Hacker News: greggoB

New comment by greggoB in "Can the stockmarket swallow Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI?"

greggoB — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 06:58:41 +0000

So then what is the point of them seeking to do an IPO, if they are already capitalized?

New comment by greggoB in "US healthcare still stupidly expensive, with pathetic outcomes, study finds"

greggoB — Sun, 31 May 2026 23:04:55 +0000

I challenge you to be more obvious with your attempt at baiting

New comment by greggoB in "Meta legal action forces Meta whistleblower to stay silent at Hay book festival"

greggoB — Sun, 31 May 2026 19:56:29 +0000

I see this is a continuation of a longer running story:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43780363

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43440449

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47639524

I certainly feel motivated to pick up her book and talk about it with everyone I know now, having seen the extent of Meta's disgusting behaviour in trying to bury her (and others).

New comment by greggoB in "Valve raises Steam Deck prices"

greggoB — Thu, 28 May 2026 20:53:09 +0000

Sure, but 1) they're clearly being quite facetious with the above, and 2) it is also pretty clearly contextualised by the rest of what they said, which is making an equally sarcastic comment about how much AI is costing society.

The overall template is "look at how much we're giving away, but hey guess it's worth it for ".

Instead of immediately listing off whatever instance AI has shown some value in isolation, it might be worth considering its net effect on society as a whole. IMO that picture is not so rosy.

New comment by greggoB in "Valve raises Steam Deck prices"

greggoB — Thu, 28 May 2026 06:03:33 +0000

If that's how your comment was meant, it seems an odd reply to the parent comment, which is firmly critical of AI's impact on society, not really debating about the progress of the technology.

New comment by greggoB in "Valve raises Steam Deck prices"

greggoB — Wed, 27 May 2026 21:15:42 +0000

> something that few years ago was decades away.

There's no way of knowing this - I see articles fairly often on HN of mathematicians (sometimes grad students or younger) solving problems where progress previously had stalled.

New comment by greggoB in "Hardware Attestation as Monopoly Enabler"

greggoB — Sun, 10 May 2026 19:35:46 +0000

Probably some combination of all three.

New comment by greggoB in "LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb"

greggoB — Fri, 08 May 2026 09:37:59 +0000

I'm not convinced this person is far-right, but even so there are smarter ways of repudiating them, that's all I'm saying.

New comment by greggoB in "LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb"

greggoB — Fri, 08 May 2026 07:41:36 +0000

I wouldn't take them too seriously, there's strong indication that they're just trolling for the lols and aren't interested in an actually substantive discussion.

New comment by greggoB in "LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb"

greggoB — Fri, 08 May 2026 05:34:42 +0000

Why don't you want to talk to me about London anymore D:

New comment by greggoB in "Hardening Firefox with Claude Mythos Preview"

greggoB — Thu, 07 May 2026 19:58:46 +0000

> Firefox deserves to be used more

Totally agree. I even go as far as choosing which website I make purchases on depending if they work on FF, or writing to support occasionally to tell them it's not supported or a feature isn't working properly and this would be appreciated.

I know it pretty much always goes nowhere, but I feel it's what I can do to keep the browser somehow on the radar.

New comment by greggoB in "LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb"

greggoB — Thu, 07 May 2026 19:50:17 +0000

Despite Brexit propaganda, the UK still has bureaucrats and regulation. Try again :)

Edit: in case this was an attempted swipe at me, I'm not British, btw ;)

New comment by greggoB in "LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb"

greggoB — Thu, 07 May 2026 13:30:25 +0000

Nobody's holding a gun to your head, you're welcome to setup shop in the most anarchist society you can find. Good luck with whatever version of "operating" you're able to manage while there :)

New comment by greggoB in "LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb"

greggoB — Thu, 07 May 2026 12:59:16 +0000

> It’s a very European concept, that making life difficult is a worthy pursuit

This is an incredibly bold statement, and something I really cannot relate to having lived in Europe for over a decade.

It comes across as more of a knee-jerk reaction from someone who believes oversight or accountability of any kind is by definition a needless burden.

New comment by greggoB in "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

greggoB — Thu, 07 May 2026 07:53:26 +0000

I understand where you're coming from, but what you're describing is why they don't want or have to, not why they can't, which is specifically what I'm focused on as I think we otherwise just take these being the same thing as a baseline assumption, which is obviously not the case.

We need to be clear that this isn't a technical limitation on the part of these companies, and them choosing to pursue this modus operandi is purely for their own convenience at the cost of the user.

New comment by greggoB in "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

greggoB — Wed, 06 May 2026 20:18:40 +0000

This doesn't explain why it is beyond their ability to expressly ask for it, or notify the user in any way. Very literal example of the one not precluding the other.

New comment by greggoB in "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

greggoB — Tue, 05 May 2026 20:22:20 +0000

And the reason they can't do something as simple and easy as ask for consent is...?

New comment by greggoB in "House GOP concedes in DHS funding fight, reopening TSA but blocking ICE funds"

greggoB — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:40:23 +0000

Hopefully this time it lasts - over the past 10+ years I've witnessed them occasionally find it, only to lose it again relatively quickly. Now the stakes are too high to repeat this pattern.

New comment by greggoB in "How ChatGPT serves ads"

greggoB — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:15:57 +0000

It's a paradox: on the one hand, if we were dumb en masse, it's hard to see how we could have developed so far technologically and cultivated such complex societies.

On the other: I have to agree with you, there is too much of a pattern of bewildering behaviour not to.

I think what irks me is this idea that deceiving people to push them towards a specific outcome is a reliable and sound strategy, when we've seen many instances of it having the opposite effect.

New comment by greggoB in "How ChatGPT serves ads"

greggoB — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 07:23:13 +0000

Your question seems to imply that people have to be corralled towards a specific action, which to me comes across as rather cynical.

Why is it not possible to lay out your arguments honestly and let people decide on the merits?