Hacker News: oluminate

New comment by oluminate in "The Emacsification of Software"

oluminate — Thu, 14 May 2026 14:03:50 +0000

I think that software made for one fills a similar niche to ultra-processed foods — many of which were created to supply soldiers with sustenance in an active war, and continue to fulfill the needs of their consumers (travelers — who might not have the time or space to practically prepare a home-cooked meal, working professionals — who similarly benefit from less planning and food preparation), but as research has evolved, society has realized that these meals are linked with metabolic disease and adverse health outcomes.

Applications for one, might serve as a sort of "ultra-processed software" that can fill useful niches like generating textbooks on the fly (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48130679), generating focus oriented music for long study sessions, and obviate writer's block.

However, I feel like there are downsides that are both obvious (insularity, discoverability, reliability, and platform dependance) and non-obvious issues which will take time for the public to determine what they are.

New comment by oluminate in "Gifted children are special needs children"

oluminate — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 15:03:01 +0000

I don't think four year olds demonstrating the ability to read several levels above their grade level is 1.) rare and 2.) a talent you can realistically tease out from over-parenting at that age.

Given the extreme levels of segregation in certain parts of the country (NYC for example has fewer than 5 percent of Black and Latino kindergartners in G&T programs, but higher enrollment for Black and Latino students in third grade) school systems like that one should seriously consider pivoting to prioritizing equality over G&T funding.

New comment by oluminate in ""Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order"

oluminate — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 08:50:03 +0000

Considering that Silicon Valley exists within the US, it's significant that the US has turned into a dictatorship — the implications are beyond political on this one.

New comment by oluminate in "Meta fires staff for 'using free meal vouchers to buy household goods'"

oluminate — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:03:22 +0000

FTA:

> Employees who had only occasionally broken the rules were reprimanded, but were able to keep their jobs, the newspaper reported.

It sounds like the fired employee’s abuse was especially egregious and most Meta employees doing this got off with a warning.

New comment by oluminate in "Galaxy Buds reportedly exploded in a user's ear causing permanent hearing loss"

oluminate — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:09:44 +0000

Reddit dunks on the SE215 these days in favor of “chi-fi” though

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/sm3v4x/shure_se...

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/7b1j7z/shure_se...

New comment by oluminate in "How to Make $6k a Month by Moving Citi Bikes Around the Block"

oluminate — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:29:01 +0000

Gift article link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/nyregion/citi-bike-scam-n...

New comment by oluminate in "Is my vision that bad? No, it's just a bug in Apple's Calculator"

oluminate — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 17:20:17 +0000

You can use Siri Search on iOS as a calculator, which works the same way as Finder on a Mac — this keeps track of the entire expression when you’re doing it

New comment by oluminate in "What are the threats to the AI boom?"

oluminate — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:02:42 +0000

Because some other people are operating under the assumption that this wave of AI models will automate all labor on the planet, instead of making the average desk jockey 10-25 percent more efficient.

New comment by oluminate in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die"

oluminate — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 22:02:21 +0000

If the idea was to just hear and not listen to the albums, the typical listener could probably finish this list in the span of a few weeks (1001 albums x 10 songs per album = 10,010 songs, 30s per song = 3,003 minutes = 50 hours). That’s less than the length of a typical AAA video game

New comment by oluminate in "OpenAI Employees Warn of Advanced AI Dangers"

oluminate — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 11:35:07 +0000

I think the risk of the proliferation of disinformation with generated video, audio, images, and text present a broad existential risk to human society as far as internet use is concerned — if the future involves the humankind engaging with both a public internet and llms, I feel like those circumstances might also lead to:

- increasingly censored, controlled, curated gate-kept providers - an inherent lack of trust in public facing information - outright bans on information access

So ushering llms could be an undo the rate of societal and economic progress, create conditions for widespread political and social unrest, and create vacuums for authoritarian leaders and information brokers to consolidate control and power