Hacker News: Grambo

New comment by Grambo in "Book review: There is no antimemetics division"

Grambo — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:11:41 +0000

I loved the Southern Reach trilogy but didn't finish TINAD. I thought the premise was pushed too far and that less would've been more. OTOH the atmosphere of oppressive bureaucracy of Authority is still one my all time favorite scifi reads.

New comment by Grambo in "Samsung “space zoom” moon shots are fake, and here is the proof"

Grambo — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 14:58:09 +0000

This is actually exactly what happened during the Kyle Rittenhouse case. A lawyer for the defense tried to question video evidence because of AI being used to enhance zoomed shots.

New comment by Grambo in "So you want to study mathematics"

Grambo — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 21:44:35 +0000

I experienced something like this recently. I struggled to grasp linear algebra when I took it in undergrad and as a result was always intimidated by the subject. Now, years later, I'm taking a course in graphics and naturally needing to relearn linear algebra and suddenly everything just clicks.

New comment by Grambo in "Acute aerobic exercise to recover from mental exhaustion"

Grambo — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 15:59:20 +0000

Reminds me of the fact that Alan Turing was a world class distance runner. He would sometimes run commute 40 miles for meetings.

New comment by Grambo in "Groups never admit failure"

Grambo — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 03:20:06 +0000

There was a recent story about the Air Force trying to kill off one of their most cost effective aircraft, whether that's evidence of a "fighter mafia" or not is debatable, but it does show the USAF's proclivity for expensive high-tech over cost effective platforms.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-reaper-drone-retir...

New comment by Grambo in "If memristors act like neurons, put them in neural networks"

Grambo — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 15:38:04 +0000

My understanding of the use of FPGAs and ASICs that are used to speed up neural networks (such as those in phones) is that they are simply designed to do the types of calculations used for NNs more quickly (matrix operations) and generally at a reduced level of precision. This is very different from a memristor approach where the structure of the network itself would be represented in the silicon. I also think it's unfair to compare the two because it took decades of work to get CMOS transistors to where they are today. I imagine that once commercial applications for memristors appear many optimizations/improvements will present themselves.

New comment by Grambo in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

Grambo — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 16:59:34 +0000

Actually I think there's a reason for this. I took a cognitive science class once where our professor said that many believe that the portion of the brain responsible for recognizing faces is separate from the portion that does all other visual recognition. Perhaps that's why people have a hard time remembering what a face looks like. It's also why some people can lose their ability to recognize faces but can still recognize all other objects.

New comment by Grambo in "Post-Mortem for Google Compute Engine’s Global Outage on April 11"

Grambo — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 18:01:52 +0000

Actually they have to be significantly safer than driving today. People would rather be unsafe and in control than not in control and a tiny bit safer. I know personally if a self driving car could only drive as well as I could then I'd still want to be the one driving.