Hacker News: 6177c40f

New comment by 6177c40f in "How to survive boiling water"

6177c40f — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 05:05:00 +0000

Suit yourself, I often wish I could form spores, desiccate, and rehydrate at a more appealing time.

New comment by 6177c40f in "How to survive boiling water"

6177c40f — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:57:55 +0000

However, to bring it full circle, Deinococcus radiodurans does not form spores!

New comment by 6177c40f in "Maybe there's a pattern here?"

6177c40f — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 03:21:34 +0000

Reminds me a quote from Gibson's Spook Country: "That's something that tends to happen with new technologies generally: the most interesting applications turn up on the battlefield, or in a gallery."

The Adaptyv binder design competition (2024)

6177c40f — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 19:25:12 +0000

Article URL: https://blog.booleanbiotech.com/adaptyv-binder-design-competition

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46661175

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by 6177c40f in "Scott Adams has died"

6177c40f — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 19:57:21 +0000

I find AI replies to generally be less annoying and more constructive than comments like this, TBH.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

6177c40f — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 03:04:18 +0000

I think we might make new jobs, but maybe not enough. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we get good at sharing wealth over the next few years. Maybe something like UBI will become so obviously necessary that it becomes politically feasible, I don't know. I suspect we'll probably limp along for awhile in mediocrity. Then we'll die. Same as it ever was. The important thing is to have fun with it.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

6177c40f — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 03:02:06 +0000

Sharpen sticks, hoard water maybe? We were always going to die someday, I don't see how this changes things.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

6177c40f — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:28:34 +0000

You say this like it's some kind of ominous revelation, but that's just how capitalism works? Yeah, prepare for the future. All things are impermanent.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

6177c40f — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 19:01:17 +0000

More indirection in the sense that there's a layer between you and the code, sure. Less in that the code doesn't really matter as such and you're not having to think hard about the minutiae of programming in order to make something you want. It's very possible that "AI-oriented" programming languages will become the standard eventually (at least for new projects).

New comment by 6177c40f in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

6177c40f — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 18:27:29 +0000

I think we're entering a world where programmers as such won't really exist (except perhaps in certain niches). Being able to program (and read code, in particular) will probably remain useful, though diminished in value. What will matter more is your ability to actually create things, using whatever tools are necessary and available, and have them actually be useful. Which, in a way, is the same as it ever was. There's just less indirection involved now.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

6177c40f — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 18:23:14 +0000

Cheaper than hiring another developer, probably. My experience: for a few dollars I was able to extensively refactor a Python codebase in half a day. This otherwise would have taken multiple days of very tedious work.

AI could enable catastrophic pandemics

6177c40f — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 22:07:01 +0000

Article URL: https://bluedot.org/blog/how-ai-could-enable-catastrophic-pandemics

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893543

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

An illustrated history of the deadliest epidemics (2023)

6177c40f — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 01:13:54 +0000

Article URL: https://thebulletin.org/2023/01/deadliest-pandemics/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45882979

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Some common viruses may steeply raise risk of cardiovascular disease

6177c40f — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:16:22 +0000

Article URL: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1103173

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45828842

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by 6177c40f in "Civics is boring, so, let's encrypt something (2024)"

6177c40f — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 21:01:12 +0000

So, if we were to implement what this author is proposing, governments would be allowed to jail people indefinitely simply because they used effectively unbreakable encryption- regardless of whether what they encrypted was illegal (or evidence of a crime)? Because if so, that is absolutely unacceptable in any society that would call itself free.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Why are there so many rationalist cults?"

6177c40f — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 01:49:26 +0000

> his perspective radically to lack merit

What perspective would that be?

New comment by 6177c40f in "Why are there so many rationalist cults?"

6177c40f — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 01:25:34 +0000

I mean, as a rationalist, I can assure you it's not nearly as sinister a group as you seem to make it out to be, believe it or not. Besides, the explanation is simpler than this article makes it out to be- most rationalists are from California, California is the origin of lots of cults.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Why are there so many rationalist cults?"

6177c40f — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 01:07:16 +0000

You're right, I misread you.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Why are there so many rationalist cults?"

6177c40f — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 01:06:47 +0000

I think it's a meaningful distinction- most rationalists aren't running murder cults.

New comment by 6177c40f in "Why are there so many rationalist cults?"

6177c40f — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 17:56:25 +0000

No, the downvotes are because rationalism isn't a cult and people take offense to being blatantly insulted. This article is about cults that are rationalism-adjacent, it's not claiming that rationalism is itself a cult.