Hacker News: liuxiansheng

New comment by liuxiansheng in "How to post when no one is reading"

liuxiansheng — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 15:59:27 +0000

It's interesting how these articles/posts about how being authentic and building for yourself regardless of outcome is meaningful, generally use examples of people who have already achieved success (defined in terms of popularity, money, views). In this case Mike Posner is still a very successful artist despite the unevenness of his career. The median experience is that there is no "success", but you wouldn't know with how often the opposite case is showcased.

I do agree with the OP, in that one should write for one-self for the numerous beneficial reasons such as self-improvement, fun, archiving. However, I think his example has some conflicts with his message.

New comment by liuxiansheng in "The Origin of the Pork Taboo"

liuxiansheng — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:05:36 +0000

I believe Certified Humane has one of the most stringent requirements for animal welfare so there'll be fewer farms. There's other certifications out there such as Animal Welfare Approved. I admit for a welfare-conscious consumer it's not easy to sift through all the noise by doing actual research. Wish things were better but at least it's been trending in the right direction in the last couple of decades.

New comment by liuxiansheng in "The Origin of the Pork Taboo"

liuxiansheng — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:14:17 +0000

While it's true marketing can impact how your dollars could actually contribute to better living conditions, I'd just it's defeatist to just throw your hands up and say it doesn't matter.

A consumer can look up certifications like Certified Humane which does audits on farms to ensure they're following the required standards. While I'm sure it's not a perfect system it does hold farms to some accountability. https://www.aspca.org/shopwithyourheart/consumer-resources/c...

New comment by liuxiansheng in "The Alpha Myth: How captive wolves led us astray"

liuxiansheng — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:48:33 +0000

It won't be undone because people want it to be true regardless of evidence. The cat (dog?) is out of the bag.

New comment by liuxiansheng in "Why is machine learning 'hard'? (2016)"

liuxiansheng — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 23:34:20 +0000

I think if this was truly the case then wouldn't ML algorithm development be a solved problem with AutoML? I don't think AutoML is close to ubiquitous which means there must still be value in heuristics and a deeper understanding of our tools.

New comment by liuxiansheng in "A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed for Human Children"

liuxiansheng — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 18:31:53 +0000

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with killing animals for sustenance. Animals die and get eaten without needing any help form humans.

My main objection is to the manner of which animals have to be raised and harvested in the most efficient manner to satisfy the ever increasing demand for meat in the world while still being bottom of the barrel in price. Has there been any evidence this can be sustained without wholesale suffering?

If you can ensure all the meat you purchase comes from the opposite of such conditions then all the more power to you. The meat I do eat I also try to purchase from better farm conditions, but I don't think that's always possible.

New comment by liuxiansheng in "A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed for Human Children"

liuxiansheng — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 17:42:59 +0000

The realization that animals in factory farms have a capacity to suffer, and are undoubtedly subjected to this suffering for the majority of their lives, has made me cut my meat consumption from every meal to occasionally on the weekends. Would love to cut it out completely but have not mustered the willpower to do so.

I think personally owning a pet dog and realizing they aren't biological machines simply responding to stimuli has helped me with that realization.