Hacker News: hbartab

New comment by hbartab in "Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?"

hbartab — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 19:24:04 +0000

You might benefit from this overview: https://ianreppel.org/a-review-of-quantum-computing-courses/

New comment by hbartab in "IonQ, Oak Ridge Researchers Use Quantum Algorithm to Solve Power Grid Problem"

hbartab — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 22:00:59 +0000

> the team was able to find low-cost solutions for power generation scheduling across a range of grid scenarios, including a model with 26 generators and a full day’s worth of hourly demand.

That does not seem like a massive problem where a quantum computer provides a clear advantage: 26 * 24 = 624 values to optimize over.

New comment by hbartab in "Duolingo CEO on going AI-first: 'I did not expect the blowback"

hbartab — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:58:09 +0000

Too many dark triad personalities rise to be CEOs. Not surprising at all. Levels of psychopathy are the same in C-suites and prisons, which is about 5x higher than in the general population.

New comment by hbartab in "What Game Theory Reveals About AI"

hbartab — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:55:35 +0000

LLMs trained on comments of selfish people who compete for likes and cheap thrills rather than collaborate online appear to behave selfishly. Well, colour me surprised.

New comment by hbartab in "Ask HN: What is your favorite quote from a book?"

hbartab — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:51:16 +0000

"To know and not to act is not to know" - Yukio Mishima from the Sea of Tranquillity tetralogy

New comment by hbartab in "Show HN: AI Roast your startup website"

hbartab — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:48:32 +0000

Also seems like a really easy way to collect ideas à la Amazon to compete (with marketplace sellers)...

Hypermultiplexed integrated photonics–based optical tensor processor

hbartab — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 13:18:48 +0000

Article URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu0228

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44200573

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

LLM-Powered Industrial Sabotage

hbartab — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 13:13:31 +0000

Article URL: https://ianreppel.org/llm-powered-industrial-sabotage/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44200516

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Ispace SMBC X Hakuto-R Venture Moon: Post Landing Conference

hbartab — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 00:14:32 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yr1a-hf7SQ

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44196764

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Brazilians will soon be able to sell their digital data

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:50:22 +0000

Article URL: https://restofworld.org/2025/brazil-dwallet-user-data-pilot/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44184135

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

MSc Artificial Intelligence and Ethics

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:11:06 +0000

Article URL: https://www.nulondon.ac.uk/degrees/postgraduate/ai-ethics/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44183748

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by hbartab in "Germany's Digital Minister wants open standards and OSS as guiding principle"

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 17:01:46 +0000

> The former manager also believes there is an urgent need for alternative offers for digital payments "that are accepted and give citizens a more secure feeling".

Honest question: have there been actual European citizens who have security concerns about digital payments or is this just politicians yapping about sovereignty? It feels as if it deflects from the real reason but I am willing to plead ignorance here.

New comment by hbartab in "Deep learning gets the glory, deep fact checking gets ignored"

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 15:03:56 +0000

AIs can write code in seconds, but you may have years of regret _if_ you believe whatever it spits out without verification. The cold-war maxim "trust, but verify" is truer than ever.

The danger behind usage of LLMs is that managers do not see the diligent work needed to ensure whatever they come up with is correct. They just see a slab of text that is a mixture of reality and confabulation, though mostly the latter, and it looks reasonable enough, so they think it is magic.

Executives who peddle this nonsense don't realize that the proper usage requires a huge amount of patience and careful checking. Not glamorous work, as the author states, but absolutely essential to get good results. Without it, you are just trusting a bullshit artist with whatever that person comes up with.

You're just not welcome: researchers grapple with plan to revoke student visas

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 14:51:36 +0000

Article URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01746-0

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44181316

Points: 9

# Comments: 1

From Steam to Silicon: Patterns of Technological Revolutions

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 14:50:12 +0000

Article URL: https://ianreppel.org/from-steam-to-silicon/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44181305

Points: 49

# Comments: 4

New comment by hbartab in "Ask HN: Has anybody built search on top of Anna's Archive?"

hbartab — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 14:49:22 +0000

Seeing as OpenAI & Co were trained on torrented books from similar places, I'm sure that ChatGPT provides an adequate search layer on top of Anna's Archive, though it is not as free from confabulations as one might hope for in a search engine.

Edit: grammar

Gen Z parents don't like reading to their kids

hbartab — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 21:20:49 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/02/gen-z-parents-reading-kids

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44163151

Points: 6

# Comments: 2

New comment by hbartab in "EU plans new mass surveillance law mandating data retention, built-in backdoors"

hbartab — Mon, 26 May 2025 16:49:11 +0000

So the indefinite retention would violate the GDPR? Sure, they can claim it's for legitimate purposes... yeah, right!

New comment by hbartab in "AI didn't take your job"

hbartab — Mon, 26 May 2025 03:06:17 +0000

Reader mode in Safari can make it readable again, though I agree it's terrible on mobile.

New comment by hbartab in "What Is the Bank of the Future"

hbartab — Mon, 26 May 2025 02:02:18 +0000

A bank is more than an app. You are responsible for people's hard-earned cash, so there is, understandably, a lot of regulation and it differs from country to country.

Speaking as a customer of a bank that thinks it knows me but clearly doesn't, I would not bet on personalization. It sounds great in boardrooms but I would prefer it if my bank app just got out of my face and didn't try so hard to be a lifestyle brand I could not care less about. I also would not trust any automated investment algorithm made by some intern.