Hacker News: vjulian

New comment by vjulian in "Right to Local Intelligence"

vjulian — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 02:45:19 +0000

In the worst case it generates symbolism; that is ultimately what you’re saying.

That symbolism is akin to prayer.

I am not casting prayer in a negative light, I’m simply categorising your voting concept.

New comment by vjulian in "Right to Local Intelligence"

vjulian — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:40:32 +0000

There comes a time when voting becomes silly and ineffective.

New comment by vjulian in "U.S. government will decide who gets to use GPT-5.6"

vjulian — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:39:31 +0000

And you can measure their influence how?

New comment by vjulian in "Noise infusion banned from statistical products published by Census Bureau"

vjulian — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 20:38:16 +0000

Civics is a kind of religion, and it is difficult for people caught up in it to approach discussion from a logical and external perspective. This kind of civics is dangerous to society.

New comment by vjulian in "Noise infusion banned from statistical products published by Census Bureau"

vjulian — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 20:01:34 +0000

Many of us find voting insulting, given very low marginal power in a vote; it’s akin to throwing breadcrumbs to the poor. The structure of governance (the reality, not the mythology taught in schools or pushed forth as propaganda) is not in support of ‘the people”.

Right or wrong, this is how many of feel. Voting is silly and futile.

New comment by vjulian in "I'm skeptical about efforts to revolutionize schooling"

vjulian — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:08:58 +0000

Scratching my head: The majority of high-performers would absolutely not come from the richest areas. The very rich are relatively very few in number.

New comment by vjulian in "I'm skeptical about efforts to revolutionize schooling"

vjulian — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 23:58:35 +0000

How best to teach and effective teaching are problems solved long ago. It’s unaffordable for most.

What’s being discussed here is how to optimize mass education so that it’s least bad and is effective for a majority or least a substantial portion of children.

New comment by vjulian in "Meta and YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction case"

vjulian — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 02:34:31 +0000

...and postulate, for science doesn’t truly know why, and frankly, my guess is as good as any scientist’s. Much like in public education, policy makers in public health cater to and enforce the average. What a crappy way to do things.

New comment by vjulian in "Meta and YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction case"

vjulian — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:07:36 +0000

Be aware, the vast majority of people who have ever smoked cigarettes occasionally never became addicted. They were not labeled as “smokers”. A non-trivial number of people today continue to smoke cigarettes on occasion. I like to have one on my birthday. Then again, I’m able to eat a chip and not consume the entire bag. I’m not convinced of these social science studies, and when digging into individual studies I’m sure the replication crisis comes into play.

New comment by vjulian in "Mystery jump in oil trading ahead of Trump post draws scrutiny"

vjulian — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:05:46 +0000

Revolution, not election. We need a new governance framework in the US. I believe it’s genuinely silly to think this type of activity is limited to one party or one administration or that it is new.

I believe the Constitution and related artefacts should be stored in the British Museum with other historical documents. Civic religion needs to be done away with.

New comment by vjulian in "FDA links raw cheese to outbreak; Makers "100% disagree," refuse recall"

vjulian — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:45:45 +0000

Presumably, you’re American? In many parts of the world we regularly consume cheese made with raw milk. For many cheeses, raw milk is preferable.

New comment by vjulian in "The new Apple begins to emerge"

vjulian — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 21:05:36 +0000

Hardly what I would label as ‘longform’, though the author did.

New comment by vjulian in "GPT-5 outperforms federal judges in legal reasoning experiment"

vjulian — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:48:07 +0000

The legal system leaves much to be desired in relation to fairness and equity. I’d much prefer a multi-staged approach with an 1) AI analysis, 2) judge review with high bar for analysis if in disagreement with the AI, 3) public availability of the deliberations, 4) an appeals process.

New comment by vjulian in "Bro, Enough with the Protein. You're Just Making Expensive Pee"

vjulian — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:45:04 +0000

My understanding is that nutrition lags behind other sciences add is significantly impacted by the replication crisis. In this, much public health messaging lacks credibility.

Perhaps the best advice to “the people” is to encourage them to stick to their guns?

The Elias Material

vjulian — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 15:24:50 +0000

Article URL: https://eliasweb.org/AllSessions

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46754838

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by vjulian in "For the Children: A short story about the endgame of EU Chat Control"

vjulian — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:56:28 +0000

What bothers me most is not the governance and those who drive the horrible system. What bothers me most are the people down below. I used to dismiss them as stupid, but now I think, deep down, most people don’t actually want freedom. They see it as scary and prefer that their lives are tightly managed.

New comment by vjulian in "US set to quit World Health Organization"

vjulian — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:03:48 +0000

WHO is at its heart a hoi peloi control tool. I detest it.

New comment by vjulian in "Belarus begins a death penalty purge of radio amateurs"

vjulian — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:00:02 +0000

Absurd indeed, and sad.

New comment by vjulian in "America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws"

vjulian — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 18:53:55 +0000

I find it curious that I earned -2 points. Perhaps my points in the post were too pointed for some people. That, or some people really love civics theatre.

New comment by vjulian in "America could have $4 lunch bowls like Japan but for zoning laws"

vjulian — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:40:57 +0000

This sort of citizen engagement is cute, naïve and ultimately pointless. Where I live in the US the major landowner(s) and local billionaire(s) ultimately controls these things. I’m not being sarcastic.