MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by scythe | 2025-08-12 17:43:57+00:00
One of the hallmarks of cults — if not a necessary element — is that they tend to separate their members from the outside society. Rationalism doesn't directly encourage this, but it does facilitate it in a couple of ways:

- Idiosyncratic language used to describe ordinary things ("lightcone" instead of "future", "prior" instead of "belief" or "prejudice", etc)

- Disdain for competing belief systems

- Insistence on a certain shared interpretation of things most people don't care about (the "many-worlds interpretation" of quantum uncertainty, self-improving artificial intelligence, veganism, etc)

- I'm pretty sure polyamory makes the list somehow, just because it isn't how the vast majority of people want to date. In principle it's a private lifestyle choice, but it's obviously a community value here.

So this creates an opportunity for cult-like dynamics to occur where people adjust themselves according to their interactions within the community but not interactions outside the community. And this could seem — to the members — like the beliefs themselves are the problem, but from a sociological perspective, it might really be the inflexible way they diverge from mainstream society.
by kmansm27 | 2025-08-12 17:44:11+00:00
I still think that human taste is important even if agents become really good at implementing everything and everyone's just an idea guy. Counter argument: if agents do become really good at implementation, then I'm not sure if even human taste would matter if agents could brute force every possibility and launch it into the market.

Maybe I'll just call it a day and chill with the fam
by the_af | 2025-08-12 17:44:42+00:00
> Of course you can automate ”having fun” and ”being entertained”

This seems like begging the question to me.

I don't think there's a mechanistic (as in "token predictor") procedure to generate the emotions of having fun, or being surprised, or amazed. It's not on me to demonstrate it cannot be done, it's on them to demonstrate it can.

But to be clear, I don't think the author of TFA is making this claim either. They are simply approaching IF games from a "problem solving" perspective -- they don't claim this has anything to do with fun or AGI -- and what I'm arguing is that this mechanistic approach to IF games, i.e. "problem solving", only touches on a small subset of what makes people want to play these games. They are often (not all, as the author rightly corrects me, but often) about generating surprise and amazement in the player, something that cannot be done to an LLM.

(Note I'm also not dismissing the author's experiment. As an experiment it's interesting and, I'd argue, fun for the author).

Current, state of the art LLMs cannot feel amazement, or nothing else really (and, I argue, no LLM in the current tech branch will ever can). I hope this isn't a controversial statement.
by aldersondev | 2025-08-12 17:44:56+00:00
Hey, I'm Mitch (post author).

I'm a 15+ year full-stack engineer who contracts with Render and guest-posted my research for their blog.

Up until recently, I was very skeptical of AI coding tools. My AI usage was basically GH Copilot's autocomplete. After cleaning up too many agent mistakes in production, I set up a structured trial in my real projects to measure what these agents can do under real constraints.

I decided to run two sets of experiments: vibe coding a new application from scratch as a control test, then giving the agents real production tasks. For the production tasks, I gave them backend challenges like building a k8s pod leader election system in Go microservices, and building out CSS templates in Astro.js.

I evaluated Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenAI Codex across setup friction, # of follow up prompts, code quality, UX, and context handling.

Cursor won but it was close. I really liked the Claude Code UX and will try the new Cursor CLI. I plan to run a similar benchmark in the fall using newer features like parallel agents and newer models (maybe GPT-5 or whatever comes next).

Let me know what I should test for round 2 or nitpick the criteria I used. The best tool for you might not be the best tool for me, so I encourage you to run your own experiments. Also happy to answer questions about my methodology.
by jacquesm | 2025-08-12 17:45:42+00:00
You keep making the weirdest comparisons. What does your dad's village in Bangladesh have to do with crime rates in DC or any other city in the United States? This is just absurd, you're pulling in utterly unrelated factoids - which are anecdata at best and which we are going to have to believe at face value - to supposedly support your point, which if we generously assume that they are true still would not do so.
by mingus88 | 2025-08-12 17:45:47+00:00
Because optics matter. they are all ultimately fundraising and competing and this is terrible PR

Ask Jeeves from 1997 could answer this question, so tell me why we need to devote a nation-state amount of compute power to feed an “AI” that confidently gets kindergarten level questions dead ass wrong?

I have the same kind of question when I watch the AI summary on Google output tokens one-by-one to give me less useful information that is right there on the first search result from Wikipedia (fully sourced, too)
by JavierFlores09 | 2025-08-12 17:45:50+00:00
> The counter to that argument is that it's creating an adverse effect on your most > profitable customers, with an incentive to move to offerings that don't have free tiers (or where the free tiers are not considerably affecting your own costs).

> If your free tier is so lucrative that you need to 25x the cost, then your free tier is > too expansive and you need to tone it down until the economics make sense.

It does make sense, though. That's how almost every subsidized system works, and the benefit applies for everyone until they scale to a point where they are not legible for it. It does suck for the pool of people that just began paying the actual price of the service instead of the subsidized one, and certainly more so if they're not actually getting profit from it but then again, it isn't like they weren't benefitting from the price up to that point, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen it. Luckily enough, as far as databases go, there's a gazillion options to choose from and experiences like this are invaluable when it comes to picking one with a pricing model that fits the scaling requirements of a given project, and not only the technical merits.

Also as a side rant, I honestly don't think "projects of love" are a good counter argument to anything. They're clearly not of love because otherwise they would find a way to make them profitable. Most people are either lazy to, or lack the knowledge of how to turn their hobby into a marketable thing. Which is fine, nobody wants to deal with business when it comes to their hobbies, but one can't have it both ways. Either your hobby project gets successful and you find ways to cover its expenses, or you realize that your hobby project needs to be kept just a hobby project.
by loxs | 2025-08-12 17:46:10+00:00
Having the power to deny others to mine blocks does not mean that you can obtain the tokens from their wallets. Miners can't sign transactions on users' behalf. You can rewrite all of history but then no exchange will accept your version of it to let you exchange the tokens for fiat. Also this will almost certainly crash the price of XMR substantially. And later people will be able to fork/restore the original version. The technological side of the blockchain is only part of the consensus/trust/market/popularity. People are the other part, and people will not pay the attacker for their successful attack.
by rich_sasha | 2025-08-12 17:46:10+00:00
It's unclear from the "post" (what is it with these blogs where entries are like 3 sentences??): did they take current top 10 stocks and project their retuens backwards, or did they look at the retuen of always holding the top 10 stocks in the index?

If the former then duh! Top 10 stocks are top 10 because they were going up! You will see this for any index.

The latter would make sense but given the laconicity of the post, it's pointless to speculate.
by Sarky | 2025-08-12 17:47:04+00:00
Windows GUI for Syncthing named SyncTrayzor is also actively developed. https://github.com/GermanCoding/SyncTrayzor After SyncTtrayzor stopped being developed in 2021, it just worked along the updating SyncThing as backend. Now that Syncthing v2 came out, old one is not compatible anymore, but new one picked up the mantle.

I love this software. I am using it to sync files across different computers and different people for years now.
by jeremy_k | 2025-08-12 17:47:18+00:00
Well put. It really does come down to nuance. I find Claude is amazing at writing React / Typescript. I mostly let it do it's own thing and skim the results after. I have it write Storybook components so I can visually confirm things look how I want. If something isn't quite right I'll take a look and if I can spot the problem and fix it myself, I'll do that. If I can't quickly spot it, I'll write up a prompt describing what is going on and work through it with AI assistance.

Overall, React / Typescript I heavily let Claude write the code.

The flip side of this is my server code is Ruby on Rails. Claude helps me a lot less here because this is my primary coding background. I also have a certain way I like to write Ruby. In these scenarios I'm usually asking Claude to generate tests for code I've already written and supplying lots of examples in context so the coding style matches. If I ask Claude to write something novel in Ruby I tend to use it as more of a jumping off point. It generates, I read, I refactor to my liking. Claude is still very helpful, but I tend to do more of the code writing for Ruby.

Overall, helpful for Ruby, I still write most of the code.

These are the nuances I've come to find and what works best for my coding patterns. But to your point, if you tell someone "go use Claude" and they have have a preference in how to write Ruby and they see Claude generate a bunch of Ruby they don't like, they'll likely dismiss it as "This isn't useful. It took me longer to rewrite everything than just doing it myself". Which all goes to say, time using the tools whether its Cursor, Claude Code, etc (I use OpenCode) is the biggest key but figuring out how to get over the initial hump is probably the biggest hurdle.
by FirmwareBurner | 2025-08-12 17:47:34+00:00
How else do you think designers can justify their inflated rates? Wrap it in in a fancy word salad to elevate it and sell it to wealthy urbanites.

Reminds me of that scene[1] from the Silicon Valley TV show where that designer was tasked to design a server box and he started the meeting showing random pictures to the CEO with some bongo drum soundtrack in order to "establish a common vocabulary" lol, or the brand manual of the infamous Pepsi logo redesign fail[2] full of made up geometrical nature BS stories that the agency pulled out of their ass to milk Pepsi, which I'm sure is what the satire form Silicon Valley was based on.

At this point, I think designers just operate on the basis of "a fool an his money are easily parted".

[1] https://youtu.be/qyLv1dQasaY?si=yUwQU-9EQL3QMxbi&t=6

[2] https://old.reddit.com/r/Design/comments/hspqgd/pepsi_logo_r...
by m463 | 2025-08-12 17:47:59+00:00
I wonder why these kinds of arguments gain such wide acceptance.

specifically - measuring x has negative consequences, so don't measure x.

then at some point it becomes, don't bother measuring x ever.

Normally I hear abotu this like tests that can find cancer early, or full body MRIs.

I think these measures might actually be really good to establish a baseline and changes over time, or catch things early.

If the problem is that knowing leads to stress, maybe there could be a solution in the portrayal of the data. Maybe it could be "doctor, don't tell me unless there is a trend"

Doctors frequently give a disclaimer before ordering PSA tests, for example.
by smokel | 2025-08-12 17:48:29+00:00
You can't get a citation for this, and I must admit that this was a bit of a hyperbole.

Still, I sincerely believe that in a typical year, a typical user runs into zero or one .zip files. Of course there are exceptions, but these power users do not make up a large part of the population. Facebook and Instagram are not shipped in .zip format for a reason.

Here are some numbers to think about:

According to Microsoft, there are ~1.4 billion devices that run Windows 10 or Windows 11 [1]. Apparently, there are some 200 million additional devices that run older versions of Windows [2].

Now, I could hypothetically ask my mom and dad, and find out that only one of them knows what a .zip file is. The other has not heard of .rar. I don't think I myself am a typical user, but I do know .rar, and I do not even have WinRAR installed.

That leaves me to conclude that it is very, very, unlikely that 31% of all Windows users has WinRAR installed.

[1] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2025/06/24/stay-...

[2] https://jitendra.co/how-many-windows-users-are-there-in-the-...
by potato3732842 | 2025-08-12 17:48:30+00:00
The best part is that if the alleged reality is true it's an even bigger condemnation of the community.

"no, they didn't believe it, they were engaging in strategic trolling and vote gaming" as if that doesn't imply a way more malicious frame of mind than some hapless idiot looking at the message and going "yup, seems legit, upvote we go".

(disclaimer: I wasn't in those comments, IDK who's reality is true here)
by jadamson | 2025-08-12 17:48:32+00:00
> As long as people eventually reach the same conclusion about which chain is the legit one it's fine

What? No, it very much it isn't. Consensus needs to be ongoing, within a handful of blocks (Monero locks transfers for 10 blocks for this reason, called "confirmations").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-spending#Decentralized_...

https://www.getmonero.org/get-started/accepting/
by srhtftw | 2025-08-12 17:49:13+00:00
I use SourceHut¹ to serve git for a few private projects.

I wanted to use their pages service as well to serve an SPA but their https://srht.site/limitations prevent SPAs from contacting external services I need. I get why they do that but I need my SPA to let users login to their databases and there's simply no way to do that while adhering to SourceHut's policy.

Fortunately pico.sh², codeberg³ and GitLab⁴ (not GitHub) don't have that restriction. I experimented with each of them last year. All of them worked reasonably well. Eventually I settled on GitLab which had the nicest CI/CD of the three at the time.

¹- https://sr.ht

²- https://pico.sh

³- https://codeberg.org

⁴- https://gitlab.com
by danaris | 2025-08-12 17:49:13+00:00
I feel like the situation in the 1880s was in a very, very different environment to today, though. How many public companies even were there 140 years ago...? (I actually tried to find this out just now with some quick searching, and wasn't able to find anything that looked relevant, so solid data would be helpful...)

Particularly in the latter part of the 20th century, the number of companies that choose to go public seems to have increased quite a bit—and, at the same time, there's been a huge wave of consolidation, meaning that even if there are fewer public companies than there would be without that, a higher share of the total economy is likely to be made up of public companies.
by switknee | 2025-08-12 17:49:22+00:00
Where does the idea that potatoes are "almost-complete" in terms of nutrition come from? If you look up nutrition facts for potatoes:

-1 potato contains 110 calories

-Lets say our hypothetical adult will eat 10 potatoes to hit 2200 calories

-The only nutrients which potatoes provide more than 10% recommended daily value are Iron, vitamins C and B6. The iron is not heme iron and therefore may actually be worth less, but we'll say it's enough just for the sake of argument. Potassium and phosphorous are close at 9% and 8%, but everything else is lower.

-The fat content is negligible, which is a problem because your brain is made out of fat

-20 grams of incomplete protein means your body can't repair muscle or bone adequately.

-No cholesterol, which also has negative outcomes

This is a high calorie starvation diet.
by Rudybega | 2025-08-12 17:49:46+00:00
This mostly gets avoided with maximum buyin limits on tables. Sure someone can accrue well over that amount, but that's part of cash poker too (dealing with players with large stacks).

Obviously players with much larger bankrolls can weather variance better, but that should even out at pretty much any table a player should reasonably be at (don't play stakes you can't afford where losing the money severely negatively impacts your life).
by toast0 | 2025-08-12 17:50:20+00:00
> I’d love to know what you think documentation means.

I'd say effective documentation lets the user know enough about the system that they can work on the system without needing to contact the previous person (or people) working on the system. Or at least, so they can get started and only ask 'good' questions.

Something like descriptions of what the system is supposed to do, what it actually does if it differs significantly :D, maybe motivations. Descriptions of the data, and like where does it come from, where does it go, where did it come from (Cotton-Eye Joe?). If the system runs into problems often, a list of common issues and how to fix them, etc.
by evanjrowley | 2025-08-12 17:50:24+00:00
There really is no precise name for these.

Source: A technology hoarder who has too many shelves like this full of junk.

Edit: I stand corrected by @bobson381

I have several of these under the Gorilla Rack brand name and they're sold as Industrial Shelving Units. Home Depot in the US also sells these under the Muscle Rack and Edsal brands. These shelves are good, but I caution against using them in rooms with uneven floors (i.e., basement floors) because the feet are not adjustable. The particle board shelf surfaces can also deteriorate easily in moist environments. OP's shelf is one coffee spill away from a ruined shelf. That particle board is also made with formaldehyde and water damage will release it, FYI.

I have even more Wire Rack Shelves from various brands, all mostly with interchangable parts. A major brand is Nexel. There's also a lot of good parts available through the Metro brand sold by The Container Store. I appreciate the Wire Rack Shelving for it's modularity, adjustable feet, and also the ability to use caster wheels. You can always cut your own solid shelf surface from whatever material you like. The drawback is these Wire Rack Shelves cost twice as much as the Industrial Shelving Units.
Show HN: Orchestrator – browser-as-a-service platform for AI agents
by brijesh_w | 2025-08-12 17:50:38+00:00
Hi all, We're building Orchestrator, a browser-as-a-service designed for AI agents and workflows.

What it does: Orchestrator lets you create browser sessions that you can connect over Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) or through VNC. We also offer residential proxies as optional add-on for sessions.

Why we built it: There’s huge potential for browser-based agents to handle repetitive tasks both in personal workflows and in work environments and existing tools like Browserbase were solid but running these agents at scale requires an infrastructure layer that can keep costs affordable, spin up browsers quickly and handle high concurrency.

Why it’s worth trying: - Free tier: 20 hours of browser usage, no credit card required.

- Transparent pricing: $10 for 100 hours (Browserbase charges $20 for the same) and $39 for 500 hours (Browserbase charges $99).

- Direct control: Connect over CDP or view via VNC without restrictions.

- Add-ons: Residential proxies.

What’s missing right now: Session recording, console-log capture and stealth mode are in development and will be added soon.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the developer experience and where the tooling feels rough. Feedback on what’s missing or what could be improved would be especially valuable.
by euleriancon | 2025-08-12 17:50:42+00:00
You're completely right, it is very similar to the western style credit score, and is often either accidentally or deliberately misrepresented. That being said, it covers behaviors not covered by western credit scores that does have elements of tracking "how good of a citizen are you".

I think this article from Beijing University does a great job of highlighting some of the issues.

Web page:

https://fzzfyjy.cupl.edu.cn/info/1035/11343.htm

Pdf: https://www.law.pku.edu.cn/docs/20210927092933450384.pdf
by rayiner | 2025-08-12 17:50:44+00:00
I’m very moderate by world standards. For example I think we should give gang members trials before we put them all in jail forever. In my home country we don’t have a gang problem, but we have an Islamist problem. Our former PM handled that by having military special forces just kill islamists. She had a 70% approval rating before a bizarre coalition of leftist students and islamists overthrew the government.

Western liberals are just outside the Overton window in terms of their toxic sympathy for criminals and disorder.
Show HN: Turn your iPhone into a local OCR server using Vision Framework
by riddleling | 2025-08-12 17:51:35+00:00
Built an iOS app that runs a local OCR server using Apple's Vision Framework.

Creates a REST API endpoint accessible from any device on your network. No cloud services needed - everything processes locally on the phone.

Available on App Store (searching "OCR Server").

Would appreciate feedback on the architecture or similar mobile-as-server projects you've seen.
by pessimizer | 2025-08-12 17:51:43+00:00
For you, yes. For me it's like my old teapot that I bought when I didn't drink tea and I didn't have a french press just because I walked past it in Target, and didn't even start using for 5 years after I bought it. Since then it's become my morning buddy (and sometimes my late night friend.) Thousands of cups; never fails. I could recognize it by its unique scorch and scuff marks anywhere.

It is indifferent towards me, though always dependable.
by nabla9 | 2025-08-12 17:51:59+00:00
I agree.

I experience a productivity boost, and I believe it’s because I prevent LLMs from making design choices or handling creative tasks. They’re best used as a "code monkey", fill in function bodies once I’ve defined them. I design the data structures, functions, and classes myself. LLMs also help with learning new libraries by providing examples, and they can even write unit tests that I manually check. Importantly, no code I haven’t read and accepted ever gets committed.

Then I see people doing things like "write an app for ....", run, hey it works! WTF?
by slg | 2025-08-12 17:52:08+00:00
>Those priors were obviously wrong.

You're doing it again here with the passive voice. You weren't wrong, it was "Ockham's razor" and "those priors" that were wrong.

>Do you think I shouldn't update my understanding based on new information?

Your responses here show that you aren't actually doing that. You aren't taking any responsibility for your prior incorrect assumptions and therefore you are likely to continue making similar wrong assumptions in the future. How can you learn from this experience if you can't admit that you did anything wrong?
by justsomehnguy | 2025-08-12 17:52:28+00:00
Ah, yes, everything I know is a basic common knowledge and if someone do not know anything from my list should be checked for some problems.

Be it a minor SciFi flick in a written form or some SciFi flick in a live-action form[0]

FYI HHTG is big[1] in anglosphere and known mostly to SciFi enthusiasts in other parts of the world.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44287254

[1] as big as you want, of course