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Comment by kristopolous | Hacker News Reader

This really, really looks like a nullschool clone (https://earth.nullschool.net/). Is it not?

Hi, it totally is. That's one of our favorite weather visualization projects. We're using Cameron Beccario's open source version of nullschool for our forecasts. We cited him above in the blurb and also on our about page (https://hurricanes2024.silurian.ai/about.html)

so what exactly are you launching that I can see here?

I’m confused by this thread. The posters have mentioned that they are building their own foundation model for climate/weather prediction and are using a well known open source tool in the field for viz. Where’s the ambiguity here?

This is the visualization tool they use. They generate the data that feeds into that visualization

I suggest you read the post. Reading is typically how information is transmitted.

EDIT: the post I am responding to was altered to sound much less confrontational. It was originally:

> So what exactly are you “launching” and why does it require venture capital?

Props. HN really needs an [edited] icon… throw it on the long list!

Alright, what they presented, in the current state, is just a clone of a 10 year old project with a 2.5 month old weather forecast and some AI story attached to it.

The project this “cloned” is just a data visualization tool. You can plug any data into it - good data, bad data.

They are launching an AI model which they claim produces higher quality weather data than traditional models relying on physical simulation. And they used this visualization library to make an engaging website.

Constructively, you have gotten to this position by overreacting to a perceived “clone” and failing to be enlightened by the numerous comments and the original post explaining the purpose.

Respectfully, I suggest you take a breath and try to disassociate from whatever emotional reaction you are having about this.

> Silurian builds foundation models to simulate the Earth, starting with the weather.

It's the first line man. The visual is just a visual, their product is the data being visualized.

> We visualize these using [cambecc/earth] (https://github.com/cambecc/earth), one of our favorite open source weather visualization tools

From the post.

I don’t think I understand what your issue is with them. They used an open-source project to visualize their data, were open about doing so, and cited the creator of the project.

What more did you want from them? (Genuine question.)

something within the interface that more clearly illustrates their product differentiation.

nullschool is obscure enough to the general audience that when I saw it there was an immediate red flag.

If only specialized scientists can see the difference between the sites, it's a presentation problem.

The interface in question is the second link in the post. To get to the interface without any of the other relevant context, you would have to:

- skip reading the post (which explains all of this)

- skip the first link in the post (which explains all of this)

- go straight to the second link in the post, to the interface

- skip the "about" link in the interface (which explains all of this)

Obviously nobody did that.

The post has been edited.

FWIW: I read this post contemporaneous with your first comments, and saw exactly the content that's there now.

I was able to determine what this is, and I’m not a specialized scientist. I merely exercised the discipline to read the post before reacting and commenting.

Why are you personally attacking me?

It is just open source version [1] of that, I assume. It's a visualization, but data is their own. earth.nullschool is visualization of NOAA's GFS model.

[1] https://github.com/cambecc/earth

Yep, they cite it on their "about" page (select about from the menu): https://hurricanes2024.silurian.ai/about.html

Wow, that’s uncanny.

[flagged]

You went to the effort of posting 2 HN comments, tweeting, and taking a screenshot because you are annoyed that this project used an open-source library and were transparent about doing so.

I didn't know it was open source. I thought it was a ripoff.

A ripoff of the visualization layer? Even if it was, who cares? That's not the work. What's next, you think a new chess engine is a ripoff because they use a standard chess board for visualization? A new protein prediction model is a ripoff because they use the standard visualization?

There's a long precedent of knockoffs, scams, and skullduggery in silicon valley.

The answer isn't to not even read what they are doing and just assume the worst.

They edited the post.

Regardless, you're just trying to personally attack me. That's a great use of both our time.

It was rhetorical. And telling you that the answer is not to assume the worst without reading what they are doing is not a personal attack.

You are out here implying these guys are a fraud. Being told to pull your head in is not personal.

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