Hacker News: pmg102

New comment by pmg102 in "I believe there are entire companies right now under AI psychosis"

pmg102 — Sat, 16 May 2026 15:26:27 +0000

What does 'prefer' mean here?

I would say writing it myself is more enjoyable (in some cases). But I quite understand that I am not paid to enjoy myself. I'd say it's quicker getting AI to do it and reviewing. I believe the outcome is no worse on average. So yes, that's my chosen approach.

New comment by pmg102 in "The Death of Scrum – Built for a slower world, performed by those who left"

pmg102 — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:46:34 +0000

That's a shame. I found it interesting and thought-provoking. Maybe over-egged (and over-AI'd) but still worth a look.

New comment by pmg102 in "The Future of Everything Is Lies, I Guess: New Jobs"

pmg102 — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:11:24 +0000

https://archive.is/OjGox

New comment by pmg102 in "The gold standard of optimization: A look under the hood of RollerCoaster Tycoon"

pmg102 — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 08:25:58 +0000

The article refers several times to the benefits of the game designer and the coder being the same person. I've often felt that this is the only way to build anything impressive, and in fact I'm amazed that corporations with their hierarchical organisation model ever get anything built at all but I suppose you can brute force anything with enough employees.

It does make you wonder if the future of AI-assisted development will look more like the early days of coding, where one single mind can build and deliver a whole piece of software from beginning to end.

New comment by pmg102 in "Let yourself fall down more"

pmg102 — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:27:01 +0000

> But the thing is? Falling doesn't have to be dangerous

Every time you use a question mark in place of a comma? A kitten dies.

New comment by pmg102 in "“It turns out” (2010)"

pmg102 — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:25:10 +0000

A phrase also beloved of Adam Curtis, along with starting new sentences with conjunctions. "But this was a fantasy." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1bX3F7uTrg

New comment by pmg102 in "The "confident idiot" problem: Why AI needs hard rules, not vibe checks"

pmg102 — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:42:31 +0000

With an em-dash for extra points!

New comment by pmg102 in "Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest"

pmg102 — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 20:31:48 +0000

The biggest challenge with pensions is convincing people in their 20s to invest in high risk/high return investments. This is usually the right strategy because of the long time horizon of several decades until they will need to crystallise losses/gains.

However if they see their pension balance fall in a big correction, they can panic and move to less volatile investments, thus reducing their long term gains.

You can theorize all you want but the best way to learn to cope with this is for it to happen to you so it would be great to include it in the simulation!

New comment by pmg102 in "Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest"

pmg102 — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 15:45:09 +0000

You're giving a 15% growth rate with zero volatility? That isn't going to teach many important lessons.

How about offering a range of rates with volatility increasing as rate increases. Then they can think about the benefit of guaranteed return vs the benefit of long-term growth, or a combination of both.

New comment by pmg102 in "Hacking a Toniebox"

pmg102 — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 19:29:36 +0000

I decided to go for Yoto over Tonie because it explicitly encourages "Make Your Own" cards which you can put any MP3 files of your own or RSS links to podcast.

New comment by pmg102 in "Amazon CEO says AI agents will soon reduce company's corporate workforce"

pmg102 — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 19:45:05 +0000

That was true for COVID but be careful not to overgeneralise. People also have historically warned about many things, with many of them never coming true.

In fact, that is probably the reason that people unfortunately have learned not to listen. There's even a fable about it.

New comment by pmg102 in "GLP-1s are breaking life insurance"

pmg102 — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 19:40:54 +0000

People seem to be taking it as given that "someone else preparing the food for you" == "the food is more likely to lead to weight gain".

Why should that be? Is it not possible to order healthy food in? If not this would surprise me as it seems a number of people would be seeking this.

I'm asking as I don't have personal experience.

New comment by pmg102 in "I made a free Figma library packed with components for fast prototyping"

pmg102 — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 19:05:24 +0000

Nice work. Tip: you're missing an 'l' from Frequenty Asked Questions

New comment by pmg102 in "Grifters, believers, grinders, and coasters"

pmg102 — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 15:55:22 +0000

Is it not just a question of what you're optimising for? Excluding the outliers (the lazy, incompetent, or geniuses), most can choose what to optimise for:

  - free time, low stress, calm life
  - fulfillment through delivering functionality
  - fulfillment through pride in the craft
  - money and status through career progression
  - social validation through relationships with coworkers/bosses

New comment by pmg102 in "Show HN: Pickcode – Free online code editor for kids"

pmg102 — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:07:27 +0000

I like that you list "100% AI-free" as a selling point!

New comment by pmg102 in "Stigma against benefits has made devastating poverty acceptable in Britain"

pmg102 — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 18:57:03 +0000

Original https://theconversation.com/stigma-against-benefits-has-made...

New comment by pmg102 in "Nicholas Saunders and "Alternative London" changed British food"

pmg102 — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 11:19:50 +0000

> Unlike many in his scene, Saunders was not a leftist. He had no time for welfarism or state ownership, which he dismissed as inefficient, yet he also rejected rampant capitalism, which he saw as fundamentally unfair.

Not sure TFA supports your assertion that he was a socialist.

New comment by pmg102 in "Nearly half of Americans age 18 to 29 are living with their parents"

pmg102 — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 19:38:31 +0000

(2020)

New comment by pmg102 in "Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?"

pmg102 — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 22:28:20 +0000

And yet so many people "can afford" £300 pcm but "couldn't afford" a yearly unexpected maintenance bill of £2000. Even though the latter is half the cost. It's inability to financially plan over more than a monthly horizon. I think it's because financial literacy is not taught. Or is it just human nature that it's harder to choose to put £200 aside every month for future possible repairs than to pay a £300 monthly bill you have no choice over.

New comment by pmg102 in "AI and Mass Spying"

pmg102 — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 06:04:51 +0000

You're missing the point that the freedom from and freedom to may be weighted differently for each individual.

For instance I lose almost nothing by not having the freedom to carry a weapon (UK) as I have no desire to do so, while gaining a lot from having the freedom to not risk my child being murdered at school.

It's an extreme example but applies to a lesser degree for other freedoms, and I've personally found I often benefit more from freedoms-from than freedoms-to.

I'd love it if no vehicle could exceed 30 mph in town as I gain almost no benefit from being able to do so, while taking on significant risk from others being able to.