Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#51

Post by drakonka » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 6:28 AM UTC

exfascist wrote: post #31

drakonka wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then more applicable advice seems like it could've been "Everyone should go to their Kindle library and download their ebooks as soon as they purchase them."

IIRC they can remove downloaded books. Better advice is "no non-free software in the house" and "mind your external dependencies" but that's a bit too extreme for most people.

They can remove books you download to your Kindle ereader, but they can't remove book files you download to your actual PC from the Kindle library.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#52

Post by webmaven » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 8:56 AM UTC

RichardHeart wrote: post #33

webmaven wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frame it as a percentage of the total population.

The beautiful thing about censorship, is, it's hard to detect, because those censored must find side channels to announce they've been harmed. The private companies doing the censoring don't publish stats. Your advice, so far, is quite similar to "start your own social network." Do you have anything actionable I can use to make the world a better place?

You state that the number of people suffering from censorship is at an all time high. Presumably you have a number to back that up? If so, you can express that as a percentage of the relevant population(s) instead.

As for something even more constructive...

Perhaps you could promote the use of TOR and other privacy and censorship circumvention tools.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#53

Post by AlchemistCamp » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 9:35 AM UTC

drakonka wrote: post #50

AlchemistCamp wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, Amazon has previously deleted copies of 1984 their customers had already downloaded to their kindles and other devices. https://theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle...

I don't mean downloading to Kindle, but actually downloading the book file to your machine where it is no longer at Amazon's mercy. If the book has DRM Calibre takes care of that, it's how many people transfer Amazon bought books to other ereaders.

I'm not familiar with Calibre but AFIK, all kindle books have DRM.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#54

Post by chrischattin » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 10:16 AM UTC

president wrote: post #36

He's trolling and lampooning people that are obsessed with blindly agreeing with the mainstream-sanctioned narratives (Covid, Ukraine). The book thing is probably a comment on censorship and historical revisionism that is occurring as part of the effort to prop up certain narratives. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten called a right-wing nationalist yet.

This shouldn't be downvoted b/c it's exactly what he's doing. He's mocking people who instantly conform to the current narrative.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#55

Post by drakonka » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 11:23 AM UTC

AlchemistCamp wrote: post #53

drakonka wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean downloading to Kindle, but actually downloading the book file to your machine where it is no longer at Amazon's mercy. If the book has DRM Calibre takes care of that, it's how many people transfer Amazon bought books to other ereaders.

I'm not familiar with Calibre but AFIK, all kindle books have DRM.

It is a setting the author chooses when publishing their book through KDP, and some authors choose not to enable it. Pretty sure it is enabled by default though.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#56

Post by raarts » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 12:29 PM UTC

In my opinion he was referring to the fact that more and more often older pages on the internet are 'updated' or 'fixed' for political reasons.

This can't happen with books.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#57

Post by mikewarot » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 2:38 PM UTC

travisporter wrote: post #29

Would a solar flare destroy all data on SSDs or magnetic hard drives? I couldn't find a good resource. I figure CDs/DVDs would be safe https://www.quora.com/Could-a-large-solar-flare-fry-disk-dri...

A solar flare wouldn't even hurt the power grid, if management shuts it off in time. If some Republican Governor insists his state doesn't shut theirs down... well, that's just Darwin entering the 22nd Century.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#58

Post by mikewarot » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 2:39 PM UTC

Given the rapid change in the way people consume information, books are likely to be as easy to get as Paper Road Atlases are.

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#59

Post by atroche » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 1:41 AM UTC

slater wrote: post #41

browserman wrote: post #24

He's red and mad about posts. Spending too much time on Twitter will drive even a disciplined mind insane.

"red"?

Possibly meant in the sense of Blue Tribe / Red Tribe from here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...

But maybe it's just more generally red as euphemism for conservative (b/c of how political maps are coloured in the US).

Re: Ask HN: What is Marc Andreessen talking about

#60

Post by browserman » Fri, Apr 15, 2022, 5:28 PM UTC

atroche wrote: post #59

slater wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"red"?

Possibly meant in the sense of Blue Tribe / Red Tribe from here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin... But maybe it's just more generally red as euphemism for conservative (b/c of how political maps are coloured in the US).

No euphemism, I meant he was physically turning himself red with online rage