Hacker News: 0xbadc0de5

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Anthropic takes legal action against OpenCode"

0xbadc0de5 — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:01:02 +0000

A few months ago, I had my Anthropic Claude Max account nuked for using OpenCode. That sucked, but I just opened a new Claude Max account under a different email. Which, yes, after re-reading their terms is also forbidden. But I had been playing by their rules ever since. Only using Claude Code and their official apps. So they got what they wanted - compliance.

Today they nuked my account again. I can only assume it was because I had the gall to find so much value in their product that even after they banned me once, I still wanted to give them money!

I've been around this planet a long time and I have never encountered a tech company as hostile to their users as Anthropic. And that includes Microsoft back in the 90's & 00's.

I really hope they change their ways. But for now, I'm done with them. I'll take my business elsewhere.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Preliminary data from a longitudinal AI impact study"

0xbadc0de5 — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 23:27:34 +0000

Fair assessment. And worth noting that in a sane world, a broad 10% productivity improvement across industry would be a once-in-a-lifetime, headline-making story, not a disappointment.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "AI fatigue is real and nobody talks about it"

0xbadc0de5 — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 16:02:20 +0000

Seems to me that a lot of people talk about nothing else.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Maggots, an efficient source of protein"

0xbadc0de5 — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 18:12:15 +0000

There's an incredible piece of biotechnology that converts insects and inedible seeds and detritus into delicious, perfectly edible protein pods with very high efficiency. And at EoL, any of the pods can be used to replace the original, which itself is also edible and delicious. It's fully automated and requires almost no human labor to maintain. This is my preferred method of superfood consumption.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave"

0xbadc0de5 — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 10:45:14 +0000

This is sad and tragic but ultimately I don't think Mongo bares any responsibility here. If her partner left her while she was having a prolonged mental health crisis, would her partner be to blame for her suicide? I would argue: no.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Ask HN: By what percentage has AI changed your output as a software engineer?"

0xbadc0de5 — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 10:24:14 +0000

At home, on my side projects it's made me 2x to 4x.

At work, also 2x to 4x.

The numbers would be even higher (4x to 8x) if I didn't spend half the time correcting slop and carefully steering the AI toward the desired solution when it gets sidetracked. But then again, I was also guilty of those things so maybe it's an even score?

Perhaps it's partly psychological in that using it forces me to think through the problems I'm trying to solve differently than before. Perhaps I'm just a mediocre dev and the AI is bringing me up to "slightly above average," but a win is a win and I'll take it.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "BMW Patents Proprietary Screws That Only Dealerships Can Remove"

0xbadc0de5 — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 13:42:50 +0000

My angle grinder begs to differ.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "I wish people were more public"

0xbadc0de5 — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:38:31 +0000

Never have so many people with so little to say, said it so loudly.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?"

0xbadc0de5 — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 22:23:38 +0000

No. The absence of evidence is not evidence of presence. There are solid scientific reasons to suspect we might be alone in our local volume of the universe. IMHO, these reasons now outweigh the arguments in favour of alien intelligence. The default scientific position is skepticism. It is an abundance of proof that is required to overcome it, not "belief." Belief in the absence of evidence is not a scientific position.

I do find it to be a curious coincidence that "belief" in aliens visiting earth shares so many characteristics with devout religious belief. Just replace OP's references to aliens with references to the deity of choice and you'll get the idea.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Ask HN: Anyone else disillusioned with "AI experts" in their team?"

0xbadc0de5 — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 10:05:57 +0000

Wait until you find out that's it's not just AI, or even tech. Everywhere you look, you'll find groups, businesses and organizations being run mostly by people who are just winging it and one or two who actually know what they're doing. Ever seen a cashier struggle to calculate change, or had a doctor misdiagnose? Something something Pareto Principle.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Why do AI models use so many em-dashes?"

0xbadc0de5 — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 10:05:58 +0000

My first thought was watermarking. Same for it's affinity for using emojis in bullet lists.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Are Motorcycles "Donorcycles"?"

0xbadc0de5 — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 08:25:46 +0000

Anecdotally: Many years ago, I spent several months in the hospital and trauma rehabilitation due to a spinal cord injury. Roughly half of the SCI patients were from water-related accidents (ie: diving into shallow water). The other half were from motorcycle accidents. And about 50% of the amputations were from motorcycle accidents (the other half from diabetes).

Granted, I only interacted with a small sample of patients during my stay - only a few dozen. But the staff certainly gave the impression this was business as usual for them. I had no idea until I was face to face with it. There really is no substitute for being protected by a metal shell and protective airbags.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "ChatGPT Pulse"

0xbadc0de5 — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 09:00:04 +0000

I agree with you on the importance of privacy. But if people can't muster enough outrage to leave Gmail, FB, IG, etc., then I'm afraid the answer to your questions might be "yes."

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Proton Mail suspended journalist accounts at request of cybersecurity agency"

0xbadc0de5 — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 23:05:07 +0000

Last time I checked, hacking was still a crime in most jurisdictions - even if the target is considered a geopolitical adversary. This sort of activity is also against the Proton ToS. Once KrCERT and Proton were alerted to this activity, they would have been legally obligated to act.

That's not to say I feel any sympathy to the target - who by all counts has done a fair bit of damage. But this sort of hacktivism / vigilantism simply isn't helpful. There's a high likelihood that one or more nation states / law enforcement agencies may have had active operations directed against this threat actor derailed by such activity.

tl;dr - If you're going to conduct such activities, practice proper OPSEC. And don't let your desire for attention / recognition take priority over staying on the right side of the law.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Polish CEO's company review bombed after stealing hat from child at tennis game"

0xbadc0de5 — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 09:06:44 +0000

Given how blase he and his wife were about stealing from a child, I half-suspect that wasn't the worst thing they did that week.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "If you have a Claude account, they're going to train on your data moving forward"

0xbadc0de5 — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 13:56:50 +0000

I kind of already assumed they were. I've got some pretty niche use-cases that I'd like to see the models get better at thinking their way through. I benefit from their training on my interactions. So I'll opt in. But I'll also recognize that others might not feel that way, so the services should provide a way for users to opt out.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Approval given for first human spinal cord repair using the patient's own cells"

0xbadc0de5 — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:15:40 +0000

Forgive my skepticism but this doesn't pass the smell test. In order to transplant the new spinal cord, they must first remove the old one. This involves cutting through the spinal bones and discs, then cutting the existing spinal cord out and severing all of its nerve connections to the rest of the body. The reason spinal cord injuries are so problematic is because the spinal cord nerves do not heal when cut. (The only exception being the lower lumbar portion.) I'm failing to see how severing the old cord to replace it with a new one won't just result in a more seriously paralyzed patient.

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "Reverse Engineering the Mysterious Up-Data Link Test Set from Apollo"

0xbadc0de5 — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:59:56 +0000

I recognise the author as "Master Ken" from Curious Marc's YT channel. No questions, just a big fan of everything these guys do!

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "I'm tired of talking about AI"

0xbadc0de5 — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:55:26 +0000

s/tired of//

New comment by 0xbadc0de5 in "'Universal cancer vaccine' trains the immune system to kill any tumor"

0xbadc0de5 — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:02:31 +0000

... in mice.

Don't get me wrong, it's encouraging to see research in this field progressing. But there is a long list of treatments that work in mice that do not work in humans.

I'll temper my enthusiasm with a healthy dose of pragmatism.