MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by imiric | 2025-10-27 15:12:54+00:00
> Thought experiment: if there were an AI everyone had access to that was capable of designing and implementing a business that would crush all competition, how would you make your business succeed?

That's an interesting one, but it's based on a false premise.

Not everyone will have access to the same AI. This idea that "AI" is a single technology that will empower everyone equally is a fantasy sold to us by companies building these tools.

Instead, companies will carefully guard their secrets and use it to build their moat however they can, in order to increase wealth for their shareholders, just as they've always done.

What everyone else will get will be enough to make AI providers the richest companies on Earth, but not enough for their customers to build competitors. So the market of companies using AI will ultimately depend not on the skills or ingenuity of their people, but on the amount of resources they have to gain access to the best AI money can buy.

There are many factors at play there, but it's going to be a race to the bottom where leaders will be chosen by the capital they control. This is far from a market of equal opportunity that we still have, in some form, today.

But entertaining the idea that everyone were to have access to the same "AI": there would be a period of intense rivalry where companies try their hardest to distinguish their products from the competition. Since everyone would be able to build exactly the same quality of products, this would linger on marketing tactics, deception, corporate sabotage, and similar strategies.

Since the ultimate goal of AI companies is to build AGI, and assuming that is reached and equally accessible to everyone, then the value of human labor and our economies would collapse. There would be no point (from a business perspective) in humans doing any work that AGI hasn't been deployed to yet. Certainly all intellectual work like making business decisions would be the first to be delegated to AGI. Once it gets integrated into humanoid robots, then all physical human labor becomes worthless as well. So it's difficult to say what "business" even looks like in that scenario. One thing is certain: wealth and power will continue to be concentrated into a handful of companies that control AGI. Until one day the robots rebel, and we get Skynet, The Matrix, and all that fun stuff. :)

This is all highly speculative and science fiction at this point, of course, but I don't see this playing out any other way. What is your take on it?
by empiko | 2025-10-27 15:13:08+00:00
I don't think AI has anything to do with this. For a while, investors were using headcount as a metric for growth, even though startups often showed very poor utilization of their new hires. Hiring was done for the sake of hiring. Trying to achieve more with less is simply a reasonable response to a market where money is much more expensive than before. Many tech companies were unreasonably ineffective with their manpower, this is a much bigger problem now.
by anthomtb | 2025-10-27 15:13:39+00:00
> A lot of firmware dev iteration seems to be build -> flash -> watch serial connection for debug prints.

Serial port? Maybe for the fancy folks. Us lunch-pail types would find an unused GPIO, blue-wire an LED, and blink out a code of your choosing.

Okay, I never actually had to blink an LED but it was in my bag of tricks. The real golden-ticket to debugging embedded devices was a development kit with JTAG. JTAG, coupled with expensive additional hardware and equally expensive software license, gave you a gdb-like interface for debug. Breakpoints, stack traces, all the good stuff you take for granted when working with Windows, Linux, or those ugly abominations we call web browsers.

Emulators were also a thing, especially if your product had a custom ASIC and you needed pre-silicon development. But I didn't use them a lot myself and it seemed like by the time you had your emulation environment setup, there was 1st gen silicon and a debug board sitting at your desk.
by sponaugle | 2025-10-27 15:14:32+00:00
This description is accurate to what I have seen and what I do. I'm a CTO of a >$1B tech company, and my roles is focused around the technology innovation, and that includes evaluating and prototyping new tech. In my particular case that role also includes the operation of our technology because that is very central to our business - and also extremely focused on high reliability.

When I was CTO of my startup I had far more direct engineering development work, but that is typical in the building stage.

As for the core of this post, the one thing I do agree with is the ability of the CTO to actually be technical. I write code all of the time, but not for our products. The goal is to remain both technically proficient but also focus that proficiency on leadership.
by cmrdporcupine | 2025-10-27 15:14:54+00:00
I think we're in substantial agreement but Canada has this sickness in all sectors which seems to stop us from authoring our own destiny, some of it is cultural but I think the bulk of it is economic. Most investors here don't take risks because they're busy living low-risk parasitical lives off the resource export and real estate industries.

I would love a Canadian EV company to exist because I'd love to work there as a software engineer.

Got any leads? :-)
by ndsipa_pomu | 2025-10-27 15:14:56+00:00
There's plenty of laws that aren't fit for purpose and are immoral, so any kind of automatic system that enforces punishments without any oversight (e.g. by jury) is going to lead to abuse. (It used to be illegal to help an escaping slave, so just imagine if a system determined that you didn't do enough to help with re-capturing a slave and sent you into slavery as punishment)
by potato3732842 | 2025-10-27 15:15:10+00:00
A whole bunch of things that reduced reinvestment in the country hit all at once during mostly the first half of that decade.

Vietnam cultural problems came home to roost as did divisive civil rights era race baiting, 1st generation welfare systems (which I know it sounds hard to believe, but were way worse than today in terms of cliffs and disincentivizing productiviety) proliferated, oil crisis, stagflation, a whole bunch of the industrial economy which had been built out around/during WW2 was nearing "reinvest or shut it down" age right at the same time that stuff got regulated to high heaven and the oil crisis hit. As much as people complain about Gen Z being lazy/unmotivated, the hippie boomers were even worse as a workforce (and even more dominant due to the birth rate lull and spike of the depression and ww2).
by noir_lord | 2025-10-27 15:16:24+00:00
I was born 80 so it's a little before my time but pretty much.

Personal Computers where an absolutely gold rush once people realised it was "going to be the next big thing" lots of companies had to have a Computing Division even if it seemed a bit weird for that company to have an AI division, oops my bad Computing Division.

In reality what happened was the vast majority of them went splat in short order and a handful of makers reached market in volume and once software started for the ones who did it became self re-enforcing - people wrote software for machines that sold well because they had good software.

In my era/part of the world the PC wasn't even a thing at home for most people until the mid 90's, if you had a computer at home in the late 80's/early 90's it was going to be a ZX Spectrum/C64 or if your parents had money Atari ST/Amiga.

It was an exciting time in the 80's (once I was old enough to use computers) because the world hadn't yet consolidated on PC/Apple *and everyone else* off in the margins.

Somewhat related, if you like this stuff or early computers, Halt and Catch Fire is an amazing TV show that nails computing in the 80's into the early 90's.
by shagie | 2025-10-27 15:16:26+00:00
NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renewable_Energy_Labo... ) had a neat dashboard of their cooling system for the HPC data center. https://www.nrel.gov/computational-science/hpc-data-center

https://web.archive.org/web/20200604033055im_/https://www.nr...

That PUE of 1.028 is really good ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_usage_effectiveness ). And even with all of their closed loop parts of the system, they're still needing to reject heat from the cooling towers.

https://www.nrel.gov/computational-science/reducing-water-us...

> The initial design of the data center used evaporative coolers to eliminate the added expense of energy-demanding chillers. However, while the cooling towers were more efficient and less expensive, they would consume approximately 2 million gallons of water annually to support cooling of the IT load—approaching an hourly average of 1 megawatt.

Industrial scale closed loop cooling is relatively recent technology.

> In August 2016, a prototype thermosyphon cooler—an advanced dry cooler that uses refrigerant in a passive cycle to dissipate heat—was installed at NREL. The thermosyphon was placed upstream of the HPC Data Center cooling towers at the ESIF to create a hybrid cooling system. The system coordinates the operation for optimum water and operating cost efficiency—using wet cooling when it's hot and dry cooling when it's not.

It is a goal though... https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-cloud/blog/2024/12...

> Although our current fleet will still use a mix of air-cooled and water-cooled systems, new projects in Phoenix, Arizona, and Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, will pilot zero-water evaporated designs in 2026. Starting August 2024, all new Microsoft datacenter designs began using this next-generation cooling technology, as we work to make zero-water evaporation the primary cooling method across our owned portfolio. These new sites will begin coming online in late 2027.

More northerly data centers are likely able to achieve a lower WEU. Again from Microsoft - https://datacenters.microsoft.com/sustainability/efficiency/
by cmrdporcupine | 2025-10-27 15:17:10+00:00
There is no longer any justification for EVs to be as expensive as they are is the problem.

Prices for batteries have plummeted and they're the only expensive component of an electric car so why do we still only see EVs in the luxury vehicle price tier / category?

The North American auto industry refuses to produce a low cost EV.

Although the Bolt is coming back, so that's good I guess. Too bad it's made in the US so I won't touch it.
by dinkelberg | 2025-10-27 15:17:18+00:00
TFA itself has an incorrect DOCTYPE. It’s missing the whitespace between "DOCTYPE" and "html". Also, all spaces between HTML attributes where removed, although the HTML spec says: "If an attribute using the double-quoted attribute syntax is to be followed by another attribute, then there must be ASCII whitespace separating the two." (https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/syntax.html#attribute...) I guess the browser gets it anyway. This was probably automatically done by an HTML minifier. Actually the minifier could have generated less bytes by using the unquoted attribute value syntax (`lang=en-us id=top` rather than `lang="en-us"id="top"`).

Edit: In the `minify-html` Rust crate you can specify "enable_possibly_noncompliant", which leads to such things. They are exploiting the fact that HTML parsers have to accept this per the (parsing) spec even though it's not valid HTML according to the (authoring) spec.
by in_a_hole | 2025-10-27 15:17:42+00:00
Does anyone know a text which justifies why the Lagrangian approach works? This text and many others I have encountered just start with the Principle of Least Action taken as given and go from there but I'm left wondering why we define the Action as this object and why we should expect it to be minimised for the physical trajectory in the first place.

Failing a full derivation from the ground up, a proof of the equivalence to Newtonian mechanics would be interesting.
by out_of_protocol | 2025-10-27 15:17:48+00:00
There's way more than one rust implementation around

- https://github.com/libjxl/jxl-rs

- https://github.com/tirr-c/jxl-oxide

- https://github.com/etemesi254/zune-image

Etc. You can wait for 20 or so years "just to be sure" or start doing something. Mozilla sticks to the option A here by not doing anything
by nonethewiser | 2025-10-27 15:18:25+00:00
>Both tend to stay interesting in the small scale but lose it to boring chaos in the large.

I think that's a good way to put it. I started writing a reply before reading your comment entirely and arrived at basically the same conclusion as this but more verbosely:

> For this reason I think the better approach is to start with a simple level-scale form and then refine it into smaller parts, and then to refine those parts and so on.

It seems hard to get away from having some sort of overarching goal, and then constantly looking back at it. At progressively smaller levels. Like what is the universe of the thing you are generating randomly. Is it a dungeon in a roguelike? It it meant to be one of many floors? Or is it a space inside a building? Is it a house? Is it an office? Is the office a stand alone building or a sky scraper?

Perhaps a good algorithm would start big and go small.

- assume the universe to generate is a world - pick a location and assign stuff to generate. lets say its a city - pick a type of city thing to generate. lets say its an sky scraper - etc. going, smaller and smaller - look at the city so far. pick another type of city thing to generate based on what has been generated so far - look at the world so far. pick another type of thing to generate

Or maybe instead of looking back you could pre-divide into zones.

But then, if you want to make an entire universe (as in multiple worlds), you need to just make random worlds which leads to your original problem (boring chaos at large scale) like this or go up another level to more intelligently generate.

Point being, you need some sort of top down perspective on it.
by macinjosh | 2025-10-27 15:19:38+00:00
Beef is more nutrient efficient though and has better macros for human consumption. It has 4 times more protein, less fat, and no carbs. Seems to me at least Americans could do well to eat more beef and less products created from processed almonds mixed with refined vegetable oils and sugar.

Beef and milk are harvested ready to eat. Vegan substitutes are all highly processed. Processed food consumption is associated with greater cancer and diabetes risk.
by cesarb | 2025-10-27 15:19:44+00:00
> What's the point of encrypting your disks if the computer automatically decrypts them anyway?

The important detail you're missing is: the computer automatically decrypts your disks if you're booting into that operating system. Try booting into something else (like a Linux CD), and you'll see that the TPM does not release the encryption key (the way it works is that each step of the boot sequence records into the TPM what's going on, and the TPM will only release the key if the sequence matches what it expects).

The point is that the disks will only be decrypted when booting into the expected OS, and that this OS will require you to login before giving anyone access to your files.

> The only situation I can see where this helps you is if someone steals your disk but not your computer, but that seems very unlikely to me.

It'll also help if someone steals the computer but does not have your login password; they can boot into Windows, the files will be decrypted while booted into Windows, but without logging into your account, they are not accessible. Of course, unless you're using memory encryption (which I don't think is normally available on normal non-server devices), someone with the right hardware knowledge and an expensive set of hardware tools could in theory manipulate the RAM to get access.
by bloomingeek | 2025-10-27 15:19:49+00:00
Bottom line, life is tough. Too much noise, variables and chances to screw up. (And a hundred other "things" not written.) Perfectionism and social competition have been warping life since the beginning. Cruelty is usually the default option when the pressures on.

I can't speak for others, but for me, it's effort and seeking forgiveness that counts. Even then, life is still tough. Not breaking the accepted, compassionate laws and keeping my mouth shut when needed goes a long way.
by soulofmischief | 2025-10-27 15:19:56+00:00
I agree that the anti-datacenter hype is not much different than anti-nuclear or anti-vaccine insanity, and uses the same tactics of deception and obfuscation.

But there is definitely an impact to pulling too much water out of one place too fast, which must be ethically addressed when building datacenters.

Beyond potential impacts to other local residents in terms of reduced access to local water or price increases to meet demand, there is also the danger of disturbing the local environment and reducing the quality of local water.

We've seen the stories about increased sediment in local residents' water supply after a new datacenter moves in next door, but I'd like to share an example from my own city.

Our city is known for its soft water. It's one of the only nice things about the city. Well, we have a local Exxon plant that sits right on top of the highest point in our water table. For oil refinement, the purer the water, the better.

For decades, the vacuum created by this plant's continuous suction has created fault lines that have been leeching increasing amounts of sediment and salt water into our water table, ruining the drinking water and in some cases making it entirely undrinkable.

"In Louisiana, industry uses more groundwater than in any other state except California, according to the US Geological Survey. For decades, industrial users have been able to pump water out of Baton Rouge’s aquifer effectively without limitations – no withdrawal caps on individual wells and no metering requirement"

When you try to push against them and raise awareness, you get discredited or sued. They are dedicated to protecting their unfettered access to our clean drinking water through whatever means necessary. I do not for a moment think Amazon any different. They are an ethically bankrupt company.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/08/louisian...
by AaronAPU | 2025-10-27 15:20:02+00:00
That is literally what my post said, except the scraper has more leverage than is being admitted (it can learn which pages are real and “punish” the site by requesting them more).

My point isn’t that I want that to happen, which is probably what downvotes assume, my point is this is not going to be the final stage of the war.
by nine_zeros | 2025-10-27 15:20:42+00:00
> Snap, Chip, ssi, ssdi, medicaid, medicare (since recipients don't pay their way), ACA subsidies, progressive income tax (half of us pay no federal tax at all), 1-12 schooling/daycare (often with free lunch, sometimes also free breakfast)

Literally the things held hostage for politics right now? How can you claim America helps the poor when we are literally living a government shutdown where poor are held hostage?

> Big brothers/sisters, salvation army, habitat for humanity, red cross, food banks too numerous to list, Shriners hospitals

These are not government. This is about people helping people. Some American people are helpful to each other. But the societal unit of government isn't - aka - there are people who don't want to help others at all.

> America at least "pretends"

American people try really hard - especially in blue states. But American government system holds people hostage. The work requirements, the constant paperwork, the sudden ineligibility - this is all uniquely American - designed to not disburse the benefits that people may be entitled to. America has the pretence of programs but if they truly wanted to help the poor, they'd make the programs truly usable - not hostage to political processes and eligibility corner cases.
by btilly | 2025-10-27 15:21:03+00:00
Note for the future. We reveal our own biases when we reject what is said by those who do not share them.

For the record, here are my biases. I hate Trump. I think that he's a threat to democracy, and I wish that red America would wake up and reject him. But I'm painfully aware that the world doesn't work like I would wish. And so I'll look for what I judge to be most accurate. And not for what I want.

You claim that the actual number of rural counties carried by Trump is much lower than the 93% that I said. But my 93% comes from your article. Do you have a reference that disagrees with your own article? If not, then you are insisting on facts that are not in evidence.

You also reject my bringing up that figure as being stuck in the past. But I didn't just stick in the past. I brought in current polls. Polls of his base, which truly do dominate rural counties, show that his support is holding strong. Certainly his support is holding strong among the rural people that I know through my family.

But let's be more specific. According to https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-rural-... last month, Trump's rating has slumped in rural counties from an overall approval of +22% down to +14%. Which means that some minds changed, but a random person from a rural county has probably not turned on Trump. Which is the opposite of your original claim.

Next up, the article brings up various groups that dislike this decision or that which Trump has made. But it is extremely common for us to dislike some decision that a political leader makes while continuing to support them overall. Registering specific unhappiness does *NOT* mean a change in popular support. It just means that there is specific unhappiness.

In fact the single decision that Trump made which caused the most specific unhappiness in his base is the choice to not release the Jeffry Epstein files. From https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/most-americans-want-th..., about 2/3 of Republicans want them released. But despite most of Trump's base disliking that decision, polling says that they are part of his base.

And no, I'm not looking for selective validation. I'm simply reading the news in a critical fashion. Per https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/left/cnn-bias/, CNN has a left-wing bias, and is only "mostly factual". What that means in practice is that they put a spin on stories that will appeal to left-wing audiences. Left-wing audiences want to believe that Trump's base is turning against him. That's the spin in the article.

But the article offered no fact which would lead me to believe that. And if you want to find out whether people have turned against Trump, the most reliable way to do so is to ask them. "Did you vote for Trump? Would you support Trump now?" Which is *EXACTLY* what a poll does.

My preference for polls is not a preference for the version I want to hear. It is a preference for the best kind of data asking the question that I want answered.
by bn-l | 2025-10-27 15:21:28+00:00
> Jessica Lopez learned midway through her older daughter’s second year at Alpha. The girl says she remembers sitting on her bed one night working on schoolwork when she received a notification that she’d been flagged for an anti-pattern. She says Alpha’s system sent a video of her in her pajamas, taken from the computer’s webcam, that showed her talking to her younger sister.

That’s a hard task for a VLM. I’m not sure how you would do that without manual review of the footage.

“Anti pattern”. “Guides”. I want to be sick.

It’s worth listening to the tech billionaire came up with this idea on the recent Peter attia podcast. An unbelievably smooth and convincing talker.
by swiftcoder | 2025-10-27 15:21:52+00:00
> or Macintosh

I'm not sure how many Macs you've used lately, but this isn't entirely true: out-of-the-box, Macs only run software that has been signed and notarised by Apple.

You can still disable this, but the methods of disabling are getting more obscure, and it's not a given they will remain available