Hacker News: hiddencost

New comment by hiddencost in "Scientists warn Atlantic current at risk of shutting down"

hiddencost — Sun, 10 May 2026 16:05:13 +0000

Wishful thinking...

I wonder how people like you end up so hostile to experts.

New comment by hiddencost in "Why Almost Everyone Loses–Except a Few Sharks–On Prediction Markets"

hiddencost — Mon, 04 May 2026 13:38:16 +0000

Uhm, I'd like to introduce you to our Lord and Savior index funds. Simply buy vtsax and forget for 30 years.

New comment by hiddencost in "California to begin ticketing driverless cars that violate traffic laws"

hiddencost — Sat, 02 May 2026 19:08:01 +0000

People will change their behavior. The function of prison sentences is deterrence.

New comment by hiddencost in "AI uses less water than the public thinks"

hiddencost — Fri, 01 May 2026 18:59:16 +0000

Asking chatbots for estimates of water usage and then taking their average is a great way to alienate your audience. It's embarrassing, as well.

New comment by hiddencost in "Waymo says expecting driverless taxis to stay out of bike lanes is unrealistic"

hiddencost — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 19:44:26 +0000

Separated bike lanes. It is time.

New comment by hiddencost in "Do you want the US to "win" AI?"

hiddencost — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:18:05 +0000

The brain rot required to call the EA people evil while praising the guy that did agree to give the Pentagon autonomous weapons...

New comment by hiddencost in "The Bromine Chokepoint"

hiddencost — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:57:17 +0000

Software engineer disease: citing one misunderstood statistic to refute an extensive analysis by one of the leading experts in the field.

New comment by hiddencost in "We gave an AI a 3 year retail lease and asked it to make a profit"

hiddencost — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:23:29 +0000

Objects don't have gender in English.

New comment by hiddencost in "iPhone 17 Pro Demonstrated Running a 400B LLM"

hiddencost — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:14:40 +0000

Consumer market is small compared to headcount reduction and cutting edge science.

New comment by hiddencost in "Designing AI for Disruptive Science"

hiddencost — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 23:24:06 +0000

Nope. The edge for a lot of interesting science is difficult to use scientific software and scientists not using basic statistical techniques correctly.

New comment by hiddencost in "Waymo Safety Impact"

hiddencost — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 21:22:30 +0000

https://waymo.com/safety/impact/#methodology

Worth reviewing the methodology, rather than making stuff up.

New comment by hiddencost in "Iran war energy shock sparks global push to reduce fossil fuel dependence"

hiddencost — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:12:56 +0000

I mean given that our secretary of defense has a Deus Vult tattoo... and this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran...

I think we might be the fanatics starting a religious war.

New comment by hiddencost in "Despite Doubts, Federal Cyber Experts Approved Microsoft Cloud Service"

hiddencost — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:04:10 +0000

Basically false. They're better at health care. Better at education. Better at feeding people. Better at charity.

New comment by hiddencost in "MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security"

hiddencost — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:44:59 +0000

Their reason for existing is: they provide a source for consultants willing to work with cops and surveillance agencies.

The software exists because it's now convenient and easier to build their own than depend on a contractor.

New comment by hiddencost in "Fire the CEO, Introducing the AxO's"

hiddencost — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:46:49 +0000

New comment by hiddencost in "The United States and Israel have launched a major attack on Iran"

hiddencost — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:03:26 +0000

They're engaged in willful destruction of hospitals, they kill journalists on purpose, they have systematically blocked aid. Their friend minister recently declared an intent to eliminate all Palestinian territory.

You're just lying.

New comment by hiddencost in "Layoffs at Block"

hiddencost — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:39:51 +0000

I'd encourage anyone wondering where this perspective comes from to read "Capitalist Realism" by Mark Fisher.

New comment by hiddencost in "Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer"

hiddencost — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:54:13 +0000

Is yan anti war, anti imperialist song.

New comment by hiddencost in "Ed Zitron loses his mind annotating an AI doomer macro memo"

hiddencost — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:19:37 +0000

Disagree. He's cherry picking an extremely limited subset of numbers, based on a weak understanding of the industry and a lack of access to a lot of private data, and taking advantage of vulnerable people.

New comment by hiddencost in "Ed Zitron loses his mind annotating an AI doomer macro memo"

hiddencost — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:16:50 +0000

I've started to feel like Ed Zitron is actively hurting people I care about.

I'm lucky to have worked in the field for a long time, and be able to spend a lot of tokens. In the last month it's become clear to me that the tech works. The science is done, and what's left is engineering.

There are a lot of risks and mitigations and theory to build, but it's all solvable. The tech isn't mature, but neither was the Internet 30 years ago. And we built transatlantic cables and ran new wires to everyone's house.

People I care about, engineers with 20 years of experience, are having mental health breakdowns, caused by Zitron's work. They insist the tech will never work, and avoid learning about it, becoming progressively more paranoid and isolated. I'm trying to be supportive and help them start to recover, but it's slow going.

If someone is having a crisis about this, I hope they start talking to a therapist. I don't need them to agree with me, but I do need them to not harm themselves.