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Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

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Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#71

Post by fsflover »

mikewarot wrote: post #9

Computer Security - I'm firmly convinced that it has already been solved, but the solution[1] isn't widely known about or understood properly. Because we don't have computers we can trust, we can't have communications that we can trust, and thus we can't have true Democracy. Computing efficiency - The fact is that most of the transistors in a computer sit idle, waiting for their 15 nanoseconds of fame. A first princi…

It seems your approach to security relies on correctness of the code, which is unrealistic in real life. In contrast, Qubes OS implements security through compartmentalization and seems to work much more reliably than any alternative.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#72

Post by beAbU »

jbotz wrote: post #6

Energy storage. This is making very rapid progress already, but "solving" it is has the highest payoff for tackling global heating. Within the field of energy storage there are two important sub-fields... grid-level storage (cheap, long-lasting) and high-density (for transport applications). Both fields are already making good progress but I think I'd focus on grid-level first. Success here means basically being able…

You are not thinking big enough. Energy storage is merely a stopgap.

With unlimited resources you can build a global power grid, which will completely remove the need for any energy storage. "Just" move the abundant generated electricity from the sunny and windy parts of earth to the dark and windless parts.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#73

Post by beAbU »

ethbr1 wrote: post #62
tsoukase wrote: post #58

I would definitely converse the current society to my dream one: - replace ownership of productive means from capitalistic to cooperative - ban any ownership of goods that are not actively used (eg one home, one car for everyone) - all high ranking politician positions are unpaid and voluntary - some more details...

I've been slowly becoming convinced that the lower house of all governments with legislatures should be chosen at random, like jury duty. Pick random people, empower them with access to staff and information, have them serve their term, then repeat.

Ireland has citizens' assemblies, which is something along these lines.

100 citizens are chosen at random to advise government on certain things every now and then.

Theres some noise in news sources now calling for the next president to be elected via lottery as well. Note the Irish president is mostly ceremonial, and nothing like the democratic dictatorship in the US.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#74

Post by phantompeace »

A self sustaining orphanage that gives its children a high quality LLM assisted education with work opportunities; kids grow and gain experience doing various things within a care and school system (e.g help dish out food at lunch time or help tutor younger children or helping to keep the bathrooms clean). This way the next generation of orphans always have people to look up to and emulate. Alumni would have the skills needed to assimilate into society in a way that should give them the opportunity to succeed and in turn, give back to the organisation that helped them, whether it’s by working or volunteering there.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#75

Post by sinenomine »

ethbr1 wrote: post #63
antfarm wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you like to die with a young body, or prefer not to die at all? Serious question.

Immortality brings a host of other problems, given that minds are rarely as plastic as bodies. I'm not sure it would be healthy for society to have ideas and people stick around for even longer.

Is it healthy for society to spend 20 years (and increasing) of schooling to get maybe 5-10 years of peak scientific output from a person, though?

Wouldn't it be interesting if we could witness geniuses honing their unique thoughtcraft over millennia? Just how much advanced culture are we missing due to ephemeral, short-lived, desperate nature of our best and brightest?

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#76

Post by sinenomine »

antfarm wrote: post #39
sinenomine wrote: post #2

Aging. Nothing brings more suffering. Resource needs are considerable due to long preclinical & clinical studies necessary, perhaps also due to novel paradigms which will have to be invented along the way.

Would you like to die with a young body, or prefer not to die at all? Serious question.

Both, but even just the second one could be useful.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#77

Post by mikewarot »

fsflover wrote: post #71
mikewarot wrote: post #9

Computer Security - I'm firmly convinced that it has already been solved, but the solution[1] isn't widely known about or understood properly. Because we don't have computers we can trust, we can't have communications that we can trust, and thus we can't have true Democracy. Computing efficiency - The fact is that most of the transistors in a computer sit idle, waiting for their 15 nanoseconds of fame. A first princi…

It seems your approach to security relies on correctness of the code, which is unrealistic in real life. In contrast, Qubes OS implements security through compartmentalization and seems to work much more reliably than any alternative.

Qubes is a capabilities based OS, for arbitrarily course grained capabilities. Far better fine grained systems are possible, there just don't seem to be any ready for prime time. Genode and GNU Hurd are about as close as you can get these days. Neither of them requires trusting application code, nor depending on its correctness.

Think of it as using circuit breakers, instead of the current approach (in Linux, MacOS, Windows, etc) of just giving applications access to everything by default, and counting on them to be correct, and non-evil.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#78

Post by antfarm »

antfarm wrote: post #30

Reading some of the answers in this thread, I think I would put all my resources into a global education program. In my eyes the greatest challenge is to find a way to enable humanity to live in a way that does no longer destroy the ecosystem it relies on. Unfortunately, the solution won't be just technological but rather social, educational and political. We must find ways to stop overconsumption, overpopulation and…

Education is probably not enough. Maybe only a nature cult or religion could save the planet. I say this as a life-long atheist.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#79

Post by ethbr1 »

sinenomine wrote: post #75
ethbr1 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Immortality brings a host of other problems, given that minds are rarely as plastic as bodies. I'm not sure it would be healthy for society to have ideas and people stick around for even longer.

Is it healthy for society to spend 20 years (and increasing) of schooling to get maybe 5-10 years of peak scientific output from a person, though? Wouldn't it be interesting if we could witness geniuses honing their unique thoughtcraft over millennia? Just how much advanced culture are we missing due to ephemeral, short-lived, desperate nature of our best and brightest?

Fair point!

But I'd counter there are biochemical reasons the best work comes during such a short span.

It'll likely end up being easier to extend that neurologically peak productive period further into late middle age, than stretch an entire lifespan (which may or may not extend that period anyway).

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#80

Post by fsflover »

mikewarot wrote: post #77
fsflover wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems your approach to security relies on correctness of the code, which is unrealistic in real life. In contrast, Qubes OS implements security through compartmentalization and seems to work much more reliably than any alternative.

Qubes is a capabilities based OS , for arbitrarily course grained capabilities. Far better fine grained systems are possible, there just don't seem to be any ready for prime time. Genode and GNU Hurd are about as close as you can get these days. Neither of them requires trusting application code, nor depending on its correctness. Think of it as using circuit breakers, instead of the current approach (in Linux, MacOS,…

> Neither of them requires trusting application code, nor depending on its correctness.

I'm not speaking about trusting the application code. This is obviously not safe. I'm talking about trusting as few lines of code as possible, including the OS itself.

In other words, security-critical code should be minimized. For GNU/Linux, it's tens of millions of lines of code. You rely on their correctness. For Qubes it's about 100000: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/security-critical-code.

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