Hacker News: DFHippie

New comment by DFHippie in "Citing 'severe' math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM"

DFHippie — Thu, 28 May 2026 17:47:32 +0000

I think you also named Alabama's problems. It's one of the poorest states and seems bound and determined to stay that way.

New comment by DFHippie in "The hypocrisy of cyberlibertarianism"

DFHippie — Mon, 11 May 2026 10:47:42 +0000

> A rich person and a poor person can train LLMs on copyrighted material in 2026.

Updating an old adage for the modern age:

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.” ― Anatole France

New comment by DFHippie in "Richard Dawkins: Claude (for one) has 'passed' the Turing Test"

DFHippie — Thu, 07 May 2026 18:36:10 +0000

The problem the Turing test was meant to solve is that we had, and still have, no means of recognizing a conscious mechanism. We lack a theory of consciousness that can be used to make a better test than "It could fool me", so the Turing test accepts that as the test.

In other words, the mechanism may be what consciousness is about, but we can't say anything useful about this as relates to consciousness.

New comment by DFHippie in "Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense"

DFHippie — Thu, 07 May 2026 15:49:39 +0000

Somebody, in a conversation of which there will be no record, told him it was a good idea, telling him it would be quick, he would be lauded as a hero, there would be vast mineral riches, etc. This person wanted to break up NATO, but this wasn't part of the sales pitch, I imagine.

New comment by DFHippie in "The Onion to Take over InfoWars"

DFHippie — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:32:33 +0000

What is your threshold for rich and influential? You don't have to have Musk money to have sufficient pull to escape the consequences most people would face for action X. I don't think this is a difficult or controversial observation.

If you're net worth is above $15 million or so in the US, your in the 99th percentile. There are many orders of magnitude between you and Bezos, but you're rich. And if you have a media empire that is watched by millions, you're influential.

New comment by DFHippie in "The abandoned war: Why no one is stopping the genocide in Sudan"

DFHippie — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:19:56 +0000

After a few hundred years historical injustices move down the priority list. France isn't seeking reparations from Italy for the conquest of Gaul, for example.

New comment by DFHippie in "German police name alleged leaders of GandCrab and REvil ransomware groups"

DFHippie — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:16:37 +0000

I agree that our economic system is cold, transactional, and cruel. The problem kinder systems always face is that the people indifferent to the cruelty of capitalism, exemplified by these extortionists, are still there in the alternative system. The alternative must develop countermeasures or fail. The countermeasures replicate the cold transactional cruelty of capitalism.

This isn't to say all countries are doing equally well or poorly, just that countries that came closest to eliminating what we call businesses were not generally regarded as kind, compassionate paradises by the people who lived there.

You sound depressed. I wish you well. I wish the world were kinder to idealists. May you find a supportive community within the indifferent wider world.

New comment by DFHippie in "German police name alleged leaders of GandCrab and REvil ransomware groups"

DFHippie — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:12:50 +0000

That seems beside the point. The ransomware extortionists aren't doing a utilitarian calculation and transferring funds from Exxon to Oxfam. They're taking money where they can and using it to fund a lavish lifestyle and more extortion. In particular, they aren't channeling it towards transforming any society into one in which basic needs are met by something other than jobs and businesses of the familiar sort. The extortionists cause suffering. They parasitize other people's labor. Their acts have actual, identifiable victims. The escorts serving them Moët at their birthday parties funded by other people's suffering aren't doing it for fun, love, or charity. For the escorts, it's a job.

New comment by DFHippie in "German police name alleged leaders of GandCrab and REvil ransomware groups"

DFHippie — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:29:04 +0000

If a business is destroyed by ransomware, all its employees lose their jobs. The business's customers lose the services the business was providing. The families supported by these jobs are now all at risk.

All that money goes somewhere. Much of it goes towards clothing, feeding, and housing people. Also, in most places it's a crime to rob anyone, even selfish assholes.

New comment by DFHippie in "Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz"

DFHippie — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 23:15:22 +0000

So Indivisible, which planned the protest, knew the US was going to attack Iran months in advance and plotted this protest to distract from it? What strategic masterminds! What opsec! The left always seemed so fractious and disorganized, but they were just wily, biding their time. But, why?

Seriously, I'm sure you're smart enough to know this is absurd. Just sit down and think about it a bit.

New comment by DFHippie in "A laser-based process that enables adhesive-free paper packaging"

DFHippie — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:44:07 +0000

Hydrocarbons are not carbohydrates.

New comment by DFHippie in "90% of crypto's Illinois primary spending failed to achieve its objective"

DFHippie — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:26:51 +0000

It's not quite like that, though. 90% of their funding supported candidates that lost or opposed candidates that won -- they opposed the winning outcome. They supported the winning outcome with the remaining 10% of their funds, but here they pushed on the side of the contest which was already a lock anyway. So it isn't clear that any of the money they spent achieved anything.

New comment by DFHippie in "Silicon Valley's "Pronatalists" Killed WFH. The Strait of Hormuz Brought It Back"

DFHippie — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:35:54 +0000

Most people in Silicon valley also are not Musk, Zuck, or Andreesen.

New comment by DFHippie in "Silicon Valley's "Pronatalists" Killed WFH. The Strait of Hormuz Brought It Back"

DFHippie — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:31:06 +0000

Saying you don't think declining birth rates is the highest priority does not mean you think people should not have children.

New comment by DFHippie in "Silicon Valley's "Pronatalists" Killed WFH. The Strait of Hormuz Brought It Back"

DFHippie — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:28:47 +0000

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

-- W. B. Yeats

New comment by DFHippie in "Boy I was wrong about the Fediverse"

DFHippie — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:23:23 +0000

Because the US was threatening to take over Greenland by force maybe? There's a reason Denmark rushed soldiers there.

New comment by DFHippie in "Global warming has accelerated significantly"

DFHippie — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 22:38:18 +0000

Give Germany time. The US and Russia have forced them to rearm.

New comment by DFHippie in "U.S. science agency moves to restrict foreign scientists from its labs"

DFHippie — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:29:38 +0000

> believe in an "interior enemy" (for MAGA it's the deep state)

It's their neighbors, not the "deep state". Renee Good and Alex Pretti were the enemy within. People in inflatable costumes or pussy hats are the enemy within. Uppity kids in high school who get thrown to the drown and put in a choke hold. People filming ice on public streets. They are the enemy within to MAGA. It isn't distant and abstract. It's personal.

New comment by DFHippie in "The normalization of corruption in organizations (2003) [pdf]"

DFHippie — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:40:40 +0000

I'm skeptical that the nobility were ever particularly noble in the eyes of the commoners.

New comment by DFHippie in "The normalization of corruption in organizations (2003) [pdf]"

DFHippie — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 16:00:09 +0000

This. I think so much of the fascism and corruption afoot in the world comes from people who believe they deserve things they are incompetent to get. Their sense of entitlement is in conflict with their competence and unrestrained by concern for others. To soothe their ego wound they project their faults onto the person who has what they want. "It isn't my failure; it's your trickery!" Now instead of shame and impotence they feel righteous anger.