Hacker News: mvc

New comment by mvc in "Trump administration is suspending Microsoft from a green card program"

mvc — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:16:13 +0000

I'm always reading about how much of a meritocracy these tech places are. And that the US is a bastion of free market enterprise compared to backwaters like the UK.

So if this was really true, how come there aren't AI recruiters who scan the supposedly obscure newspapers for job ads like these and bring them to their clients and make a fat commission when their (clearly superior US based candidate :lol:) demonstrates throughout the interview process that they are capable of doing the job.

New comment by mvc in "Trump administration is suspending Microsoft from a green card program"

mvc — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:07:14 +0000

What's wrong with people who live in small towns?

Some of us know just as well as folks in San Francisco how to instruct claude to write code.

New comment by mvc in "Sharing AI progress in mathematics"

mvc — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:18:58 +0000

This reinforces a point I've made elsewhere that there are talented mathematicians driving the AI to make these discoveries.

Just like there are talented software engineers driving the AI to create the software that "it" builds, and talented steel workers, teachers, nurses etc who use computers and other machines to create value all over the economy (without whom, the machines they use at work would be worthless).

Capital owners have always sought to minimise the value of the input that "workers" make in the process of creating value. Maybe now that information workers are on the wrong end of this deal, they might develop some empathy and solidarity with their fellow working class comrades and together, demand that people recapture the value that capital has stolen from them.

New comment by mvc in "Vote on which of Hacker News' challenges for AI have been met"

mvc — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:16:53 +0000

I dunno. Didn't it still need to be driven by a team of experienced Mathematicians? I don't believe that two months ago, you or I could've just typed "Solve Navier Stokes. Make no mistakes" into claude and come back some time later and expect to see a solution.

New comment by mvc in "Google breaks promise to provide 10 years of updates to Chromebooks"

mvc — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:45:03 +0000

The whole point of corporations is that the assets (and liabilities) created by the people working on behalf of the corporation outlive the term of their employment.

They don't (or at least shouldn't) get to keep the assets without also honouring the liabilities.

New comment by mvc in "Returning from vacation? The government can search your phone without a warrant"

mvc — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:19:49 +0000

All the shady stuff the UK does, it does at the behest of the US.

New comment by mvc in "The Price of Intelligence Is Falling Rapidly"

mvc — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 19:04:39 +0000

Why does electricity stop at 1973? It's been going back up again for the last few years.

New comment by mvc in "Warren Buffett Steps Down as Berkshire Chairman, Names Son to Replace Him"

mvc — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:44:55 +0000

If it's so difficult, maybe they could take the easy option and, you know, properly fund the government to build the shared infrastructure on which we all rely by paying tax proportional to their wealth.

New comment by mvc in "All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it"

mvc — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:30:37 +0000

> Yep, for all the moralizing about sports gambling people on HN do, they sure love to prime their children for it.

Can't get through life without gambling at least a little bit.

Even taking out a life insurance policy is making a bet you're going to die before it expires

New comment by mvc in "What will our economic future look like?"

mvc — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 20:55:55 +0000

Watch Ann Droid on the Beeb for a dark but funny prediction of what it will be like wrt to nursing care for the elderly.

New comment by mvc in "Git hosting that never leaves Europe"

mvc — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 08:05:56 +0000

Well, there are other reasons. For instance if they've been influenced by Russian agents trying to sow discord.

New comment by mvc in "How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been?"

mvc — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:23:38 +0000

C'mon anthropic. Give him a job! :-)

New comment by mvc in "Abdominal fat predicts heart disease risk better than BMI"

mvc — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 06:58:35 +0000

What would an uninsured person do if the tests suggested they needed an medical intervention?

New comment by mvc in "AI financial advice is surprisingly good, especially if you ask right questions"

mvc — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 10:37:56 +0000

I think you gotta be pretty lucky or disciplined with a high income from an early age to be in a position to start unloading risk at 45.

Most folks don't have disposable income after rent and bills until they're 30.

New comment by mvc in "I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore"

mvc — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 09:05:46 +0000

Citation needed for the proposition that an economy is a closed loop.

New comment by mvc in "UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions"

mvc — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:40:08 +0000

Yeah, none to the African, South American, or Asian nations who contribute many of the best players though. And they don't share it around their own countries that well either with all the revenue going to the big 5 and the rest can just go sing.

New comment by mvc in "London’s most equidistant pub"

mvc — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:31:13 +0000

Hehe, grass is always greener on the other side.

New comment by mvc in "Superlogical"

mvc — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 22:53:31 +0000

Something like emacs?

New comment by mvc in "Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly"

mvc — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:13:01 +0000

I've got one of these and I love it. Much lighter than my previous watches (I've used garmin and polar before).

New comment by mvc in "I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore"

mvc — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:15:48 +0000

> the cost of distributing it has been increasing at a far higher rate than the rate of increasing surplus.

Is it? Or is it that an increasing proportion of total income ends up going to the people who find ways of hiding it such that it does not get distributed.