Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity • Hacker News Board

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#41

Post by exedore6 » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

entropyneur wrote: post #22

_ph_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less smoking is very good for the population health. While population increases are not good by themselves, all reduction in mortality is very good for everyone who has not to die. Interestingly this seems to have the consequence that the birth rates decline strongly as observed in many places. Drilling is not bad because of "evil corporations", but because it regularly is accompanied by harming the environment, be i…

> Less smoking is very good for the population health. But what is population health good for if not enjoying life? Including (for some people) things like smoking a cigarette.

Isn't a big part of the enjoyment satiating the addiction? With fewer people smoking (and non-smoke methods of getting a nicotine fix), I still see this as a great thing.

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#42

Post by mistermann » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

nodamage wrote: post #28

entropyneur wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an argument against tax-subsidized healthcare rather than for a smoking ban. Because otherwise you've just nationalized people's bodies. Why stop at smoking after all? Anyone not doing an hour of cardio daily is being irresponsible with the body entrusted to them by society and is in need of a visit to a reformation camp.

The linked article is about improved health outcomes due to secondhand smoke bans in public areas : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD005992... You're free to continue smoking in the privacy of your own home.

> You're free to continue smoking in the privacy of your own home.

Not where I live, was banned years ago.

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#43

Post by draz » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

collyw wrote: post #37

wagecuck wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in the best of circumstances, with unlimited food for all, those people will be dust in a century. Even incremental improvements in technology will help hundreds of generations of humans going forward.

Not all uses of technology ore a positive influence. HFT, NSA's surveillance are two that come to mind straight away.

I don't want this to come across as if I support these particular programs, but I would imagine some tech comes out through veterans and takes on consumer applications.

Does the NSA file patents? If not, usage of tech is probably enforced by the honor code

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#44

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

collyw wrote: post #37

wagecuck wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in the best of circumstances, with unlimited food for all, those people will be dust in a century. Even incremental improvements in technology will help hundreds of generations of humans going forward.

Not all uses of technology ore a positive influence. HFT, NSA's surveillance are two that come to mind straight away.

[deleted]

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#45

Post by sbov » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:30 PM UTC

arcanus wrote: post #19

Missing the biggest triumph of 2016 by far: the victory by DeepMind's machine learning algorith at Go over the greatest living human player. At this time last year it was highly questionable if humans would ever lose to algorithms at games as complex as Go. Now we have reason to be optimistic that an entire class of problems are amenable to solution through computation, and more evidence super-human synthetic intelli…

Is it? I mean, a lot of hard work was put into it. And, it's a step that needs to be taken. And people can work on what they want to work on. But how can a machine beating the best human at a game really be the biggest triumph of 2016?

Whenever I think about this stuff, I have a similar nagging question. E.g. if there are entire classes of problems that we now "know" are solvable, and have an actual benefit to mankind, why didn't they spend time on that rather than a game?

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#46

Post by _ph_ » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

entropyneur wrote: post #22

_ph_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less smoking is very good for the population health. While population increases are not good by themselves, all reduction in mortality is very good for everyone who has not to die. Interestingly this seems to have the consequence that the birth rates decline strongly as observed in many places. Drilling is not bad because of "evil corporations", but because it regularly is accompanied by harming the environment, be i…

> Less smoking is very good for the population health. But what is population health good for if not enjoying life? Including (for some people) things like smoking a cigarette.

An interesting question. With many things we have to balance the fun of the moment with the long term consequences, even with plain food. But with smoking, especially cigarettes, this is a quite one-sided balance. Even without the risk of cancer, every single cigarette will do considerable, irrevocable harm to your lungs. And I know few people wo smoke lightly, Nikotin is extremely addictive. Finally, there is the impact on other people, if one smokes in their presence.

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#47

Post by jonathansizz » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

Semiapies wrote: post #3

bagrow wrote: post #2

Pessimistically (I know, I know), it seems to me that recent events put many of these advances under threat. Science funding cuts and rollbacks of environmental protections can take out half the list or more. How great can these accomplishments really be if they can be so easily undone?

You're really asking whether anything can be an accomplishment if it can be later ruined or undone.

A fundamental problem is that it's much easier to break things than build or maintain them. In many cases, gains accomplished over years or even decades can potentially be erased almost overnight (certainly in the environmental, political and economic spheres).

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#48

Post by ewzimm » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:50 PM UTC

sbov wrote: post #45

arcanus wrote: post #19

Missing the biggest triumph of 2016 by far: the victory by DeepMind's machine learning algorith at Go over the greatest living human player. At this time last year it was highly questionable if humans would ever lose to algorithms at games as complex as Go. Now we have reason to be optimistic that an entire class of problems are amenable to solution through computation, and more evidence super-human synthetic intelli…

Is it? I mean, a lot of hard work was put into it. And, it's a step that needs to be taken. And people can work on what they want to work on. But how can a machine beating the best human at a game really be the biggest triumph of 2016? Whenever I think about this stuff, I have a similar nagging question. E.g. if there are entire classes of problems that we now "know" are solvable, and have an actual benefit to mankin…

This is like asking, "why didn't they just build a new dam instead of spending so much time drawing up blueprints?" Games can be useful abstractions and guides that advance our understanding of the same decision making processes that allow people to create real, effective changes in the world. The balance is shifting to the point in the near future where most of the best solutions to real world problems won't come directly from unaugmented human minds.

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#49

Post by ythn » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:53 PM UTC

vlunkr wrote: post #33

ythn wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cons of 2016: - Brexit - Trump - some famous people died Pros of 2016: - Brexit - Trump - some famous people died

The famous people dying is the stupidest part. Guess what, famous people are going to die every year.

It's a pro and a con.

Pro: Fidel Castro died

Con: Alan Rickman died

Re: Reasons 2016 was a great year for humanity

#50

Post by sgustard » Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 5:55 PM UTC

CiPHPerCoder wrote: post #7

So much of this list was about conservation and environmental issues that it was almost frustrating to filter it out. I have nothing against these topics, but when you dominate your list with one theme and don't address that theme in the lede, I reflexively assume the author is attempting to pull the wool over my eyes. There is almost certainly some sampling bias going on, at least.

How would you propose making a list of "99 reasons 2016 was a good year" without "sampling bias"? The entire premise of the article depends on your definition of the word "good".

I agree this article is viewed through a liberal lens. A conservative's list would be very different: opened up vast new areas to oil drilling! Outlawed abortion in more countries! Rolled back environmental regulations that protect penguins over jobs! Reduced crime with stiffer prison sentences!