Hacker News: swayson

New comment by swayson in "AI will make formal verification go mainstream"

swayson — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 08:12:42 +0000

Really nice book on the subject -- Algorithms for Validation. The online version is actually freely accessible as a PDF.

https://algorithmsbook.com/validation/

New comment by swayson in "Why is ChatGPT being sycophantic even when I ask it to be objective?"

swayson — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:51:30 +0000

I add these instructions. Works wonders.

Do Not Use First-Person Pronouns

Avoid Creating a Relationship

No Emotional Language

Talk Like a Computer

(edited for formatting)

New comment by swayson in "Switching to Claude Code and VSCode Inside Docker"

swayson — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 08:25:19 +0000

Correlation does not equal causation as the old adage goes. Just because if you havent seen the pattern, doesn't mean it can't.

It is like insurance, 99.95% of the time you don't need it. But when you do, you wish you had it.

Ask HN: Best Multi-Modal LLM Desktop Controllers?

swayson — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:27:08 +0000

The Llama 3.1 release is exciting, the smaller models have better context length and decent fine-tuning performance.

It made me curious, what would it take to build a completely local/offline system that can basically automate desktop workflows. e.g. performing research tasks, RPA etc.

Are there any good ones that already exists and seem like healthy projects? Curious what the community may know.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41067830

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Ask HN: Best Multi-Modal LLM Desktop Controllers?

swayson — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 06:43:04 +0000

The Llama 3.1 release is exciting, the smaller models have better context length and decent fine-tuning performance.

It made me curious, what would it take to build a completely local/offline system that can basically automate desktop workflows. e.g. performing research tasks, RPA etc.

Are there any good ones that already exists and seem like healthy projects? Curious what the community may know.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41054221

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by swayson in "YouTube isn't happy you're using ad blockers – and it's doing something about it"

swayson — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 04:51:59 +0000

Wonder if spotify will grow in popularity as a result of this in terms of podcast content.

New comment by swayson in "Generative AI Is a Disaster, and Companies Don't Seem to Care"

swayson — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 04:42:26 +0000

Heard and interesting talk about AI being described through the metaphor of Molock. If you really entertain the thought experiment, is is interesting to see the world race for power, control of its tech.

New comment by swayson in "After days of destruction, Macron blames a familiar bogeyman: video games"

swayson — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 07:29:54 +0000

Politician always point elsewhere, and change the focus. Why folks fall for the shallow reasoning I will never understand. Calibrate on behaviour, not words.

New comment by swayson in "Ban on recording without consent is unconstitutional, US court rules"

swayson — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 03:37:39 +0000

Anyone know what the laws around this is in South Africa?

New comment by swayson in "Tell HN: Nearly all of Evernote’s remaining staff has been laid off"

swayson — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 03:32:02 +0000

Obsidian.md for the win. I used to use evernote way back when they started, was cool software, then they started scaling and added worst search UI I have ever come across. That day, I deleted my account and went markdown with my own storage. Don't see the benefit of why your notes should be controlled by others.

New comment by swayson in "Decades-long bet on consciousness ends"

swayson — Sun, 25 Jun 2023 09:59:08 +0000

Have you ever met someone who recently had a severe stroke or suffers dementia? Their sense of self can be completely lost by such trauma. Sure they still have identity in the memories of others. But I'd say one must distinguish identity from Self.

Ask HN: What is the most moddable drone

swayson — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 17:25:42 +0000

Are there any drones with an open-source, mod, ethos? Cost-effective yet versatile. Would appreciate if folks can point in interesting directions.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34083557

Points: 7

# Comments: 2

New comment by swayson in "Ask HN: How does ChatGPT work?"

swayson — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 06:46:26 +0000

Yannic Kilcher did an explainer recently on his YT channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A8ljAkdFtg

Yannic explains these models pretty well.

New comment by swayson in "The Green Revolution Is Fueled by 40k Trafficked Congo Child Slaves"

swayson — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 18:09:45 +0000

Made me think of Socrates and living by virtue.

New comment by swayson in "Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off"

swayson — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 06:00:41 +0000

Yet, we all use their services, willingly or not. Need a class action and rigorous approach this problem. Else, this reinforcing loop will just continue

New comment by swayson in "You're not dumb, the prerequisites are bullshit"

swayson — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 11:57:17 +0000

Refreshing take!

New comment by swayson in "Statistical Rethinking (2022 Edition)"

swayson — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 17:24:37 +0000

Julia, R (tidyverse), Python code examples available here:

https://github.com/StatisticalRethinkingJulia https://github.com/pymc-devs/resources/tree/master/Rethinkin... https://bookdown.org/content/4857/

New comment by swayson in "“Chatbots: Still Dumb After All These Years”"

swayson — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 15:25:01 +0000

You need a really good team and MlOps/DevOps pipeline to bring world class chatbot support and performance. I think there is still opportunity in this space, but you need Apple Level Design care to make it work.

New comment by swayson in "Ask HN: Favorite Podcast Episode of 2021?"

swayson — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 18:55:15 +0000

I find it challenging to choose one but Andrew Huberman's podcast is exceptional. Latest in neuroscience/neurobiology which is accessible to the general public. From topics like sleep, anxiety, learning, performance etc. I have learned so much and applying the protocols have been great.

New comment by swayson in "Ask HN: Favorite Podcast Episode of 2021?"

swayson — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 18:48:46 +0000

The impression I get is he specialises more around the philsophy of AI and cybernetics.