Hacker News: Robotbeat

New comment by Robotbeat in "AI overly affirms users asking for personal advice"

Robotbeat — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 21:21:35 +0000

Someone has a chart somewhere that shows responses in that subreddit getting more and more anti-conciliatory over time. I think it’s online misanthropy (measured by Reddit responses) increasing over time rather than it being objectively never the correct choice.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Discontinuation and reinitiation of dual-labeled GLP-1 receptor agonists"

Robotbeat — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:34:39 +0000

Kind of makes sense that stopping taking a drug that reduces heart attack and stroke risk leads to a return to the higher risk of before.

New comment by Robotbeat in "AI coding is gambling"

Robotbeat — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:56:57 +0000

I dunno, browsing McMaster-Carr feels like both shopping and creating at the same time.

Typing is just choosing from the latent space something special, too. Could just be random words, or, even fewer, random grammatically correct sentences.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Honda is killing its EVs"

Robotbeat — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 11:14:05 +0000

In my experience, it does actually work. Tesla model s had an issue with the flash memory endurance, and the NHTSA made them replace it. Which they did, and upgraded the 3G modem to LTE while they were at it. My 2013 Model S is still going strong, still gets software updates.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Electric motor scaling laws and inertia in robot actuators"

Robotbeat — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 04:57:20 +0000

Even copper has vastly lower resistance when cryogenically cooled. It's not a bad idea for some applications, and water cooling is already a good way to increase power density.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock"

Robotbeat — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 04:56:17 +0000

I feel like people in these comments and commentators in general are just kind of ignoring the fact that the US produces more helium than Qatar, and in fact more helium than the entire Middle East combined, nearly 50% of the global total. The sale of the "helium reserve" is (mostly) irrelevant as well, because there's massive domestic helium production. https://www.wmi.badw.de/the-institute/helium-liquefaction-pl...

I get that the current situation is stupid, but can we at least be accurate? Qatar is FAR from the only source of helium. (And yes, helium of any type can be purified to high levels. That's also not just a Qatar thing.)

New comment by Robotbeat in "Topological Naming Problem"

Robotbeat — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:13:55 +0000

This isn’t accurate. FreeCAD merged the main changes from that fork (RealThunder) to fix (well, mitigate) the problem. That’s the big thing with 1.0.

Although… as others have noted, this is a problem with basically all CAD packages, as on a fundamental level, it depends on user design intent. Just some have enough bandaids that it’s more rare.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Days numbered for 'risky' lithium-ion batteries"

Robotbeat — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:33:46 +0000

No, “rare earth minerals” are referring to an exact section of the periodic table, referring to exactly 17 elements, like “lanthanide series” or “noble gases”. It is a technical term, not a descriptive one. Lithium is not in the list.

You’re also wrong about lithium’s availability, but that’s another story.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Days numbered for 'risky' lithium-ion batteries"

Robotbeat — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:02:13 +0000

Lithium is not a rare earth mineral. Huge pet peeve. This is a technical term. It’s also not particularly rare.

New comment by Robotbeat in "Copyright winter is coming (to Wikipedia?)"

Robotbeat — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 04:39:38 +0000

So if OpenAI stayed a non-profit, they'd be okay?

New comment by Robotbeat in "Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence"

Robotbeat — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 03:16:47 +0000

So, the Golden Rule?

New comment by Robotbeat in "Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence"

Robotbeat — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 01:06:36 +0000

I mean… what is the assumed replacement, then? Residual moral sensibilities from our obsolete judeochristian heritage?

New comment by Robotbeat in "Anthropic agrees to pay $1.5B to settle lawsuit with book authors"

Robotbeat — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 20:43:30 +0000

Wait, DID they admit guilt? A lot of times companies settle without admitting guilt.

New comment by Robotbeat in "The US Department of Agriculture Bans Support for Renewables"

Robotbeat — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 18:37:50 +0000

You underestimate how making something illegal can stop the thing in that country. Look at a place like Germany, blocking fracking and nuclear power and now reliant on Russian gas.

New comment by Robotbeat in "4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program"

Robotbeat — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 14:36:56 +0000

FWIW, this is the brainworm faction that fought the techbro faction and got them kicked out of the throne room. Think Russell Vought and the OMB, not Elon. Elon registered his disapproval of the huge science cuts in the President’s budget request. The nominated techbro NASA administrator was cancelled because he wasn’t anti-science enough.

New comment by Robotbeat in "4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program"

Robotbeat — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 14:32:00 +0000

Nope, this is Russell Vought and the OMB. The anti-tech-bro group (the brainworm faction, courtesy of RFK Jr) that fought with Elon and successfully got him kicked out of the throne room. Elon registered his opposition to the huge science cuts at NASA in the President’s budget request.

New comment by Robotbeat in "4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program"

Robotbeat — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 14:03:03 +0000

The satellite industry in the US is larger than ever, FWIW.

Between Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, plus a gazillion startups like Astranis, K2 Space, etc, not to mention defense satellites, there has never been a time when more satellites have been launched by the U.S.

I think your friend will be fine. The real issue is the capability loss for NASA.

New comment by Robotbeat in "NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft begins taxi tests"

Robotbeat — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 15:45:24 +0000

Then I’d count Overture, too, I guess.

New comment by Robotbeat in "NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft begins taxi tests"

Robotbeat — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 15:37:31 +0000

Accurate

New comment by Robotbeat in "Nasa’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft begins taxi tests"

Robotbeat — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 14:32:16 +0000

Neither of those parentheticals are acute.