kept pushing, trying to take some moral high ground. Voting isn't an exam, it's actually pretty simple even for swing voters. Believe it or not, there is no right or wrong answer or else we would not have a vote. You essentially vote on a personal philosophy that is developed over your live, or primarily in your earlier years, and by studying history, consuming art like books, movies and music, and meeting people and discussing these ideas. It's something that happens in the background. Keeping up with what the candidates, parties and news outlets are saying isn't nearly as relevant.
Comment · 6 years ago
Yea and isn't HN always going on about how education != intelligence? It's great branding too, hook your cart up to the liberal party and suddenly you're smart, refined, enlightened, morally superior. No questions asked. SW/SV lives in a bubble. Most of eng is more conservative. Aero,EE,ME.. these are no dummies.

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