foobarian

> Of course, we've had the ability to extinct ourselves for decades

This gets mentioned often in various doomer narratives, but I question how true it is. A global thermonuclear war would be terrible and would bring us back to the stone age, but I reckon it would come far far short of causing mankind to go extinct.

This was a fun thread to lurk on but it's kinda fascinating that there is so much debate about something that should be seemingly well known and documented. It's like having a couple of software engineers debate what e.g. a Java static initializer does :-)

People keep saying this and yet I struggle to find a decent sized house battery that doesn't cost as much as a new car.

Clankers found me one study [1] that suggests total handling costs may actually be this bad, but are highly business dependent e.g. restaurants are worse than grocery stores

[1] https://www.ihlservices.com/product/the-cost-of-cash-handlin...

Huh, I thought accepting legal tender was a federal rule, I guess not. Looks like a salad variety of regulations that vary by state and city.

Maybe an increasing share of their market are people like me, that is, old and blind :-D

But.. what if it's true? It's like not wearing a seat belt, or smoking, or drinking while driving. If AV are widely available it becomes similarly opt-in high risk behavior.

Just remember Charles Dickens was paid by the word too

Wonder if there should be a "UBI reservation" set up where everyone gets it, and very basic needs like housing and food are taken care of in a self-sustaining manner with machines. (which is the whole premise, everything is automated so nobody needs to work). Then people who don't like the freeloading can opt out and live as usual, and those who like it can move to the reservation.

I've heard this advice a lot with respect to graduate school/PhD work. And indeed, the students that came from industry jobs tended to be much more impressive; some of that was probably from the "real-world" experience, and some probably from a self-selection effect where folks who came in from a presumably well paying job had to have really wanted it and were therefore more motivated.

There used to be one at the museum of natural history in NYC, where if you didn't have the supplies you could pay a dollar to get 4 quarters to activate the machine and a penny to squish. It was a legit infinite money bug in the real world :-)

I am doing well with remote because I'm pathologically introverted and find that being around people is exhausting. I can imagine things being the other way around for extroverts and that is saddening.

Warning: this whole thread is full of spoilers!! :-D

Too bad the tire particulates likely get worse, both because EVs are heavy, and because they have more low-end torque and encourage driving that leads to more tire wear. I don't have sources but it's my educated guess from recent experience with a few EVs

But I'll take it if diesels and two-strokes will die in a fire

> Funny part is that locals here are absolutely scared of any sign of draft or direct aircon

I have always been and am still baffled by this. My whole family loses their minds if there is even a slight draft or AC, whether in the house or car. When my brother visits he incessantly closes car vents and windows. Parents constantly nag to put on warm clothes and avoid drafts etc., and when we inevitably get sick a few times a year mostly from school transmitted cold viruses they gloat about it.

Maybe it's a cultural thing from times without good heat/insulation where drafts meant an actual freezing house, which, yes that would actually have an impact on health.

Yet what is matter but a (strong) force

Winter is a better use case, because losing power during deep sub-zero temps can lead to plumbing damage and even be dangerous, but doesn't require too much power if heat uses natural gas as the main power source.

My problem with deep frying (besides the points you bring up) is the waste. I can't stomach the amounts of oil I end up disposing even if I get several uses.

If it doesn't work try thinking in Russian

I think it is a net positive for me, because I am super unconfident by nature and the agreeable, almost sycophantic output from major LLMs give me just enough of a boost to debias me. They are certainly better than a physical rubber duck.

I don't mind it so much, for example that is how I learned the word 'abaft' the other day.

Can I ask why :-) Sounds like an interesting project.

I like the term I've seen someone use for LLMs: a "thought partner." Truly it's the duck programming duck I've always wanted.

I sometimes wonder if it was all worth it. What if we banned/rolled back the internet? Would we go back to more small-town-like community, and again have the nerd minority who "can't wait to get out of this place?" It feels like the current tech landscape is a reaction to that environment.

I imagine it wouldn't be nearly in the same ballpark, since one side does not perform the classic mechanical generation from temperature difference, and deal with the associated waste heat.

I wonder how much battery you could install in a typical nuclear site. Maybe even stacked; if we make an apples-to-apples comparison in materials and say we can use the same amount of concrete and metal, could probably have several levels of batteries. Except no water needed, and no waste risks.

I imagine a Bernoulli pattern would work too

I took it to mean the frameworky coding you kind of get sucked into when you start a project when you realize off-the-shelf libraries are flawed or you could do so much better. Like the old trope of getting a task to write a billing system but first writing a full text mode UI framework, menu system, etc.

Part 1: https://www.salon.com/2001/03/23/wizards/

Part 2: https://www.salon.com/2001/03/26/wizards_part2/

I find the major/minor thing so fascinating. I remember it having the "happy"/"sad" vibes from my earliest memories and have a really hard time with the idea that it could be cultural. But if it's not cultural, then why? Also is the fact that major 9ths have a beach/island vibe cultural due to Brazilian jazz? :-)