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andrepd

19,958 karma · joined June 19, 2013

MSc in Physics PhD Researcher in Logic and Automated Reasoning
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andrepd··on Leo's first encyclical attacks technological messianism
> They provided a better and more cash efficient solution for passengers. That is enough.

They burned half a billion dollars a month of VC money at their peak to undercut taxis across the world; in quainter times this used to be called "dumping", now it's just the standard way of doing business. All the while basically flaunting the law with their whole "we're just a platform connecting people who happen to drive a car with people who happen to want to go some place, it's totally not a taxi guys". No regulations, no expensive licenses or professional certifications, no need even for a minimum wage or basic social security or insurance or any kind of protection. Amazing!

Essentially the same in spirit as Airbnb, only this latter had far more destructive consequences than screwing over taxi drivers.

andrepd··on Floor and Ceil versus Denormals on CPU and GPU
It's one of several issues with the design of IEEE floats, unfortunately. I wish we could start thinking more seriously about a new design, to complement if not replace IEEE in the long term. Posits are an example https://github.com/andrepd/posit-rust
andrepd··on Floor and Ceil versus Denormals on CPU and GPU
More like 100x, but not sure how true that is nowadays.
andrepd··on Citing 'severe' math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM
I think the problem is people prefer to solve immediate problems affecting themselves (or their close kin) rather than long-term or indirect improvements, and education is the long-term project if there ever was one: magically improve things tomorrow, and you will only start to see the effects in 20 years.

I don't know how it is in your place, but where I'm from governments have — at least for the last 15 years — governed exclusively with a max horizon of 4 years (the time until the next elections). Everything is quick-fixes or patches that kick the can down the road. It's very hard to convince people to care and vote for you if you promise to show results over the next generations, vs if you bump up pensions next year or something.

Basically, to give a different example, that's in essence why you the response to "traffic is abysmal" is "we will widen the urban highways cutting through the city" rather than "we will implement a plan to actually redesign our city away from car-exclusiveness".

andrepd··on Citing 'severe' math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM
Agree with technology being over-used for the sake of it. A visualisation/exploration of some math concept in Desmos can be invaluable, infinitely better than fiddling with diagrams on paper. Solving a calculus exercise on an ipad instead of paper adds exactly zero value. A smart teacher will know to use the first but not the second.

I will just say whiteboard > blackboard. I get allergies just thinking about it x)

andrepd··on The dead economy theory
Surely a factor, but hardly the sole explanation; malnutrition rose, that should give you some pause.
andrepd··on The dead economy theory
> Historically, more efficient agriculture meant a population boom.

But also a precipitous drop in life expectancy. Life in industrial towns in 1800s England was grim. Make of that what you will.

andrepd··on It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12
This resonates with me. I have changed phones twice in the last 12 years. Some people look at me like I'm crazy.
andrepd··on It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12
I sincerely don't get the point of a post like this. You buy a Framework for repairability, flawless Linux support, ability to tinker, etc. Yes it would be extra nice if on top of everything it also had a faster CPU and a higher-density screen for cheaper than the aggressively priced entry model of corporation with the literal deepest pockets in the world. But is that a realistic complaint? I swear I don't get it.
andrepd··on It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12
Windows has many flaws, being able to run any binary made in the past 30 years is not one of them.
andrepd··on DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode
Given most cooking or recipe websites have been AI slop for a few years now......

I'll stick with my mom's handwritten recipe book.

andrepd··on Magnifica Humanitas
Antiqua et Nova was partially written by one of the priests that tempt me to be a catholic.
andrepd··on Memory has grown to nearly two-thirds of AI chip component costs
> A 16 bit posit in a near-ideal situation matches an 18 bit IEEE float

Unsure what you mean by this... A posit16 has up to 11 bits of precision. There's no such thing as an 18 bit IEEE float.

> and in a pretty wide range of situations loses to either fp16 or bf16

Many papers have compared neural networks at 16 bits or 8 bits, and posits beat the hell out of floats and it's not even close. Which is very much expected. As they're particularly suited to this task. But also in other domains, like numerical weather simulations, where tests have shown 16-bit posits can replace 32-bit floats.

andrepd··on Magnifica Humanitas
Indeed! Reading the Bible attentively has only made me even more of an atheist :)
andrepd··on Magnifica Humanitas
> The events you mention still took place within the Abrahamic framework of thought. Ideas like a linear timeline progressing from A to B (rather than a cyclical one) or utopian political projects bringing final justice to society are Abrahamic in nature.

This is laughable... Someone needs to read more about classical antiquity! :) Certainly not something banal as "utopian political projects", which is extremely well attested in e.g. Greek philosophy, and indeed relatively absent from Christianity (its message being essentially escathological in nature, especially in its first few centuries)!

andrepd··on Magnifica Humanitas
> Much of Western thought traces back to serious work by Church theologians

Ehh. The vast majority of "Western" thought of the past >2000 years, including that of the Church itself, come from Greek philosophy and thought.

andrepd··on Magnifica Humanitas
> the exercise of moral and spiritual discernment

The likes of Sam Altman and Peter Thiel have openly stated they view humans as largely disposable. I don't think we can expect much humanism from them.

andrepd··on Magnifica Humanitas
Not about AI, here is an interesting point

> 176. In the development of her doctrine, the Church has gradually come to a deeper awareness of the gravity of these issues. It is true that past events cannot be judged anachronistically, as though the moral criteria that matured over time had always been available. Yet neither can we deny or diminish the delay with which both society and the Church came to denounce the scourge of slavery. In antiquity and the Middle Ages many individuals and even ecclesiastical institutions had slaves. Already in the early modern period, the Apostolic See of Rome, responding to requests from Sovereigns, intervened several times in order to regulate and legitimize forms of subjugation, and, in certain cases, the enslavement of “infidels.” [174] It was only in the nineteenth century that a formal, absolute and universal condemnation of slavery was clearly articulated, notably under Pope Leo XIII. [175] This development offers a clear example of the Church’s growth in understanding the perennial truths of Revelation that she safeguards. Although there was not always consistency in practice — given that slavery was long tolerated before being unequivocally condemned — there has been a continuous affirmation throughout history of the dignity of every human being, created in the image of God, even if it took eighteen centuries for its full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized. This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached. [176] It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord. For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.

As he surely understands but does not quite bear to be completely honest about it, the Church has only been a humanist institution for the past ~150ish years. The history before is bloody, and brutal, from genocide and slavery to wholesale cultural destruction, from its very beginnings.

Followed by a very keen remark:

> 178. Even today, colonialism assumes new forms. It no longer dominates only bodies, but appropriates data, transforming personal lives into exploitable information. Entire regions, especially those marked by structural fragility and limited geopolitical relevance, are currently subjected to a new mindset of extraction: that of health data, epidemiological profiles, genetic maps and demographic information. These have become the new “rare earths” of power: vital data which, once aggregated and analyzed, can be used to train predictive models, guide investment strategies, anticipate crises and, above all, determine who and what is deemed to matter. Those who control the health data of entire peoples — often collected under the pretext of aid, research or innovation — possess a structural leverage over the future, for they can shape needs and markets. They can also decide, before others, to whom medicines, investments and protections will be allocated. Here lies one of the most urgent moral challenges of our time: to ensure that shared knowledge becomes a true common good rather than an instrument of dominance. This requires restoring to individuals not only the data that describes them, but also the ability to decide how it is used, by whom and for whose benefit. Otherwise, the digital age will not be post-colonial, but colonial in another form.

andrepd··on Memory has grown to nearly two-thirds of AI chip component costs
I wonder if we will see an adoption of alternative floating point formats. IEEE floats are notoriously terrible at lower widths (<= 16 bits). Floating point formats such as posits do much better at 16 or 8 bits. If you could train at 16 bits per value instead of 32, and suffer a much smaller inaccuracy penalty than you would from IEEE32 to IEEE16...
andrepd··on Steve Wozniak cheered after telling students they have AI – actual intelligence
> A more modern day woz would be Palmer Luckey of Anduril.

The fucking things you read on this website, I swear to god.

andrepd··on Steve Wozniak cheered after telling students they have AI – actual intelligence
> People believe it because they learn to believe it in childhood.

In human rights or democratic rule of law?? What a preposterous notion. Precisely what separates religious belief from non-religious is the fact that the latter is dogmatic while the latter is not.

andrepd··on The Art of Money Getting
Many things in the world are radically different, and the economy especially is a different beast. The point about avoiding debt for example, is hardly relevant for businesses (even if it's generally good advice for personal debts.
andrepd··on Oura says it gets government demands for user data
What in god's name possesses someone to buy (and pay a subscription for) a device that gathers and sells their health data in exchange for a placebo dashboard of numbers...
andrepd··on Experience: We found a baby on the subway – now he's our 26-year-old son
Isn't that the choice people on hn claim to want to have? Let me pay for journalism and not be tracked please.
andrepd··on Using Kagi Search with Low Vision
You don't even need to verify your email, so just create a throwaway account, it's not that hard.
andrepd··on The death of the brick and mortar toy store
A Georgist LVT would fix that is short order. Start making owners pay compensation for keeping a valuable space empty and crumbling, and you'll see them step to it pretty quickly or sell it to someone who does.
andrepd··on We should get rid of average CPU utilization
Writing better code is of course out of the question.
andrepd··on News outlets are limiting the Internet Archive’s access to their journalism
There's a river of cash flowing to the pockets of the wealthy and to the megalomaniac projects of hyperscaler, but not to drip a few pennies onto the pockets of people providing such an important public service as journalists.
andrepd··on Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit
What are these messages? Threatening your ex-wife? Plotting to commit arson? Or saying you don't like immigrants? They all fall under this umbrella, yet the vast majority of people would agree the first two are criminal in nature.
andrepd··on Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
Arab Spring and the Obama campaign. I know, it seems a lifetime ago...
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