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strangattractor

1,691 karma · joined June 6, 2017

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strangattractor··on How Poor People Buy Cars
You could say similar things about older BMWs. People leave notes on my 2004 Honda CR-V asking if I want to sell. A Honda civic I put on Craigslist took less than hour to sell. Repairability of any used car is becoming increasing problematic. Nursing an old automobile past its prime is becoming a lost art:)
strangattractor··on How to buy a good car for $1000
No sane poor person would buy a used Mercedes. Parts and repair would cost more than the car. The only people that would think a $1000 Mercedes is worth it would be rich.
strangattractor··on AI researchers debate how close we are to recursive self-improvement
def self_improve_more():

     if self_improved():

          self_improve_more()

     else:

          see_tony_robins_and_buy_tapes()
strangattractor··on Silicon Valley is transforming the military-industrial complex? (2024)
Post WWII built SV - it has always been the case.
strangattractor··on I have a theory that software drives people insane
Sometimes I would ask stakeholders about some idea or nifty feature we were considering implementing. The answer was usually positive and enthusiastic. I'd then ask if they would use it and how it would help them. Silence....

Being untethered from reality is the natural state of humans;)

strangattractor··on How Universities Should Prepare Founders
When I originally started in this business it was truly exciting. VC's where the only place to go to fund truly unique companies and products that were highly risky. Disruption was often a byproduct not a goal. The goal now - collect as big a war chest as you can - disrupt something that already exist and may even be working well - own it all because you have the biggest war chest and can.
strangattractor··on How Universities Should Prepare Founders
There are so many VC's and so much money today the demand for "Founders" is high. One way to increase supply is to manufacture what you need - much like Korean K-Pop bands. Band members start in a Bootcamp. They learn to dance and get a vocal coach. As their fan base grows they start to disrupt and displace older bands that are aging out. The industry as a whole does well but individual band may or may not. Do they produce new and innovative music? - meh. Let's face it - a "Founder" with the right fan base can get valuations over a trillion:)
strangattractor··on GitHub Actions and Pages are experiencing degraded availability
Use of Claude for coding increases the number of commits, merges and pushes. Add in difficulty in getting RAM, Disk Storage and Servers. A dash of high energy prices, data center angst and tariffs. A pinch of diverting resources to all things AI. You get legacy systems that cannot keep up with demand for expansion.
strangattractor··on OpenAI leans toward waiting until next year for IPO
Data centers are the next Dark Fiber from 2000. After VCs and private Equity fund them there will not be sufficient demand because AI will inevitably not entirely live up to all the hype. The fire sale will eventually begin. Then Google, M$, Apple and Amazon will buy them at a discount just like Google snatched up the dark fiber after 2000.
strangattractor··on CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
Humans are a bunch of hairless monkeys that have evolved to scam each other rather than hunt and gather food from Nature.
strangattractor··on Why SpaceX 2040 Revenue FCST $4.3T in highly unlikely
Right on. This only works if you compare it to another extremely aggressively valued company.
strangattractor··on CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs
If you replaced one CEO that was making 300 times the average salary of an employee - that is equivalent to firing 300 employees. You can have your AI and Reduction in Force without losing all those pesky people with institutional knowledge.
strangattractor··on Farmer donates land for a park, city sells it for $10M as data center land
If you don't want to abide by the conditions of a gift - don't accept it.
strangattractor··on CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs
%80 of CEOs are Meh. %10 of the CEOs add value to the company. %10 of the CEOs are actually detrimental. The %80 will always try and do what they think the top %10 CEOs do because of FOMO. The bottom %10 will do it because they know their days are numbered and hope that it might put them in the %80 keeping their jobs. A good LLM could probably replace most and not do any worse.

Good CEOs don't see their employees as an expense.

strangattractor··on Can the stockmarket swallow Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI?
Those changes should be taken as a harbinger. Smells a lot like 1999 when a company producing cat turds could get a listing.
strangattractor··on Larry Ellison: "Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re recording" (2024)
In what way did it work well for cops?

From what I've seen it goes both ways with bodycam footage. The cops often have to put up with seriously dangerous stupid people and cops on power trips are video'd abusing people. Not that I am defending Ellison. Sadly the rich will always be able to buy their way out of most any bad situation except screwing over richer people.

strangattractor··on Ghostty is leaving GitHub
I love the ideas and motivations underpinning Github's creation. For a long time Github was the best instantiation of those ideals. Maybe not so much anymore. Transitions are always the most difficult but they often result in new perspectives.
strangattractor··on Claude Code removed from Anthropic's Pro plan
Even odder. I asked: Are you sure?

Yes, confirmed directly from Anthropic's website. Claude Code is included in the Pro plan, described as perfect for short coding sprints in small codebases with access to both Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.7. Claude

You said: Is claude code included with the pro subscription Is claude code included with the pro subscription

3:11 PM Claude responded: Yes, Claude Code is included with the Pro plan ($20/month). Yes, Claude Code is included with the Pro plan ($20/month). You can use it in the terminal, desktop app, VS Code, JetBrains, and on the web.

The main caveat is that Claude Code draws from the same usage limits as your regular Claude chat — so heavy coding sessions can eat into your quota faster. If you find yourself hitting limits often, the Max plans ($100–$200/month) offer significantly more headroom.

Thats a head scratcher:)

strangattractor··on Claude Code removed from Anthropic's Pro plan
I got down voted by 4 people just for pointing that out. lol
strangattractor··on €54k spike in 13h from unrestricted Firebase browser key accessing Gemini APIs
If spending caps made them more money they'd find a way;)
strangattractor··on Show HN: I Built Paul Graham's Intellectual Captcha Idea
Yes - I was given a syllogism that was logically correct but the Truthyness of the premises where wrong or misleading in the real world.

All pilots need a medical exam to have a license.

John is a pilot.

John has had a medical exam.

Pilots can be licensed without a medical exam. It is illegal for them to fly without a valid medical but the 2 are separate issues. Also LSA pilots do not need a medical.

strangattractor··on The SpaceX IPO: retail investor notes
Definitely meme stonk territory. IMO Elon is good for making the big bets on things with no competition that don't currently exist. The day to day grind of growing a company and maneuvering all the twist and turns of competition not so much.
strangattractor··on Last gasps of the rent seeking class?
Don't disagree that public transportation is necessary however one size does not fit all people. There are elderly people that have difficulty navigating public spaces for many reasons. Having a car drive up to your home or pick you up at the doctor is a game changer. A Waymo making tens or hundreds of trips per day has a utilization rate far exceeding the average car.

Having both is a good thing.

strangattractor··on Last gasps of the rent seeking class?
I think self driving cars are important for a couple of reasons:

1. Demographics - Aging population needs transportation. God knows we certainly don't need really old people driving themselves. We got a taste of the future in West Portal in that regard not long ago.

2. Human Capital - The US has pretty much demonstrated that there is little desire to import low skilled labor. Where do these theoretical Taxi drivers come from? Or welders or plumbers. Labor is going to become increasing expensive no matter how you slice the pie.

3. Younger US citizens are going to gravitate to non-manual labor jobs. It is not just that every one is being steered toward college. Physical labor (trades) take a toll on the body. I know - I have work in them - and you quickly extrapolate what that will be like when you are 50.

strangattractor··on Interoperability Can Save the Open Web (2023)
Interoperability is what made the Web possible. Not sure I buy that it will save it without a fundamental change in people's behavior.

Image you are a 1960s household and RCA tries to sell you a TV to only watch ABC and Zenith has a TV to only watch CBS. 60 years later linear TV is unwatchable by normal humans IMO. It's not like "let advertising pay for this" enshittifying an entire industry hasn't happened before.

strangattractor··on Is anybody else bored of talking about AI?
Agreed - another tool in the old tool pouch. I find it fascinating in that it provides insight into the role of language in intelligence. Certainly not AGI but makes ELIZA seem neolithic;)

I am amazed at the incredible things it can do - only to turnaround and not be able to do a simple task a child can do. Just like people.

strangattractor··on “Collaboration” is bullshit
Salary does not need to be on the budget because it is the same whether you work 40hrs per week or 80.
strangattractor··on Trevor Milton is raising funds for a new jet he claims will transform flying
Does anybody know his investors? I'd like an intro:)
strangattractor··on AI coding is gambling
One size never fits all. I am old enough to remember what a game changer Spreadsheets (VisiCalc) where. They made the personal computer into a SwissArmy knife for many people that could not justify investing large sums of money into software to solve a niche problem. Until that time PCs simply were not a big thing.

I believe AI will do something similar for programming. The level of complexity in modern apps is high and requires the use of many technologies that most of us cannot remotely claim to be expert in. Getting an idea and getting a prototype will definitely be easier. Production Code is another beast. Dealing with legacy systems etc will still require experts at least for the near future IMHO.

strangattractor··on Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans
Just goes to show I'm a poor judge of what is written by AI.
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