Hacker News: pdog

New comment by pdog in "A myopia epidemic is sweeping the globe"

pdog — Wed, 29 May 2024 21:59:00 +0000

> Getting kids to go outdoors is a tough sell.

The problem isn't the kids. It's the adults.

New comment by pdog in "Master Plan Part 3"

pdog — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 01:26:49 +0000

> I just wish the guy in charge could apply the same systematic thinking to his approach to politics. I fear that the major short term risk to humanity is not the environment, but toxic politics.

Elon Musk is not (and never has been) a politician. What exactly do you think he should do differently?

New comment by pdog in "Police say GPS tag darts can eliminate need for dangerous high-speed chases"

pdog — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 01:24:43 +0000

> "The reality is that everyone runs from the police nowadays."

Since when? This should be a bigger story than the availability of GPS tracking darts.

New comment by pdog in "Blowing Holes in Seymour Hersh's Pipe Dream"

pdog — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 19:24:07 +0000

The sheer number of rhetorical fallacies employed in the opening of this "takedown" inclines me to believe that Hersh's reporting is a largely accurate and truthful account.

For example, stating that you could write "an entire post on the reasons why sounds entirely made up by someone with no real grasp of what that suggestion would actually technically entail" is a clear-cut appeal to ridicule[1] fallacy with no further elaboration.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_ridicule

New comment by pdog in "Ask HN: What sort of systemic risk to crypto is Paul Graham referring to?"

pdog — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 02:29:19 +0000

Not sure how to interpret these tweets:

> A person I have known for more than ten years, who I consider trustworthy, is convinced the cryptocurrency economy will shortly experience a systemic risk. I don’t know anything concrete, but if I were exposed, I would be concerned.

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1594446009010212865

> I didn't write that. He did. Since I don't know any details, I didn't feel I should edit it. And because I don't know any details, it's no use asking me what he means. If you've read the preceding tweet, you know as much as I do.

https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1594447689961377795

Ask HN: What sort of systemic risk to crypto is Paul Graham referring to?

pdog — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 02:22:29 +0000

There does not seem to be much exposition for the recent tweets from @paulg. Based on the tweets, however, we can assemble the following facts:

1) He's known his friend since at least 2012.

2) He (@paulg) didn't write that.

3) He is trustworthy.

4) He is convinced the "cryptocurrency economy" will shortly experience a "systemic risk."

How should we interpret these tweets from @paulg?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33687924

Points: 20

# Comments: 31

New comment by pdog in "Perpetual Bond"

pdog — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 16:44:55 +0000

You don't need the concept of "time value of money" to value a perpetual stream of payments.

Intuitively, only a sucker would pay $1,000,000,000,000 for the promise of $1 per year in perpetuity, even in the absence of discounted cash flows.

New comment by pdog in "U.S. interest rates have soared everywhere but savings accounts"

pdog — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 16:40:17 +0000

If you have inflation, something is going up in dollar terms. The answer is "real" assets: physical assets that have an intrinsic worth due to their substance and properties. Real estate, infrastructure, and commodities are all examples.

New comment by pdog in "David Deutsch’s Constructor Theory"

pdog — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 15:40:21 +0000

How does constructor theory relate to Wolfram's Ruliad concept[1] and the physicalization[2] of metamathematics? It seems both theories would have major implications for the foundations of physics and mathematics.

[1]: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/11/the-concept-of-t...

[2]: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2022/03/the-physicalizat...

New comment by pdog in "Stripe will review your YC application before you submit"

pdog — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 20:26:04 +0000

Note: If you plan on competing with Stripe in any way, you may want to hold off on having them review your YC application:

https://www.twitter.com/theryanking/status/14857848236417556...

New comment by pdog in "The case for induction cooking"

pdog — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 06:09:01 +0000

Do you know what isn't bad for your health? Good, clean healthy home-cooked food. Which, in millions of homes, is cooked swiftly and efficiently on gas ranges.

Politicians and their media lackeys in the media need to stop trying to micro-manage peoples' lives.

New comment by pdog in "Launch HN: Micro Meat (YC S21) – Technology for scaling cultivated meat"

pdog — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 21:20:26 +0000

Can I see a picture of the bioreactors?

New comment by pdog in "Trudeau Invokes Emergencies Act"

pdog — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 02:03:54 +0000

Their most prominently stated demand is ending all state-backed mandates and lockdowns. Where did you see anything about the dissolution of their elected government? Or, are you referring to the parliamentary system?

New comment by pdog in "Inflation rises 7.5% over past year, more than expected and highest since 1982"

pdog — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 15:13:56 +0000

I'm struggling to understand how inflation is only 7.5% when every major line item comprising inflation is up much more than 7.5% over the past year.

New comment by pdog in "Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds"

pdog — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 18:32:25 +0000

Ilya Lichtenstein (YC S11) is the co-founder of YC-backed MixRank. Heather Morgan, his wife, is apparently a serial entrepreneur, investor, and "contributor" to Forbes.

New comment by pdog in "What the Omicron wave is revealing about human immunity"

pdog — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 04:02:16 +0000

> Somehow there's this idea that the Sars-CoV-2 vaccines need to prevent infection or symptomatic disease but that is an incredibly high bar that no respiratory viral vaccine has ever met.

In the U.S., health experts explicitly said the vaccines totally prevent symptoms and infection. The health experts said the vaccines were 100% efficacious, and this fact was repeated in the media and by leadership for months. As recently as seven months ago, they were still saying this.

A U.S. Digital Dollar Should Serve the Public, Not Banks

pdog — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 19:53:30 +0000

Article URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-02-01/a-u-s-digital-dollar-should-serve-the-public-not-banks

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30168238

Points: 25

# Comments: 5

New comment by pdog in "Royal Society cautions against censorship of scientific misinformation online"

pdog — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:05:05 +0000

"Scientific misinformation" is such an incredible example of Newspeak.

New comment by pdog in "Masterclass on mathematical thinking"

pdog — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 03:39:58 +0000

His dad is a doctor and his mom is an astrophysicist and mathematician. Do you think that is a coincidence?

New comment by pdog in "Why is America so divided?"

pdog — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 04:48:27 +0000

To paraphrase Ogilvy, half the country is being manipulated by a political party using misinformation to gain power; the trouble is I don't know which half.