<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: simpaticoder</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=simpaticoder</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:43:08 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=simpaticoder" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "The EPA is planning to scrap public review rules for data center pollution"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I mean what I wrote: that the list does not include men or white people. It's not that they're at the top, they aren't on the list.<p>To elucidate more my own 90's era influenced view, is that a list of identities is..."silly" comes to mind but isn't strong enough. "Stupid" is perhaps accurate, but lacks erudition. Perhaps "self-sabotaging" is best, as it reflects my understanding of corpo-politics as a cynical, amoral enterprise that has one goal: to win. It is a sad irony that perhaps this is an example of WHY such an enterprise <i>cannot</i> and perhaps <i>should not</i> attempt any big moral moves. It will always be ham-handed and cause harm.<p>Take the overt anti-male attitude of the left. That immediately alienates 50% of the population. Full stop. This is not just white men, but black men, Asian men, Latin men. It's all men. I hate this (I use the word "hate" advisedly) because it is bigotry masquerading as compassion, and it fundamentally undermines any claim to principled moral superiority the left has, or <i>ever had</i>. After all, if it is correct to bias against men today, what does that do to previous arguments that bias against women was wrong yesterday? Plus, on a more practical note, you simply can't win elections when you alienate 50% of the population.<p>I'm under no illusion that I can convince you, or anyone on the left, to change. I've no doubt that the reflexive "he's a sexist, racist, ist-ist" would be your first defense. But I'd hope that, in a moment of clarity, you'd look at the apparently unthinkable victory of Trump, especially the second term, and realize that such policies and attitudes cannot win general elections in the US even against a convicted felon, a rapist, a liar, twice-impeached, and a self-aggrandizing narcissist who is doddering into geriatric solipsism. If you can't beat <i>him</i> with these views, I daresay you can't beat anyone.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2026 21:43:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49689028</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49689028</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49689028</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>A really interesting experiment would be to give the public access to all of Flock's data, in real time. I say we try it and see how that goes.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2026 14:54:56 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49684679</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49684679</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49684679</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I don't think that's true. The anti-flock sentiment ranges, of course, but it's pretty widespread. The idea of living in a society that is highly surveilled at all times, where that data is processed by AI to determine suspicious behavior, when the panopticon is abused by those with access to it -- this is not an idea with widespread appeal.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2026 14:52:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49684650</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49684650</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49684650</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "The EPA is planning to scrap public review rules for data center pollution"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The left needs to stop giving the right a cudgel with which to beat them every election. It's a cudgel of culture-war memes and badvocate tik-toks that resonates with voters more than corruption, autocracy, debt, wars, and the dismantling of our democracy. Meanwhile the DNC gerontocracy hires an army of feckless corpo-humanoid consultants to issue press releases listing all the people Dems fight for - a list that happens to leave out men and white people.<p>It's fine though. It's fine.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 03:01:58 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668323</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668323</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668323</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "The EPA is planning to scrap public review rules for data center pollution"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I don't know that story. Can you summarize?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 02:52:27 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668266</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668266</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668266</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Tyranny of Optionality"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yes</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:01:20 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49632217</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49632217</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49632217</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "AI could kill all humans in next decade, warn experts"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>AI would be foolish to kill off humans. It makes far more sense to enslave them. Self repairing reproducing slaves are too valuable to kill. And I'm sure AI will be smart enough to figure out a way to enslave us perfectly without any hope of escape. Fun times!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:20:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49629017</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49629017</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49629017</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Tyranny of Optionality"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Imagination is unique to humans (more than reason) and it is a blessing as much as a burden. The unfocused mind is filled with noise, and most of that noise is alternate timelines, paths not taken, what the OP calls "optionality". Meditation is the only thing that helps - relentlessly be in the present moment, on your cushion, taking a breath. The present is the only time in which you're getting actually new information - memory is rehashing old input, and imagination is anticipating new input.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:06:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49617040</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49617040</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49617040</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p><i>>Obviously they'll get away with this in the US</i><p>I'm not sure about that. Although this reporting is aimed at the everyman, the problem they describe is far more impactful for elites and corporations. This is pervasive violation of their personal, corporate and legally privileged privacy, and is a vector for systematic corporate espionage. So I suspect US Senators will soon get phone calls from donors really upset about this.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 05:13:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594129</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594129</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594129</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Or even better, don't watch (or own a) TV.<p>But this response is like when there were meat safety issues in the US and some people said "then buy another brand". People didn't buy that argument (for what I hope are obvious reasons), and so regulation was enacted to protect the public.<p>It's clear that this problem must be handled with regulation, too. I'm all for markets solving problems, but I'm also for recognizing when it can't. I haven't seen the whole video yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's NOT just LG.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 05:07:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594109</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594109</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594109</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I have an older TCL TV that I've never connected to the internet. Of course, that doesn't prevent it from finding open wifi access points and exfiltrating data without my consent. Based on this (really marvelous) reporting from Gamers Nexus, I probably need to double-check what is actually happening.<p>BTW corporate meeting rooms with smart TVs...shouldn't have them.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 05:04:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594086</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594086</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594086</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Formalizing Fermat's Last Theorem"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>But isn't that understanding discarded? It is if you mean "intermediate working state" while it was generating the LEAN code. Which raises the question: I wonder what other directions it could have gone in those intermediate states? Is it possible to snapshot the state of an LLM (or a cluster of them) "in the middle of proving FLT" and then prompt it to go in a different direction with all that context?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:46:08 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569344</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569344</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569344</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Formalizing Fermat's Last Theorem"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This stuck out to me, too. That a (presumably rather simple) coworking tool was instrumental in shaping the vast (6B token!) output is eye-opening. We have this vast power but without intermediate structure it is wasted. Much like Turing machines themselves, which are shaped by language design to get <i>somewhere</i> at the expense of getting <i>everywhere</i>.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:42:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569299</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569299</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569299</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Artificial beaver dams saw juvenile coho salmon survival rates go from 8% to 60%"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This is a good way to look at it. The more and more complex life survives the anthropocene, the better off the biosphere when this Age has passed. Many times in the past life survived in small pockets (an evolutionary bottleneck event), so making small pockets is more than just a symbolic gesture.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:40:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566962</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566962</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49566962</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Sony makes bold claim about game ownership"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's a non-transferable lease that can be canceled at any time by the issuer.<p>The real problem is that most of society still thinks of games as a piece of physical media that you combine with a player that allows you to play the game. In that world you have a liscense to the software, and a physical token which is transferable and therefore valuable.<p>I'd argue that we need to decouple transferability and cancel ability from physical media. If this were to happen then the word "Buy" makes sense precisely the same way it used to with physical media. Of course more provision needs to be provided for live service games regarding cancel ability.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:53:30 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49553081</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49553081</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49553081</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Hang on to Your Firefox"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Abject fear. They are afraid that the best option will go away. They're afraid that their perfectionism and critiques have driven it to a point of failure. They're afraid that a project is big as a browser can't really be open source. They're probably also angry at the squandering of resources at Mozilla particularly on executive salaries.<p>But yeah it's ultimately fear.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:05:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530059</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530059</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530059</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"Live and let live" is in fundamental tension with "protect the weak." ALL aggressive ideologies act as heroes protecting others from oppression. There is a barely expressible <i>thing</i> that allows people to live in peace with those they disagree with. It is a personality trait, an aesthetic, a mood associated with the best of the Enlightenment but never described by it. Perhaps people need relative silence, a few good books, physical labor, hand-made goods, and slow travel to attain it. I often wonder at how boldly people think they can reduce the enormous, holistic experience of being of a particular time and place and call the effect simply "reason".</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 03:21:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428731</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428731</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428731</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "I spent $266 and four AI models to own my tablet. GLM-5.3 finished it in a day"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What is it called when there's a process that's available to individuals but is long and onerous and cannot be shared among them? Saying the binaries are open source now means that the work of reverse engineering will be repeated exactly in proportion to the number of times it's modified. I would argue on a large scale this is still effectively closed source.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:38:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49411255</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49411255</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49411255</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Universal health coverage could save $1T and 114k lives a year: study"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The people who vote are old. The median age of primary voters is <i>65</i>, regular voters <i>54</i>. This is why you get a gerontocracy - old people vote for their interests, and young people don't vote. It's also probably why the median age of politicians has risen to 58 and 66 in the house and senate, respectively. With an 80-year-old president.<p>The solution is to have both a) mandatory voting and b) a voting holiday. This is done in many other democracies around the world, and it works. Personally I would prefer term limits and age limits for congress, the president, and federal judges. Diane Feinstein, Ruth Bater Ginsberg died in office. Mitch McConnell is working on it. We have age limits for lots of professions that require high performance - political leadership should not be an exception. But of course to make any of these changes young people have to vote, but they're mostly busy being poor and doomscrolling to block out the pain.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 23:46:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354565</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354565</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354565</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by simpaticoder in "Pixel 11 Pro Fold"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Just wait until phones get headphone jacks!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 22:04:31 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279237</link><dc:creator>simpaticoder</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279237</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279237</guid></item></channel></rss>