Hacker News: jaybrendansmith

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears"

jaybrendansmith — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 01:51:28 +0000

When do we get to the part where we all collectively wake up and realize they are the enemy of the American People? You know, the part with the guillotines?

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Magnifica Humanitas"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 30 May 2026 15:07:09 +0000

I am not defending the Catholic Church! I am defending a single publication...if a stopped clock is accurate twice a day, I celebrate that moment.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "WH proposes rules giving political appointees final approval on research grants"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 30 May 2026 15:02:17 +0000

Don't worry, everybody. This will take some time to have an effect. In the meantime, the people who actually make this country great will consign these criminals to the dustbin of history. It happened in 1890, you will see it happen soon, and I am there for it. I just hope it happens faster this time. I don't have 40 years to wait.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Pope Leo XIV says AI must serve humanity, not the powerful few"

jaybrendansmith — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:02:39 +0000

Have you actually read it? It is not a boring take. It's actually the best thing I've read on moral philosophy in quite some time. I suggest you take the time to read it.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Magnifica Humanitas"

jaybrendansmith — Mon, 25 May 2026 12:34:31 +0000

Why downvote this? The Holy See has an opinion on Artificial Intelligence? This is a fascinating document, and everybody should read it, and form their own opinions. The world currently seems to lack moral leadership, and who better to lead the cause of humanity than the Catholic Church?

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "When (if ever) it's appropriate to make jokes before the US Supreme Court"

jaybrendansmith — Sun, 24 May 2026 23:07:42 +0000

hahahahahahahahahahaha

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 23 May 2026 12:00:18 +0000

It's shocking, actually. Horrifying, and again I say: They do all of the things one would expect them to do if their stated goal was the absolute destruction of the United States of America. They are traitors, no more, no less.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Curtis Yarvin and the Political Evolution of Silicon Valley Reactionaries"

jaybrendansmith — Fri, 22 May 2026 07:00:58 +0000

Increasingly moving out? They've taken over the entire government. We are well on our way to a dystopia. Nice job, everyone.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format"

jaybrendansmith — Mon, 18 May 2026 17:57:59 +0000

But it should be, right?

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 16 May 2026 17:45:03 +0000

I'm not going to disagree with step by step videos ... those are a HUGE help. I'm really talking about solving problems using pen and paper, whether math or writing, is how my problem-solving patterns actually changed.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "ABC News has taken all FiveThirtyEight articles offline"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 16 May 2026 14:25:12 +0000

It's crazy. CBS has likely killed 'CBS News', '60 Minutes', and 'The Late Show', three brands worth likely billions if handled correctly. It's like they are scared of retaliation or something, allowing these brands to be destroyed for zero value in exchange. I've never seen anything like it in a free and open market.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "London Police Deploy Facial Recognition at Protest for First Time"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 16 May 2026 14:20:25 +0000

It's like they watched 'The Running Man' and said 'How cool would that be...?'

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 16 May 2026 14:13:06 +0000

Everything we've learned in the last 10 years is telling us that computers do not help human education in the slightest. We remember better when we write with pen and paper. We learn better with whiteboards and paper books. The simple answer: Remove most computing from education entirely. Blue composition books, pencils, whiteboards is what trains humans. Calculators are helpful perhaps but it is quite possible that slide rules are better. We need humans that can critically think from first principles to counter the recycled information generated by AI.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war"

jaybrendansmith — Tue, 12 May 2026 16:46:11 +0000

None of the Trump administrations actions look objectively different than what a foreign adversary would do to destroy the United States of America. It's staring us all in the face every day. My children will pay for this their entire fucking lives.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Scouting's Real Crisis Is Not Marketing. It Is Decades of Neglect."

jaybrendansmith — Sun, 10 May 2026 20:56:40 +0000

I like this revamp idea, actually. In the troop I help with, we have an older 'venture patrol', and separating these two groups (10-13 vs 14-17) makes a lot of sense. And I don't particularly like the idea of any boy or girl getting Eagle before at least 16...holding leadership positions is really important. I think this structural change would help keep boys and girls interested past age 14. But mostly, I think the organization, which has done over a century of good, needs money to get a branding facelift. If any of these billionaire types want to do good, they could consider that shaping the country's youth with a solid program focused on citizenship, moral judgement, and outdoor skills might be something positive they could be remembered for.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "Scouting's Real Crisis Is Not Marketing. It Is Decades of Neglect."

jaybrendansmith — Sun, 10 May 2026 20:49:55 +0000

The way the program is currently set up, the boy and girl troops are separated completely. There's been no negatives of including girls, only positives that I have seen, and I've been involved for almost 20 years. It's amazing what people construct in their own heads without actually investigating to see the reality.

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

jaybrendansmith — Sun, 10 May 2026 16:34:41 +0000

Europe needs to start taking this seriously. If they are really science-led and fact-based, they need to fund a series of additional studies to absolutely confirm a 37% loss by 2100, and run clean estimates and projections of the cost to heat Europe and replace shorter growing seasons as the AMOC slows over 25, 50, 75, and 100 years. They can then project the the total cost of the loss, and speak to the insurance and reinsurance companies to determine the cost of remediation. Money will move this needle, nothing else.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "When Dawkins met Claude – Could this AI be conscious?"

jaybrendansmith — Sun, 03 May 2026 22:23:47 +0000

For consciousness, what is required is a 'master model' that is trained on grounded experience over time to understand, based on its goals, what inputs to focus on. Without this, even an LLM with continuity over time could not even understand what to keep in its context window, let alone what questions to answer or actions to take. You need the entire thing for consciousness, you cannot fake it, because what an LLM does now is simply instantiate a new 'self' every time it is asked a question or at least within a context window. Humans arguably do that every morning when they wake up, but they have this master model that is trained throughout their lifetime on what is important and what is not to their goals.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "The Claude Delusion: Richard Dawkins believes his AI chatbot is conscious"

jaybrendansmith — Sun, 03 May 2026 16:49:25 +0000

But there are things worthy of worship that are not gods, money, self.

New comment by jaybrendansmith in "The Century-Long Pause in Fundamental Physics"

jaybrendansmith — Sat, 02 May 2026 13:53:43 +0000

Can you briefly explain how the debates refute the basic argument? It's a somewhat interesting comparison he makes, even if AI was used to write that doesn't necessarily make the argument less interesting. I do agree that the end seems like motivated reasoning.