Hacker News Reader

_int3_on Dead USB Drives Are Fine: Building a Reliable Sneakernet

I like the idea,

1. so how do you establish sneakernet with NNCP with your friends, family? Do you exchange USB sticks or how this works?

2. Let's say someone doesn't have internet. how to read hacker news via sneakernet?

_int3_on Carmack: The code for AGI will be simple

I guess robots that can kill people on their own "will" would be perceived by humans as having chaotic behavior , and wouldn't be of much use to us. So why build it?

Anyway I think robots or other devices can't have will either way. For example if someone plants land mine and years later this land mine kills someone. It is not land mine's will. But of person who planted it. You can't sue land mine.

_int3_on Civilian AI Is Already Being Misused by the Bad Guys

Good point, researchers who did this research should have never done it in the first place if it is relevant to making chemical weapons. If it is irrelevant then ok.

_int3_on Civilian AI Is Already Being Misused by the Bad Guys

   > Last March, a group of researchers made headlines by revealing that they had developed an artificial-intelligence (AI) tool that could invent potential new chemical weapons. What’s more, it could do so at an incredible speed: It took only 6 hours for the AI tool to suggest 40,000 of them.

 Why is this not classified research?

_int3_on GPD Win 4 handheld gaming PC will feature Ryzen 7 6800U and 6“ sliding display

same, GPD WIN, battery bloated and died.

_int3_on Tool beeps every time data is sent to Google

Maybe next step would be to make a tool which says if given website is clean or not? So we can start making whitelist.

_int3_on A toolbox for a secure software supply chain

Supply chain attack is a trust issue. I don't know what these tools do but if it's software then there is one more link you must trust in supply chain.

Solution is to go the other way , you don't bloat your software with too many dependencies. That way you minimize your attack surface.

_int3_on Am I going to die if I ditch my phone?

I put you in my watch list. See you in 30 days.

   > QR codes

You can just print it and carry in a wallet.

   > maps

There are paper maps, you should have one of a country you are traveling in in your car. Like people did back in a day.

_int3_on A tool that beeps every time your computer sends data to Google

Are you asking because you want to impersonate other people (1) or because you want to mask your own body signature (2)?

If (2) you just make random HTTP requests between your real request. Or maybe you also delay your real request for random amount of time,

_int3_on I used a dumb phone for 6 months. here’s what I learned [video]

That's what I did. I set to do it in two phases.

phase 1: use smartphone along with dumb phone. Smartphone was without SIM card and comms, it still had all the offline capable applications like camera, gps, navigation, etc. Instant messaging was now on laptop.

phase 2: Ditch smartphone. And use dumb phone only. Learn to navigate like old times with paper maps ( for use in other countries ) and reading road signs.

_int3_on A tool that beeps every time your computer sends data to Google

What you may want to do is make this beep not connected to your body movement ( for security reasons) for example: one beep every day. ( sending your data in batches), or random beep ( generating junk data), or no beep at all ( firewalling outgoing traffic to google).

_int3_on There were almost two internets. Then, the CIA destroyed one

Can they act on estimates? Can they take resources ( like gas, copper, electronics, etc... ) from one private company's storage and give it to other (more critical) company?

For example: take gas from paper-clip factory and give it to fertilizer factory?

_int3_on There were almost two internets. Then, the CIA destroyed one

I don't think so. Project Cybersyn is not even possible on non centrally planned economies.

Try to calculate if Germany will run out of gas this winter. You can't . Because economy is not centrally planned.

_int3_on There were almost two internets. Then, the CIA destroyed one

This telex machines act like terminals if you connect them to computer. They did best with technology they had. (previous government didn't know how to use them). It is remarkable what they did. And very interesting. The title is misleading.

_int3_on There were almost two internets. Then, the CIA destroyed one

There was communication network (500 telex machines) , and one mainframe computer. For internet you may also need packet switching.

_int3_on To Hell with Facebook (2021)

Didn't that initiative ended badly like 10 years ago?

EDIT: No, it was "Facebook Zero"

_int3_on Ask HN: Are we building a tech dystopia?

I was once worried because there is layer between my code and I/O in increasing number of technologies, so others may control what I can do with computer and its communication with the world. Solution is simple. Just stand up and walk away from locked technologies (it is not like real prison or anything like that). Some people try to jailbreak or find holes in sandbox , these are the same people that help to improve jails , sandboxes, locks, etc...

_int3_on Ask HN: Are we building a tech dystopia?

Now days everybody is carrying a tile-like device with them (a smartphone). And that is kind of silly.

I see it as a trend that will go away. And the old things will survive.

_int3_on Preparedness Paradox

This examples can be made up arbitrarily. For any situation. You can always say that if it weren't for x, y would be even worse.

"If people didn't carry guns, there would be more violence."

"If we didn't start climate talks , climate change would be even worse."

etc...

_int3_on Preparedness Paradox

And also Russia , country with nuclear arsenal, did nothing for Y2K

_int3_on Preparedness Paradox

Imagine if you did invest. You would be called sucker.

_int3_on Preparedness Paradox

Like what platforms?

_int3_on Preparedness Paradox

Then why South Korea and Italy didn't suffer Y2K problems. And invested little to nothing in Y2K remediation.

_int3_on De-anonymizing programmers from binaries (2017)

Basically , to outsmart this algorithm you can use deniability attack

You just say that someone imitated your style. It's not like binary has cryptographic signature of person who compiled it, even then you can say that someone stole your private key.

_int3_on John Carmack has never felt burnout

I read somewhere, when John Carmack faces engineering dilemma he programs both.

_int3_on Will Europe Force a Facebook Blackout?

I don't think people care for definition of "social network" or "social media" . In case of "no more FB" they will just migrate to another application that allows them to communicate with each other, share photos, videos, etc.. Any app that can handle half billion of new users without crashing too much will do.

_int3_on Will Europe Force a Facebook Blackout?

If FB goes out of EU, people will just move to another social network on the list. ( There are many social networks out there )

_int3_on Ukraine sitrep: Russia wires Europe's largest nuke plant to explode

what would happen if this goes boom?

_int3_on Yes, the Universe is 100% reductionist in nature

   > If that’s not your starting point, it’s my duty to inform you that the burden of proof lies with you. You must show that the null hypothesis is insufficient to describe a phenomenon where its predictions are clear, and in conflict with what can be observed and/or measured.

Like consciousness ?

If consciousness is configuration of atoms, then in universe there can be near infinite number of consciousnesses. Somebody can produce consciousness on another planet. Then you have problem of two consciousnesses. (Or one consciousness on two planets)

Either that or atoms have serial numbers and that will require discovery of new law of physic. So now burden of proof lies with you.