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Qworg

3,866 karma · joined July 12, 2011

I solve hard problems with hardware, software and systems.

Currently, I am a lead applied research scientist working on the future of AI and software development.

I was a Technical Advisor to the CTO at Microsoft working on AI/ML, agents, and the systems they work with.

I was the cofounder of Transparent Systems - instant settlement for business. https://transparentsystems.com

Previously, I was Paul Allen's Technical Advisor at Vulcan. I also worked on Project Natick - Microsoft's undersea data center - https://www.projectnatick.com and Holoportation (now mobile!) - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/holoportation-3/

Email: jeffkramr:at:gmail:dot:com

Github: https://github.com/Qworg

Kismet: 0956bcca93faa0abcd57648296328b37db80013000807ea211e79a2e14814774

Keybase: [ my public key: https://keybase.io/qworg; my proof: https://keybase.io/qworg/sigs/7vYAbTGQlx9t1-3gbpHsWl5p59J8i0UmPk83VAUU1-8 ]

Meet.hn: meet.hn/city/47.6694141,-122.1238767/Redmond

submissionscomments
Qworg··on Show HN: A competition for small neural networks that play strategy games
Reminds me of MechMania at UIUC - exciting!
Qworg··on Another researcher says OpenAI trained on conversations, then claimed breakthrou
Skeets is what the community wants, but the company does not (for obvious reasons).
Qworg··on Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber
Humans are also not trustworthy. So we build systems to capture their nondeterministic output and solve the issues that emerge.
Qworg··on The Future, Made in China
This was the role of those "unelected bureaucrats" in the US that some folks decry.

It is far shorter than a fiscal quarter - the next market open is all that matters.

Qworg··on The case for MUDs in modern times (2018)
Thank you for posting this! I just finished a MUD engine and I was looking for a way to expose it to a small community of technically minded folks.
Qworg··on Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee
What are the knock on effects of lowering the total number of people/the velocity of money/the number of companies in America?

Canada's housing supply cost issues are driven by a wide variety of factors, very little having to do with immigration and far more with a small number of wealthy families owning a huge amount of land and a larger number of wealthy people holding many homes.

Qworg··on Every book recommended on the Odd Lots Discord
If you enjoy the podcast or the newsletters, I do recommend the Discord (https://discord.gg/oddlots) - the folks there are generally very smart and it is a great place to discuss everything from the economy to climate to transportation to defense.
Qworg··on Every book recommended on the Odd Lots Discord
Mentioned, but there's usually a discussion.
Qworg··on AI makes the easy part easier and the hard part harder
Your responsibility as a developer in this new world is design and validation.

A poor foundation is a design problem. Throw it away and start again.

Qworg··on The Dawn of the AI Drone
Both TOWs and M47 Dragons are "remote controlled".
Qworg··on Ford kills the All-Electric F-150
Given what you need, you should look at a Telo.

https://www.telotrucks.com/

Not launched yet though.

Qworg··on Spec-Driven Development: The Waterfall Strikes Back
Your team's fixed preferences get stored into your .agents.md file so you don't type it over and over.

If you change your preferences, the team refactors.

Qworg··on Skyfall-GS – Synthesizing Immersive 3D Urban Scenes from Satellite Imagery
While the methodology wasn't published, Microsoft did something similar for Flight Simulator.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/flight-box...

Qworg··on x402 — An open protocol for internet-native payments
FIS is just waiting for them to pay $250k/enabled API call to make it happen...
Qworg··on Starship's Tenth Flight Test
Come now - you really believe that Elon saw DOGE as a good faith effort to cut costs in the government?

For someone with such a vaunted intelligence, he was either dumb or complicit. "Working things out from first principles" would have had him leave after the very first step.

Qworg··on From tokens to thoughts: How LLMs and humans trade compression for meaning
To make it more concrete - here's an example in Chinese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Mud_Horse
Qworg··on E-COM: The $40M USPS project to send email on paper
Postal banking existed in the US in some form until 1967. We could (and should) bring it back just for the reasons you stated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings...

There are places in the US where the bank drives to the town once or twice a week, since there's otherwise no way to get cash or transact.

Qworg··on In a high-stress work environment, prioritize relationships
The issue with your last statement is that it _is_ part of your job and an increasingly important one at that.

It is _also_ your job to make them less bad - this is good because your incentives are aligned.

If they both can't be of use and can't be made better, then you need management to step in.

Qworg··on Isaac Asimov describes how AI will liberate humans and their creativity (1992)
What are robots or not is a point of debate - there are many different definitions.

Generally, it has to automate a task with some intelligence, so dishwashers qualify. It isn't a existence proof (nor did I state that).

Qworg··on Isaac Asimov describes how AI will liberate humans and their creativity (1992)
The wits in robotics would say we already have domestic robots - we just call them dishwashers and washing machines. Once something becomes good enough to take the job completely, it gets the name and drops "robotic" - that's why we still have robotic vacuums.
Qworg··on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU
I'm not saying it has to be perfect.

I'm saying that this outcome will never exist because more has changed than just the plant closing. If we coupled "reopen the plant" with "the plant makes entirely new things" and "the plant trains local workers to take these jobs" and "the plant pays above local service/construction wages" and "the plant will be successful in geopolitical competition" and "the plant can do 10x the amount of business due to advances in automation to get to the same level of employment" and on and on.

We could solve _each_ of these problems, absolutely - but they are all interlocking parts of a wicked problem. Blowing up the economy and threatening a global recession won't actually solve any of these.

Qworg··on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU
It isn't a bad thing - unless you don't have a job/have been stuffed with the idea that meaning and good pay could be yours if not for those foreigners.
Qworg··on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU
It isn't just "reopen the plant" - it is "reopen the plant and match economic conditions in the time period from the 1950s-1990s".

Just reopening won't bring back the comparably high wages from that time period.

Qworg··on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU
You can see the report here: https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations

Given that both elasticities were set to cancel each other, that's why you get a flat trade deficit/imports calculation.

This is, sadly, the way a freshman econ student would calculate tariffs.

Qworg··on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU
The admin has stated they are in addition to (totaling 54%).
Qworg··on HyperShell X Outdoor PowerSuit Exoskeleton
Festool sells an upper body exoskeleton for painters and sanders: https://www.festoolusa.com/products/exoskeleton/exoactive-ex...
Qworg··on DigiKey's Tariff Resources
We've moved away from lower value manufacturing and are moving higher in the economic chain - that's great for us and how economics works. It isn't just chasing cheaper means of production - we can (and in a limited way have) put people to work elsewhere.

We dodged this in the 90s, but we need massive training programs to move those displaced workers to new jobs + resettlement assistance to get them to where the jobs are.

Qworg··on Ask HN: What should I do with meet.hn?
A few things:

1. The location resolution is too high for regions - ex: all of the Seattle area should lump together and only break apart into smaller locations (Bellevue, etc) when zoomed all the way in.

2. Email notification worked for kismet, but I don't know what the uptake is.

3. Having a way to participate in multiple locations would be useful.

4. Profiles are interesting, but per another poster, finding a way to capture interests and make connections would be even better. Maybe a combination of profile + scrape of comments/submissions/socials to generate profiles (that are only accessible to signed up users)?

Qworg··on Launch HN: Double (YC W24) – Index Investing with 0% Expense Ratios
If you're a pure boglehead, sure - but if you want "index but" + tax harvesting, this seems good, no?
Qworg··on Launch HN: Double (YC W24) – Index Investing with 0% Expense Ratios
What's the value of the borrow fees they can take?
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