MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by mcswell | 2026-01-20 18:53:54+00:00
I am an American, so my view of the situation over there is not...well informed. But I have wondered whether the EU couldn't set itself up as the New NATO. All European (unless Canada decides to join you), and omitting some of the old NATO provisions that are causing problems, like the ability of one member country to veto everyone else (I'm looking at you, Hungary). Would it work? Or is the EU infrastructure to weak to do that?
by schmidtleonard | 2026-01-20 18:54:32+00:00
The trouble with thinking in terms of blocs is that they don't solve the foundational economic problem: who is the sin-eater who is trusted and willing to run the deficits so that everyone else can run surpluses? Without a clear answer, you just have the same question repeated within and between blocs, so the same beggar-thy-neighbor incentives that exist without blocs exist within and between blocs, so the fighting continues within and between blocs until the question is answered. Blocs don't solve the problem at all.
by matesz | 2026-01-20 18:54:32+00:00
In general, this is good effort and its a shame they only come up with this now. This should have been done some 20 years ago.

I am wondering whether it what are the chances this is going to move forward and when. These are big questions.

Also, is it possible to have all economies unified in the future? No tariffs is one thing, but if we have free trade one not just unified entire legal framework?
by jorblumesea | 2026-01-20 18:54:36+00:00
Being a good ally isn't just doing entirely what the US says the should do. The US needs to coordinate responses to China and work with allies to come to a shared understanding. How the current administration operates is assuming these allied country are fiefdoms. The economic situation in Canada isn't great, and the US could make it stronger, but refuses to.

The same feedback is largely true for most US allies. If you want people to decouple from China, you need to offset and fix the underlying reason they are trading with them.
by linguae | 2026-01-20 18:54:48+00:00
When the Republican Party has been largely purged of opposition to Trump (except for senators Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski and a tiny handful of people in the House), and when six out of nine Supreme Court justices are generally loyal to the GOP, then there are effectively no checks and balances.

Trump learned during his first term that he can bypass checks and balances by making sure the GOP is thoroughly MAGA. People who stood up to Trump have been sidelined, such as Justin Amash, Mitt Romney, and, most famously, Mike Pence, who stood up to Trump on January 6 and paid a heavy political price for it. That’s why Vance, not Pence, is the current VP.
by pfdietz | 2026-01-20 18:54:50+00:00
The theorem is implied by an older result of Erdos, but is not a result of Erdos. Apparently this is because the connection is something called "Roger's Theorem" that was quite obscure.

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/rogers-theorem-on-...

"This theorem is somewhat obscure: its only appearance in print is in pages 242-244 of this 1966 text of Halberstam and Roth, where the authors write in a footnote that the result is “unpublished; communicated to the authors by Professor Rogers”. I have only been able to find it cited in three places in the literature: in this 1996 paper of Lewis, in this 2007 paper of Filaseta, Ford, Konyagin, Pomerance, and Yu (where they credit Tenenbaum for bringing the reference to their attention), and is also briefly mentioned in this 2008 paper of Ford. As far as I can tell, the result is not available online, which could explain why it is rarely cited (and also not known to AI tools). This became relevant recently with regards to Erdös problem 281, posed by Erdös and Graham in 1980, which was solved recently by Neel Somani through an AI query by an elegant ergodic theory argument. However, shortly after this solution was located, it was discovered by KoishiChan that Rogers’ theorem reduced this problem immediately to a very old result of Davenport and Erdös from 1936. Apparently, Rogers’ theorem was so obscure that even Erdös was unaware of it when posing the problem!"
by anigbrowl | 2026-01-20 18:55:00+00:00
It is a virtue of Americans that they are unemotional and resolve disputes at the ballot box. [...] Nothing is so important that it can't wait until the next election.

MAGA does not fit that bill. January 6 was a direct attempt to overthrow an election outcome and by extension the government. The current executive is anything but emotionally well-regulated.
by tcdent | 2026-01-20 18:55:14+00:00
I spent a couple years doing physical stuff professionally.

Pro audio system design and install, commercial interior design and fabrication, event production.

These pulled from skills I learned from hobbies I did to get away from programming.

I kept myself relevant by making programming the hobby I did to get away from physical work. After a couple years I got the professional programming bug back.

You definitely have other interests that can cross over into an alternate profession. And if you don't, picking up creative hobbies definitely contributes to work life balance and might prevent you from going to an extreme in the first place.
by leeclowtaughtme | 2026-01-20 18:55:35+00:00
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by out of home advertising and taglines -billboards, subway posters, etc. I’ll see one, think about it, and write a version in my head.

This year I turned that into a practice.

I made a simple template and set a constraint: publish one spec concept a day throughout 2026. Each post is a headline paired with an image - intended to feel like a real world placement.

In the age of AI, it felt like the right time to stay sharp with writing in a way that’s about perspective and cultural resonance. Thought I’d share it here
by arter45 | 2026-01-20 18:55:49+00:00
Friends don’t (usually?) earn money by collecting data on you and trying to influence you. Of these were completely (and actually) not for profit companies simply providing advice based on whatever knowledge base they have without other additional interests, it could make sense (1). But we know this is not the case.

(1) A huge caveat is that limiting yourself to AI-only “friends” is still problematic, at least because your social interactions are basically AI prompts and not interactions with actual people who don’t pretend they know everything. There are of course other caveats.
by dagss | 2026-01-20 18:56:18+00:00
This is not advice to just follow for anyone. For some people this may be right, but for others it can be dangerous and a disaster. (At least if there's any chance "months" turns into "years".)

If one is of verge of depression (or similar stuff) then removing routines in your life is in general not going to fix things, but make things worse.

A long vacation or unpaid leave, sure. But quitting work without a concrete plan to return and definite exit point feels dangerous. If one isn't in the right place mentally suddenly you are just stuck at home watching Netflix in a downward spiral, instead of all those exciting things you planned on doing but somehow don't end up doing.

I remember seeing a post from someone on HN that started in this place, then did quit work for a year. It seemed quite obvious reading about that journey that attempting a "reset" just made things worse.
by wvenable | 2026-01-20 18:56:20+00:00
> Is the world going to de-dollarize though?

I think they already are -- it's just not going to happen all at once overnight. The shift has happened already and the consequences will take decades to come forward. But it's still possible that the US will do something to reverse course and everyone will be happy to not have to think about finding an alternative to the US dollar.
by StephenHerlihyy | 2026-01-20 18:56:31+00:00
Over the past 15 years the European economy has grown from 16.25 to 18.50 trillion per World Bank. In 2008 the combined economic strength of the EU was 110% of the United State's. Today it's ~65%. By and large the European economy completely missed the mark on the Internet/Web3.0 technology revolution. You certainly have bright spots like ASML, but those are the exception and not the rule. It's reindustrialization efforts are facing massive head wins from energy costs and China is absolutely wrecking their neo-colonial African holdings.

I hope the EU moves to a more Federalized model of governance - it would certainly benefit them. And I agree that it won't be easy. I am not sure California and Texas would agree to the model the United States has today. I can't even imagine what it would be like for Germany and France. But they have some serious issues to address. These are some foundational changes that are unlikely to happen in the next year or two.
by _DeadFred_ | 2026-01-20 18:56:38+00:00
Dude, come on. Now you are straight misleading/telling untruths now. Treaties MIGHT not be "self executing" depending on their language/intent. That doesn't mean none are. But what part of:

"When the terms of treaty import a contract or suggest that some future legislative act is necessary"

Does:

"not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland"

fall under? It is self executing. It doesn't need to be expanded upon by an additional act of Congress. Sure a more complex treaty might require a framework of laws flush out what it mandates/requires, but this aint that.
by alecco | 2026-01-20 18:57:50+00:00
EU banks: 1. Lend and trade in USD; 2. Have a shitload of deposits (liabilities) in USD-denominated accounts [1]

A huge amount of EU imports (from outside Europe) have to be paid in USD. Like oil/natgas/commodities and manufactured stuff.

The Euro is not really used as reserve currency outside of EU.

So if EU goes into economic war with USA by dumping their treasuries: 1. they would be trading those treasuries for something else (EUR denominated bonds? yuan? something else?); 2. no more swap lines and goodbye exports to USA so USD debt trap with depositors (forced conversion to EUR?); 3. How are they going to pay imports without USD lines?

The only other big player who can give them equivalent liquidity in swap lines is China. But as I stated, that would be even worse than USD dependency and less likely.

All this while the EU industrial base is on the brink and with a huge dependency on American natgas and Chinese supply chain. They cornered themselves and they can't do much without huge sacrifices. The only way out needs a complete shakeup of the leadership in Brussels and a new economic plan. I wouldn't bet on that happening.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurodollar
by bArray | 2026-01-20 18:57:54+00:00
> I got a final project feedback from them that was clearly done by an LLM

I've heard of this and have been offered "pre-prepared written feedback banks" for questions, but I write all of my feedback from scratch every time. I don't think students should have their work marked by an LLM or feedback given via an LLM.

An LLM could have a place in modern marking, though. A student submits a piece of work and you may have some high level questions:

1. Is this the work of an LLM?

2. Is this work replicated elsewhere?

3. Is there evidence of poor writing in this work?

4. Are there examples where the project is inconsistent or nonsensical?

And then the LLM could point to areas of interest for the marker to check. This wouldn't be to replace a full read, but would be the equivalent of passing a report to a colleague and saying "is there anything you think I missed here?".
by raddan | 2026-01-20 18:57:59+00:00
I sort of did the opposite of you. I hiked the AT before I started my career. The interesting thing is that it has always given me a reserve to draw on when I am feeling burned out or upset like the original poster. I can always say “you know what? I was my happiest when I was living in a tent.” It’s a reminder that I don’t actually need much to be happy, and that thought helps keep me centered on what goals I choose and whether my pursuits are worth it.

Like you, I was also massively burned out on tech after the pandemic. I had a very stressful work experience combined with some family medical crises. I ended up just taking some time off to do some woodworking. I understand that I was in a very privileged position to be able to do this. But after taking my mind off of daily tech worries and focusing on what I enjoyed doing, I found that my thoughts naturally gravitated back toward technology-related work. I have since come to understand that this is what burnout looks like. It’s a nice reminder that just because I hate my job right now does not mean that I want to throw in the towel forever.
by complianceowl | 2026-01-20 18:58:05+00:00
Imagine saying ICE is operating like the gestapo when they have orders signed by judges that require them to deport people who overstayed visas, and more that that, engaged in criminal activity!

Imagine storming churches, burning government vehicles, killing people who's viewpoints you disagree with, terrorizing communities and literally burning them down, lunging rocks at ICE vehicles as they try and take into custody an illegal immigrant who is wanted for rape.

You're parroting leftist talking points without actually thinking critically about what is happening.

People like you have zero intellectual integrity. You're talking about history and then turning around and comparing ICE to the Gestapo while ICE is only deporting individuals who have factually broken the law! Yet someone like you will find a way to parrot a talking point in response to such a basic fact!

When you have extremist, radicalized leftists launching highly funded and coordinated campaigns to do absolutely everything they can to disrupt completely moral and legal law enforcement -- law enforcement that every other Democrat president engaged in -- and you thing you're the good guy, you are completely lost mentally, morally, and intellectually.

Maybe if you use more caps you'll feel like your argument is improving.
by hinkley | 2026-01-20 18:58:09+00:00
It becomes more challenging when the person is Carrie Fisher from When Harry Met Sally, “processing” the same information for years at a time. This is not a surprise. That he’s never going to leave her. You know the solution. You are the architect of your own stress. You’re torturing yourself for who? An audience of me?

I’ve watched that “you have a nail in your forehead” video again with the benefit of another ten years of life and it’s interesting how I saw what the women were saying the first time I watched it but on a rewatch it’s clearly making fun of her at least as much as him. You’re in the middle of a medical emergency and you want to just talk about it instead of calling 911. That’s a bridge too far.

And to think I always hated that trope in action and scary movies where the person wants to ask questions while being chased by a psychopath or a dinosaur. Compartmentalization is good - in appropriate doses.
by throwaway2037 | 2026-01-20 18:58:24+00:00
> It's not a bad thing to be late to AI.

I remember thinking similar when JetBrains finally released LLMs integrated into their IDEs. I still don't love their integrated LLMs (too many silly suggestions that are simply syntax errors), but they were intentionally slow to release... to wait for some of the hype to blow over.
by alwillis | 2026-01-20 18:58:34+00:00
> You're putting a lot of trust in US institutions (courts etc)

I don't have a lot of trust in US institutions actually. The most powerful universities, corporations and law firms have capitulated to him.

So far, the tech companies have placated Trump by contributing to his causes and heaping praise upon him and not speaking out regarding the tariffs. That's enough for now.

> Is the CEO really willing to risk their life to do that?

We're not at that point; at least not so far. Besides, it's much easier to blackmail them for more money or for the Department of Justice to open an investigation or to stop a merger they want to do.

Also these companies aren't just sitting around doing nothing. Apple reworked their supply chain; all iPhones sold in the US are now made in India.
by jacquesm | 2026-01-20 18:58:51+00:00
You are so far out from understanding why pension funds put money in foreign government paper that I'm not sure where to begin explaining it. But the key is simply portfolio diversification. Institutional investors have access to a very large number of options on where, how and for how long they want to park their money that it isn't some kind of forced move to put their money in US Treasuries.

It's just a way to hedge their bets. In the larger scheme of things $100B isn't all that much (it may be to you, but even a small trading desk of a mid sized bank or multinational, say Royal Dutch Shell, or such) have access to that kind of money. They are not going to take the chance that Donald Trump on Monday morning, after eating a bad burger the night before, decides to unleash the might of the US military on their territory and be left holding the bag.

One downside of running a trade deficit with the rest of the world is that they have you by the short and curlies; if they dump your paper you will have to buy it back as fast as they can dump it to avoid a crash of your currency. That can get expensive really quickly.
by microtonal | 2026-01-20 18:59:17+00:00
Mostly an US audience here.

I don't think mostly is true? Obviously it depends a lot on the time of day, but there are also a lot of Europeans on the site. Also, most comments here seem to be critical towards current US policy. So, I think there is quite a lot of manipulation going on, since the downvoting/flagging does not really match the comment section.
by vedmakk | 2026-01-20 18:59:34+00:00
This is the kind of stuff I love about ancient architecture. It seems they were full of such clever things (or maybe only the few constructions which survived until today).

Its nice to see that some people still care about creating such thoughtful art for modern constructions. It seems that most building of our time are just optimized for fast and efficient construction.

I hope there are many more out there, so that Earth's Graham Hancock of the year 16000 has something to explore on his/her ayahuasca trip.
by Arainach | 2026-01-20 18:59:51+00:00
This isn't true and hasn't been true for 20 years, if ever.

Maybe in the very beginning they had such a bar, I wasn't there. As late as 2007 they were still recruiting at non-T20 schools like Michigan State. Much of my team are from various Big Ten/similar universities that aren't top 20 but are solid (plenty are also from more prestigious conversations, but unless you explicitly ask someone at lunch about their education no one ever talks about it). I've been involved in hiring and interviewing for 7+ years there and have done interviews with people from all caliber of school - top 10, middle of the pack US, HBCU, international - so there's no such requirement for that now either.
by reify | 2026-01-20 18:59:56+00:00
yep.

from a narcissistic egoist who is extremely serious about spreading bullshit with a straight face.

who the fuck needs or wants a poxy word-guessing ai companion.

It sounds more like the promotion of automaton ai sex dolls.

We will have AGI and Quantum laptops in 5 years too.

we will, we will, we will.
by smeej | 2026-01-20 19:00:01+00:00
It's only a huge payout if you have a huge amount of money. If you have $1k to put in, you get $2k out. Who's risking getting caught and potentially facing the death penalty for $1k in profit?

If someone already has significant money backing, and especially if that person already has some other specific reason to want you dead, I can see how it might be added incentive, but even so, you also now have to tip your hand. To buy in hard, you have to send a signal saying you have reason to be confident I'm about to die. You're basically shooting yourself in the foot right before trying to shoot me in the head.

Plus, it's not like the markets are anonymous. Polymarket isn't trading with Monero. You're not just tipping your hand ahead of time. You're pointing the investigators right at yourself.

I just don't see how the calculations end up falling in favor of killing somebody if you weren't already planning to do so.
by notaustinpowers | 2026-01-20 19:00:01+00:00
I'm in a similar boat to you, and it's made me think a lot more about happiness and, I think this is something we may not think too much about, how our life affects our receptiveness to happiness. I'll try to explain what's helped me, and hopefully it can help you too.

There's that old phrase that happiness is a journey, not a destination. It's a state of being, a fleeting emotion. We each have our own unique flavor of happiness, but modern life is about efficiency, reproducible results, one-size fits all. It's led us to seek happiness from external sources like consumption and entertainment, that happiness is our every waking desire being met immediately. We've commodified happiness in these externalities.

What's helped me is to view my life as a garden, crafted to grow what makes me happy. Thoughtfulness, constant learning, whimsy, and slowness are some of the aspects of life that make me happy. These aren't things I do, not something I can buy, these are aspects that I find bring more happiness into my life.

Now, it's my duty to nurture these aspects of life that bring me happiness. I nurture thoughtfulness by protecting time for me to think uninterrupted and reducing compulsivity to respond to everything. I nurture constant learning by ensuring my learning is fueled by curiosity, not this anxiety of self-improvement, and that growth is expansive, not corrective. I nurture whimsy by being a little unnecessary and slightly impractical (hand-writing in a journal rather than in an app, taking small walks through a new place, not focusing on efficiency in everything). And I nurture slowness by designing friction into my life. Using analog tools, longer timelines, giving myself space to breathe through things. I schedule in slowness otherwise it gets crowded out by everything else going on.

I think you may enjoy taking some time to think about what aspects of life you appreciate and bring you happiness, find out how to nurture those aspects, and then craft your life around that. It could shed some light or help bring into perspective what your next steps should be.
by thatoneengineer | 2026-01-20 19:00:02+00:00
This very closely resembles my own experience, right down to the timeline.

I don't have an answer, but just seeing this thread has been cathartic for me.

Some of the options I'm considering (all speculative):

- It's okay to be a "hired gun" and switch companies every few years just to ensure you stay interested. Some people's minds are stimulated by novelty and learning; that's not a bad thing! In fact some of the engineers I most respect work as consultants not traditional employees.

- Try working at a more "stodgy" company. Your average Fortune 500 employs more developers than most unicorns and is probably a decade behind the curve in terms of technology-- maybe you can go to one of those, take it easy, and be a hero.

- If it's an option financially, "hire yourself" for a few months to go do a passion project-- hobbyist app? major OSS improvement? creative endeavor?-- and see how it feels.
by eikenberry | 2026-01-20 19:00:04+00:00
I'm talking about original, greenfield projects that was entirely written by an AI agent. There is no source material here beyond the agent. Prompting is the only input and it hasn't been considered sufficient to make it a human produced work.

Or are you getting at the idea that the works the AI was originally trained on could still be considered an original work the generated code was derived from? Like if the generate code happens to look like someones code in github, that they could sue? I'm not 100% on sources here but I thought this was already tested in court and ruled it wasn't infringement.