Hacker News: peakai

New comment by peakai in "Ask HN: How can I learn to read mathematical notation?"

peakai — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 15:58:32 +0000

This used to stump me, but I went through the Cal1/2/3 series at a local university and it made reading ML papers much easier, you could try attending a local school if self-learning is proving too time consuming for you.

New comment by peakai in "Show HN: Physically Based Rendering – Online Edition"

peakai — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 16:48:21 +0000

Ever since I saw this book being sold, I've been eagerly wanting to read it. The physics-based approach is definitely the way I would prefer to learn any subject, and rendering is just one of the areas I wish I knew more about. Delighted to know that you guys put it online, thank you!

New comment by peakai in "OxyContin billionaire has patented a drug to wean addicts from opioids"

peakai — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:25:52 +0000

Build the poison, with the antidote to (much) later follow ... A perfectly sound business model. Reinforce the pathways that ensure that an industry's products (prescription drugs) will never fall out of vogue as the mechanism to solve all of people's problems, and make (a lot of) money all the while. Subjugation through palliation, a textbook case.

New comment by peakai in "Ask HN: If you could go back to study any CS-related field, what would it be?"

peakai — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 06:03:52 +0000

Dev work probably feels enjoyable since you end up creating things for the product and see where it impacts the business everyday. Coursework is a little more abstract, but you can still make it enjoyable by talking with peers and professors to find out what is interesting and chic local to you. You might try taking some statistics, algorithms and engineering courses since you seem attracted to the by-products of the theory there. Good luck, and hope you don't drop out!

New comment by peakai in "Google cancels all-hands meeting due to employee worries of online harassment"

peakai — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 23:36:03 +0000

It seems llike the proper response to this controversy would be to use some of their cash to fund a internal group to research and replicate some of the studies mentioned in the original google memo, to refute and possibly further the understanding for some kind of practical knowledge gain, instead of A) firing the employee bringing up some concerns and b) holding meetings about why the issue needed to be a point of contention (doubling down) in the organization

New comment by peakai in "Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo"

peakai — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 02:49:45 +0000

This only darkens the landscape surrounding gender issues. Considering Google's flip-flopping from the initial response and their actions after the public backlash- it only seems to confirm that internally there is much division over how this is to be handled on an organizational level. A step backwards for the culture as a whole, if we cannot get the best minds together to tactfully resolve such a sensitive topic.

New comment by peakai in "Ask HN: How can a front-end developer dive into machine learning?"

peakai — Fri, 12 May 2017 14:01:27 +0000

Liberal arts troll reporting. Starting my prereqs for a masters in CS this summer. It'll take me quite a bit longer to complete than someone who started with a BS in CS (basically I'm taking enough undergrad courses to fill several semesters, before even getting to MS work). However I was a developer for several years before this leap, and I feel pretty comfy with math things. Also working on reproducing papers to develop chops, in my spare time so my dev skills don't go to nil. Excites me since I've always wanted to grow to this level as a dev, I just never had an excuse to go for the CS degree till ML came along.