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catshirt

2,358 karma · joined July 29, 2010

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catshirt··on Falsehoods programmers believe about programming
thank you for a thoughtful response.

your first point regarding "no non-controversial statements" points out a flaw in my logic that i hope we can move past to my example.

i try to illustrate, that the graph of `ACTIONS <-> PEOPLE + TOOLS <-> MAKERS OF TOOLS` has been an obviously controversial one in the past as applied to weaponry, using guns as an example. so why should it not be equally controversial for any profession? the tool is variable.

which you answer with your last point: "guns don't kill people" and an admittance of ethical responsibility are not mutually exclusive. and maybe there has never been a controversy like i am suggesting. which is a great point and presses me to reiterate: where is this programmer who does not believe his job has ethical implications?

and IF IT IS a falsehood programmers believe: you think telling some number of programmers they are ethically insufficient could not possibly lead to a controversial discussion?

catshirt··on Falsehoods programmers believe about programming
so if i can repurpose someone else's example:

you're suggesting that if i make a knife for buttering bread and it kills someone because i was careless in my creating of the knife, there is "obviously" no ethical impact because my intent was good?

and this leads to my real point. find me 1 programmer who perpetuates this myth that there exists an engineer who says its impossible for their job to invoke ethics.

funny that the top of this list says it's a "falsehood programmers believe" yet not a single person here wants to take that side. either it's painfully obvious or it's not a myth. pick one.

catshirt··on Falsehoods programmers believe about programming
> A brittle blade that was made to save money but shatters and slices flesh on a bone was an ethical impact.

by that logic, basically every decision we ever make has an ethical impact. which is probably true but kind of watered down.

> Making a non-reflective tactical assault blade with a knuckle grip and claiming that you did not think about it’s uses is a little silly right?

most certainly. therefor, it would also be a little silly to act like knife makers consider ethics of their job a "falsehood".

you can't have your cake and eat it too. either it's so obvious that that programmers are subject to ethics that THERE IS NO MYTH and no one actually believes this, or the myth exists for a reason.

catshirt··on Falsehoods programmers believe about programming
the fact that i might disagree with it (never said i did by the way), would suggest that others might disagree with it, would suggest it is definitively controversial.

a lot of the country would argue that gun makers don't have too much an ethical concern when building guns. surely you have heard the phrase "guns don't kill people". and so how dare me try and apply that argument here on their behalf.

i think the easiest way to point out the controversy in the statement is that NO ONE HERE SEEMS TO BELIEVE IT? SO HOW IS IT A "FALSEHOOD PROGRAMMERS BELIEVE"?

catshirt··on Apple is close to acquiring Shazam, sources say
the reason i am being downvoted is because hacker news is fucking garbage now. too many insecure, underqualified jackasses looking for a reason to argue.
catshirt··on Apple is close to acquiring Shazam, sources say
and saying "they have an app" is ignoring OP's actual point, which is all i am trying to defend. no one is calling into question the merit it's taken to build Shazam as a company.

how do i find myself defending the most ridiculous shit here?... like an algorithm can't work without a UI.

> guy 1: "index the Fourier Transform of all songs"

> guy 2: "[don't forget about] their huge database[!]"

how is this not contrarian? biz guy spotted? the dude straight up fucking said to build a database of "ALL SONGS". if you think that's simple you're either not thinking hard enough or you have no idea what he's talking about.

catshirt··on Apple is close to acquiring Shazam, sources say
what is your point?

saying the algorithm "wouldn't work" without an app is like saying my door doesn't work without a doorknob.

OP made a point: Shazam is not magic, and people have the opportunity to compete or DIY. to me, it seems simple/contrarian/not helpful to respond with "they have an app too"

catshirt··on Apple is close to acquiring Shazam, sources say
it’s just a button. and in a perfect world I wouldn’t even need a button
catshirt··on Google API Explorer
and the ones you do...
catshirt··on Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed
thread i participated in yesterday would suggest about half of HN welcomes it with open arms.
catshirt··on U.S. government once wanted to plan false flag attacks with Soviet aircraft
my only point is that however you interpret the article, pivoting your response towards mocking conspiracy theorists speaks more towards a personal peeve than an objective analysis of the documents. at best it's almost irrelevant. at worst it's ironic.
catshirt··on U.S. government once wanted to plan false flag attacks with Soviet aircraft
i don't think your analogy is strong. but instead of continuing to mince words... s/*/plan/ for literally whatever word you choose. and my point stands. discussed? evaluated? none of it makes me feel better.
catshirt··on U.S. government once wanted to plan false flag attacks with Soviet aircraft
sorry, I’ve edited the word “planned” into my post as to not seem misleading. (forgive me for paraphrasing the title of the thread incorrectly).

unsurprisingly, it doesn’t actually change my point in the slightest. maybe we can have a more interesting conversation now.

catshirt··on U.S. government once wanted to plan false flag attacks with Soviet aircraft
“a provocation operation in which Soviet aircraft would appear to attack US or friendly installations to provide an excuse for U.S. intervention”

what is that, if not a fake attack for political purposes?

catshirt··on U.S. government once wanted to plan false flag attacks with Soviet aircraft
news report confirms another instance of the US planning fake attacks on its own citizens for political purposes and your response is to chastise conspiracy theorists? your frustration seems a little misdirected.

which is the bigger offense?

catshirt··on Ciao, Chrome: Firefox Quantum Is the Browser Built for 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/06/politics/donald-trump-koi-pond...

https://gizmodo.com/that-viral-photo-of-president-trump-dump...

an honest question, do your content police block CNN for this one article? if yes, i respect your consistency but i think CNN deserves some forgiveness. if no, why not? what is the threshold? any threshold is just A SECOND slippery slope.

> The first is an attempt to mislead people about events that have happened

i see. and who gets to decide what has happened? CNN or FOX? Google or Mozilla?

i think... show me a group capable of political objectivity, invulnerable to influence, and i can start to come around.

catshirt··on Ciao, Chrome: Firefox Quantum Is the Browser Built for 2017
dude. i get it. you are only further articulating everything i have already accused you of.

you want a company or government to decide what content gets blocked. that is what's partisan.

remember this conversation when the guy you don't like gets control of that company or government. cheers mate. i mean well.

catshirt··on Ciao, Chrome: Firefox Quantum Is the Browser Built for 2017
ok. read the whole article. and i understood you right off the bat just fine. you want to block fiction from the internet. specifically, political fiction. and to be really generous, more specifically, political fiction with a certain intent.

now. who gets to arbitrate what is "political"? who gets to arbitrate what is "fiction"? who gets to arbitrate someone else's "intent"?

Clinton? Trump? Bezos? Huffington? pick your poison. and i'll find half a country that disagrees with you.

signed,

a very confused liberal

catshirt··on Ciao, Chrome: Firefox Quantum Is the Browser Built for 2017
> "real fake news"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

or (to play coy): you're suggesting we block fiction from the internet...?

catshirt··on Ciao, Chrome: Firefox Quantum Is the Browser Built for 2017
come on. read between the lines. i'm saying that blocking websites is fascist behavior, not noble work. don't abuse your family's trust by imposing political censorship on them.
catshirt··on Ciao, Chrome: Firefox Quantum Is the Browser Built for 2017
their use of "but" would suggest OP is definitely talking about Mozilla
catshirt··on VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
yea, but we're not talking about the rest of the world in this thread, are we? also seems a little misguided to defend to a generalization with another generalization. no?

lighten up guys. it was kind of funny.

catshirt··on MythBuster's Hyneman Launches IndieGogo to Build VR Shoes Like Mini Treadmills
> If good full-body tracking comes to mainstream VR, we'll be doing it with cameras, not wearables.

you're not going to physically move your body through 3d space with cameras.

dude your post is all over the place. i can't ascertain if you play VR games or if you even watched the linked video.

and not for nothing, but you can't ask for no sensors and also ask for no dystopia. except we're not going to be fat, we're going to be plunged in some weird seasalt bath with no holes on our body anymore except the Lightning jack that's replaced our faces

catshirt··on MythBuster's Hyneman Launches IndieGogo to Build VR Shoes Like Mini Treadmills
so, they're using tech they built to help you walk faster... to make shoes that don't let you walk anywhere. science!

hope it works out, seems like an interesting solution.

catshirt··on Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From? (2013)
and no one in the equation killed you yet. :)
catshirt··on Show HN: Playing music with your voice and machine learning
the percussion mode is really cool. it would be awesome if it could work with something like finger tapping (something like TableDrum).
catshirt··on Show HN: Baby Buddy
how come no one ever told me you have to change diapers 20 times a day. wtf??
catshirt··on IBM has simulated a quantum computer with 56 qubits on a classical computer
no, i guess it positioned itself as jeopardy-as-a-service
catshirt··on Plain emails not only save time but work better (2016)
the article is anti-design. not anti-html.
catshirt··on A Case for Clojure and GraphQL: Replacing Django
"I joke that I know all 50 Clojure programmers in the US, and sadly, that's not much of an overstatement"

yeah no i'm pretty sure that's a drastic overstatement

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