MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by gwd | 2025-11-03 20:55:22+00:00
> The last one IMO is more complex than the rest, because LLMs are fundamentally autocomplete machines. But what happens if you don't give them any prompt? Can they spontaneously come up with something, anything, without any external input?

Human children typically spend 18 years of their lives being RLHF'd before let them loose. How many people do something truly out of the bounds of the "prompting" they've received during that time?
by swiftcoder | 2025-11-03 20:55:29+00:00
I used to work for an IoT startup that really wanted the domain mq.tt. And in that era, Trinidad and Tobago's national domain administrator would only conduct business in-person, and required payment by international money order.

A facilitator was found, a deal was negotiated, and then the lawyers got involved and went "no way in hell will we let the company's primary domain renewal rely on someone walking a money order into an office in Trinidad". C'est la vie
by ndriscoll | 2025-11-03 20:55:41+00:00
You don't need inner products for linear transformations. You just need the idea of a basis and linearity. You define your transformation on a basis (which is all a matrix is: the list of where the map sends each basis element), and it is automatically defined everywhere else via linearity. The textbook my undergrad class used (Curtis) doesn't define inner products until after linear transformations and matrices, for example.

The angular interpretation and geometry are basically the entire point of inner products (inner products are how you define a large chunk of geometry). Angles and projections are the entire intuition behind talking about orthogonality, which is super important practically to basically every field.
by HarHarVeryFunny | 2025-11-03 20:55:51+00:00
The number of people willing to launch into debates about whether LLMs are thinking, intelligent, conscious, etc, without actually defining those terms, never ceases to amaze me.

I'm not sure that "thinking", unlike intelligence, is even that interesting of a concept. It's basically just reasoning/planning (i.e. chained what-if prediction). Sometimes you're reasoning/planning (thinking) what to say, and other times just reasoning/planning to yourself (based on an internal vs external focus).

Of course one can always CHOOSE to make analogies between any two things, in this case the mechanics of what's going on internal to an LLM and a brain, but I'm not sure it's very useful in this case. Using anthropomorphic language to describe LLMs seems more likely to confuse rather than provide any insight, especially since they are built with the sole function of mimicking humans, so you are basically gaslighting yourself if you regard them as actually human-like.
by ghostpepper | 2025-11-03 20:56:05+00:00
> On a decent hill you can get a regular bike going >60mph.

This is not the same as being able to go > 60 mph anywhere, at any time, simply by pressing a button.

> When you get a bike like this you deal with the danger and wear protective gear just like you would with any other bike (motorized or not).

This only deals with the danger to the rider - it doesn't address the danger to pedestrians.
by cosmicgadget | 2025-11-03 20:56:08+00:00
> suspects in a violent assault on a Palestinian from Gaza, including anal rape. The victim was hospitalised with injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung and rectal damage, according to the indictment

... then...

> “The [investigation] in Sde Teiman caused immense damage to the image of the state of Israel and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces],” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday. “This is perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the state of Israel has experienced since its establishment.”

... then unsurprisingly...

> a far-right mob gathered outside Sde Teiman calling for the investigation to be dropped.

... and so...

> said in a resignation letter last week that she had authorised publication of the video to defuse attacks on military investigators and prosecutors working on the case.
by programd | 2025-11-03 20:56:09+00:00
Location: SF Bay Area Remote: Yes - or hybrid/in-office, I'm flexible Willing to relocate: No Technologies: Go, C/C++, Python, Docker, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL/MySQL, ML/LLM, and many others Résumé/CV: https://linkedin.com/in/abnulladmin Email: contact@nulladmin.com

I'm an engineer with many years of experience in Silicon Valley, working in management roles, engineering, and consulting. My expertise is mostly in back end systems, working in the modern Go/Docker/Kubernetes ecosystem. In addition to working directly on large and complex code projects I also managed and grew engineering teams at various companies.

If you need help with specific technical projects, or are looking for management roles please feel free to reach out. I'm very familiar with both the unique challenges of scaling up startups as well as working to innovate in large enterprise companies.

Specifically if you need help productizing and scaling out various AI/Machine Learning/LLM systems this would be a good fit. I know there is quite a bit of demand in this area and a limited supply of qualified candidates.
by -warren | 2025-11-03 20:56:12+00:00
Location: Quad Cities, Illinois

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: Willing to travel up to 50%

Technologies: Leadership, Communication, Information Technology, Development, Data Engineering

Résumé/CV: https://warrenandrachel.com/warren/assets/resume-2024.pdf

Email: warren at warrenandrachel.com

Background: 25 years of tech. If there's a job done in or around IT, I've done it and done it well. I started with dumb terminal migrations and build world-class databases today. As I like to say, I know the whole data stack from "Silicon to SQL". Lately, I've specialized in building amazing engineers. If you need an amazing team of engineers (think NASA or SpaceX) over a team of amazing engineers (think Justice League or Avengers), then I am the leader you need!
by alfrednerstu | 2025-11-03 20:56:17+00:00
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Figma, Claude Code, Conductor, Windsurf, Svelte, Sveltekit, HTML, CSS, JS

Résumé/CV: https://linkedin.com/in/alfrednerstu

Email: alfred@nerstu.com

Hi, I'm an independent designer with a past at ustwo & Bang & Olufsen. I specialise in product-first branding, design systems and product/UI design.
by seneca | 2025-11-03 20:56:23+00:00
> I do think it's an easier trap to fall into with some languages, but I still don't think the language really drives it.

Yeah, in the end poor hiring practices drive it. The language you choose just makes the probability of that failure possibility higher or lower.

> I worked on a large-scale Rust project that could probably have been a Go project a while ago and while Language Technicians were a big hiring hazard, after we got one or two we both learned how to manage them and stopped hiring that type of employee (since they weren't what our project needed) and things evened out and were successful in Rust.

That tracks with my experience, for sure. Once you learn to spot it, you can mitigate it.
by traverseda | 2025-11-03 20:56:31+00:00
>We did this so we can scale.

>Python async sucks

Python async may make certain types of IO-blocked tasks simpler, but it is not going to scale a web app. Now maybe this isn't a web app, I can't really tell. But this is not going to scale to a cluster of machines.

You need to use a distributed task queue like celery.
Show HN: WebAudio Data-Driven audio engine
by mikezaby | 2025-11-03 20:56:52+00:00
A couple years back, I found myself in my thirties with programming as my only real interest, and I felt this urge to reconnect with something else.

I used to play drums in high school bands, so I decided to get back into music, this time focusing on electronic music and keyboards.

One day, somehow I came across WebAudio and as a web developer, this clicked (not the transport one) to me. I was excited about the idea of working on a project with web and music at the same time. As a web developer who was heavily using REST APIs and state management tools, I started thinking of an audio engine that could be handled through data.

So Blibliki is a data-driven WebAudio engine for building modular synthesizers and music applications. Think of it like having audio modules (oscillators, filters, envelopes) that you can connect together, but instead of directly manipulating the modules, you just provide data changes. This makes it work really well with state management libraries and lets you save/load patches easily. Also, one other reason for this design is that you can separate the user interface from the underlying engine.

The project has grown into a few parts:

* Engine: The core WebAudio synthesis engine

* Grid: A visual interface where you drag/drop and connect modules

* Transport: Musical timing and scheduling system

I had a first implementation of Blibliki on top of ToneJS, but I started writing directly in WebAudio because I wanted to re-think my original idea, document and explain it to others. So, I documented the early steps in development process in a 4-part blog series about building it from scratch. Then I decided to abort the ToneJS project and continue with a complete re-implementation in WebAudio. In this way I learned many things about audio programming and synthesizers, because I lost many ready-to-use tools of ToneJS.

I'm not pretending this is the next VCV Rack or anything! It's got plenty of missing features and bugs, and I've mostly tested it on Chrome. But it works, it's fun to play with, and I think the data-driven approach is pretty neat for certain use cases. Currently, I'm in active development and I hope to continue this way or even better.

You can check it out:

Blibliki monorepo: https://github.com/mikezaby/blibliki

Grid playground: https://blibliki.com

Blog series: https://mikezaby.com/posts/web-audio-engine-part1
by refulgentis | 2025-11-03 20:56:54+00:00
We’re a bit too far if we assert this. The weird circular Enron stuff wasn’t all in the open, was by wholly owned subsidiaries, and the downfall was massive trading losses that could no longer be hidden by shuttling money to and from subsidiaries at the right time. A hole in a balance sheet is quite different from a purchase done by financing, thus “circular financing” when applied to both means “things we worry about that involve payments between 2 entities”
by prmph | 2025-11-03 20:57:12+00:00
> plenty of them have all kinds of defects,

Defects that have not rendered them unconscious, as long as they still are alive. You seem not to see the circularity of your argument.

I gave you an example to show that robustness against adverse conditions is NOT the same as internal resiliency. Those defect, as far as we know, are not affecting the origin of consciousness itself. Which is my point.

> How is it a false dichotomy? If you want consciousness to NOT be simulateable, then you need some essential component to our minds that can't be simulated (call it soul or whatever) and for that thing to interface with our physical bodies (obviously).

If you need two things to happen at the same time in sync with each other no matter if they are separated by billions of miles, then you need faster-than-light travel, or some magic [1]; see what I did there?

1. I.e., quantum entanglement
by xl0 | 2025-11-03 20:57:12+00:00
SEEKING WORK

Location: Nomadic, ColOmbia at the moment (utc + 5) Technologies: Pythonish: PyTorch, Deep Learning, LLM, Diffusion models, NumPy, JAX (a bit), CUDA, etc Web: SvelteKit, TypeScript, tailwind, drizzle, etc DevOps: Linux (25 years), AWS, Docker, common sense URL: https://alexey.work/?ref=hn45802427 Email: alexey.zaytsev@gmail.com

I'd love to get back into Deep Lerning (torch, cuda, etc, etc), because it's been a lot of LLM API calling lately. But API calling is fine too.

PS: If you are into neural networks, you probably have used my https://github.com/xl0/lovely-tensors or https://github.com/xl0/lovely-jax
by programd | 2025-11-03 20:57:13+00:00
SEEKING WORK | Remote | Onsite San Francisco Bay Area |

Versatile back end code and infrastructure development services. Typical deliverables are Dockerized microservices specified by OpenAPI, written in Go or Python, with a REST/JSON API and backed by PostgresDB or MySQL. CI/CD pipelines included and deplyment on any of the major cloud vendors. And of course your custom business logic.

If you have more complex needs, e.g. project or team management please reach out as I have extensive career experience in all aspects of of technology development and management in startups and large enterprises. Need a contract manager or CTO perhaps?

At minimum I can help you develop your back end infrastructure from the ground up. Basically I offer development of back-end componenets you can slot into your Kubernetes or Docker environment from day one.

On the business side, you get a fractional developer for a no-haggling fixed monthly rate, corp-to-corp billing, long term support for your code, careful vetting of dependencies for licensing and security, and a professional approach to your technical needs.

Contact: contact@nulladmin.com

Website: https://nulladmin.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abnulladmin/
by mbana | 2025-11-03 20:57:41+00:00
Location: London, England, United Kingdom.

Remote: Yes.

Willing to relocate: Just maybe, case-by-case basic.

Resume: https://bana.io/cv

Blog: https://bana.io/blog

Technologies: Golang, Linux, Kubernetes, Docker and tinkering with Rust.

Email: m@bana.io
by AngryData | 2025-11-03 20:58:00+00:00
They had the wheel, they just didn't find many practical uses for it without having either beasts of burden or nice relatively flat paved roads.

Wheels are great if you have something stronger than a human to pull it, or you only have to move it a short distance, or if you have a hard paved road. But pulling carts or wagons or wheelbarrows through rough terrain or muddy roads with just human power is absolute trash and not worth the effort, and moving things over small short distances alone isn't worth the specialized labor and cost of making decent wheel and axle systems without machine tools.

If you are still unsure, ask yourself why hikers and campers don't pull a cart or push a wheelbarrow everywhere they go instead of using a backpack even though they can have ultra light aluminum construction with pneumatic tires and ball bearing axles. All the effort you would save by using a wheelbarrow on smooth parts of your path would be undone by just a handful of random sticks or rocks you run into with it along the way.
by grim7reaper | 2025-11-03 20:58:03+00:00
amo is using it quite a lot, mainly for the scratch map feature in the Bump Map application, but not only.

Use cases are: - data storage - data aggregation/clustering - spatial indexing - geometrical computation (as long as you're OK with approximation, you can speed up a lot of things by working with CellID instead of actual geometries) - data visualization

I've seen it used by Databend, Helium, Breakroom (they did an Erlang binding on top of h3o), beaconDB, Greptime, Meilisearch. But I don't exactly know what they are using it for (just that they pulled h3o in their projects).
by hackinthebochs | 2025-11-03 20:58:38+00:00
This is a bad take. We didn't write the model, we wrote an algorithm that searches the space of models that conform to some high level constraints as specified by the stacked transformer architecture. But stacked transformers are a very general computational paradigm. The training aspect converges the parameters to a specific model that well reproduces the training data. But the computational circuits the model picks out are discovered, not programmed. The emergent structures realize new computational dynamics that we are mostly blind to. We are not the programmers of these models, rather we are their incubators.

As far as sentience is concerned, we can't say they aren't sentient because we don't know the computational structures these models realize, nor do we know the computational structures required for sentience.
by noir_lord | 2025-11-03 20:58:56+00:00
I don't see it catching on - it's so obvious that if it was a good idea someone would have done it.

> using the interconnectedness ("web") of most computers in the world.

So it'd be a World Wide Web? what an interesting idea that would be - one problem I see is that such a product would be open enough that large companies would hate it and would prefer if the web collapsed down to a handful of products, they'd have to control the browsers and invade privacy to sell advertising to afford it though so it'd be self limiting because I can't imagine users would go along with that level of their privacy been invaded.
by j45 | 2025-11-03 20:59:08+00:00
Bullying is unrelated to corporal punishment - Self-defence is ok.

Please do not conflate those two things.

If a bully has never felt what they dish out, they may not like it.

Self-defence is ok.

For the young people in my life, I always advise to not escalate, be clear it's not ok, seek an adult's help, and if all reasonable attempts have failed, it's a-ok to stand up for yourself and neutralize a threat when the people and systems around you aren't.

I don't condone violence. But I also see we live in a world where the world fights to force it's way on others.

I take massive grains of salt on such opinions someone is from a group more likely to be a bully or not.
by JumpCrisscross | 2025-11-03 20:59:43+00:00
> don’t think you’re entertaining the idea sufficiently considering you’ve stated that it’s a worthless and futile idea

It’s useless and futile to this problem.

It could be useful. But as a compliment to Wikipedia. And not in adjudicating something like the definition of genocide.

> should be logically derived

Not really an option for social constructs, which rely on consensus more than logical consistency. You could create LLMs that logically derive an answer from a definition. But that is a semantic punt with extra steps (unless the LLM controls martial forces).
by tracker1 | 2025-11-03 21:00:42+00:00
I think you missed something...

> ... or there are underlying reasons for a language shift.

As to "best language" that is just as dogmatic as anything else... just look at the C/C++ vs. Rust divide in the Linux community.

I think you are overestimating the value of a best fit language for any given task, especially those where there are a half dozen popular languages that more people know well that can do the job good enough. Don't build for a sky scraper when all you need is a birdhouse.

Also, MOST engineers aren't particularly talented. If you're fortunate enough to be working for an organization where everyone is a rockstar, that's great... for those doing bog standard CRUD apps for business, you don't get rockstar money, and you aren't finding rockstar talent. You get what you get and make the pest of it.

In nearly three decades, I've once, only once worked a project where I didn't have to explain a relatively simple concept to someone, where everyone on the project delivers their pieces in time and all were talented. It was wonderful. Then new management gets stacked on top, all the job roles are reclassified to mid level developers and everyone rolls out of that group.

A lot of the actual experience is literally explaining public/private key usage to other developers who manage to (re)use the same keys from dev to all the production deployments. Or a pissing match with the "security expert" who doesn't understand that your app's use case is different than the in the box security script that is failing, because your /login route is a different app from / and the bogus query params don't matter.
by nchmy | 2025-11-03 21:00:51+00:00
Great to see this evolution! Realtime ssr hypermedia is definitely the future.

But, my thoughts immediately go to Datastar, which has Fetch, SSE, declarative signals and js expressions, dom morphing, and much more - in a tiny package. I find it to have a more flexible, expressive and standards-compliant API as well. And it'll soon have a simple reactive web components and css framework as well.

At this point, why use HTMX when it really seems like (a heavier) Datastar-lite?
by MisterTea | 2025-11-03 21:01:42+00:00
Ah, the Mack Super pumper. Shame Mack started to struggle in the 60s until the 80s and got out of the fire truck business. They had some very interesting designs in terms of cab design and components. I always loved the F model cab-over which were produced until the early 80s which is what the CF fire truck was built on.
by CrimsonCape | 2025-11-03 21:01:42+00:00
I too had a boss in his 80s who was the patriarch of the company, he had one son who was a partner when I was there. By staying involved, he could live like gentry alongside his clients, going on interesting trips, and participating in interesting ventures, and being invited to many parties to mingle with the local high status. I don't think pouring his own nest egg into similar ventures would be the same. It was the difference between upper class rich and middle class rich.

His son developed his own upper-class tastes but had no interest in mingling business and pleasure. He had an interest in making international big game hunting trips frequently. Whereas the father's extracurriculars always involved the business, generating leads, etc.; his adult son's extracurriculars were just burning money as a demonstration of status.

Those are the two reasons why he would not step away.

That job was insightful but also depressing because I could recognize my own inadequacy. I want to go home after an 8 hour workday. Not a calendar of dinner with one city council member a week, a second dinner per week with a bank president or similar ilk, going to lunch with various other people, outings, parties, hearings, conferences, etc. It's both exhausting and anxiety-inducing cause of FOMO. I'm sure that's a third reason of why he would not step down.
by bell-cot | 2025-11-03 21:01:55+00:00
> Researchers at the University of Sydney and commercial start-up Dewpoint Innovations have created a nano-engineered polymer coating that not only reflects up to 97% of the sun's rays, but also passively collects water. In tests, it was able to keep indoors up to 6 °C (~11 °F) cooler than the air outside.

So "blocks" is a poor word choice - tarpaper will block 97%+ of light.

I see nothing about the cost / durability / toxicity of the new paint-ish coating. Hopefully that's "low" / "very" / "non-".
by anthk | 2025-11-03 21:01:55+00:00
It's 9front actually. VT100 it's killed except for legacy plaforms, it's seen like CP/M and Altair emulators where looked upon 1995-2000.

9front's libc with a minimal desktop based on a tweaked rio(1) and a taskbar plus a really simple file manager won. People god fed up of FX' and bells and whistles everywhere. A minimal RTF editor with simple options plus a simple spreadsheet with rc/awk support does things much faster. Oh, and, of course, you can damn bind/import devices (video cards, network cards, whole networks) from anywhere to anywhere with IPV6 and quantum networks.

Old GNU/Linuxen, OpenBSD et all are just virtualized at crazy speeds under photonic CPU's.

There's no SSH, just rcpu and quantum-secured factotum(1). Photonic GPU's and neural network devices just boot 9front themselves too, with zero delay. Forget VPN's, too. These are obsolete too.