Hacker News: smath

New comment by smath in "Appearing productive in the workplace"

smath — Wed, 06 May 2026 21:17:25 +0000

Here is a solution to this problem I think: make an LLM. Summarize everything. If there is fluff then it should get dropped? Basically we only care about the relevant information content, regardless of the number of characters used - so we need a compressed representation

New comment by smath in "John Ternus to become Apple CEO"

smath — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:56:39 +0000

I for one am happy to see an engineer at the helm.

New comment by smath in "Introduction to spherical harmonics for graphics programmers"

smath — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 22:06:47 +0000

Loved the writeup.

I'll just drop a note here to say that these spherical harmonics are also used in creating specialized neural network layers that are useful for modeling 3D objects like point clouds and moleculues, proteins, etc. Basically whenever we want to make sure that rotating / translating the object doesnt make a new object. [0] is a good reference for this.

Even more interesting is that these are the same spherical harmonics that appear as solutions to Schrodinger's equation in quantum mechanics (s, p, d, f orbitals in an atom) [1]

[0] https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07511. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_orbital

New comment by smath in "Having Kids (2019)"

smath — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 18:34:13 +0000

My 2c is that it is not 'joy' or 'happiness' that kids bring to parents universally (although they might bring those things for some parents), but 'meaning'. Meaning is harder to define than joy/happiness, perhaps because it is less objective and more subjective.

New comment by smath in "Nearby peer discovery without GPS using environmental fingerprints"

smath — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 15:47:08 +0000

Shameless plug: More than a decade ago, I wrote a paper [1] on how the random perturbations in the wireless channel between an ambient RF transmitter (FM radio, TV) to the two devices, allow nearby devices to authenticate locality because the perturbations are correlated only if they are nearby (where nearby is relative to the wavelength being monitored)

[1] https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/121443

New comment by smath in "The history of Casio watches"

smath — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:45:15 +0000

As a kid I loved casio digital watches (metal band, digital display). But as a grown up I found I like analog watches better -- my brain is quicker at interpreting the visual image of the hands. For the last few years I wore this [1] very simple and robust casio watch and eventually gave it to my son to help him learn to tell time. Very clean crisp design and 1/3rd the price of a similar looking swatch.

[1] https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.MQ-24-7BLL/?u...

New comment by smath in "Eye prosthesis is the first to restore sight lost to macular degeneration"

smath — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 16:46:37 +0000

Very very cool. I have this condition - I got it randomly ("idiopathic" as opposed to age-related) when I was 22. At the time it wreaked havoc on my mental health.

New comment by smath in "Synthetic aperture radar autofocus and calibration"

smath — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 19:12:16 +0000

A benevolent monarchy maybe - like some places in the east (maybe).or maybe UBI? Some way to not have to worry about basic health and needs

What places have this today? I see an answer suggesting AUS below. ChatGPT says Switzerland

New comment by smath in "Synthetic aperture radar autofocus and calibration"

smath — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 16:24:09 +0000

Slightly tangential: this is a wonderful and deep project, that requires a lot of personal time. Lately I've been wondering what social/economic/govt conditions allow for this type of deep thinking + tinkering among working people (not academia). My very rough guess is the US of 1950-60s did, and some other countries today do, but not so much the US of today because the cost of living and time pressures are higher. I'd be curious if anyone has a more detailed answer (or a rebuttal of my thesis altogether).

New comment by smath in "Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot"

smath — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:03:45 +0000

came here to see if anyone had read Rodney's recent essay - and to ask how does this announcement by Figure square with Rodney's essay.

The essay was long so I cant claim I read it in detail - one q in my mind is whether humanoids need to do dexterity the same way that humans do. yes they dont have skin and tiny receptors but maybe there is another way to develop dexterity?

New comment by smath in "Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025"

smath — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 12:38:46 +0000

“How the immune system works”, Lauren Sompayrac

New comment by smath in "US cities pay too much for buses"

smath — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 14:48:06 +0000

Also (I think?):

- Govt beaureucreats spending taxpayer money - Availability of cheap credit for the US govt (the spender is other countries buying the debt) - Availabiulity of cheap student loans

Russian drones cross into Polish airspace

smath — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:39:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c147065pzdzo

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45197488

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by smath in "The Color of the Future: A history of blue"

smath — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 14:36:44 +0000

Obligatory mention of the Radiolab episode titled 'Colors' [1] - which among other things, talks about how the color blue appears in almost all world languages much later than other colors.

[1] https://radiolab.org/podcast/211119-colors

New comment by smath in "Weather Model based on ADS-B"

smath — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 01:05:49 +0000

Very cool!

Maybe I missed it but I didn’t quite follow why you needed to buy an adsb receiver if adsb exchange is already aggregating all the data

New comment by smath in "Coronary artery calcium testing can reveal plaque in arteries, but is underused"

smath — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 15:03:06 +0000

My impression (might be wrong) is that one can get this for some subset of blood tests but not say an MRI or x ray, let alone more complex tests. Are these just insurance company rules? If I found a way to make it profitable can I open a diagnostic lab independent of insurance companies?

New comment by smath in "Coronary artery calcium testing can reveal plaque in arteries, but is underused"

smath — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 12:55:58 +0000

One thing I’ve wondered is why getting a diagnostic test done out of pocket in the US of your own volition (without a doc prescription) isn’t possible. Why does it need to be controlled by a doc and insurance?

In India this is common. They probably use the same expensive machines for x rays and MRIs but anyone can walk in, and pay for a diagnostic test and get numbers (well, not everyone can afford it, but generally middle class folks can). I’m not saying the healthcare system in India is great, but this distinction intrigues me. Maybe the volumes are much higher in India so the diagnostic center can recoup costs? Are there laws preventing this business model in the US?

New comment by smath in "Reflections on OpenAI"

smath — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 22:13:07 +0000

lol, I almost missed the sarcasm there :)

New comment by smath in "Random selection is necessary to create stable meritocratic institutions"

smath — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:49:27 +0000

I have wondered this too. Some stumbling blocks might be (1) lots of people are not well informed enough or care enough to participate -- which if true, would suggest there is a deeper problem (2) how to prevent lots of coersion.

But imo definitely worth thinking more abt. It might solve a lot more problems than it creates by giving power back to the people.

New comment by smath in "Fei-Fei Li: Spatial intelligence is the next frontier in AI [video]"

smath — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:19:26 +0000

agreed about sucking the air out by LLM. The positive side is that its a good time to innovate in other areas while a chunk of ppl are absorbed in LLMs. A proven improvement in any other non LLM space will attract investment.