HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

SethMurphy

892 karma · joined September 4, 2011

submissionscomments
SethMurphy··on There are no "rogue" AI agents
Prediction: The US government will use the threats of sueing for liability, since the targets included government agencies, and regulations in order to be given the opportunity to have shares in the AI companies, therefore arguing additional oversight is no longer needed because they will have a seat on the board.
SethMurphy··on LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
Phone is now smart phone. TV is now smart TV.

Very unfortunate.

Glad my 2007 Sony Bravia still works, even if only standard HD.

SethMurphy··on Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule
I am a student of history and am offering the observations I see in regards to that. Your points are valid too and the narrative around the war. Another validation of my point. Neither of us know the true motives, but history has shown the side the United States chooses is the one that benefits trade th most, not a moral decision. This is my only point.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/03/business/iran...

SethMurphy··on Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule
Yes, and the price of oil has gone up 10% last I saw. United states domestic oil sells at the same price. Maybe not planned, but a reality. On the flip side the possibility this affect the global economy, which includes the US, more negatively is probably true also.
SethMurphy··on Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule
I am making no implications of Trump, very on purpose to keep this in point (it's hard), but explicitly stating that the policies of the United States are based on capitalism and always have been, while the narrative given and received is that of humanitarianism, which in my opinion is a side effect only. In this case hopefully a positive one, hence my concern for the reckless nature of the war (let's just call it what it is, not just an attack or military action).
SethMurphy··on Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule
Wars are almost always about commerce, history has shown that. Ideology is used to back the motive publicly, but the reason for involvement is almost always trade or commerce. This case could be different, but it is not obvious to me that this case is any different. A simple example is WW1 where the US was forced to back the UK because of their large debt to US banks, despite them still being a colonist power at the time.
SethMurphy··on Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule
If the United States truly supported regime change there should be a clear next leader favored to succeed the Ayatollah, otherwise this feels more like a favor to oil companies, raising prices temporarily, and a sound bite for political gain, without a care of what happens to the country later. Simply toppling a government seems quite risky without further planning. Just expecting "good" people to fill the leadership vacuum is a gamble that could easily backfire and lead to greater crackdowns on freedoms and death to those Trump told to go get the power.
SethMurphy··on AI generated music barred from Bandcamp
It took one obvious, obnoxious, and well infiltrated new music AI slop in the my recommended new music feed to finally turn me completely sour on Spotify. I was a prelaunch US user who had brand loyalty built in from the start. I even met Daniel Ek during the big early hype. Its gone. It has been the listen of last resort for awhile, and I used it for discovery of new releases. It's dead to me now
SethMurphy··on AI Eroded Doctors' Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study
Avoiding copy and paste is the key for me to keeping my syntax memory.
SethMurphy··on Emailing a one-time code is worse than passwords
What I don't understand is how the site will send the 2FA code request to the bad actors phone, instead of the real users phone? Is this not part of what makes it more secure than a text or email? Wouldn't the bad actor need to be logged into the authenticator as the user your trying to hack?
SethMurphy··on Emailing a one-time code is worse than passwords
Can you explain this more, I don't understand Google authenticator completely? Could a bad actor spoof a 2FA as they can with an email, and capture your input?
SethMurphy··on Self-employed, self-exhausted
I have started using —ahem— em dashes more regularly so people think I am as smart —well clever at least— as AI.
SethMurphy··on Fictional K-pop bands zoom to top of US music charts
This is Spinal Tap.
SethMurphy··on Cool People [pdf]
I think the term for this would be "poser", the not cool sub segment of the cool kids.
SethMurphy··on As a Labrador swam by me out to sea his owner said I hope he doesn't meet a seal
Dogs, in the US, are no longer an asset to use as a tool, such as herding, but merely a companion in the vast majority of cases. Agreed they became what they were in order to be useful enough to feed and care for, but different traits may be desired as a pure companion.
SethMurphy··on As a Labrador swam by me out to sea his owner said I hope he doesn't meet a seal
It always fascinated me that particular behaviors, like herding, can be so ingrained to a particular breed of dog. The dog is no longer in a setting where this is crucial to their survival, yet the urge exists. I do wonder for how many generations the behaviors would last, assuming the dominant genes were not surpressed. That is of course assuming genes are the factor that drives it. It's almost as if environment has little to do with the behavior in this case, other than having opportunity to exhibit the behavior.
SethMurphy··on Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]
Yes, my thoughts exactly too. Not an endorsement by the way.
SethMurphy··on Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]
If the answer is the end of - I'll call it - "Consumerism", and the industries we choose to subsidize are those that are more essential to a community driven life (e.g. food, shelter, health, education, transportation, communication, etc ...), I think it is possible to lower the "Standard of Living" as reshaping what the term means, undoing years of advertisement based conditioning.

Americans may no longer have an unnecessarily large or luxurious automobile, or a screen in every room, but I would argue excess becoming the standard is the problem and a major cause of the imbalance.

The solution doesn't feel very democratic or free though, values that have been critical to the identity of the USA.

SethMurphy··on Why America now eats a crazy number of avocados
You have a place to live and avocados now, that could be considered a win win. "Win" is such a subjective term as used here. The equation is not as simple as jobs lost equals bad, jobs gained equals good. I too have the gut reaction that a farm subdivided is a bad thing, but logically I can't really convince myself it's really as simple as that.
SethMurphy··on A deliberate practice app for guitar players who want to level up
Recording and watching or listening to myself play has been very helpful for me. Even a temporary recording of just the current session, or most recent n minutes/beats would be nice. It's hard to evaluate execution in real time while performing it. To get it right as a user experience is not a simple task though. However, your great minimal feature set could also be seen as a plus to drive the practice routine efficiently no matter the quality, you'll get better too.
SethMurphy··on Umami is a simple, fast, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics
I recognize the reference because of the tool. I remember the name because it's simple. The flavor itself is irrelevant in my thought process.
SethMurphy··on Umami is a simple, fast, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics
Urchin, the software name of the precursor to GA, has an umami flavor. I find the naming quite clever and easy to remember.
SethMurphy··on Umami is a simple, fast, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics
It is privacy oriented from the perspective of the company, not the individual. I think there is some value in that. Although it makes it no more likely to be secure or private for the individual end user visiting the site though.
SethMurphy··on Evidence of the use of silk by Bronze Age civilization
The petroleum age would seem an even more encompassing description along the same theory.
SethMurphy··on How I Program in 2024
Integration tests can be very resource intensive. In larger projects the time it takes to run and set these up these is often daunting. Yes, the idea is regression of business logic in practice, but in reality I have found it leads to test resentment (and writers of those tests) and smaller or no test being written instead. Additionally the regressions added are often to the test suite itself and not the actual application.
SethMurphy··on How I Program in 2024
I have always found integration tests most important in order to test business logic when your customers pay for your trust and especially when they rely on your code for revenue while interacting with a third party. However, they should be thrown away immediately after proving your coded logic matches business requirements as they are slow and lose value and become tech debt quickly. Unit tests, if needed, should be even more temporary in my opinion. Often a CLI can be sufficient as a "unit test" during the development process.
SethMurphy··on Aphantasia: I can not picture things in my mind
Neurology is still such a black box medically. Did you by any chance have a brain MRI at any point? If yes, and your willing to share, what portion of the brain was impacted? If more than one, has there been diagnostically visible change between them? Did you get any treatment? I can be reached at first at full tod moc if you prefer.
SethMurphy··on Show HN: BandMatch – “Tinder” but for finding musicians to create bands/collab
I find that the more music creation and distribution is gamified, the less gratifying it is for me. Discovery of the music and people who share your distinct musical passions is such and important part of the process of enjoying music and it's creation. On first look I thought, interesting, why would they go ruin the best (if also one of the more frustrating) parts of music creation. No thanks, too derivative and solving a problem in a way that feels icky to me.
SethMurphy··on Writing books remains a tough way to make a living
This would follow the same path as the music industry and the revival of vinyl record albums. Most are collected and not played since streaming is so much easier and portable. I would go further and say that paperbacks will fall almost completely out of favor as they are less durable and could be seen as more of a "waste" environmentally. A bookshelf in a home is still a wall of virtue and interest signals and I don't think that will go away completely.
SethMurphy··on Will we be addicted to our phones forever? An optimistic outlook
It's a term I just coined and wasn't meant literally. I was referring to interactions that make you feel good and unintentionally become a habit. Myself, I come here to feel clever and learn by engaging in subject matter that interests me. I don't always hit the mark, but I try. I also realize others use social media such as Facebook for the same reason. In my younger days I may have done the same by conversing with strangers in coffee shops or bars.
Page 1 of 7Next →