Viewing profile — cactusface

Here's my sealion of a question. What parts of climate change research are actually backed up by the scientific method (experiments with falsifiable hypotheses and all that) and wh…

Why doesn't a bike save you a lot of money on fuel? Keeping a car on the road is expensive, you can save on insurance too. Also you can take the bus. I know, it's a pain.

> They're selling real products that everyone needs (not wants) Sikhs?

If you can simulate matter, certainly you can simulate a brain. Qualia appear not to derive from pixie dust but accumulated experience in the world. You might need to train a brain…

It's actually reasonable. Step 1, translate key push. Step 2, broadcast key message. What you're missing is that there's an alternate Step 1, translate joystick hat push (or mouse …

On reflection, I concede that AirBnB is largely landlords renting their space or tenants subletting for substantial profit without their landlord's permission. However, I think sub…

Japan > England >> USA. Just being able to take the TGV from London to Paris is mindblowing. I define great as it being generally possible to get where I want to go on the train (t…

It is if you live there. You share space and cost.

I think population density is a factor. China and the US have the same area, but China has 4x the population. Consider also England and Japan, densely populated islands with great …

When you take a roommate, aren't you sharing the cost of rent? Sharing can mean mutual contribution as much as it means mutual partaking. Also, what? Amazon is not a retailer? They…

Oh, it was a suggestion to the guy, but thanks for elaborating.

Is a statement of disbelief a belief? I believe that all beliefs are false, except this one? I disbelieve all beliefs, except this disbelief? I disbelieve everything except I belie…

I believe that all beliefs (in non-falsifiable existence) stem from imagined experiences.

This was a neat summary. I'd add that often, you can use a length of string to measure something, without actually needing to know the numerical length. But then from that perspect…

NaCl?

I think programs written in dynamic languages are generally harder to optimize because they're more likely to take advantage of complex features. Since these languages often compil…

Also consider that fixed point optimization algorithms can only ever approach the optimal solution. Languages that are closer to the hardware generally have simpler (tighter) optim…

Yeah, but nothing says you can't specialize your C code.

This was actually a really entertaining telling of a boring old story about capitalist competition. Act I: We tried A, then we outgrew it. Someone said B was better. Act II: We tri…

Has the pursuit of strong AI been a waste of time?