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joshuajill

230 karma · joined June 14, 2021

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joshuajill··on The Stallman Report
GNU kind communication guidelines the report purports to be transphobic:

"Please think about how to treat other participants with respect, especially when you disagree with them. For instance, call them by the names they use, and refer to them using words whose meanings (as you understand them) cover those participants' stated gender identities. Please also show tolerance and respect for people who do that using different words from the words you use."

Also strongly disagree with stopping support FSF, in particular from an anonymous group.

Recommendations are quite of, despite the generally accurate and reasonable report.

joshuajill··on The Stallman Report
For once doesn't seem like a hit piece, the arguments are pretty solid and well documented.

Very thorough job and if RMS was smart he would gracefully step down.

The only argument I find here against it is the question of whether someone's personal opinions should be a reason to be removed from a leadership position.

Edit: Oh wow just read the recommendations. Can't agree to most of it, sorry.

joshuajill··on The Stallman Report
The link provided doesn't mention that.

They did in another post ask for people to "Don't necessarily upvote it -- just "vouch" for it if you think it's on-topic."

By the way the report is pretty solid.

https://mastodon.social/@report_press/113306313558293261

joshuajill··on Antioxidants found to spur cancer growth and metastasis in mice
I find the fact that media keeps talking about cancer as one single disease unhelpful at best.

Look at what the title of the research article is: "Antioxidants stimulate BACH1-dependent tumor angiogenesis"

The researchers conclusion: "We conclude that BACH1 is an oxygen- and redox-sensitive angiogenesis transcription factor."

Then compare how the author of the article put it.

joshuajill··on Show HN: Currl – A free text-based social bookmarking website
There is Shaarli and Wallabag (archives pages to read later) Both open source and self hostable.
joshuajill··on Show HN: Currl – A free text-based social bookmarking website
That said, like the barebones design.
joshuajill··on Show HN: Currl – A free text-based social bookmarking website
Had my share of free beer for eternity.
joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
KLA was actually funded by the US
joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
He says it wasn't likely because most systems were analogically controlled. Emphasis in most.
joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
Wonder if that makes sense given that Europe has just become dependent on US gas, and US being the main proponent of sanctions.
joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
Quoting the Washington Post:

> Portions of the operation have been disclosed earlier, including in a 1996 paper in Studies in Intelligence, a CIA journal.

joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
US also has a precedent (from the other thread):

> We actually did do this 40 years ago. Reagan covertly blew up a Soviet gas pipeline supplying Europe in 1982, which was publicized in 2004 when the former Secretary of the Air Force boasted about it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/02/27/r... ("Reagan Approved Plan to Sabotage Soviets" (2004))

- "At the time, the United States was attempting to block Western Europe from importing Soviet natural gas. There were also signs that the Soviets were trying to steal a wide variety of Western technology. Then, a KGB insider revealed the specific shopping list and the CIA slipped the flawed software to the Soviets in a way they would not detect it."

- "In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines, and valves was programmed to go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds," Reed writes."

Possibly the first software supply-chain attack in history? Before the term even existed.

joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
But the main motivation for the Russians would be giving them a pretext to attack other infrastructure.
joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
Fair call Russia might have done it for those and other reasons.

However

1) Was there any gas flowing at all? Sure anything can cause speculation.

2) This also makes it a convenient timing for the western allies to do it, including Norway. Germany is way too complacent with Russian for US liking.

3) Such more so the US in terms of operatives in Europe and Russia. Who says the US is sensitive to gas prices in Europe?

Also Biden said they would do it. And at this point capabilities are not laking in either side.

But no we're not going to know for sure for a while.

joshuajill··on Gas Leak in the Baltic Sea
German people wanted talk with Putin. Guess it won't be happening now.

https://www.rtl.de/cms/umfrage-mehrheit-will-verhandlungen-u...

joshuajill··on Why are Pakistan’s floods so extreme this year?
Agree but don't forests do much more for weather events than being carbon sinks?

AFAIK they also create a more moderate micro climate, reducing soil temperature, retaining humidity and rain while keeping it in the soil, reducing the risk of draughts.

Of course regenerative agriculture is much better but the effort to implement it at a scale is incomparably greater, while it should not be shunned.

Also agroforestry will help with making agriculture possible in larger areas of land.

joshuajill··on Why are Pakistan’s floods so extreme this year?
Maybe even relatively simple but massive reforestation efforts could help mitigate climate change effects in the long run.
joshuajill··on Omega-3 fatty acids and exercise: a review of their combined effects (2011) [pdf]
Exactly, and there is far too little vitamin deficiency testing.
joshuajill··on The high-stakes race to engineer new psychedelic drugs
These are the current guidelines https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18593734/
joshuajill··on The high-stakes race to engineer new psychedelic drugs
These mystical experiences are part of the outcome, not an environmental variable. There maybe anecdotal or some other kind of evidence in the sense of what the effect of the supporting environment is on the long term.
joshuajill··on The high-stakes race to engineer new psychedelic drugs
Research on psychotherapeutic use of hallucinogens is done on this premise. At this point I believe it would be unethical to perform such a study. It would risk exposing subjects to psychological harm.

Edit: on the premise that the environment is crucial for the outcome. This means creating a safe comfortable environment. Maybe with these new drugs will show otherwise in time.

joshuajill··on Ask HN: I'm in a rut. How did you get out of yours?
You sound like someone who is looking for deeper meaning in life.

Not knowing what inspires you or motivates you, maybe you'd be better exploring your sense of purpose, what rewards you in the long run, what gives meaning to your life.

You are apparently too set to care about your job as a sustenance and distractions don't seem to entertain you. I would say connect with something bigger like travel Nature, people with problems bigger than yours, memento mori or whatever makes sense to you.

Looking back, in my case what helped was working with the homeless, and later as a volunteer trained in psychology with the sick and eldery. They helped me more than I helped them I feel.

But that's me you'll to figure out what's your thing.

joshuajill··on Google fires engineer who called its AI sentient
The most based reply on this thread. Too bad it doesn't include Christof Koch
joshuajill··on Google fires engineer who called its AI sentient
There is the Integrated Information Theory that attempts to solve the question of how to measure consciousness.

But it's far from applicable at this point, even if promising.

LaMDA was trained not only to learn how to dialog, but to self monitor and self improve. For me this seems close enough to self awareness to not completely dismiss Lemoine's argument.

joshuajill··on Google fires engineer who called its AI sentient
We humans have proven terrible at determining what is sentient. That's why we're still discussing the hard problem of consciousness.

There is the Integrated Information Theory that attempts to resolve how to determine which systems are conscious, but it's far from being the only perspective, or immediately applicable.

From the point of view of one the IIT's main theorists, Christof Koch, we're still far away from machine sentience.

But I question whether if it's so far out to believe a machine capable of not only learning, but learning on their own behavior, self-monitoring for sensibleness and other very 'human' metrics is that far away from being self-aware. In fact the model seems to have been trained exactly for that.

joshuajill··on Tell HN: Brother printers now locking out non-OEM paraphernalia
Is there a printer that isn't a proprietary ink dispensing jail?

I'm with current knowledge and tech it should be possible to print your own printer?

joshuajill··on Airbnb May 2022 Release
Airbnb is to a great extent hotels and property managers.

The cosy little family business is not so common to come by.

joshuajill··on Airbnb May 2022 Release
Good luck. Only for VIP's.
joshuajill··on Airbnb May 2022 Release
I wonder if they allow the same lifestyle to their own subcontractors?
joshuajill··on Airbnb May 2022 Release
They have underpaid, undertrained human beings.
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