Hacker News: st1x7

New comment by st1x7 in "Superintelligence cannot be contained: Lessons from Computability Theory"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:18:56 +0000

Just don't tell them how far they are from reality and they'll keep writing the papers. Intelligence contained.

New comment by st1x7 in "Superintelligence cannot be contained: Lessons from Computability Theory"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:10:01 +0000

This is just science fiction. To mention "recent developments" in the introduction is somewhat misleading considering how far the current state of technology is from their hypothetical superintelligence.

We don't have superintelligence, we don't have the remote idea of how to get started on creating it, in all likelihood we don't even have the correct hardware for it or any idea what the correct hardware would look like. We also don't know whether it's achievable at all.

Ask HN: Does anyone else feel like staying off HN for a bit?

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 20:46:42 +0000

The topics and quality of discussion have really changed over the past week and I'm not that interested in more free speech flame wars or questions like "Would decentralised distributed git-blockchain replace twitter and save us from tyranny if Trump pushed one block to it?"

Anyone else feel in a similar way? How are you dealing with this?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25736524

Points: 49

# Comments: 41

New comment by st1x7 in "How to Become a Data Engineer in 2021"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 15:54:54 +0000

> plenty of firms are using Scala in their data engineering stacks

Isn't that just a result of everyone being into Spark a few years ago?

New comment by st1x7 in " Haskell is our first choice for building production software systems"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 15:36:55 +0000

> Optimizing for worker fungibility, in a vacuum, seems like a -EV "playing not to lose" strategy.

That's why you don't optimise for it in a vacuum. You weigh the potential benefits of switching to Haskell versus the additional cost of maintaining/growing a Haskell team.

New comment by st1x7 in " Haskell is our first choice for building production software systems"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 12:34:23 +0000

> I hear far more complaints about how difficult it is to find good people from companies hiring for mainstream languages than from those using more niche stuff

Of course, there is just more of them in the first place. The other effects that you describe might also be true but keep in mind what the base rates are.

New comment by st1x7 in " Haskell is our first choice for building production software systems"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:22:13 +0000

> on the other hand you have an easier time to attract the few you need

How is it easier to find a Haskell developer vs finding a Java/Python/PHP developer?

New comment by st1x7 in " Haskell is our first choice for building production software systems"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:15:56 +0000

I don't think that it's wise to sabotage your own future and productivity as a company just so you can pave the way for some language to become more popular.

New comment by st1x7 in " Haskell is our first choice for building production software systems"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:14:06 +0000

I feel like this isn't discussed enough. I can't comment on the technical merits of Haskell but growing an organization and replacing engineers is so much more difficult when you're using tools that aren't mainstream.

New comment by st1x7 in "Ask HN: Is it still possible for an individual to quit the internet?"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:49:51 +0000

It's possible depending on how much inconvenience you can accept in your life but that's also kind of irrelevant. If you don't like something online, don't take part in it. You don't have an obligation to consume and do everything online, just pick out the parts of it that work for you.

New comment by st1x7 in "Quick Overview of Julia language [pdf]"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:44:57 +0000

It's really a strength, not a quirk. Negative indexing and array slicing in general are great in Python. Really easy to pick up and way more convenient than any other language that I've come across.

New comment by st1x7 in "Quick Overview of Julia language [pdf]"

st1x7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:41:12 +0000

I need to switch between zero- and one-indexed languages often. It really doesn't make a difference.

New comment by st1x7 in "Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when you search for 'Signal'"

st1x7 — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 23:30:05 +0000

Bidding on your name might be an even bigger waste of money than bidding on a competitor's name, especially for established brands. eBay's experience with this came up on a recent episode of Freakonomics - https://freakonomics.com/podcast/advertising-part-2/

New comment by st1x7 in "Facebook buying ads for Messenger to be top result when you search for 'Signal'"

st1x7 — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 22:00:09 +0000

This is kind of embarassing. Do you guys think that the people at Facebook who make these decisions realise how pathetic it looks from the outside? Or are they somehow justifying it in their own heads?

New comment by st1x7 in "Ask HN: Anyone suffering from OCD? how to you handle it?"

st1x7 — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 19:28:59 +0000

Please seek professional advice if you haven't already. Advice from strangers on the internet can sound comforting but it won't do much for serious problems that are also very personal.

New comment by st1x7 in "Element – All-in-one secure chat app for teams, friends and organisations"

st1x7 — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:46:27 +0000

> It was probably a good idea to rebrand from Riot to Element after this week's deadly violence at the US Capitol.

They rebranded in July 2020 - https://element.io/blog/welcome-to-element/

New comment by st1x7 in "Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]"

st1x7 — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 21:59:56 +0000

> and those insights are transferable to your daily work

Some people say this, others say that it makes your daily work worse because going back to a language that isn't on the cult-approved list is so difficult.

New comment by st1x7 in "Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic"

st1x7 — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 21:50:36 +0000

> is it safe to live there?

This varies a lot depending on where you live, your skin color and your socioeconomic status.

New comment by st1x7 in "Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic"

st1x7 — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 21:46:15 +0000

I was referring to the threats of hanging in this case. I phrased it more generally because there are many other examples from the similar threads that we've had over the past couple of days. It's astounding that I even need to clarify this.

New comment by st1x7 in "Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic"

st1x7 — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 21:28:16 +0000

It's kind of sad to see how these threads quickly turn into a a messy sequence of poorly reasoned arguments or how some people are trying to justify really extreme positions.