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wand3r

2,746 karma · joined April 16, 2017

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wand3r··on Joe Rogan Experience #2394 – Palmer Luckey [video]
The hellfire missile video not striking a UAP is crazy.
wand3r··on Jeep wrangler owners waiting for answers week after an update bricked their cars
Tesla isn't the best proxy for what is normal. While Tesla has had a lot of issues and the critiques and articles are valid, it definitely seems like the media coverage was much more widespread and pervasive because 1)Anti Elon sentiment sells ads and clicks 2) it was somewhat agenda based. I am not making a political statement, but I think what I said is objectively true.
wand3r··on US Passport Power Falls to Historic Low
Leaving aside the ranking this article itself employs, it does seem to track. I will arbitrarily and qualitatively try and touch on some perceived benefits of a US passport / citizenship that seem to be falling:

- Visaless entry

- Ability to skip lines or fast track through immigration

- Embassy services

- Marriage prospect: Often US citizens were desirable or at least neutral partners for international relationships. Foreign nationals considered the option of relocating to America favorably. A partner may not want to relocate to the US now, or want a relationship with an American.

- General disapproval of Americans abroad in some countries

- Likelihood the government would intervene on your behalf. Brittney Griner / Travis King.

The Trump government does not seem as capable at governing. The Democrats seem to be be better at governing and favor bureaucracy more, whether this is true or perceived, I will not claim to know. The government itself is not funded/shut down currently which may impact embassies and clerical services. There does seem to be a general dislike of America and frustration building in many populations and presumably governments. The standing of America has greatly fallen in the world. While hostilities seem to be rising, America's ability to project soft and real power seem to be falling. This can impact some of the points above.

I am sure there are other points I have missed and factors I have overlooked. I would say that the general perception of the "strength" of a passport has fallen.

wand3r··on Don't Do Live Demos, Do Live-Looking Demos
This is good advice. The breakdown really depends on how big of a gap there is between the reality of your product and your "live-looking" demo. Also, the stakes matter here as well. You can end up in Magic Leap territory pretty quickly, and it is telling that many people might not even understand this reference. In general, I totally agree with the OP, especially for a talk. However, the Meta demo likely failed because the technology was simply not fully there yet. Add in thoughtless executives and a marketing team, and you can be doing a live looking demo of something that absolutely does not exist. You will then be ripped apart by the press and your users taking a massive reputational hit.
wand3r··on Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner
The power is real. The fear is real. The praise is the only fake thing.
wand3r··on Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now' [video]
> You can't even unlock the bootloader on most of the quality Android phones.

Can you not do this on Samsung phones? I was considering buying a used s22 ultra as an iPhone user to explore more freedom and pirate apps, etc. Is andoid really this locked down now? I have heard that quite a bit, but can't you sideload or install any apps you want on Android? Why do you need to unlock the bootloader?

wand3r··on That viral video of a 'deactivated' Tesla Cybertruck is a fake
Yeah. I have noticed a disturbing amount of people believe fake stories, tweets, videos, propaganda etc. because it confirms their worldview or is otherwise fun. For example, the amount of people who thought dumb Republicans were dying from eating horse dewormer was way overblown. Or that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs.

I have adopted an extremely skeptical view of almost all content on the internet now. Fun videos that are staged aren't particularly harmful. Something like "a crazy coincidence or wild prank" made to look real and genuine is not particularly sinister. I personally have briefly put way to much stock in a screenshot of a Tweet from an unattributed anonymous poster alleging X happened. Simply because "it feels true" and confirms my bias. Be careful out there kids!

wand3r··on Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5B Offer for Chrome
Presumably they would include a clause they can't do that? If not, why wouldn't they simply fork Chromium if they haven't already. They must be bargaining that there will be some lockout period and regulatory scrutiny that would prevent them from immeadiately rebranding chrome and repointing all the download links to a new repo.
wand3r··on Japan's largest paper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues Perplexity for copyright violations
You are entitled to your opinion. Personally, I would only be able to accept your worldview if these artists grew up on something like an island without books or internet and pursued their craft 100% intuitively without any external influence. Then they could make a claim their work was 100% original. Otherwise, I find all human output to be derivative and build off the body of work of the entire race. This is one of mankind's greatest advantages IMO.

edit: When many make this argument, what they are really saying is "big fucks small". This may not be what you are saying, but seems to be the general philosophy of many who make this argument. I am sympathetic to that which is why I believe we should have something like a 15% tax or 2% of revenue of AI paid into a general tax fund. I find it impossible to litigate how much a news article should be "worth" when 400 of the same news article were written the same day with the value immeadiately diminishing after the "news" was new.

wand3r··on Japan's largest paper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues Perplexity for copyright violations
I personally find this argument really lazy. In a very reductionist reframing, independent artists who uploaded some art to the internet for fun believe that AI shouldn't be allowed to exist without them being paid, essential alleging their contribution to AI is fundamental to it's existence. I would be a lot more receptive to the fact that all humans generally contributed to the information this system consumed and we enact some democratic law that 15% of all profits flow into some public tax fund, rather than litigate every single instance of potential copywrite on the per person or organizational level.

There are obviously laws that differ in every region but at a philosophical level I believe in the ideal of fair use. An AI is a distinctly different "work" than these originals and much like a human's own output is informed by all the information they have taken in over their lifetime, so is the output of a model.

wand3r··on OpenAI raises $8.3B at $300B valuation
I forgot to mention lucrative non-government enterprise contracts. Just commenting so I can point to these 2 comments in 5 years.
wand3r··on Philz Coffee close to closing deal to sell to private equity firm for $145M
Crazy. IDK, do you think the company taken over by a strictly for profit entity that just completely wiped out the value of all common shares and employee held stock and options will lead to me getting a better cup of coffee?

...

wand3r··on OpenAI raises $8.3B at $300B valuation
I think you are correct, but my hot take is that they will capture most of the G7 through scummy regulatory capture and bundling with Microsoft. They will use this to mostly dominate the markets and run at small profitable margins. They will then pad out revenue by bundling in advertisement and agenda based pay to play messaging. They will also do a bunch of military and government contracts, take positions in profitable applications (or simply copy them) and maybe even do a hardware offering. Ultimately the company will end up being something like a facebook/google/palantir/apple hybrid. I'll admit the execution barrier is high, but the valuation is justified if they achieve. These are proven executors who have a nearly sociopathic capitalist mindset with deep ties to governments and corporations globally. I think it's probably likely they execute and if they fail in the grand scheme, it's hard to imagine they fail enough to bring down the company.

Let's not forget this company was founded by basically stealing seed investment from the non-profit arm, completely abandoning the mission, crushing dissent in the company and blackmailing the board. Sam will do anything to succeed and they have the product and powerbase to do it.

wand3r··on Belgium bans Internet Archive's ‘Open Library’
I really don't think this was the "simple explanation" the parent was looking for...
wand3r··on Ask HN: Do you think society will collapse within 10 years?
Yes, sorry I misremembered. That was under 35. Its around 50% for people under 45. I am just pointed out the trends. I am not even sure what I mean by collapse, but maybe some sort of revolution or war. Most of society does not believe in the american dream, does not believe hard work is enough to succeed, we are seeing crazy amounts of inflation, government services are being cut, housing is WAY outpacing inflation. It's dangerous to have a society with 18-30 year old males unemployed, single and completely disillusioned. AI will almost certainly completely destroy the job market. What will happen in the next 10 years? Certainly something most of society would consider horrible, but is that a "collapse"?
wand3r··on Ask HN: Do you think society will collapse within 10 years?
American Society but let's broaden it to the G7
wand3r··on Ask HN: Do you think society will collapse within 10 years?
I am speaking more about American society. 60+ percent of people don't own homes or meaningful stock portfolios, they have almost no participation or skin in the game. The current administration is doing some horrible stuff (IMO), the previous administration did nothing and there is absolutely no vision. AI is going to take away all the jobs and opportunities. I really don't think this is a symptom of being "always online". The government is putting people in black bags, corruption is extremely blatant, trust in everything is at an all time low.

To turn this around on you, if you think society is doing well and has almost no chance of collapse you probably have a net worth/assets of at least 1 million dollars.

wand3r··on IRS head says free Direct File tax service is 'gone'
> Every elected Democrat I know is willing to enact those if Citizens United is overruled.

I don't want to be rude, but I don't believe you. I also have seen the polling and the country does not believe it as a whole. Democratic voters also don't believe it either. If you personally have an income >150K you are likely completely insulated from real Americans. The perception is that the Democrats care more about Israel and their donors than the country. Only 8 percent of Democrats are supportive of Israel but almost 90% of Dem senators are (I made this number up, the rest are real).

edit: the Republicans are publicly grifting, lest you think I like the Republicans. My overarching point is that ~60% of American's don't own homes and are completely uninvested in this country. They have completely given up, or are in a state of giving up. The Republicans and Democrats are extremely vile reptilian grifters who sold out this country.

wand3r··on Launch HN: Societies.io (YC W25) – AI simulations of your target audience
yes, that is even more dystopian. If America was run by non blood sucking vampires (both parties) we would start heavily taxing and incentivizing outcomes now before society completely collapses.
wand3r··on IRS head says free Direct File tax service is 'gone'
There simply is no alternative. Normal people must be completely blackpilled like me. The Democrats have an approval rating the lowest in Decades. None of these people are "working for [us]". Everyone is captured and this country is over. I really mean this. As part of the working class, we all feel this way.
wand3r··on Vibe coding is the fast fashion industry of software engineering
It's just human nature. Technology advances exponentially and huge leaps forward are increasingly being compressed into very short amounts of time. Just like how sages were worried about memory after the invention of writing or luddites were worried about job displacement with the industrial revolution; it is natural. What would the Italian Renaissance artists think of Photoshop? People whose livelihood and identity are inherently tied to this discipline can't help but be dismissive. "Vibe Coding" will be "coding" or "programming" in the near future, likely in just a few years as tools evolve. Just like we use text editors and GUIs now to do computing instead of punch cards and a single CLI.
wand3r··on British man claims he's unable to watch porn as tattoos confuse age check system
Yes, this is a very weird development for a millennial like me. I think this is a GenZ/Gen Alpha thing born out of steep surveillance enforced by the policies of streaming services chatrooms and TikTok. It really seems like the younger generation has really kowtoked to advertisers and self censor words I would consider benign. It honestly disgusts me.
wand3r··on British man claims he's unable to watch porn as tattoos confuse age check system
This is a pretty wild story but also an illustration of just how dystopian the world has gotten. The UK has gone completely bonkers with this "real id to use the internet" law. In the US Google is using a crazy AI algorithm to prohibit people under 18 from viewing some content on YouTube. Obviously, the stated purpose of the policy is good IMO. However, I can't help but take a cynical view that Google is using this as an excuse to fully profile everyone EVEN MORE extensively with a behavioral AI algorithm coupled with all the user data which they use in conjunction with all the tracking data they have accumulated. They will say it is to protect the children, but in reality they have cranked their tracking and surveillance up to 11. I am open to being corrected, but this seems dystopian: both the UK verification laws and the AI trac king policy roll outs.
wand3r··on Tour de France confronts a new threat: Are cyclists using tiny motors?
Its interesting as I have a similar philosophy to the OC but the exact opposite takeaway. To declare my bias: I hate cyclists on the road AT ALL. Cars are fundamental and essential transportation in America and cyclists who want all the privileges of a pedestrian and follow none of the rules while operating at a fraction of the speed is a frustrating impediment to traffic.

Rant aside - The sport of cycling is quite cool. I feel bad for those athletes because they have to dope. It's simple game theory, if enough of a critical mass of people are doing it, you have to as well to be competitive. It really shouldn't have been as big of a scandal as it was. At least, making Lance Armstrong the face of the scandal wasn't really fair since, IIRC, almost all the front runners did that. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I think the way they do it now is reasonable. They test and ban so that people likely severely limit cheating. If they simply made it allowed, or had very limited protocols, it would be a total arms race similar to the Armstrong era where riders would have to run tons of gear and chemicals to even attempt to compete and it would have tons of knock on health effects.

wand3r··on Wife of ICEBlock app founder speaks out after DOJ fires her
Happy for her. She can retire early with an excellent settlement or get another job she is passionate about without worrying about money. It's pretty despicable, but I think in the end it will turn out for the better.
wand3r··on Ask HN: What is the best way to learn 3D modeling for 3D printing?
Thanks! I will check this out. Looks like solid works for makers is $25 USD. I will check out getting a copy.
wand3r··on Ask HN: What is the best way to learn 3D modeling for 3D printing?
Thanks a lot for this!
wand3r··on Ask HN: What is the best way to learn 3D modeling for 3D printing?
Thank you!
wand3r··on Ask HN: If AGI were invented tomorrow which countries would fare better?
I think China would win. They simply have SO MUCH more electricity build. They are constantly bringing more online as well. They could capitalize on manufacturing and AGI with their technology would be able to do things in the physical world.
wand3r··on RFK's proposal to let bird flu spread through poultry
This is one of the most darkly funny things I have read this week. Just want in the fuck is going on.
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