Hacker News: bnlxbnlx

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:51:58 +0000

> there's a fair point to be made that Polymarket and similar sites are not fundamentally different from e.g. sports betting.

not fundamentally different as in "live or die" you mean? the whole point of sports is that you compete whilst appreciating each others' humanity.

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Jeff Bezos wants Washington Post’s newsroom budget halved, productivity doubled"

bnlxbnlx — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 08:26:16 +0000

by now [1], yes. but in my experience not a very popular view on HN. expect downvotes.

[1] i find peter thiel's speech at libertopia in 2010 a great early reflection of that shift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgH7Lv2gQdk

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Willingness to look stupid"

bnlxbnlx — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 08:52:32 +0000

> I keep thinking about the version of me from a few years ago. He was worse at almost everything. Worse writer, worse thinker, worse at making things. Nobody really knew him and nobody really cared what he had to say. And yet he had so much more courage.

I would not agree that that earlier version had necessarily more courage. If no one cared than the associated risk is also lower, and thus less courage needed.

I overall agree with how important the courage to do stuff that might make you look stupid is, though.

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Show HN: Global Maritime Chokepoints"

bnlxbnlx — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 07:14:02 +0000

there is a bypass to the Danish Straits: the Kiel Canal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_Canal

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "My journey to the microwave alternate timeline"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:25:59 +0000

a surprising amount of people disagree with that!

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "New Nick Bostrom Paper: Optimal Timing for Superintelligence [pdf]"

bnlxbnlx — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 07:51:53 +0000

> Yudkowsky and Soares maintain that if anyone builds AGI, everyone dies. One could equally maintain that if nobody builds it, everyone dies. In fact, most people are already dead. The rest of us are on course to follow within a few short decades. For many individuals—such as the elderly and the gravely ill—the end is much closer. Part of the promise of superintelligence is that it might fundamentally change this condition.

wtf? death is part of life. is he seriously arguing that if we don't build AGI people will "keep dying"? and suggesting that is equally bad as extinction (or something worse, matrix-like)?

i don't think life would be as colorful and joyful without death. death is what makes life as precious as it is.

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "The Falkirk Wheel"

bnlxbnlx — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:53:02 +0000

i believe the self-balancing properties are a core aspect of any (boat) lift, whether rotating or not.

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Zulip.com Values"

bnlxbnlx — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 19:27:53 +0000

i love zulip for so many things, and in particular the topic-first paradigm.

and as long as it doesn't offer voice messages i keep going back to signal (or similar). for small groups i often find voice messages to be easiest (totally not for big groups, i agree!).

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Sometimes your job is to stay the hell out of the way"

bnlxbnlx — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 11:41:26 +0000

i'm supporting a small org with their decision making and feedback systems.

reading this post, i see that the founder (already in his 60s) is in many ways that "Wolf" as described here, and he's not great at managing the team around him.

any suggestions what structure/ team set up is working well in such a scenario?

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Nonviolence"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:35:49 +0000

intrigued by this. i've spent a lot of timer over the last years with very committed nonviolence folks, and i keep wondering about the conditions for this to work.

can you recommend any sources that discuss this idea?

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Nonviolence"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:34:01 +0000

I've spent a lot of time with people who seem themselves operating within ML Kings lineage and have their lives committed to this kind of nonviolence work, and they defintely operate from within the an "agape mindset", even though they wouldn't frame it like that.

in my understanding some people use 'non-violence' to describe the more utilitarian version, and 'noniovlence' for that which exits the entire 'domination paradigm'

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Nonviolence"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:30:57 +0000

> I have read very many people claim this and exactly zero reasons provided by them why I should believe it is true.

could you share some sources where people have discussed this? i'd like to understand their reasoning better

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Nonviolence"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:16:44 +0000

I think the specific condition here is "change that someone else is willing to prevent using violence". I guess that is not present too often during everyday life.

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere"

bnlxbnlx — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 10:05:43 +0000

desktop only: https://fraidyc.at/

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "If AI replaces workers, should it also pay taxes?"

bnlxbnlx — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:10:09 +0000

I don't think they were thinking of "no government", rather something like "government working in support of capital" (see 2008 financial crisis bank bail-outs; enforcing private ownership and protecting accumulated wealth).

New comment by bnlxbnlx in ""Localhost tracking" explained. It could cost Meta €32B"

bnlxbnlx — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:59:02 +0000

I think (haven't actually watched it, but on my watchlist) this is exactly what the movie "The Corporation" (2003) [1] lays out.

[1] https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0379225

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Ask HN: How do you backup your Android?"

bnlxbnlx — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 22:59:08 +0000

Same for me

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "The psychonaut field manual [pdf]"

bnlxbnlx — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 21:05:52 +0000

Are there any studies out there that managed to replicate their results? Anyone aware of any they could share?

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Mars Exploration: How the CIA's Project Stargate Went to Mars [pdf]"

bnlxbnlx — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 21:04:21 +0000

Interesting, I went a little down the rabbit hole.

And it's not what I'm actually looking for. I'm looking for controlled studies with a falsifiable hypothesis and a detailed section on the study design :)

I've spent some time looking for such studies and I didn't find anything (convincing). So if anyone has something to share, I'd appreciate that

New comment by bnlxbnlx in "Mars Exploration: How the CIA's Project Stargate Went to Mars [pdf]"

bnlxbnlx — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 10:29:18 +0000

Am I understanding you correctly in that for you this isn't controversial, because it's clear from today's/some future's standpoint that RV does work?

Do you have any other sources on that? I would imagine someone replicated this...