MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by queenkjuul | 2025-07-20 13:45:50+00:00
My boss is obsessed with copilot PR summaries and they make me want to scream. A 12-line PR with a 40-line summary? And each description is "updated and enhanced <file>... Updated and enhanced <file>"

There's no utility in reading them, which means asking people more questions directly in slack instead, which genuinely makes the entire process slower for everyone. I know for a fact that no developer in my team would struggle to write 4-5 bullet points for any given PR in less than 2 minutes. My boss just genuinely thinks the slop is better (probably because he's not usually the one reading them)

Our Confluence is also rapidly turning into nothing but totally uninformative Claude-generated noise.

It's annoying to be repeatedly called a Luddite for questioning this stuff when the end results can be so obviously wasteful and unhelpful.
by Findecanor | 2025-07-20 13:45:55+00:00
Many vegetarian meat substitutes, including the Beyond Burger, contains methylcellulose. It is one of several emulsifiers both often associated with "ultra-processed foods", and known from several studies to affect the mucus lining the intestinal wall, increasing the risk for infection and suspected of increasing cancer risk.

Being a vegetarian, after having suffered colon cancer twice, I now too eat only burger patties I've made myself (similar recipe to the one above), and also use only real mayo and sour cream, so as to avoid those emulsifiers.

Edit: Downvote, why? Because I am a vegetarian?
by spwa4 | 2025-07-20 13:46:17+00:00
The implication of this statement is probably supposed to be that it's the west that did that. However, colonialism never conquered Africa. They took over Ottoman/muslim colonies. Muslims, and by that I mean the now dead state that is the religion, conquered 90% of the colonies, and inherited the remaining 10% from the Romans. The only big exception to that is the US.

In America, before the US there were Aztecs and Incas, both of whom were empires that ruled by fear, by regularly massacring large amounts of people.
by chmod775 | 2025-07-20 13:46:32+00:00
If these things were truly possible on Earth, chances are life-forms based on it would have evolved.

For mostly-self-sufficient organisms in earth's environment, the versatility of carbon appears to outperform silicon on every metric that counts.

The molecular complexity of a single human lung cell still absolutely dwarfs that of even the most modern CPUs we are able to manufacture (apple to oranges, but true).
by atoav | 2025-07-20 13:46:34+00:00
I run a media-lab at a art university and both HDMI and USB-C is flaming garbage. What you want is a digital video standard that simply pushes an A/V stream over the wire and negotiates the acceptable resolution on the fly. What you get is something that does too much, doesn't work half the time and does things nobody cares about. Last time I plugged in an HDMI source and the darn "smart" television showed the image for 0.5 seconds before displaying a menu that asks me to press a button on the remote to show the image. And don't get me started on DRM/HDCP..

The number of broken HDMI cables (as fraction of cables rented out) is way bigger than for any other connector, suggesting it is completely unsuitable and a broken design.

Whenever I can I go for SDI video, I do. You plug it in and it works. Why "consumer" techology has to be so much more pain than pro stuff makes me wonder.
by sofixa | 2025-07-20 13:46:35+00:00
The Economist and FT no, but a lot of the other more mainstream (read by a wider audience) media like Guardian, NY Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, Le Figaro, etc. depend a lot on Google traffic. There were numerous legal disputes over this dependence, how Google circumvented it for users (the quick answers that made it so a lot of queries were resolved without even needing to visit the source website), and profit sharing.
by efitz | 2025-07-20 13:47:28+00:00
I think one of the indicators of of declining quality is the unwillingness to support products (beyond initial installation support), and that the unwillingness to make products supportable.

Did it break after two years? Make it so inconvenient that they’ll just buy a new one.

Failure is seen as an upgrade opportunity, and repair is seen as a captive revenue stream rather than an opportunity for other businesses or DIYers.

If you can tolerate or enjoy the style, Louis Rossmann is a great watch on YouTube.
by beepbooptheory | 2025-07-20 13:47:49+00:00
The "power" of your consumer choice is a consolation within a life of servitude anyway though right?

Like even if the author is totally wrong, that "actually all our products are actually much better thank you, good thing we don't live 50 years ago!" Is that something we can truly be happy about? Is that winning? You too, im sure, feel that itchy emptiness when you have received all your products, when all the plastics has been peeled off and the software has been updated.

This is not a battle you even want to win! The power you are defending is already second-hand, is just a sedative. You can want more.
by Keyframe | 2025-07-20 13:49:14+00:00
For example I needed to buy too many Commodore 64 than appropriate lately

Been there, done that!

for those one-off small things, LLMs are rather cool. Especially Cloude Code and Gemini CLI. I was given an archive of some really old movies recently, but files were bearing title names in Croatian instead of original (mostly English ones). So I claude --dangerously-skip-permissions into the directory with movies and in a two-sentence prompt I asked it to rename files into a given format (that I tend to have in my archive) and for each title to find original name and year or release and use it in the file.. but, before commiting rename to give me a list of before and after for approval. It took like what, a minute of writing a prompt.

Now, for larger things, I'm still exploring a way, an angle, what and how to do it. I've tried from yolo prompting to structured and uber structured approaches, all the way to mimicking product/prd - architecture - project management / tasks - developer/agents.. so far, unless it's rather simpler projects I don't see it's happening that way. Most luck I had was "some structure" as context and inputs and then guiding prompting during sessions and reviewing stuff. Almost pair-programming.
by monero-xmr | 2025-07-20 13:49:17+00:00
The US continues to be a magnet for entrepreneurs around the world. We just increased the max amount for 0% tax rate for successful startup investments to $15 million in profit (lookup up QSBS expansion). Our pie is so incredibly large, and growing, that we can tax a small percent of income to provide a very large safety net.

This takes a long time to get - you have to sacrifice now to get the future growth
by danaris | 2025-07-20 13:49:21+00:00
Like with much in the political situation, I think it's sort of a polarization.

The quality of some things has gone up significantly. This is going to be the things where improvements in technologies have made improved quality easier and cheaper (and that's not just electronics—materials technology, better manufacturing, etc can do this). It's also in products where other technological improvements have made it viable for there to be independent and artisanal (or similarly small-batch high-quality) production of them.

The quality of other things has declined precipitously. These are more likely to be commodities where improving quality still costs more, and the "innovation" they've done is in finding ways to make it cheaper and worse without it just always failing immediately (clothing is a prime example here).

Overall, I think that if you look into any given case of a product's quality getting better or worse over the past couple of decades, you'll almost invariably find that either way it's because that's how the manufacturers can make more money.
by ezst | 2025-07-20 13:49:37+00:00
People keep hammering zulip as the example of threads done right. I disagree. They are practically indistinguishable from rooms, in looks and behaviour. It's not like zulip is offering a better abstraction/isolation level: you end-up with just as many threads, as much (in)convenience dealing with them, and the exact same caveats (there's no known solution to people writing out of thread, so the cognitive load is still worse - IMO/E - than "no threading at all").
by Ukv | 2025-07-20 13:50:17+00:00
> Yes, that proof is called a professional license, without that you are presumed guilty even if nothing goes wrong.

A professional license is evidence against the offense of practicing without a license, and the burden of proof in such a case still rests on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you did practice without a license - you aren't presumed guilty.

Separately, what trod1234 was suggesting was being guilty-until-proven-innocent when harm occurs (with no indication that it'd only apply to licensed professions). I believe that's unjust, and that the suggestion stemmed mostly from animosity towards AI (maybe similar to "nurses administering vaccines should be liable for every side-effect") without consideration of impact.

> If we have licenses for AI and then require proof that the AI isn't tampered with for requests then that should be enough, don't you think?

Mandatory safety testing for safety-critical applications makes sense (and already occurs). It shouldn't be some rule specific to AI - I want to know that it performs adequately regardless of whether it's AI or a traditional algorithm or slime molds.
by jazzyjackson | 2025-07-20 13:50:22+00:00
Yes, they have a feature with their 'Pro' base station and Premium subscription, to store video locally on SD card, but still the only way to access the video is through the Ring app. IMO they are just choosing not to compete with the on-prem closed circuit systems, which represent a niche market compared to normies who want a notification when someone rings their video doorbell.

https://ring.com/support/articles/pmod0/Using-MicroSD-Cards-...
by ericmay | 2025-07-20 13:50:29+00:00
> Oh, I didn't realize till the end that you were treating this as a team thing, and capitalism is "your team", so you must attack "the other team". Do you think that attitude affected the rest of your response, too?

It’s just empirical. Both Communism and Socialism are failed ideologies. Millions dead. Millions more starved. It’s like when Libertarians want to bring about their ideology and people tell them to move to Sudan and experience it.

The term “Late Stage Capitalism” is a communist slogan. What’s insidious about it is that it tricks you into believing we can’t make things better or right wrongs, and that progress can’t be made. It has entered the American and Western social discourse as yet another instrument to sow distrust, fighting, and hatred. If/when I see the Right Wing Nazi equivalents of those slogans I call them out too.
by palata | 2025-07-20 13:50:59+00:00
I don't think that engineers think "okay, so if I use this chip, the product will last 4 years, so I can use this other chip that will last only 2 years because it's a few cents cheaper".

If you want it to last longer, it's a lot of work: you have to somehow test the components you buy (or get those who produce them to do it) and then you have to test whatever you build with them. So you have to invest in it, it's not just a design decision.

Same for waterproofness: it's not that you actively drill holes in your device to make sure that it won't be waterproof. It's just that if you actually want it waterproof, you have to design for it, then you have to test, and iterate a few times. If your consumers still buy your device if it's not waterproof, then there is no need to invest in waterproofness. But it's not "planned un-waterproofness".
by kindkang2024 | 2025-07-20 13:51:03+00:00
> Schoolchildren all over the world learn that Hammurabi’s code — famous for its “eye for an eye” vision of retributive justice — was the world’s first.

The more I think about ancient laws, the more I appreciate the wisdom of the ancients. The law that says “an eye for an eye, and a life for a life” contains a depth of insight that many today overlook. In modern society, it’s often dismissed as outdated, cruel, or inhumane. But personally, I believe that rejecting this principle entirely is a serious—and dangerous—mistake.

"Eye for an eye, life for a life" was never meant to destroy or harm, but to protect. This becomes clear when we examine it closely. If justice is reduced merely to financial compensation, then the wealthy can harm the poor and simply pay their way out. Is that truly justice? And what if someone takes a life—yet remains alive in prison, or even walks free years later? How is that fair to the victims? Just imagine yourself as the victim—your eye deliberately and seriously injured, or your life shattered by someone’s malice. Isn't the answer more obvious then?

This principle has never brought chaos to humanity. It’s often misunderstood as promoting endless cycles of revenge, but that interpretation misses the point. In fact, the principle becomes clearer through the lens of individual responsibility. As the Bible puts it: “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” In a just system built on individual accountability, those who seek justice are still free to forgive. If those in conflicts choose not to, and let endless hatred consume them, they both suffer. In this way, the principle actually has a natural tendency to limit conflict and promote resolution over time.

In The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod, this dynamic is explained scientifically: when bad actions are punished and good actions rewarded, cooperation thrives. (His findings, such as the “tit-for-tat” strategy starting with kindness fosters cooperation.) Human civilizations is possible with very truth. It may not always be written into law—but it lives through free will and moral instinct.

Let those who dare to do evil face the consequences of their actions. Let their wrongdoing diminish their standing—their fitness, as some might say. Only those who intend to do evil fear the law “an eye for an eye, a life for a life.” For good people, it means the opposite: that kindness begets kindness to make all great again.

Yet today, many focus only on blind forgiveness. In my view, this is misguided—especially when it leads to abolishing the death penalty. The dead cannot forgive. They are already gone. If we truly believe that all lives matter—worldwide—then this principle deserves far more respect and appreciation than it receives today.
by jcgrillo | 2025-07-20 13:51:13+00:00
I can't think of a single case where it has actually been true that the cheaper tool was better somehow apart from jackstands. I got some pretty decent 6 ton jackstands from harbor freight. Don't know that i'd actually trust them to hold 6 tons though. Shop press? Not really. Had to put a bunch of time and money into it to make it halfway decent. Should have just gotten a good one. For power hand tools I have all Makita stuff either bought new or remanufactured, wouldn't go near harbor freight for that stuff. My welder is a Miller, wouldn't dream of going with off brand stuff there. Torches however are northern tool (i think?) victor knockoffs which are ok apart from the orings, hoses, and regulators... should have just gone for the quality tool to start would have been cheaper in the long run. My machine tools are all antiques and work outstandingly well. Literally irreplaceable--could not buy something new that does the same job.

I guess all that is to say in my experience the cheap crap breaks and ends up being more expensive either in opportunity cost or cost of replacement/modification.
by cybrexalpha | 2025-07-20 13:51:27+00:00
This isn't a tangential discussion. Ring has shown they're willing to work with law enforcement without due process, that's the entire point of the EFF's article.

> you're mistaken about what the terms allow. When you paraphrased the terms as saying

I didn't paraphrase. I quoted them directly. Feel free to check them yourself https://ring.com/terms

> you neglected to account for the clause: "as required or permitted by law". Under the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S. Code § 2702 (b), there is only a short and narrow list of circumstances under which it is permissible for a provider to disclose communications content without a warrant.

There are so many exceptions it doesn't matter. From the same code, (b) (8) states "if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of communications relating to the emergency", and (b) (7) (A) (ii) "to a law enforcement agency if the contents appear to pertain to the commission of a crime".

This is exactly how Ring shared content with the cops previously. https://www.cnet.com/home/security/ring-google-and-the-polic...
by Joel_Mckay | 2025-07-20 13:51:35+00:00
Not really, the Proof burden falls on people to verify something poorly studied is safe, keeping their petulance in check, and acknowledging their BS when proven harmful.

What seems like a detractor is an allusion to some therapeutic psychiatric citations describing native shamanistic traditions as some sort of qualifying safety feature in compounds.

I really can't be bothered to pull more papers folks seem to simply ignore. The trivial counter-proof is there, and it is unethical to harm people for more data.

Best of luck, and please keep an eye open for early signs of renal failure like persistent excessive foaming in urine etc. =3
by aw1621107 | 2025-07-20 13:51:38+00:00
> I'd say that's a mistake of the person who wrote the template then.

The fact that it's possible to make that mistake is basically the point! If "the whole point of concepts" were to "tell you what types you can successfully call it with" then that kind of mistake should not be possible.

It's true that there are certain cases where you know the full set of types you can use, but I'd argue that those are the less interesting/useful cases, anyways.
by jandrewrogers | 2025-07-20 13:51:43+00:00
> code that follows Rust's tree-style ownership pattern

This is a pretty important qualification. Most low-level systems code doesn't and can't have this ownership structure. It provides a reason why Rust has more traction replacing code that could have been written in Java rather than e.g. C++ in the domains where C++ excels (like database engines).
by specialp | 2025-07-20 13:52:00+00:00
One factor around this is private equity buyouts. PE has been snapping up a lot of well established smaller companies and squeezing more profits out of them. Part of this is value engineering the products and offerings. These companies have built up names over a long time based on good products so you can ride the name and existing customers for a bit and maximize profits. By the time people get fed up the investment has paid off.
by roxolotl | 2025-07-20 13:52:02+00:00
Generally I find that agile works because getting a really clear spec is so hard. You’re slowly iterating towards a clear spec. What is a finished piece of software if not a completed spec?

100% agree AI based dev is at odds with agile. You’re basically going to use the AI to fully rewrite the software over and over until the spec becomes clear which just isn’t very efficient. Plus it doesn’t help that natural language cannot be as clear a spec as code.
by techpineapple | 2025-07-20 13:53:47+00:00
Im curious to see the progress on video. My mental model is that video is in many ways going to be harder to get right than text. If these models are fundamentally limited by their training data, then it will be really easy to get something impressive looking, but really hard to get it to do just what you want it to. Also, lots of risk of leaking specific IP.

Maybe a certain type of creator can design within these limits. And certainly lots of AI slop can come to Tik Tok. But if you have a specific artistic or brand vision mind it will be impossible to achieve.
by apwell23 | 2025-07-20 13:53:55+00:00
yes my organization head at my employer has asked us to submit: "Generative AI Agent" proposals for upcoming planning session. Apparently those ideas will get the big seat at the planning table. I've been trying to think of many ideas but they all end up being some sort of workflow automation that was possible without agent stuff.

Agreed with your annoyance at "they are replacing you" comments. like duh. Thats what they've been doing forever.
by rebeccaskinner | 2025-07-20 13:54:13+00:00
The biggest issue to me is that beyond and impossible aren’t just making replacements that are worse than meat, they are making things that are worse than the alternatives we already had.

A beyond burger might be more like meat than a patty made from beans or lentils, but it tastes worse and has a worse nutritional profile. Beyond chicken isn’t even all that similar to chicken and it’s a worse substitute than seitan for something like wings.
by teiferer | 2025-07-20 13:54:16+00:00
> My suspicion is that when products are successful and mature but reach market saturation, profit growth pressure leads to cutting some corners on every iteration, and hence to a slow decline in quality over the years.

I'm sure that's one component. I can also imagine that another component is that in order to broaden the customer base, there is cost pressure as well as the pressure to appeal to more people. The initial market may have consisted of more quality focused nerds who were ok with spending a little more to get a robust thing with more knobs to tune behavior, while the mass market is fine with buying new stuff all the time, given that it's cheaper, and they don't care about fine tuning things, just want it to work out of the box, until they anyway buy a new thing in a year or two.
by Keyframe | 2025-07-20 13:55:14+00:00
Unlike OP, from my still limited but intense month or so diving into this topic so far, I had better luck with Gemini 2.5 PRO and Opus 4 on more abstract level like architecture etc. and then dealing input to Sonnet for coding. I found 2.5 PRO, and to a lesser degree Opus, were hit or miss; A lot of instances of them circling around the issue and correcting itself when coding (Gemini especially so), whereas Sonnet would cut to the chase, but needed explicit take on it to be efficient.
by __turbobrew__ | 2025-07-20 13:56:01+00:00
LuLuLemon is guilty of this. Their quality was pretty good about 10 years ago, but since then all the materials have gotten thinner and less durable. I have some LuLuLemon clothes from 10+ years ago which outlasted things I bought 3 years ago.

Now the quality is objectively bad and things get holes right away or are not even tailored correctly, but hey $7 billion wasn’t enough for Chip Wilson so he is going to keep sucking the brand dry.
by queenkjuul | 2025-07-20 13:56:14+00:00
And now when candidates submit take home tests for me to review, half of them are barely functional AI slopfests.

A goddamn staff engineer candidate with 20 years experience submitted an auto generated, broken app, and then tried to pass it off as though it didn't work because our API was down. No, the AI hard coded the wrong URL and he didn't notice (the correct URL was specified in the email containing the test instructions)

I want off Mr Altman's wild ride lol