Hacker News: robotomir

New comment by robotomir in "The Economic Complexity of the Western Roman Empire"

robotomir — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:35:10 +0000

So they estimate economic complexity by the number of discovered Latin documents or inscriptions. Wasn't Greek prevalent in the East?

New comment by robotomir in "Why the Bronze Age Collapsed"

robotomir — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 13:35:36 +0000

My personal theory is not that iron ended the Bronze Age, because archaeological evidence seems to show that iron became significant after the Bronze Age collapse. Instead, what if bronze accumulated to the point where more people could afford a metal weapon? Then some other event started the series of escalations and population movements. Unlike iron, bronze accumulates and is recyclable. "The blade itself incites to violence."

New comment by robotomir in "European sentiments towards the US hit an all-time low"

robotomir — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 10:57:50 +0000

This is an oversimplification, I would not consider Orban far right and PB are more populist left if anything. And it's not all Russia's fault, in Bulgaria the pro-Russian government came into power after five years of self-proclaimed pro-Western politicians attacking the institutions for their own political gain. Well, it misfired.

New comment by robotomir in "Tao Te Ching – Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin"

robotomir — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 17:47:05 +0000

I am just noticing how those ideas are present in Wizard of Earthsea.

New comment by robotomir in "Why is Venus hell and Earth an Eden?"

robotomir — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:09:21 +0000

What if the threat is not environmental collapse but hostile government?

New comment by robotomir in "Europol said ChatControl doesn't go far enough; they want to retain data forever"

robotomir — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 11:44:31 +0000

Do you think that monitoring and surveillance are less of a problem in the US? In China?

New comment by robotomir in "Stimulants in Germanic communities of the Roman period"

robotomir — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 12:48:14 +0000

Bronze pipes have been discovered in Roman-era settlements and even earlier sites. That's a long time before tobacco was available in Europe.

New comment by robotomir in "Diátaxis – A systematic approach to technical documentation authoring"

robotomir — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 10:04:19 +0000

>Diátaxis is similar to DITA

I don't see it. DITA differentiates between topic types such as task, reference, concept, etc., but a tutorial or a solution guide will be a combination of those topic types. Here I believe the focus is on deliverables that are larger than the individual topic.

New comment by robotomir in "The muscular imagination of Iain M. Banks: a future you might want"

robotomir — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 19:31:58 +0000

There are less than benign godlike entities in that imagined future, for example the Excession and some of the Sublimed. That adds an additional layer to the narrative.

New comment by robotomir in "Analysis of Greek prehistoric combat in full body armour"

robotomir — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 18:18:02 +0000

I am sorry for jumping on this opportunity to be a smartass, but this type of armor predates the sarissa phalanx by almost 1000 years.

New comment by robotomir in "ESA report shows unsustainable levels of orbital debris"

robotomir — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 22:14:44 +0000

You can deorbit debris without physical contact, but you could argue the method results in a weapon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_broom

New comment by robotomir in "95% of container ships are now going around the Southern Tip of Africa"

robotomir — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 22:49:40 +0000

Not only that, people whose most fertile agricultural land is now under salt water.

New comment by robotomir in "95% of container ships are now going around the Southern Tip of Africa"

robotomir — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 22:18:21 +0000

Yes, we might need to shoot at them.

New comment by robotomir in "95% of container ships are now going around the Southern Tip of Africa"

robotomir — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 21:45:46 +0000

There is a non-zero chance we are headed for a situation where global warming and sea level rise will make hundreds of millions, mostly from equatorial regions, desperate refugees. It could be that an attitude of self-righteousness might become impossible to maintain. Friends come and go.

New comment by robotomir in "Acquia, my Drupal startup"

robotomir — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 17:08:28 +0000

What are examples of good CMS software that you've used?

New comment by robotomir in "Stanisław Lem's vision of artificial life"

robotomir — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:34:47 +0000

I would not put him in the same league as Lem. Or Banks or Reynolds, for that matter.

New comment by robotomir in "The story of titanium"

robotomir — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 19:57:55 +0000

I had a titanium Tissot watch and it scratched easier than steel watches.

New comment by robotomir in "Large amounts of carbon capture as a solution is an 'illusion'"

robotomir — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 16:20:06 +0000

I'm starting to think some kind of shade megastructure in orbit might might be the only solution to lowering global temperature. I know that light exerts pressure and that keeping it in place would be a major challenge, but still.

New comment by robotomir in "White House warns of ‘unprecedented’ Serbian troop buildup on Kosovo border"

robotomir — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 13:41:02 +0000

You use Balkan as a synonym for Yugoslav, which is wrong.

New comment by robotomir in "White House warns of ‘unprecedented’ Serbian troop buildup on Kosovo border"

robotomir — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 12:16:31 +0000

Bulgaria and Greece are Balkan countries. How are they much smaller than Serbia?