MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by sigtstp | 2025-05-05 08:17:15+00:00
I feel this makes some fundamental conceptual mistakes and is just riding the LLM wave.

"Semantics" is literally behavior under execution. This is syntactical analysis by a stochastic language model. I know the NLP literature uses "semantics" to talk about representations but that is an assertion which is contested [1].

Coming back to testing, this implicitly relies on the strong assumption of the LLM correctly associating the code (syntax) with assertions of properties under execution (semantic properties). This is a very risky assumption considering, once again, these things are stochastic in nature and cannot even guarantee syntactical correctness, let alone semantic. Being generous with the former, there is a track record of the latter often failing and producing subtle bugs [2][3][4][5]. Not to mention the observed effect of LLMs often being biased to "agree" with the premise presented to them.

It also kind of misses the point of testing, which is the engineering (not automation) task of reasoning about code and doing QC (even if said tests are later run automatically, I'm talking about their conception). I feel it's a dangerous, albeit tempting, decision to relegate that to an LLM. Fuzzing, sure. But not assertions about program behavior.

[1] A Primer in BERTology: What we know about how BERT works https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.12327 (Layers encode a mix of syntactic and semantic aspects of natural language, and it's problem-specific.)

[2] Large Language Models of Code Fail at Completing Code with Potential Bugs https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.03438

[3] SWE-Lancer: Can Frontier LLMs Earn $1 Million from Real-World Freelance Software Engineering? https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12115 (best models unable to solve the majority of coding problems)

[4] Evaluating the Code Quality of AI-Assisted Code Generation Tools: An Empirical Study on GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and ChatGPT https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.10778

[5] Is Stack Overflow Obsolete? An Empirical Study of the Characteristics of ChatGPT Answers to Stack Overflow Questions https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.02312v4

EDIT: Added references
by junga | 2025-05-05 08:19:39+00:00
> But with a picture, I could relive it for a bit.

I used to think the same. But in the end, this is not true for me personally. Having pictures of events or valuable moments does not add any (or much) value when remembering these situations. This of course may differ from person to person - but I guess we use to have this assumption from your quote as a given default. Overall I get the most "value" from focusing on situations when they are there, instead of wasting it by capturing them.
by Aerroon | 2025-05-05 08:20:07+00:00
But what was the point then?

During the final exam, a national exam (all the students did it at the same time in the country) you were given blank pieces of paper, a pen, 10 different topics to choose from, and 6 hours.

You pick a topic, write a draft, then write the essay. ~700 words.

Bonus points if you use relevant literature or science quotes in it. Quotes you had to memorize, without knowing the topics.

None of the topics resonated with you? Tough luck, buddy.

Don't have any 'novel' ideas? Figure something out!

Cited something the reader didn't know about? Should've known better!

Quoted someone the person grading doesn't know? Better hope they're in a good mood!

There's a reason they got rid of this style of exam a few years later. Doesn't change that this one thing dominated my native language and literature classes.

My biggest takeaway from it is how much I hate my native language class and literature class, but that might've happened even without the essay.
by DonHopkins | 2025-05-05 08:20:22+00:00
You know where this is leading? Cephalotron! Thomas M. Disch predicted it more than a half a century ago in the pages of Playboy Magazine.

"Everyone should have his own HEAD, and now everyone can!" -Thomas M. Disch

https://www.donhopkins.com/home/catalog/text/head.html

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/939027.Fun_with_Your_New...

https://archive.org/details/funwithyournewhe0000thom/page/16...
by JanneVee | 2025-05-05 08:20:58+00:00
> Crash dump analysis has traditionally been one of the most technically demanding and least enjoyable parts of software development.

I for one enjoy crashdump analysis because it is a technically demanding rare skill. I know I'm an exception but I enjoy actually learning the stuff so I can deterministically produce the desired result! I even apply it to other parts of the job, like learning to currently used programming language and actually reading the documentation libraries/frameworks, instead of copy pasting solutions from the "shortcut du jour" like stack overflow yesterday and LLMs of today!
by justlikereddit | 2025-05-05 08:21:44+00:00
Take pictures. Hoard them. No point sharing them, no point carefully organizing or editing them.

Just know that somewhere there's the pile of pictures of years past, in approximately chronological order.

You will not remember what you have forgotten. When you flip through the old photos you'll remember that you did much more than you can pull straight from memory.

This becomes more valuable as you get older, not only will you likely feel that your memory is becoming lower in resolution(my memory felt photographic until late 20s, the assumption it would always be that good turned out wrong) but you'll also have more bygone years to remember from as you get older.

But don't back up photos to an SSD that is unplugged from power.
by marcus_holmes | 2025-05-05 08:21:58+00:00
I agree completely (and I wasn't saying that either this story or the other stories weren't true, I think they're all true). We decided that the benefits of The Internet were worth a few people going off the rails and getting in way overboard.

We've had the same decision, with the same outcome, for a lot of other technologies too.

The journalist point is around the tone used. It's not so much "a few vulnerable people have, sadly, been caught by yet another new technology" as more "this evil new thing is hurting people".
by _djo_ | 2025-05-05 08:22:19+00:00
You're leaving out crucial information. Obama didn't keep his BlackBerry for classified information, he was given the then-standard government secure mobile communications device, a Secure Mobile Environment Personal Encryption Device (SME-PED).

More specifically, the device Obama was given was a Sectéra Edge [0][1] by General Dynamics, a device specifically designed to be able to operate on Top Secret voice and Secret data networks. It had hardware-level separation between the unclassified and classified sides, even having separate flash memory for both. [2]

The NSA contributed to the design and certified it and another device (L3's Guardian) on the SCIP, HAIPE, Suite A/B, Type 1, and non-Type 1 security protocols.

It was absolutely not a regular BlackBerry, it didn't run any RIM software, no data ever went through RIM's servers, and secure calls were encrypted and didn't use SS7. It was a clunky purpose-designed device for the entire US government to be able to access Secret information and conduct Top Secret voice calls on the go.

Even then, there were limitations to when and where it could be used and when a SCIF was required.

The current equivalent of the SME-PED programme is the DoD's Mobility Classified Capability[3], which are specially customised smartphones again made by General Dynamics.

There is no excuse whatsoever for the current administration's use of Signal, let alone TeleMessage Signal, for Secret and Top Secret discussions on regular consumer and personal devices. It's deeply irresponsible and worse than any previous administration has done.

[0] https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/obamas-new-blackberr...

[1] https://gdmissionsystems.com/discontinued-products/sectera-e...

[2] https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA547816.pdf

[3] https://www.disa.mil/~/media/files/disa/fact-sheets/dmcc-s.p...
by silisili | 2025-05-05 08:22:32+00:00
One of the only real fights I've ever had with my wife was over taking too many pictures. We'd arrive somewhere new, and the kid and I would be excited to see it and explore, only to get yelled at to stand this way or pose that way. I finally snapped and said we're done with photos, do what you want, I just keep the memories in my head anyways. That's completely true, but less clear as I get older, admittedly.

I feel bad because she takes great photos and I look forward to seeing them. I just hate when the photo becomes more important than the experience. How to balance this seems to be the point in question.
by nbeversluis | 2025-05-05 08:25:14+00:00
The documentation should be made clearer in that case. A priority was to make setup and trial easy for non-technical users. It seems now that to technical users it is unclear what is offered.

From your list it is first and mostly:

1. a plaintext file format (.urtext) - specifically, a syntax

2. a Python library to parse & manipulate said file format (syntax)

These in turn require some implementation within an editor. Sublime Text was chosen for its built-in Python interpreter, its package install system, and its GUI features that together comprise a low barrier to entry.

Thanks for the feedback, we will try to make this clearer.
by walterbell | 2025-05-05 08:25:49+00:00
> Someone put a lot of effort into designing that system.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/17/mac-user-automation-sal-sogho...

Sal Soghoian, the man who headed up user automation tools at Apple – including AppleScript and Automator – says that he left the company last month when Apple eliminated his position ‘for business reasons.’ … The decision to lose Soghoian after almost 20 years in the role, together with a statement that makes the future of user automation tools seem uncertain, is bound to cause concern among those of us who depend on them on a daily basis. The fear will be that Apple may gradually cease support for power tools as part of an increasing consumer focus.

In the next year or two, Apple is rumored to be entering the smart-home automation market with:

- wall mounted 6" screen + voice control - iPad on robotic arm - FaceID door locks - security cameras

Is HomeAssistant popular on Apple platforms?
by t1E9mE7JTRjf | 2025-05-05 08:26:20+00:00
Thanks for such a breakdown at that scale. I appreciate it. (sorry for my slow reply).

I think my view of Capitalism is over-indexed to the human to human level. Although as I zoom up to ownership and 1 to many relationships, it gets more complicated but still fits in my consent view.

Regarding your beef machine example. What you present as the owner having control over the others still seems like consent to me, in that for them consent is something they has to opt into. What I see is the leverage has changed. Ie the machine owner can chose to fire a worker. But that is them no longer consenting to work with that person. I guess we could say, 'but the worker consented to work in an environment where they thought they had some protections' for instance. Is that how you see it as being non-consensual, or am I misunderstanding?

The point on keeping the profits also makes sense to me still. If I want to take risk, I can start a business, where I reap the rewards and bear the losses. If I don't want to take risk, I can agree to work for a fixed rate, but miss out on the rewards. For sure I can imagine to some people, they want to make a collective and share all (rewards/losses), but that still seems like either require opt in (capitalism / collective structure). So it's no longer peer to peer, but still seems consensual at a 1 to many scale to me.

I think there is a natural valuation drop off at scale. For instance if only one person sells coffee, I really want to trade with them. If 100 people have coffee, I'm not that fussed about an individual vendor anymore. Then they loose leverage and I gain it. Haha, sounds crass to write it in those terms, but sure you know what I mean.

Regarding this part: > It is hard to imagine the end of capitalism, because people believe capitalism is a natural facet of human nature. It is not; it is a big beef machine.

Does my analogy of buying coffee from one person or picking from 100, fit in with the big beef machine dynamic you point out here? Or how come not? I don't think the analogies line up perfectly, but can't put my finger on where they don't align.

Separate line of thought (but to the same end), curious what you think: If humans are nature, and humans have capitalism, is capitalism not natural?

Haha, easier to talk about these things in real life, appreciate your time/efforts here anyway.
by _djo_ | 2025-05-05 08:27:29+00:00
There are not just government e2e apps, but government-provided and customised smartphones specifically for them, like the DMCC-S programme. [0]

Some of the apps are listed in that brochure.

There's no excuse for using Signal on personal devices for classified conversations.

[0] https://www.disa.mil/~/media/files/disa/fact-sheets/dmcc-s.p...
by robocat | 2025-05-05 08:28:17+00:00
> 1997

Yeah, looking at the NASDAQ from 1997 is a good reminder of everyone's selection bias. Saying Buffett missed out on the winners (with 20/20 hindsight) is forgetting that he also missed out on a lot of losers.

Here's some of the now lesser known NASDAQ tech stocks that were doing well in 1997:

Dell (DELL) Compaq (CPQ) Gateway (GTW) Silicon Graphics (SGI) Hewlett-Packard (HWP) America Online (AOL) Yahoo (YHOO) Lycos (LCOS) Excite (XCIT) Netscape (NSCP) 3Com (COMS) Bay Networks (BAY)

From: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/tech-stocks-and-nasd...

And nobody ever went wrong by buying IBM
by josephg | 2025-05-05 08:29:54+00:00
> The issue is you're using the wrong tool.

Yes, I think we're in violent agreement that markdown is the wrong tool for the job. That's why I find it baffling how so many blogging & documentation tools lock you in to using markdown, with its anaemic feature set (eg mdbook).

Even markdown + inline HTML is wildly inadequate. For example, you can't make automatically numbered sections. Or figures with links in the text. Or a ToC. And so on. Try and attach a caption to an image and you're basically hand authoring your document in crappy HTML.

So I agree with you. I don't think the answer is "markdown++" with comments, templating and scripting support. I think the answer is something else. Something which has considered the needs of authoring documents from the start. Something like typst.
by timewizard | 2025-05-05 08:31:24+00:00
That reminds me of my old Timex Datalink watch which was one of my favorite watches I have ever owned. It was the Ironman Triathlon[0] edition and I was unusually sad the day it died. I got that watch because it was "space certified" and used by astronauts on missions.

The USB edition was kinda neat but just didn't have the same charm of the previous models but certainly had a lot more capabilities including games. I believe this is the Timex watch the article is referring to.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink#Ironman_Triathl...
by chrisandchris | 2025-05-05 08:32:36+00:00
> Using LLM to learn quickly a new programming language + being productive is best method ever. If you pay attention, you acquire rapidly new skill and knowledge, and those that are relevant to your job.

I tend to disgree. maybe for you, but my mind does not work that way.

As a teacher at a university I come to see that students "learn" by asking an LLM, but they forget to understand the content the LLM produces because the LLM actually solves the assignment (mostly) for them. One may say that's the teachers task to produce better questions, but the thing I most "struggle" with that getting educated as a student seems to just be a play of "gaming the system". Yes, it was similar during my time (learning how to reach your goal with as less effort as possible is a good part of the "education" at a university IMHO), but we actually had to think and understand while today just seems like prompt-and-copy.
by t1E9mE7JTRjf | 2025-05-05 08:33:34+00:00
Thanks. In your view, if people want to get rid of capitalism, or live in post capitalism or whatever, do you think that's possible? I still think you'd need to have consent, and you wouldn't get it as some people want to take risk but some don't so would opt for no risk but fixed - limited - reward. I ask, as just as trading is long standing, so I'd guess would be a risk tolerance (and other tolerances which factor in).
by slicerdicer2 | 2025-05-05 08:34:51+00:00
Hi :) Yes I think the combination of quite a bit of phone time during the work day and also being frustrated tech people makes HN good for us.

I use SedLine but have used entropy and BIS in the past.

Interestingly the study uses 1mg/kg roc in 40% of the patients and a lot of sugammadex, as well as a pretty decent dose 0.5mcg/kg/min remifent infusion.
by WWLink | 2025-05-05 08:35:07+00:00
I'm with you here! I take lots of pictures. I picked up that stupid habit when I was a teenager with my family's digital camera. Eventually got a small canon for christmas and kept it in my pocket until I had a smartphone.

I'm not the kinda person to hold my camera up in the air filming a concert or whatever. But pictures of family! Pictures of random food I enjoyed or found cute. Pictures of random cute things in the store. Pictures of friends and cars and the beach and whatever else.

So much changes in the world. I love looking back at old pictures. During covid my mom and I would get together and dig through and find old stuff to post on facebook. It was a lot of fun.

I mean. I have pictures of random old cereal boxes I found amusing at the time. I have pictures I'm quite proud of, and others that just capture random happy moments.

I don't know what people mean about change? Things change a lot. People change, things change, the world changes. I have pictures of vegas casinos that were demolished years ago. Foods that aren't made anymore. I have a random picture of a quarter pounder meal from like 2005. Why not? XD

Those sorts of things cost me no time or effort really. Whipped out the camera real quick. Click. Put it away. Go back to enjoying my life. :)
by GuB-42 | 2025-05-05 08:35:30+00:00
> Turns out the 3D printer industry was selling you overpriced garbage.

Mostly cheap "garbage" actually. Before BambuLabs, manufacturers competed on price more than anything else, using the Ender3 as a model. BambuLabs printers were considered rather expensive. Kind of an intermediate between semi-professional printers like Ultimakers and Ender3 clones. Even the affordable BambuLabs A1 at its base price is about twice the price of an Ender3.

They did shook things up on the high end though, and this, I think, is a good thing.
by namdnay | 2025-05-05 08:35:49+00:00
> What am I missing here?

OK, say you're a bank. The SEC states you need to keep archives of every discussion your traders have with anyone at any time (I'm simplifying things but you get the point). You keep getting massive fines because traders were whatsapping about deals

So now you've got several options - you can use MS Teams, which of course offers archival, compliance monitoring etc. But that means trusting MSFT, and making sure your traders only use Teams and nothing else. You can use a dedicated application for the financial industry, like Symphony or ICE Chat or Bloomberg, but they're clunkier than B2C apps.

And then the Smarsh (owners of Telemessage) salesman calls you, and says "your users can keep using the apps they love - WhatsApp, Signal - but we make it compliant". And everyone loves it (as long as no-one in your Security or Legal teams are looking too hard at the implications of distributing a cracked version of WhatsApp through your MDM...)

Edit: here's the install document for their cracked WhatsApp binary https://smarsh.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#30000001FgxH/a/Pb000...
by timschmidt | 2025-05-05 08:37:06+00:00
Your reference [0] appears to contradict what you've said here. It speaks at length about several NSA approved options as alternatives, but says Obama used a BlackBerry.

The photo attached to the article captioned "President-elect Barack Obama checks his BlackBerry while riding on his campaign bus in Pennsylvania last March." appears to show a blackberry.

I take it from the article that this was as controversial as I remember it being at the time. Thanks for posting it.
by lawn | 2025-05-05 08:37:51+00:00
> With a class writing exercise like the author describes, of course the students are going to use an LLM, they would be stupid not to if their classmates are using it.

Its only stupid if you try to optimize for the wrong things (finishing quickly, just getting a pass).

I'd say it's very smart if you don't rely on LLMs, copy the homework from someone else, or similar; because you're optimizing for learning, which will help you more than the various shortcuts.
by immibis | 2025-05-05 08:37:56+00:00
It shouldn't be surprising that a group which commits a genocide and has the power to censor the media would censor the media about the genocide, so when you go looking at media it censors, you don't see anything about a genocide.

If you wanted to know about genocide in China you'd have to go to non-Chinese media. Germany and the USA do the same thing.
by hn_throw2025 | 2025-05-05 08:38:04+00:00
I’m more positive about shortcuts and looking for ways to integrate it with my home automation.

I think it’s pretty cool that I can make a shortcut connect to a host on my home network via ssh and execute a command. To just trigger that using my voice and Siri when my phone is nearby.

I live in a country with stupidly expensive electricity, so have my home media center connected to a smart switch, which I switch off last thing at night. I am thinking of moving my Pi mini NAS setup with it’s various drives into that media center setup, so last thing at night I can get a shortcut to SSH to that host, do a clean shutdown, wait a short while, and then use the Hue connector in Shortcuts to cut the power. I couldn’t do all that with either Amazon Echo or the Hue app.
by Mbwagava | 2025-05-05 08:38:06+00:00
I don't think diplomas have mattered for decades, at least in tech. Let's not pretend anything improved with the introduction of chatbots.

Annyway, any advantage is entirely offset by having to live in a world with LLMs. I'd prefer the tradition of having to educate retarded college graduates. At least they grow into retarded adults. What are we gonna do about chatbots? You can't even educate them, let alone pinocchio them.
by kharak | 2025-05-05 08:38:34+00:00
An anecdote to add to this:

Me and most of my peers in college had the choice between two courses. Course A was interesting, yet vastly more challenging and therefore time consuming, with the additional downside of lower grade expectation. Course B was boring, a gentle breeze in comparison, yet with an almost guaranteed perfect grade.

Imagine which course most students choose?

Even if a student wants to take on the more interesting course, incentives matter, and the incentive is: better grades qualify for better compensated positions and prestigious degrees. Only students who didn't care about this or were confident enough in their ability did choose Course A. In the end, barely a handful of students out of hundreds went with A.
by aureliar | 2025-05-05 08:38:44+00:00
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