Hacker News: Erlangolem

New comment by Erlangolem in "Is Facebook Really Scarier Than Google?"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 22:42:04 +0000

I believe FB makes something like $6.50 per user. Obviously Google makes money from users too, and given overlap it seems likely that one user is worth quite a bit annually. Average that out over lifetime value, and we’re talking thousands of dollars.

Imagine if the likes of Equifax treated silos of data as a liability instead of an asset to be milked. Properly valued, a breach of hundreds of millions of people’s data would end a business, even as large as Equifax.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Facebook tracks your private calls"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 22:35:33 +0000

I agree. Now what about engineers at Google, especially with their drone program partnership with the DOD? How about engineers at Uber making cars that are unfit for the road?Engineers in general need to either grow a spine and a conscience fast, or they need enforced ethical standards. It’s. It just Facebook, although Facebook is particularly nasty, and there is no sign of people giving upon their cushy jobs to do the right thing.

Mostly they seem happy to go public while babbling about how they’re “changing the world” as in that pitiful letter from DropBox.

New comment by Erlangolem in "The New Law That Killed Craigslist’s Personals Could End the Web as We’ve Known"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 22:32:51 +0000

In the US and most Western countries, it takes a lot of work to do what you’re describing, and there would be pushback. Going after a few people is no problem, but a whole population? No. China can do it because it’s an autocracy, with a long history of autocratic rule, strong central government and weak institutions. In the US politicians have to get re-elected.

New comment by Erlangolem in "How Genetics Is Changing Our Understanding of ‘Race’"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 14:50:55 +0000

Safartic or Ashkenazi? Both are Jews, only one is st risk of passing on Tay-Sachs. Which is the “race” hm?

New comment by Erlangolem in "The New Law That Killed Craigslist’s Personals Could End the Web as We’ve Known"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 04:47:00 +0000

Ironically it’s just these kinds of laws which may finally create a broader popular drive to re-decentralize. Those people looking for sex and drugs and whatever else aren’t going to just say, “well shit, the government said no, let’s head to church.” They’re going to look for alternatives, and alternatives will be there for them. It won’t be glossy Java-heavy “Web 2.0” of course, it will be Tor, Mastadon, and encrypted communications.

That’s the real strength of the internet, you cut of F a head and two more grow back. If more stringent laws are passed, that just creates more drive for alternatives. It’s going to be ugly, but I remember when the internet was ugly, but worked. It won’t make people filthy rich overnight, but that’s not the net either. People still want to hook up, buy guns and weed, and just talk without Big Brother breathing down their neck. It will start small, and grow fast; after all we have a few decades worth of roadmap.

People who’ve moaned about people needing to look past a handful of sites are possibly going to get their wish. The total inability for governments to field sustainable technical solutions to shutting down commas has not changed.

So fight.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Were Struggling Before Arizona Crash"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 02:59:20 +0000

If you think it’s an appeal to emotion, make a real argument in that direction, don’t bluntly state the contents of your head and move on. As it stands, you just appear morally bankrupt. I’m strongly inclined to believe that’s the case, and your inability to make a cogent argument makes me wonder about what else you’re lacking.

By the way, you may be misunderstanding “appeal to emotion” as “having emotions” and that’s worrying. I can only hope your attitude is literally pathological, and not just your personality. Either way, please never work near people, or I’m a critical system effecting people.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Seattle's New Normal: Homelessness Is Now Middle Class"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 02:49:11 +0000

In a lot of ways I envy these people; there's a lot of hardship they face with the lack of permanent address, and I can't imagine that RV living is incredibly pleasant nor cheap compared to more conventional house, but they're also untethered in ways that make living "normally" seem like the crazy proposition.

When it’s a choice you get to make, not when it’s your only choice. Don’t you have a shred of empathy? Envy them... Jesus Christ this site!

Freedom from dignity or the respect of your peers, of stability, of the ability to start or raise a family, and freedom from much of the dating pool. As a bonus you get to wonder when what little you have might vanish and you’re “free” from that too, and “free” to live on the streets.

How Much Can a Mouse Truly Reveal About Autism?

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 00:04:12 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/the-limits-of-studying-autism-in-mice/556109/?single_page=true

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16663752

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by Erlangolem in "Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Were Struggling Before Arizona Crash"

Erlangolem — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 00:00:23 +0000

I thought the point of SDV’s was that they would be radically better than human drivers? You can’t have it both ways.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Ask HN: Does HN respect the GDPR?"

Erlangolem — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 20:20:03 +0000

HN is selling HN, their associated startups, job postings, and so on.

Edit: who are they selling to? Would-be founders... you understand how the VC model works, right?

New comment by Erlangolem in "Facebook, Google spending big bucks to fight California data privacy measure"

Erlangolem — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 20:18:36 +0000

If helping the US government refine their drone strike capabilities didn’t make them realize, I think it’s fair to say they’re totally self-interested. If you want to get their attention, go after their personal bottom line.

New comment by Erlangolem in "My daughter's disabled. Please don't look away from her"

Erlangolem — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 19:41:54 +0000

I get this, and I’m sure if my kid was in this situation I’d feel the same way. For all of the kids who aren’t mine though, I can see the other poster’s point. That’s just as much a part of being human as being attached to your own offspring.

In other words, I’m not going to stare, or look away from a disabled kid. I’m also not going to invest emotionally, or go out of my way to change how I think and act day in and out for them. If someone asks me for help, I’ll help, but they’re not likely to register for me otherwise. I won’t look away, but I also won’t look; disability doesn’t make me more or less invested in strangers.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Silicon Valley's Regulatory Exceptionalism Comes to an End"

Erlangolem — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 19:36:59 +0000

You say parody, I say honest representation voted to the top of the page, on article that was knocked off the front page by flagging or mods. Part of the problem is that quite a few people here are representative of the broader industry which is full of young people who think the last decade and half are just how the world works. These are the people who look at all progress as though it must conform to Moore’s Law, and think the unregulated free-for-all of their industry so far is just how it is.

Reality is slow to catch up to new things, but it is utterly inevitable.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Silicon Valley's Regulatory Exceptionalism Comes to an End"

Erlangolem — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 19:34:06 +0000

They call them ethical standards, and if you’re being reduced to a purely semantic argument, why not just pack it in?

New comment by Erlangolem in "Silicon Valley's Regulatory Exceptionalism Comes to an End"

Erlangolem — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 15:53:37 +0000

Silicon Valley, and software engineering in general needs regulation, but it also needs to regulate itself. The whole Libertarian wet dream is fine when you’re in college, less so when you’re building self-driving cars or surveillance networks. The lack of enforced ethical standards has always been problematic, but now it’s getting dangerous.

Once you’re involved in everything from healthcare, and automobiles, to drone strikes, you’re sll grown up and the training wheels need to die. The alternative is that this pressure continues to build and the public demands extreme regulation without understanding what they’re regulsting.

Tl;dr grow up, or they’ll come for the good (encryption) along with the bad (carelessness with human lives a la Uber).

New comment by Erlangolem in "“Joy of Cooking” versus the Food Scientist"

Erlangolem — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:38:50 +0000

In the same way that correcting a headline seems to hurt media.

New comment by Erlangolem in "Facebook Is Not the Internet's Only Privacy Villain"

Erlangolem — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:35:43 +0000

Unless you use one of the free options to block them, like uMatrix. It’s easy, it requires little or no effort. My bigger concern with FB is what they learn about me from people other than myself; I can’t control thst at all.

New comment by Erlangolem in "[dead]"

Erlangolem — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 13:37:54 +0000

I think it’s safe to say the trust is dead. Moreover, the media has taken a huge hit over the years because of Facebook, and if you think they haven’t been sharpening their knives for this day, you haven’t been paying attention. He played a dangerous game and won for a while, but his blood is in the water and the media is a pack of sharks.

The public is going to be reminded of Facebook’s every immoral decision, and this fits into the growing narrative of tech=dangerous” which has been developing.

Harpooning Space Junk Isn’t as Crazy as It Sounds

Erlangolem — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 13:32:17 +0000

Article URL: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/space-harpoon-junk-in-orbit

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16637826

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by Erlangolem in "Zuckerberg summoned to House Of Commons inquiry"

Erlangolem — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 02:43:49 +0000

Fine, I'm being pointless and stupid. But if you don't care who you're giving your data too then don't expect me to care next time it ends up with someone you didn't want.

I’ve never had a Facebook account, yet friends and family do, and through them they can get info on me. You don’t have to care though, and I’ll just get with not caring about you. Meanwhile the public at large is starting to care, and your attitude won’t impress them any more than it does me.