Recent submissions

Comment · 2 years ago
I have it on my website (https://packagepicker.co) in only CSS by using `flex-direction: column` and setting a best-guess max height with several breakpoints. Unfortunately it does break down in some situations because some pages have many fewer selections.

My order doesn't super matter but I do like to maintain it. I tried for a long time using CSS columns but I didn't have good luck with that either, though I can't remember exactly why

Comment · 2 years ago
They would think they are the original you, but I think the GP was saying that the original perspective would continue on the original consciousness-continuity/body/hardware.

Cloning a hard drive can produce the same data, but without any networking, there's no reason for the original machine to know anything from the perspective of the new one

Comment · 3 years ago
Comment · 3 years ago
Comment · 5 years ago
If you read the article, it is very clear and direct about being a commentary on Low Tech Magazine
Comment · 5 years ago
Hey I made that comment! I assume Waymo has thought about it. I assume lots of people at Waymo have spent plenty of time in NYC. I also don't say that this was impossible or I think it will fail.

What I do believe is that there are tons of edge cases, and diminishing returns with trying to solve for all of them. And, I would guess that it will take quite a while (the decade I mentioned) before self driving technology is capable of making >95% of trips autonomously without extra issues that most human drivers would handle.

Additionally, I think there are moral and comfort issues with AI that need to be addressed. This is speculation, but Waymo likely aims for the appearance of safety and tunes things to be overly cautious. That is at odds with some of the dynamics of driving in NYC, where you need to be assertive and maybe even risky, and I'm curious to see how that will play out.

I can see how it sounds like I'm just shitting on this tech. My intention was more to describe that self-driving in NYC is maybe even a harder problem than it sounds, and possibly an overreaction to the hype about this technology. I think about it pretty often when I'm driving or biking and encounter situations that seem very difficult for a computer to navigate.

Comment · 5 years ago
I was curious! But not too curious, since this maybe describes most of the on-ramps to the BQE
Comment · 5 years ago
I agree with you in principle about not blocking the box. But in practice it's not always like that. Sometimes the actual light timing needs to change. Sometimes the roads need to just be different than they are to prevent bottlenecks, which is a pretty expensive fix

Sometimes you roll up to an intersection, and every time the light turns green, the direction you're trying to go already has all lanes filled by another approaching direction. Every time.

Comment · 5 years ago
Sort of. The issue is that it's not just "waiting for a turn", it's often "start changing lanes into a small gap because you know the human drivers will make space and let you in". In which case, what you're saying is "drive more aggressively if there's a large time penalty for not doing so", which is at least a mildly uncomfortable criteria to put into a computer algorithm
Comment · 5 years ago
As someone who both bikes and drives around Brooklyn, I would bet this is going to be nearly a decade of testing. There are so many edge cases that I encounter on almost every single trip, and I just don't see anything but very advanced AI handling it

- obvious, but large numbers of pedestrians and cyclists

- 2 way roads becoming 1 lane where the directions must take turns due to construction, deliveries, or the Uber in front of you stopping in the middle of traffic for a pickup

- resurfaced roads that don't have lines painted on them for weeks or months

- congested intersections where you'd probably need to wait 3 hours to pass through legally, so you have to just pull into the intersection trusting that traffic will clear when the next light turns green

- pittsburgh lefts need to happen for the sake of traffic flow sometimes

- sometimes you need to do very human and assertive "negotiation" to get into the lane you need.

- another comment mentioned Waymo cars just rerouting to the next turn when no cars would let them in. There are a decent number of situations where that will cost you 5-30 minutes of extra trip time

- you can disrupt traffic flow quite badly if you e.g. don't pull up to the crosswalk, and out of the way of cars behind you, while waiting for pedestrians to cross on a turn (humans are also bad at this)

- it's difficult to overstate how often cars/vans/trucks are double parked, changing the lanes available, forcing cars and bikes to improvise lanes. This isn't an occasional thing, this is a 10x on a 15 minute trip thing

Comment · 5 years ago
Your algorithm does appear in Section 3.1 of the linked paper by the name "Exchange Sort"
Comment · 5 years ago
Your quote is a wild guess by them. The malware explanation after that sounds much more likely
Comment · 5 years ago
I don't have any numbers or sources, but I'll chime in as someone who limits beef intake solely because of environmental reasons. I don't cut it out completely, I just stay mindful and only eat beef when it's meaningful. So trying something new and interesting, special occasions, or when I otherwise will really savor it. If I'm getting fast food or just eating to eat, I steer towards chicken, eggs, or vegetarian options.
Comment · 5 years ago

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