Hacker News: SketchySeaBeast

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Disney+ and Hulu raise prices by up to 13 percent after doubling profits"

SketchySeaBeast — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:49:59 +0000

> after doubling profits

They don't care about pushing SOME people to piracy as long as line goes up.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "AI chatbots becoming experts at changing people's minds. What's their secret?"

SketchySeaBeast — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:37:21 +0000

That would indicate that the original comment failed then, didn't it?

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "More than 100k people in Japan are now aged 100 or older"

SketchySeaBeast — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:30 +0000

If we're talking about the extremely elderly, it seems better for them to be taking public transport than driving.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Don't Just Say Hello"

SketchySeaBeast — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 20:36:01 +0000

The thing with a messaging "hello" is it doesn't provide much of that information. You're only able to evaluate the time commitment and urgency by having the content of the request - a "Hello" ping on instant messenger is an attention stealer but it prevents the reader from being able to triage. It commits them to paying attention and waiting for at least part of a conversation that they may or may not have time for.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Canada welcomes EU proposal to become 'associate member'"

SketchySeaBeast — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:09:22 +0000

Not just losing support, but his poor leadership managed to hand the liberals a majority months after the election.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder tells BBC"

SketchySeaBeast — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:31:35 +0000

And the malware won't be subject to the kill switch.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder tells BBC"

SketchySeaBeast — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:38:56 +0000

If someone has a fat client powerful enough to do all that, is a kill switch going to work? If we assume there's bad actors using the tech, why wouldn't there be bad actors building it?

But if we don't think about any of this, hearing an expert say "we need a kill switch" sure makes our current AI seem super powerful and exciting, doesn't it?

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder tells BBC"

SketchySeaBeast — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:35:22 +0000

I'm simply saying if we want to shut LLMs down we can do so without high tech kill switch - just shut down the facilities. But if a private user has an open model that is powerful enough to wreak havoc and run privately, then the whole point is moot because they can work around the kill switch. This kill switch won't work against bad actors.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder tells BBC"

SketchySeaBeast — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:23:50 +0000

This feels like doom hype.

These LLMs aren't Ultron, they aren't going to disseminate onto the net and hide in a smart toaster. We know where they are, in the giant facilities that draw more power than a small city and whose water consumption can be compared to golf courses, but it does make them sound all the more cool and powerful if we suggest we need a dramatic kill switch to be able to stop them in case of rampage.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Super El Niño Keeps Growing as New Forecasts Reach Record Territory Ahead Winter"

SketchySeaBeast — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:59:43 +0000

A plant? You've lost me.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Super El Niño Keeps Growing as New Forecasts Reach Record Territory Ahead Winter"

SketchySeaBeast — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:55:40 +0000

Sure. We're all going to die some day, but I'll bet you still look before you cross the street.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Super El Niño Keeps Growing as New Forecasts Reach Record Territory Ahead Winter"

SketchySeaBeast — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:24:22 +0000

I think you're missing my point though - no matter what we're walking towards extinction. You yourself are suggesting we delay matters by fleeing the planet, but it isn't stopping heat death.

I'm also aware that one day I'm going to die, but that doesn't mean that hoping to live as long as possible.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Super El Niño Keeps Growing as New Forecasts Reach Record Territory Ahead Winter"

SketchySeaBeast — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 20:58:21 +0000

Even if we leave the planet we're going to go extinct anyways, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to slow it down.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Cursor is now a part of SpaceX"

SketchySeaBeast — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:23:06 +0000

How long until he names a company "E" just so he can giggle about the name?

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "How I use LLMs to learn complex topics"

SketchySeaBeast — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 20:03:35 +0000

> I still learn new stuff, but I’m afraid it won’t have any value in a year or so.

This is silly. This would be like arguing that encyclopedias made knowing things pointless. I learn new stuff for me.

Professionally, it's important to know enough to know if you're going in the correct direction. Practically, tokens are going to continue to cost money and knowledge can save you tokens.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Lost my phone at the office. Claude suggested tracking Bluetooth signal strength"

SketchySeaBeast — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 16:09:45 +0000

Good luck to future models figuring out which weird section of code are bugs and which are features.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers"

SketchySeaBeast — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:32:41 +0000

Isn't it also not the direct customer purchasing the insurance, but their employer, who also has to pay into the pot and so is incentivized to find cheap options? (I'm not 100% on this - I'm not American.)

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers"

SketchySeaBeast — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:22:10 +0000

> Do you think that there is some health care system in which all requests for care can be approved without limit?

I'm not going to wade into the murder tag, but is this the actual incentive? The health care execs don't have enough money to save everyone so they pick who they can help strategically, making sure to help as many as possible, or is the system incentivized to instead maximize finding who can be denied so that the company makes the most money?

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "The most official water costs $120k a gallon"

SketchySeaBeast — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 18:48:38 +0000

There's nothing stopping the use of decimal points for Celsius. Though there's also nothing stopping decimal points in Fahrenheit, the rare instance where an imperial sub-unit doesn't make things go fucky.

New comment by SketchySeaBeast in "Why DNA damage from smoking and UV rays cause cancer in some but not others"

SketchySeaBeast — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 15:59:14 +0000

I understand that entirely. I'm saying that the way that GP is presenting their information it sounds like a "one neat trick", which of course it isn't because nothing ever is, which you and I are in agreement upon.