MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by clort | 2026-01-26 20:38:06+00:00
Ok so, devils advocate view here. Russians could do this exactly because Spain is on the fence and they would rather they were more antagonistic. They actually want war with Europe, so they can do whatever they like and claim it is Europe's fault for being aggressive. Don't forget, they don't really believe that they are losing the war in Ukraine. They could also be hoping to get Europe embroiled in its own conflicts.

It sounds unreasonable sure, but tbh I am not convinced that the Russian government is reasonable.
by seanmcdirmid | 2026-01-26 20:38:17+00:00
I'm doing all my work at Google, so its not like I can share it so easily. Also, since GeminiCLI doesn't support sub-agents yet...I've had to get creative with how I implement my pipelines. The biggest challenge I've found ATM is controlling conversation context so you can control what the AI is looking at when you do things (e.g. not looking at code when writing tests!). I hope I can release what I'm doing eventually, although it isn't a key piece of AI tech (just a way to orchestrate the pipeline to make sure that AI gets different context for different parts of the pipeline steps, it might be obsolete after we get better support for orchestrating dev work in GeminiCLI or other dev-oriented AI front ends).

The tests can definitely be incorrect, and are often incorrect. You have to tell the AI that consider that the tests might be wrong, not the implementation, and it will generally take a closer look at things. They don't have to be "good" tests, just good enough tests to get the AI writing not crap code. Think very small unit tests that you normally wouldn't think about writing yourself.
by toephu2 | 2026-01-26 20:38:21+00:00
A 'blank slab of concrete' isn't just a structural element; it’s a signal of stewardship. When you ignore tagging on that slab, you create a permission structure for more intrusive vandalism. It’s the 'Broken Windows' theory in practice: tagging leads to broken glass, which leads to copper theft, because the physical environment signals that the space is unmonitored and ownership is absent.

High-trust societies rely on the shared maintenance of the commons. If the community can't even agree to keep a wall clean, it’s a leading indicator that the city has lost the ability to enforce the social contract on larger issues.

Sadly this is partly why SF will never be a high-trust society.
by johnnyanmac | 2026-01-26 20:38:24+00:00
>I flag them because they're trying to establish the use of a highly subjective and derogatory term as fact.

Fascism isn't a subjective matter. We have loads of definition and the article makes a serious argument. If the quality of the article matches the subject matter, it's not flag worthy.

That's why I don't flag on ideology. I flag based on if 1) this inspires curiosity and 2) does not inspire hate (which is usually built into 1. You can't be curious of your biases are clouded by prejudice).

>or because I point out the legal basis for justifying an LEO's use of lethal force, etc.

There's a time and place. I'm very critical of Charlie Kirk, bit I gave it a week before o really went full hog on my tjoughts and actions. I have to look it back up, but I believe here I left it at "no one should be assassinated for their thoughts, even if those thoughts don't follow the golden rule" and left it at that.

Now, months later I will happily say that it quite the coincidence that so many Kirk articles here weren't flag while calling the situation what it is still gets flagged.
by iamnothere | 2026-01-26 20:38:53+00:00
No, we “hackers” will mock it and develop workarounds for it, leak ID databases to undercut support, etc. Worst case we move to sneakernets and meshes and teach kids about old school floppynets. (When I was a kid all the best stuff came by floppy, sometimes by rogue BBS.) More likely we’ll just distribute guides on using Tor and build a better ecosystem around it.
by cxr | 2026-01-26 20:39:00+00:00
> https://aifoc.us/the-browser-is-the-sandbox/ which is a prototype of Claude Cowork in the browser

Yup. That's the link, all right—the one that I'm citing examples from. Thanks for the reminder, I guess: it has been a whole 8 hours since I last read it.

What "we" are talking about here, in this subthread, is the fact that "Browsers have had widespread support for processing files" for a long, long time, and that although "Chrome team's new, experimental APIs [...] provide additional capabilities" though undoubtedly useful for certain programs, they're overkill and don't offer anything new or strictly necessary for many, many programs that don't actually need that sort of access—including "A bunch of the applications in the original post fall into this category. You don't need new or novel APIs to be able to hash a file, for example."

Which is to say, we're talking about POLA. And the point of my comment was to address the very worthwhile matter of POLA violations. But you seem insistent on shutting that discussion down with chatter that looks like it's an on-topic reply or refutation to something, but in reality doesn't actually meaningfully engage with what you're purporting to respond to, or at best comes come across as confused and not particularly attentive.

There are already and will continue to be plenty of opportunities to discuss the acknowledged upsides of the new APIs for the class of programs for which they are strictly necessary. There's a lot of them in this very comment section. It doesn't have to come at the expense of changing the subject where someone else is having a different conversation accompanied by undertones that you're putting some matter to rest.
by littlexsparkee | 2026-01-26 20:39:04+00:00
the cynical people that thought they could lives as islands outside of politics and did not care to engage with anything outside of their interests. this should acknowledge the people that constructed this environment by undermining education, pushing falsehoods, corporatists blocking real change, etc. i suppose you could consider lack of any issue unifying the nation as before with WWII, the Cold War - if it's the end of history and peace/globalization is assured then you can tune out. i.e. it's about the dull invisible work of maintaining standards that keep the system from collapsing and a shared narrative, one people don't feel like exists with all the corruption, nepotism, transgresses from people in power and lack of action on global issues.
by leros | 2026-01-26 20:39:18+00:00
I see junior devs hyping vibe coding and senior devs mostly using AI as an assistant. I fall in the latter camp myself.

I've hired and trained tons of junior devs out of university. They become 20x productive after a year of experience. I think vibe coding is getting new devs to 5x productivity, which seems amazing, but then they get stuck there because they're not learning. So after year one, they're a 5x developer, not a 20x developer like they should be.

I have some young friends who are 1-3 years into software careers I'm surprised by how little they know.
by taude | 2026-01-26 20:39:19+00:00
I've never worked at a company that had a "tech lead" role as part of official HR levels. Junior engineers (couple levels) -> Senior Engineers (couple levels) -> Principle/Staff (couple levels) -> some form of really rare role of Distinguished.

Senior Engineers should definitely do what I think earlier comment thought of as "tech lead". Should be able to run juniors, solve cross-cutting needs, etc....
by justapassenger | 2026-01-26 20:39:46+00:00
AI code review to me is similar to AI code itself. It's good (and constantly getting better) at dealing with mundane things, like - is the list reversed correctly? Are you dealing with pointers correctly? Do you have off by 1 issues?

Where they suck is high level problems like - is the code actually solving the business problem? Is it using right dependencies? Does it fit into broader design?

Which is expected for me and great help. I'm more happy as a human to spend less time checking if you're managing lifecycle of the pointer correctly and focus on ensuring that code is there to do what it needs to do.
by Imustaskforhelp | 2026-01-26 20:39:48+00:00
I understand what you are talking about but trust me when I say this that HN users are genuinely really really frustrated about current flag situation of HN.

Please don't just say that the system is as is and no change can be upgraded.

I feel so frustrated at times whenever I comment in posts and I am observing a lot of the articles themselves getting flagged effectively killing the discussion.

I spent an hour today trying to find HN api to build my own custom HN alternative on which people can respond after a post turns dead for not much apparent reason.

It frustrated me because it was about Children's safety & how EU's taking action against Grok in this case... I mean I just want to share my frustration right in here that people aren't thinking of even children but an us vs them dynamic or some reason and flagging and deadding posts. This is a new low that really really frustrated me & I feel like you might understand why too.

Please change the system. I beg of you to fix it because I am seriously frustrated by not even knowing what can get flagged or not or even Dead. I am not against the moderation but can we make it so that instead of auto flagging atleast, its a flag that moderators have to pass?

Please dang, I know you want the best of HN community too. Let's work together, I feel like much of HN community really appreciates you (myself included) but we are all frustrated about it. How do we convey such change in any way where the idea of change seems feasible because It just seems that the idea of change seems like something which doesn't feel possible in HN from whenever I read such threads and that does depress me because HN is the best community i am part of. I am proud of being part of HN and many others are too and this is why we are vocal about some need of change. Some need that moderators are willing to hear our demands of frustrations and fix some aspects with change.

Once again, thank you for your moderation efforts. And I hope we can have a fruitful discussion about my comment in which I have tried to express my deep frustration today...

I am a minor dang, I have got female friends my age and If any one of these photos would've been abused by Grok, I will tell you that they would've been scarred for life, maybe worse. These could have been someone's sisters and daughters.

And what HN community flagged was a post about EU trying to levy a 6% fine on Grok...

My blood boils thinking that there are people in the community I am proud of being whose first thoughts were to flag such an extremely important discussion to make it dead.

I don't come here for politics but I still discuss about them often. I primarily come here to enjoy tech but man oh man I hope you realize my frustration and other users frustrations & are able to implement some thing which can satisfy us well instead of doing nothing please!

I know you aren't a corporate sellout and are passionate about this community, I just hope that something can be done. I believe in you & trust you after writing this message that you will do what you feel is right.

Have a nice day dang.
by jb1991 | 2026-01-26 20:40:06+00:00
> isn't it what the Americans and even the current administration want?

no, I certainly do not read that at all. This is not what the U.S. wants -- a genuinely free EU that has its own economy and source of tech entirely independent of the U.S. That is quite the opposite of what the U.S. wants but it inevitable that it is what the U.S. will get.
by jodrellblank | 2026-01-26 20:40:11+00:00
Chapter I: IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER, THE ONE AS MASTER, THE OTHER AS MAN

Chapter II: IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL

Chapter III: IN WHICH A CONVERSATION TAKES PLACE WHICH SEEMS LIKELY TO COST PHILEAS FOGG DEAR

- https://www.online-literature.com/verne/aroundtheworld/
by tim333 | 2026-01-26 20:40:14+00:00
The guidelines have on-topic stuff that gratifies one's intellectual anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity

>Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon.

In the last 24 hours there have been three Musk stories and seven Trump.

I can see both sides but Americans in particular tend to turn any forum for statups and intellectual curiosity into Trump Musk Trump Musk Dems Repubs Trump etc. There are other forums where you can of course do that.
by dshacker | 2026-01-26 20:40:15+00:00
It really demotivated me when this happened, I just kept seeing the PR open, but then I saw the changes applied before the PR was merged, which made me very confused. I then had an alert placed on every one of the updates made by Mike to make sure he didn't do this again. People were against "reset reviewers on commit" for "agility".
by derektank | 2026-01-26 20:40:18+00:00
The benefit is that the president is not subject to retaliatory lawsuits (similar to what the Trump administration is now doing against e.g. James Comey, et al), the threat of which might prevent them from performing their duties effectively while in office.

I’m sympathetic to your concerns, agree that it was a poor ruling, and frankly think we need a constitutional amendment to address the excessive power the presidency has, but the justices aren’t making these rulings without having a real, justifiable rationale behind them and they aren’t making these rulings because they’re in the tank for Donald Trump (Justice Alito excepted)
by noitpmeder | 2026-01-26 20:40:46+00:00
I think you're being overly pessimistic about the chance this exists in some form at nearly every mid-to-large size software company.

It doesn't take a company policy for an ai-enabled engineer to start absolutely spewing slop. But it's instantly felt by whatever process exists downstream.

I think there's still a significant quantity of engineers who value the output of AI, but at the same time put the effort in to avoid situations like what the author is describing. Reviewing code, writing/generating appropriate tests (and reviewing those too). The secret is those are the good ones. These are the ones you SHOULD promote, laud, and set as examples. The rest should be made examples of and be held accountable.

Id hope my usages of AI are along these lines. I'm sure I'm failing at some of the points, and always trying to improve.
by satisfice | 2026-01-26 20:41:36+00:00
The fallacy there is that I am not merely "building a team," I am managing. Managing is a live, interactive skill that involves certain services. A perfect team still needs management to help create the environment in which that team can effectively operate.

I saw a wonderful interview with a former commander of an aircraft carrier. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9rGATwZRr0) Rear Admiral Mike "Nasty" Manazir speaks of his main job as being clearing away obstacles that no one underneath him could clear. That's a service that no "self-managing team" can do for itself. A good manager also serves as a focus for the strategy, and deals with conflicts that would otherwise become impasses.
by donmcronald | 2026-01-26 20:41:46+00:00
> may make provision for the provider of a relevant VPN service to apply to any person seeking to access its service in or from the UK age assurance which is highly effective at correctly determining whether or not that person is a child

I think you're reading it wrong. Regulations may have a provision that allows providers to apply age assurance [systems ?] if the age assurance is highly effective at determining age.

I'm always surprised how ambiguous the writing is for this kind of stuff. Maybe that's the point. If the regulations don't (may is optional) have the provision, does that mean they need to demand ID?

IMO, highly effective = our buddies' tech that we declare highly effective. The whole ID push around the world is big tech trying to set up government mandated services that you're going to be forced to pay for, either directly or via taxes.

The end game is probably digital IDs with digitally signed requests for everything you do. And, of course, corrupt individuals and criminals will somehow be able to get as many digital IDs as they want.

That money should be spent on education. We're being robbed.
by jtemperton | 2026-01-26 20:41:59+00:00
Y Combinator is no longer investing in Canadian startups, forcing firms that want to join the Silicon Valley accelerator to reincorporate, likely in the United States.

YC now only backs firms registered in the U.S., Cayman Islands or Singapore, according to its standard deal terms.

Canada was previously listed as an acceptable jurisdiction, but was removed in November 2025. A similar change was made to YC’s frequently asked questions page.

YC had previously backed Canadian-incorporated startups since at least its winter 2008 cohort.
by tialaramex | 2026-01-26 20:42:08+00:00
Ultimately I do agree there's a spectrum.

I am aware of Doki Doki Literature Club but have never played it, however I have played SMB and several related Mario games. And I think actually tiny ways in which you do make a difference as the protagonist in SMB actually did draw me into that more than say, "My Cousin Rachel".

I am not a plumber, I do not inhabit the mushroom kingdom and AFAIK I am not engaged in rescuing a princess. Nor am I a wealthy young orphan (I was older and poorer than the protagonist decades ago when I first read "My Cousin Rachel") who is infatuated with a woman who may or may not have poisoned another cousin of his. Nevertheless, I am playing Mario. The choice to jump on a Goomba is mine and mine alone, whereas Philip is going to sleep with Rachel even when I think, as I turn the page, that this is an extremely unwise course of action. [Spoilers but, like, she wrote that novel a long time ago, you should have read it, it's pretty good]

I don't so much like video games where I periodically lose control so that the story the creator wanted to tell happens anyway. In a Metal Gear Solid game for example I find it annoying that I know Snake shouldn't pull the lever or whatever but the moment I lose control of him Snake is going to pull that lever. But I see this loss of control as a betrayal of the central idea. If Kojima wanted to make a movie about this idiot who follows orders from people who obviously are lying to him, he can do so - that shouldn't be a video game IMO. On the other hand, when I'm given narrative choices, even if they don't matter to the big picture story, they do matter to me. It is not important that I do not control their ultimate consequences, after all that's not how choices work IRL either.
by tyre | 2026-01-26 20:42:18+00:00
I wish your recent interview had pushed much harder on this. It came across as politely not wanting to bring up how poorly this really went, even for what the engineer intended.

They were making claims without the level of rigor to back them up. There was an opportunity to learn some difficult lessons, but—and I don’t think this was your intention—it came across to me as kind of access journalism; not wanting to step on toes while they get their marketing in.
by KittenInABox | 2026-01-26 20:42:26+00:00
I agree they don't gain more privacy protection in public than the average person. I also agree they shouldn't gain more privacy protection in public than the average public employee, either!

I'm merely assuming that the license plates being listed are ones they use for their official work, since the rest of their info is being tied to what's available for any other public work.
by Dylan16807 | 2026-01-26 20:42:34+00:00
Could you do me a favor and paraphrase the two meanings of "weird and fun" you see?

Because we can rewrite the second sentence with a pronoun so you're only parsing "weird and fun" once: "It's all on tiktok!" or to get over the top pedantic in removing any possibility of a double meaning: "The exact thing they say is lacking in quantity is still there on tiktok in full quantity."

Those both sound like basically the same as the original to me and they clearly don't have an equivocation fallacy on the phrase "weird and fun".

You could complain that putting so much on tiktok rather than other sites ruins the distribution, or something like that. But that's not the equivocation fallacy you're accusing them of.
by cmcaleer | 2026-01-26 20:42:45+00:00
I'm struggling to follow the logic on this. Glocks are used in murders, Proton has been used to transmit serious threats, C has been used to program malware. All can be legitimate tools in professional settings where the users don't use it for illegal stuff. My Leatherman doesn't need to have a tipless blade so I don't stab people because I'm trusted to not stab people.

The only reason I don't use Grok professionally is that I've found it to not be as useful for my problems as other LLMs.
by varispeed | 2026-01-26 20:42:47+00:00
If you have brilliant mind, but you were born poor / working class, then sure you'll be crushed by 9 to 5 inevitably, where your talents will be ruthlessly "harvested" for the benefits of shareholders until you burn out and get thrown out like a used rag.

If you have talents, use them to achieve financial freedom and then do what you want. Sometimes it is through 9 to 5 unfortunately. Never make a mistake of "climbing corporate ladder". Earn money, invest, don't try to leave beyond your means.

You might have great salary, but don't get tempted by renting a nice pad or getting a nice car. It's a trap to keep you enslaved in 9 to 5 forever.
by Aurornis | 2026-01-26 20:43:06+00:00
> Bending over backwards not to be the meanie is pointless.

This thinking that we must avoid blaming individuals for their own actions and instead divert all blame to an abstract system is getting a little out of control. The blameless post-mortem culture was a welcome change from toxic companies who were scapegoating hapless engineers for every little event, but it's starting to seem like the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Now I keep running into situations where one person's personal, intentional choices are clearly at the root of a situation but everyone is doing logical backflips to try to blame a "system" instead of acknowledging the obvious.

This can get really toxic when teams start doing the whole blameless dance during every conversation, but managers are silently moving to PIP or lay off the person who everyone knows is to blame for repeated problems. In my opinion, it's better to come out and be honest about what's happening than to do the blameless performance in public for feel-good points.
by mrkeen | 2026-01-26 20:43:14+00:00
> Mike sent me a 1600 line pull-request with no tests, entirely written by AI, and expected me to approve it immediately as to not to block him on his deployment schedule.

Both Mike and the manager are cargo-culting the PR process too. Code review is what you do when you believe it's worth losing velocity in order for code to pass through the bottleneck of two human brains instead of one.

LLMs are about gaining velocity by passing less code through human brains.
by TZubiri | 2026-01-26 20:43:16+00:00
"Remarkably, the classical starting position-despite centuries of cultural selection-lies far from the most balanced configuration."

Right, balance would be one of many parameters that make a game popular. Complexity is even a positive aspect of a game, a simple game with a simple optimal strategy would not be the most popular.

Simplicity of rules is another parameter, the classical configuration is somewhat symmetrical on the Queen King axis, many candidates would provide a rather asymmetrical and hard to remember initial configuration.