Viewing profile — owenversteeg

Wow. I contributed to Reveal.js years ago… some features, some bug fixes, some broader browser support; nothing too crazy but it took time and energy and effort, and now Opus makes…

A counterexample to the Jacobian Conjecture - and also a counterexample to “AI will never be smarter than humans.” Even the most dyed-in-the-wool AI hater at this point must acknow…

For those saying "disable all cellular radios", I don't recommend that; you would be in violation of European laws. To quote a previous comment of mine about a similar EU-mandated …

This, like the linked article by the same author ("America Doesn't Have the Stomach for Growth") raises a few interesting points but doesn't have a strong central thesis. If I coul…

The quote that the OP recommends as the best response to AI slop is from Good Will Hunting, here is the video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GY3sO47YYo ) and here is OP's selec…

I have made this comment on HN many times [0] now but: it's the goddamn sunlight. Sunlight has many pathways in the body, and increased vitamin D levels are just one of those pathw…

I think the strongest example by far is nuclear power. We could have used it for everything from energy to warfare to transport to space exploration, and instead we limited our use…

The US isn't a monolith and neither is Europe. Overall, yes, the US uses more chlorine than Europe, but Spain and France both have _minimum_ water chlorination levels (about 0.2-0.…

The US is a huge country. In general it has excellent water; the US averages better than the EU. The Environmental Performance Index is a report that measures many things, and they…

I've accidentally made one of these; I broke X on an old thinkpad with Arch and never bothered to fix it. The problem for me is getting myself to actually use it. Most of the time,…

Oh come on. Weed use and addiction has absolutely surged since legalization everywhere I'm aware of - US states, Canada, other countries etc. Use everywhere / anytime / as a part o…

Hi Liz, I appreciate you coming here to comment, and the modifications to the article. I also appreciate the public documents. Looking at the differences between the M5 Macbook Pro…

Thank you for the interesting comment. I think that determining a leader is usually far more clear cut. The EU and its bureaucratic-media apparatus love to find abstractions and su…

The issue is very complex. First - broad generalization - Europe's surviving industry is mostly made of less critical industries. If you look at important things in the world, and …

I agree that the government should ensure low energy prices for industry, but Taiwan is a remarkably poor example. Taiwan's energy policy is, as far as I know, the most pants-on-he…

You’re welcome. It’s a real shame IMO. I used to be a huge Lenovo guy, until the quality of the products dropped off a cliff a decade and change ago. Disappointing to see that inst…

Yikes. Has iFixit jumped the shark? An AI generated press release on behalf of Lenovo, who is (from my perspective) essentially paying them for good PR? And this paid relationship …

Of course, in that sketch, David is right!

I haven’t looked into this specific case, but most of the time the limiting factor is other traffic. You’re not traveling at full speed the whole time. If a lower speed adds 10 min…

This is certainly a good thing, but for all the Americans self-flagellating in the comments, it is mostly because Helsinki is wealthy, tiny (600k people), and doesn’t drive that mu…

Huh, interesting. I started forcing myself to start and end the day without the internet, and the very first and last parts without computers/phones entirely. I can't emphasize the…

That idea - using an audio recording of how you did the process/complex thing - is a great one. I have done it a few times in the past and it is perfect because it's very low effor…

Interesting. In New Hampshire and Vermont they seem to be mostly fine (if usually full of very bland romance books.) In the Netherlands there is a broader selection of books in my …

That sounds like murder to me. I couldn't believe that and thought you must have been misrepresenting the facts. Nope, your summary is correct; the full case is there, in black and…

>I have the opposite reaction to your historical energy figures - energy consumption is clearly not as important to technological progress as we imagine. If there's only a 4x diffe…