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Comment by socalgal2 | Hacker News Reader

hackers effectively killed https://glslsandbox.com It's been closed for about a year and a half because some hackers spammed it and no one has time to deal with it. There are other sites like shadertoy that do something similar but still, it sucks to see someone's project get shit on by assholes.

As for denial of service issues, because it's free I've mostly hidden behind cloudflare in the hope of not having to personally deal with those kinds of issues on my own stuff.

It's always annoying to me the hacker attitude of "it's your fault if I can break your stuff. You should have implemented it better". Well, I can break your windows, your door, your body and it wouldn't be an excuse that it's your fault because it's possible. Still, I know it's impossible to get rid of the assholes so ...

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Physical systems are different from information systems. You can make an impenetrable information system, but not an impenetrable physical system. Physical systems are inherently safe due to their locality, and can benefit from security-by-obscurity.

When you hook up a weak information system to a global network where anyone can interact with it, and someone finds a way to break it, perhaps it is worth looking into the systemic weaknesses instead of getting angry about a given attacker.

The last part is so true.

I’m a big guy, 6’3’’ 260, multiple Ironman, sport, climbing, lifting and hunting brush with a bit of combat training over the years. Most people in my life I imagine I could kill with my bare hands. But I don’t, because like you said that isn’t how life works.

Yet people apply it to anything they want recklessly. Cars, phones, or like above peoples projects. I wonder how they would feel if I beat the shit out of them and laughed, telling them their mom should have fucked someone bigger.

Anyway, I agree it sucks.

I'm about your size, and have actually done what you describe (not by my own choice). The process takes much longer than one might suppose, however incredibly difficult to imagine.

We are nothing more than temporary meatbags, fragilely broken. Take care of yourself, each other.

¢¢

You killed someone with your bare hands but it wasn't your choice? Sorry I'm lost.

Sometimes, other people can decide to put you in a situation where among all possible actions, physically stopping that person by any means is the least bad option by several orders of magnitude.

People refer to this as having "no choice", assuming most people understand "standing there and watching them repeatedly stab my infant with a fork" is not a choice anyone would make. It's an idiom.

>It's an idiom

Thank you.

Thank you for using your brain.

I've intentionally left details vague — legally: a free man.

Tip: bare-handed, watch out for teeth — the will to live is strong.

>Most people in my life I imagine I could kill with my bare hands. But I don’t, because like you said that isn’t how life works.

You don't, not because you are such a great guy, but because society's protection of physical systems is rigorous through thousands (millions?) of years of evolution. If you assault someone in the modern day, you will probably get thrown in jail or you will get shot.

Our information systems (such as the internet) are systemically weak. They are poorly designed and have not gone through the same evolution. I think it is good to exploit these weak information systems so that they can evolve.

Are you saying that the guy would go for a killing spree because he can, but he's only stopped by the laws?

Weird.

And polar opposite from what he said.

If there were no laws, then there would be no evolutionary pressure to pacify the ghenghis khans of the world. And it's not so much the rules on paper, but the organization of power that enforces the rules.

It's not weird it's just uncomfortable for you to grapple with directly, that discomfort being a product of the same evolutionary pressure.

What I'm saying doesn't oppose what they're saying. That poster was just boasting about his ability to kill others, re-framed in a way to suit slave morality and make himself look like a "good" person.

Laws are not the only existing influences. Even if you mean to include other social constructs, those are still not the only extant influences.

Based on my understanding, Genghis Khan was himself a lawful force…just not the same laws as other groups. I believe this followed the usual pattern of human history: in-group gets favourable laws, while out-groups get their own laws ignored whilst unfavourable laws are pressed upon them.

Perhaps you meant the natural human capacity for violence? If so, it is a non-sequitur to suggest that only laws provide an evolutionary pressure against this.

No, the vast majority of people don't kill others because they are good people and they don't want to murder others.

The laws are put in place for the small minority that are not good people.

It's good to know that modern laws are a deterrent for you.

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