MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by AIorNot | 2026-01-28 21:10:13+00:00
While there are dangers to LLMs -science fiction has been talking about this issue for decades (see below) and I think its overblown and the point of the Socrates quote is valid.

e.g the Matrix Reloaded: https://youtu.be/cD4nhYR-VRA?si=bXGBI4ca-LaetLVl&t=69
Machines no one understand or can manage

Issac Asmiov's Classic - the Feeling of Power https://ia600806.us.archive.org/20/items/TheFeelingOfPower/T...

(future scientists discover how to add using paper and pencil instead of computer)

I mean Big Paradigm shifts are like death, we can't really predict how humanity will evolve if we really get AGI -but these LLMs as they work today are tools and humans are experts at finding out how to use tools efficiently to counter the trade offs.

Does it really matter today that most programmers don't know how to code in assembly for example?
by mixmastamyk | 2026-01-28 21:10:14+00:00
There are tradeoffs in life, not perfection.
Bondage vs. convenience, your choice.

Having to install codecs once every few years is a tiny inconvenience compared to the dystopia offered elsewhere.
I also run commands on Win and Mac all the time to fix things. For example Windows wastes tens of gigabytes of space unless you run a couple of inscrutable commands to free it.
by giaour | 2026-01-28 21:10:24+00:00
Yes, but the monopoly seller has already demonstrated that they will operate at a loss until their competitors go out of business, which is a pretty big deterrent to any new market entrants. They've also demonstrated that no one will be making any money until either the monopolist or the new entrant is out of business, so who would actually launch a new business in that environment?
Show HN: Supercheck.io – Open-Source AI-Powered Test Automation and Monitoring
by krish_kant | 2026-01-28 21:10:46+00:00
Hi HN,

We built Supercheck – an open source platform that combines test automation and uptime monitoring in one self-hosted solution.

*The Problem:*
Most monitoring tools are expensive SaaS products that charge per check. Test automation and monitoring are often separate concerns, using different tools and workflows. We wanted a unified platform where you can write a Playwright test once and use it for both CI/CD testing and production monitoring and use same tool for k6 performance tests too.

*What Supercheck Does:*

Testing:
- Playwright browser tests (UI/E2E) with screenshots, traces, videos
- API tests (HTTP/GraphQL)
- Database tests (PostgreSQL, MySQL)
- k6 performance tests
- Schedule tests via cron or trigger from CI/CD

Monitoring:
- HTTP, Website, Ping, Port monitors
- Synthetic monitors (run full Playwright tests on a schedule)
- Multi-region: US East, EU Central, Asia Pacific
- Threshold-based alerting (consecutive failures before alerting)

Extras:
- AI Create: Generate tests from plain English
- AI Fix: Automatically analyze failures and suggest fixes
- Public status pages with incident management
- Alerts: Slack, Discord, Telegram, Email, Teams, webhooks
- RBAC with 6 permission levels
- Browser extensions: Chrome + Edge

*Architecture:*
Next.js frontend, NestJS workers, PostgreSQL, Redis + BullMQ for job queuing, MinIO for artifacts. Each browser test runs in an isolated Playwright context. Workers are stateless – scale horizontally by adding more containers.

*Deploy:*
```bash
git clone https://github.com/supercheck-io/supercheck
cd supercheck/deploy/docker
./init-secrets.sh
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
```

One-click deployment with Coolify.

*Links:*
- GitHub: https://github.com/supercheck-io/supercheck
- Docs: https://supercheck.io/docs

Happy to answer any questions about the architecture, design decisions, or roadmap.
by maciejzj | 2026-01-28 21:11:12+00:00
> Unfortunately, reading books for entertainment is ridiculous. You do not live in a log cabin on the prairie. You have Netflix, you have video games, you have TikTok, you have Twitter (you really spend too much time on Twitter anon). No one reads books for entertainment anymore, because paper is an inferior entertainment platform.

I see that this has already been criticised here, but to add my two cents, I believe that reading books has become one of the very last widely available (perhaps free?) entertainment media that is not anxiety inducing and mentally draining. 10 years ago reading books may have been a kind of a snobbish activity, but now it is one of very few things to engage in before you go to bed that will help you relax and get good sleep.
by ticulatedspline | 2026-01-28 21:11:13+00:00
I think you need to assess what you're actually mad about. Like here's a graphic from 2013

https://web.archive.org/web/20150426174907im_/http://static0...

Like it's OK? pretty amateur, those shells on the right are all kinds of floaty. If I were trying to get a job as a graphic designer I def wouldn't have that banner in my portfolio. Honestly if you posted that today someone might call it out as AI.

like would it have made you stop shopping at GOG? Are you mad that it's ugly or mad they didn't pay someone to make it ugly?

reality is that's just how these kinds of things will be made from now on. It's a lot like the uproar CGI had in the movie industry, but nowadays it's like all CGI. and yeah even in big budget films like Marvel the CGI still sucks, I still prefer practical effects but it didn't stop me from going to see movies.
by kace91 | 2026-01-28 21:11:55+00:00
>And while attending those institutions, they all adopted the same opinions. Anyone who did otherwise was filtered out before they could become a professor with a publishing deal. Everything is like this now.

> Thankfully it’s still possible to find people with unique experiences and perspectives. But you can’t find them by traveling around the world. The world is too hyperconnected now, and everyone is converging to the same opinions. You have to find them by traveling back in time.

Has this person ever touched grass?

I can get my apartment’s lift to the ground floor and without even setting a foot in the street I’ll find the building's caretaker, who was in the military while my country almost fell into a dictatorship and partied in gay clubs during the AIDS epidemic. Ask him any question about current politics and I can tell you his answer won’t converge to the same point as Cambridge students’.

Believe it or not people have unique experiences nowadays too. Many of them also write. They might just not be found in a preppy classroom’s recommended reading list.
by awesome_dude | 2026-01-28 21:12:04+00:00
I'm in two minds on this - the bank does need to know that its communications are being received

But, they have no idea if the paper statements are making it to your desk, or if they are getting swiped from the letterbox (I'm in an apartment in Melbourne, and the snail mail is not reliable at all, mail is sometimes delivered to the wrong building, sometimes the wrong address entirely, it's also swiped by miscreants who have nothing better to do, and, in some cases, the pricks set the letter boxes on fire, taking all the mail with it)
by qingcharles | 2026-01-28 21:12:16+00:00
I wrote a little game like this in the 80s because I wanted a game that used two mice. There were two openings for sand at the top and two exits at the bottom and the goal was to get as much sand in your bin by redirecting everything. You drew little platforms (left button) like in the one you linked to and could erase each other's platforms (right button).
by jillesvangurp | 2026-01-28 21:12:17+00:00
It's a form of Stockholm Syndrome for most people. They'll have some bit of software they imagine is irreplaceable because they have some special use case that means that they just have to tolerate the relentless abuse. Or some other excuse. Whatever. It all boils down to people being afraid of change.

Most of that fear is not all that rational. It's not unlike kidnap victims falling in love with their captors. Your mind just tries to make the most of what fundamentally is a really messed up situation. You'll tell yourself it isn't that bad or that the next update will fix it or that you can get some magic software thingy that makes it go faster. Whatever.

Once you realize you are being abused, you can make some choices and do something about it. Most tools can be replaced if you look around a bit and do a bit of research. And virtual machines on Linux can run Windows just fine if you have one or two things that just really need it (been there done that). There's also wine and proton which aren't half bad these days. And they work for lots of things other than games. You can dual boot. Etc. Try it and find out. The absolute worst case is that you have to go back to being a lame abuse victim here. You'll feel extra bad because now you know. The best case gets you out of that abusive relation ship for the rest of your life. Life is too short to get subjected to this kind of abuse.
by givc | 2026-01-28 21:12:24+00:00
I used OpenSCAD to create a map of Manhattan. It shows the live location of subway trains. It was surprisingly easy, I struggled a lot with OnShape and Fusion360 trying to do this because there were too many polygons.

I found that starting with an SVG and extruding from there is perfect in OpenSCAD, but I’m sure I’m underutilizing it a lot.

I wrote a bit about it here if you’re curious https://hackaday.io/project/202488-manhattan-subway-map/deta...
by cmiles8 | 2026-01-28 21:12:30+00:00
The tech here was good but the product implementation was terrible. These scanners just showed up randomly in places and just sat there unused.

I literally both saw them all over and never actually saw anyone use it.

No clear onboarding pathway, no explanation as to what it did or why use it, no clarity on what happens to the data. Just a box sitting there.

It was as if all the focus was on the tech and nobody bothered to think about how to actually deploy a product to market.
by armedgorilla | 2026-01-28 21:12:41+00:00
You know who viewed the writing of history as political entertainment? Ancient Romans!

In SPQR, Mary Beard elaborates that much of what we "know" about ancient Rome was recorded by men with political projects. Sometimes it was to glorify the empire or republic; sometimes it was to grind an axe against their personal enemies (looking at you, Cicero). Then their records were often interpreted once again by scholars in the early-modern-to-pre-contemporary era where they became accepted history. (1)

So yes, Beard never conquered Asia minor and thinks women should be full citizens (unlike the Romans), but her scholarship is both informative and IMO entertaining. Perhaps moreso than ancient writers.

(1) Drawing the line at WWII when using Roman history as an example is a peculiar choice because the study and glorification of Rome was _very_ popular in certain European countries in the preceding century.
by tshaddox | 2026-01-28 21:12:42+00:00
> It felt like watching someone who is about to be executed be responsible for building the gallows

Perilaus of Athens designed the Brazen Bull, a hollow bronze statue used to roast victims alive. When he presented it to the tyrant Phalaris, Phalaris was so disgusted by the cruelty of the device that he ordered Perilaus to be the first person tested inside it.
by k310 | 2026-01-28 21:12:45+00:00
> The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB), which sets the Clock, called for urgent action to limit nuclear arsenals, create international guidelines on the use of AI, and form multilateral agreements to address global biological threats.

So, it's general doomsday, not just nuclear war, and in many ways, the hammer is a few microns from the bell.
by crabmusket | 2026-01-28 21:13:09+00:00
I love old books but this post is reactionary nonsense. It can only resort to weird ad hominem arguments about how Mary Beard hasn't tutored any princes and therefore her perspective must be lacking. Without any specifics about weaknesses in her writing or historical analysis.

The idea that perspective is so important smells, to me, too much like the kind of post-truth internet-poisoned modern world where everything is an op-ed and allegiances are to those with the right commitments.

The dismissal of all fiction seemed like a tongue-in-cheek opener designed to be undercut later, but no. Actually the author does just dismiss fiction because apparently Netflix and Twitter are so much better. Maybe the author knew their entire argument was insupportable and had to jettison as much baggage from the sinking ship as possible to give it a chance to make it to shore.
by Cu3PO42 | 2026-01-28 21:13:32+00:00
I've looked at OpenRC, RUnit and S6. I haven't recently run any of them "in production", however.

Personally, I am a strong believer that declaring the desired state is a lot easier to get right than actually writing the code to get there. Beyond that, I'm not saying any of these are bad at being what they are, systemd just has more features, some of which I really like. Two examples I'm actively using currently are automount units and socket activation (S6 also has socket activation). I have some remote folders mounted via SSHFS automatically when I access them and this is incredibly useful for my workflow.

Could I find tools to slot into other init systems that do this for me? Probably. But systemd has this neatly packaged up, easy to configure and easy to introspect state.
by pstuart | 2026-01-28 21:14:46+00:00
And the US monetary supply has also increased by $15 trillion: https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1695809591047491857?lang...

Therefore devaluing the value of the dollar so that those who had basically steady state income (wage earners) have been completely fucked while the lucky ones had their yachts rise with the tide.
by zahlman | 2026-01-28 21:14:49+00:00
> First you are lying.

Highlight something in my comment that you believe is untrue, and I'll be happy to prove it.

> Second, noise is not an obstruction. It is ok and legal to produce whistles.

I did not argue to the contrary. I argued that noise makes it harder for officers to do their lawful duty, because that lawful duty involves verbal communication.

> because they had phone in hand and you are frustrated.

That is not why they were shot.

> while ICE men literally openly threaten to kill people who are no threat.

Please show me where you think this has happened. The only threat to kill people I have heard came from a Florida sheriff, who specifically said that this would happen to people who "throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies".

> and then are proud of their murdering colleagues.

Please show me where you think this has happened.

> heavily armed cowards jump at observer, 8 on one, there is no resistance and then they call it resisting arrest.

They are ordinarily armed, he was not an "observer" (as demonstrated by the fact that he was in the middle of the street and a car had to swerve to avoid him), there were not 8 of them, and there was very visible and prolonged resistance.

You do not appear to understand what "no resistance" looks like. When you are on the ground and under arrest, "no resistance" looks like not attempting to get up, and attempting to put your hands behind your back so that handcuffs can be applied. There is video of a protester in Texas doing this; no further harm came to him. This is not particular to ICE or to federal vs. state law enforcement, and not new. This is just how arrests work, and how they have worked, in the US, Canada and other places.
by mid-kid | 2026-01-28 21:14:58+00:00
The problem is mostly that programs started depending on aspects of systemd that are both very complex, and difficult/impossible to implement without ending up with systemd. Systemd's components don't play well with established standards (sometimes not running standalone at all), which contributes to the feeling of having to buy into the whole ecosystem just to use a small part of it, just for that one bit of a certain program that now depends on it.

This has happened with gnome's display manager, and now gnome-shell is threatening to cease functioning without systemd, as well as on systems that systemd doesn't run on such as the BSDs. KDE's new login manager is now doing the same, so in many respects, people's fears have been validated.
by bm3719 | 2026-01-28 21:15:49+00:00
It's set by people for whom the clock serves as a mechanism to garner alarmist attention whenever they feel short of it. In so doing, they diminish not just themselves, but science as a whole.

At best, the clock is indeed a measuring device; one not of our peril, but of the anxieties of a group of otherwise non-notables. In that sense, it figures that it'd say we're closer to "doom" than during the Cuban missile crisis, because that's the intensity of current vibes, particularly if you're a modern activist plugged into the techno-socious of reactionary negativism.
by Aurornis | 2026-01-28 21:16:07+00:00
> He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and reporting that to people above him.

Any manager whose job was this simple was on borrowed time anyway.

I think the person was feeding you a story around the campfire to impress you. Real management work doesn't operate like this.
by dyauspitr | 2026-01-28 21:16:19+00:00
Interesting fantasy but these broken penguins are too infrequent to start something new. They usually just wander off to die alone in the cold.

New species are usually formed gradually while introducing their mutations to the population until they eventually break off as a group. But more commonly there’s usually a geographic barrier that separates an existing group and they gradually just drift apart from each other.
by at-w | 2026-01-28 21:16:20+00:00
>Taxes paid by your employer aren't taxes you pay.

They have the same effect in that they reduce what employees take home in a given labour market. Employees are effectively paying them in the same way that people who buy alcohol/cigarettes effectively pay more in states with higher taxes on those items (even though the taxes are technically paid by the stores).

If CA eliminated all income taxes and instead had employers remit the same effective rate for all salaried employees, employers would just reduce salaries accordingly.

As another example, France's income tax rates cap out around/below some high tax US states. But France is still a comparatively high tax jurisdiction largely because they also impose massive payroll taxes on employers which effectively reduce employee wages.
by blibble | 2026-01-28 21:16:26+00:00
> Seems like you have an axe to grind with systemd because it replaced your familiar (but extremely cruddy) init system and now you refuse to debug the problem because you prefer being able to blame systemd.

I'm a pragmatist: I just want it to work

my solution to MULTIPLE different services failing to IP bind is to turn on the non-local ip binding sysctl, bypassing systemd's brokenness entirely

> There is so much granularity and flexibility in what you can do it seems rather unlikely you cannot make it happen correctly.

I've written an init before (in C), I know how the netlink interface to set an IP address and add routing table entries works

I understand the difference between monotonic and wall clocks

I understand the difference between Wants and Require

I know what's going on at every, single, level

and I can't stand how unreliable systemd makes nearly every single one of my, bluntly, completely vanilla systems

> And if it is truly a bug... open an issue?

did you read the link I pasted earlier?

I'm not wasting my time with that level of idiocy (from LP himself)
by piker | 2026-01-28 21:16:43+00:00
> The only people who still read books for entertainment are women who prefer their porn to have DIY visuals. The stats back me up on this. If you’re tempted to disagree, go walk the aisles of Barnes & Noble.

I found this interesting. I have a young child who is a voracious reader. I thus often find myself at Barnes and Noble or the UK equivalent, Waterstones. These places are often quite busy and have rows and rows of books. It blows my mind that in the days of TikTok, YouTube and The Algorithm these places are solvent let alone successful? Are people today actually reading?
by some_random | 2026-01-28 21:16:54+00:00
Even this framing is silly, if you have a PC to game there are not enough pros to choose Linux. You are giving up the ability to play some popular games and increasing the amount of effort required to play another chunk of them in exchange for what? A snappier file browser? Fewer anti-consumer dark patterns? It's not about "path of least resistance" it just flat out isn't worth it.
by beeflet | 2026-01-28 21:16:54+00:00
I would describe it as a faustian penguin, not a nihilist penguin. The other day there was a story here about a coyote that swam to alcatraz (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46674433).

When we look at an animal that does such a thing, we characterize it as a strange and suicidal act of a disturbed creature hurtling it's life force into the abyss. But when man does the same thing, it is a heroic and uniquely human act of exploration.

If you go onto an island or some mountain range or some other type of isolated pocket of the world, you may be surprised to find that life exists there. But there is only one way in which this is possible: at some point in time, some living thing had to abandon its old world with little regard for its personal survival.

When you factor in the probability of survival in the new world, and the requirement of finding a sexed pair on the other side you realize that this takes many living things, integrated over a long period of time.

Life pushes boundaries and explores new environments. It has to start from something. Clearly some amount of mania is a requisite for success in the long term in order to overcome reason in the short term.
by legitster | 2026-01-28 21:17:04+00:00
This means Apple is literally going to take nearly 3x in fees from Patreon's customers than Patreon is taking from their own customers.

My understanding is that the reason the number 30% is so magical is a historical anomaly. When software was physically distributed back in the day, 15% of the MSRP was reserved for the distributor and another 15% for the retailer. When these digital marketplaces were set up, the companies just said "well, we're the distributor and the retailer, so we'll keep both". Forgetting the fact that the cost to distribute and retail the software is literally pennies on the dollar of what it used to be.

I think the irony in this case is that this is a greed problem of their own making. When Steve Jobs announced that apps on the original iPhone would only be $1-$3, he set off the first enshittification crisis in the software industry. In 2008, Bejeweled cost $19.99 if you wanted to buy it on the PC. On the iPhone it was $0.99! This artificially low anchor price is what kicked off the adoption of ad and subscription driven software models in the first place.
by kg | 2026-01-28 21:17:16+00:00
This reply has very strong "the average human does not eat 10 spiders a day; the average was thrown off by Spiders Georg who eats 10000 spiders a day" energy.

Amazon does not have an exceedingly high profit margin, and my understanding is that a lot of it comes from stuff like AWS, not Amazon deliveries - correct me if I'm wrong here. So I'm not sure that "three amazon deliveries a day" - if this is even common - is why that man is personally rich. Even if it were a big source of revenue, that would go into Amazon's coffers, not necessarily his directly.

Another way to look at this: Even if Amazon is wildly successful, does that mean Jeff Bezos specifically should become filthy rich as a result, instead of all its employees and investors? How should the gains from successful entrepreneurship be distributed?