Didn't know he's a fanatic.
I’m taking some time away from Comma
141–150 of 437 posts
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen this change dramatically in the last few years. The people I knew 10 years ago who were the sortof frighteningly brilliant hackers have almost all become religious (mostly traditional Catholics). I'm not saying this is an objective truth, just that this has been my experience.
I think part of that (specifically Catholic) stems from the fact that it's one of the few religions that is compatible with a scientific understanding of the world, where science is seen as a worthwhile study of creation, and not something that's dangerous and evil (like many modern fundamentalist groups seem to think). The danger IMO comes when people tie their religious belief too strongly to political movements, o…
Note, though, the prevalence of specifically traditional Catholics. Traditionalists tend to reject in whole or part modern Catholicism's ecumenical angles, and embrace the black and white they perceive Catholicism used to have. It's a curious mixture of using one's own judgement to decide what of the past are worth following, and a steady belief in doing and believing things of the past, whether you understand the reasoning or not.
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#143It strikes me as surprising that George Hotz is religious. Very few people I’ve met with similar personalities are.
I've seen this change dramatically in the last few years. The people I knew 10 years ago who were the sortof frighteningly brilliant hackers have almost all become religious (mostly traditional Catholics). I'm not saying this is an objective truth, just that this has been my experience.
Peter Thiel / Curtis Yarvin adjacent folks have in recent years heavily pushed these kinds of views in certain parts of the tech scene, Hotz tends to quote them frequently. It's not really religious Catholicism as much as an aesthetic for reactionary politics because you're more likely to find many of these newly minted Catholics at an 'Eyes White Shut' party than at mass.
His syncretism of Christianity with Bronze Age Pervert in this very blog post should immediately remind people of Umberto Eco:
"One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements. The most influential theoretical source of the theories of the new Italian right, Julius Evola, merged the Holy Grail with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, alchemy with the Holy Roman and Germanic Empire. The very fact that the Italian right, in order to show its open-mindedness, recently broadened its syllabus to include works by De Maistre, Guenon, and Gramsci, is a blatant proof of syncretism. If you browse in the shelves that, in American bookstores, are labeled as New Age, you can find there even Saint Augustine who, as far as I know, was not a fascist. But combining Saint Augustine and Stonehenge — that is a symptom of Ur-Fascism."
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
"recent years"? This guy has always been like this, going all the way back to ios hacking days or even wii hacking days.
I used to talk to him on one of those IRC networks for iOS hacking, forgot the name, but a good old friend of mine was involved in the scene, so I dropped in. He is definitely a skilled individual, but he lacks the key thing I think all true senior engineers need: humility. Without humility you're going to find yourself bikeshedding and wasting time and effort on things that may actually not be attainable within your…
I feel as if you are using a fallacy in your analysis. As AI models are just decision trees in essence and it's the same with human inference. That there is no magic and it seems mundane is the point. As our reality is surprisingly simple and these new models for artists and programmers alike demonstrate such.
It's moving the goal post simply. As it is the same with Google's Chatbot that "fooled," their own engineer. Thus it becomes a chicken and egg situation as to when AI truly passes the turing test. In the same way putting on a VR headset and being fooled you are someplace else the first few times. Then once you are used to it, it becomes as if you are changing your reality just like putting on new glasses.
Human beings have a hard time with exponential. And my guess will be next year that we have AI generated video that is indistinguishable from a human production. It's just software sure, but so are we.
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
The first one I'm thinking of is Michal Zalewski who wrote AFL and is now the VP of Security Engineering at Snap. Also Lea Kissner who implemented security for stubby and now runs Info Security for Twitter (one of the few remaining engineering departments Musk wants to keep) But there were a bunch of folks, most of whom you've never heard of, because they were quietly solving problems behind the scenes. Damien Mensch…
> there were a bunch of folks, most of whom you've never heard of, because they were quietly solving problems I figured you'd say this. Just had to see you type the words out. Don't be angry when those you seek to refute don't see you worth arguing with when this is the type of rhetoric you have.
This is a lazy troll. Geohot is famous because he used to loudly brag about his achievements.
The people making millions selling exploits to the likes of Vupen/Zerodium have very strong incentive to keep their mouths shut.
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
>autonomous cars are no closer to reality today than they were 5 years ago Why do people keep printing things like this, which are objectively wrong? I have had a completely autonomous waymo come to my location, pick me up, and take me to another location. That didn't exist five years ago, it does exist now. How is this not "closer" than it was 5 years ago when it literally exists now, and didn't exist then?
The situation you're describing is no different to 5 years ago: autonomous vehicles exist but can only operate in a limited environment. That's where Waymo was 5 years ago, it was just an even more limited environment. Read the "Road Testing" section on Wikipedia, specifically, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo
It's different because San Franciso is not Phoenix. It's much harder.
Do you expect to wake up one day and have self driving cars work in every city? That's just not what today's technology can accomplish. You either end up with broadly applicable L2/L3 (Tesla, Comma) driving, or you get narrow scoped L4 driving.
The scope of L4 widening is a real change.
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#147Can't say I care much about what "George Hotz" is doing, but this line struck me as particularly silly: > And even if you are an atheist, you probably still accept the bible is the closest thing we have to a human origin story. I can't imagine why he believes so. Apart from the modern materialist origin story, what about all the mythical ones from other cultures? Of all of them, this is my favorite: https://www.youtu…
So, people aren't really understanding the motivations that Geohotz has for looking into this stuff. He is being a bit cryptic about it. Here is a basic summary though. The atheist world, of no life after death, is scary. We have not invented immortality. And even if we do, well there is an even scarier thing called entropy, that will end the universe anyway. There is no escape from death, as far as we know, and this…
Oh I don't deny any of that. Heck, just look at the link in my profile: https://www.lifeismiraculous.org/
The silly part to me is his claim that everyone (including atheists) thinks that the Bible is the best answer.
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, he was recently in the news saying self-driving cars are a scam. https://cleantechnica.com/2022/10/09/george-hotz-autonomous-...
>autonomous cars are no closer to reality today than they were 5 years ago Why do people keep printing things like this, which are objectively wrong? I have had a completely autonomous waymo come to my location, pick me up, and take me to another location. That didn't exist five years ago, it does exist now. How is this not "closer" than it was 5 years ago when it literally exists now, and didn't exist then?
"I have had a completely autonomous waymo come to my location, pick me up, and take me to another location." - Waymo uses 3d mapping, limited geofencing, remote operators and mobile roadside assistance teams because those cars are not even close to any type of autonomy. Those cars are "mice" in a well designed and designated (inch mapped) maze. The car without a driver in the driver's seat is like David Copperfield flying on the stage in a cheap magic show, in front of a few hundred people that paid $50 for the tickets - see https://youtu.be/qZS9maIq_Zc
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#149I used to like watching his streams but he seems to have become somewhat unhinged in recent years. Perhaps he is believing too much about what people have said about him. The arrogance and aggrandizement was the turn-off for me. Well that and his belief, while at comma, that how fast you can code is the most important metric when assessing software engineers. Competition programming is fun to watch but a poor indicat…
The answer to a problem should be the right answer, and it should also avoid unnecessary complexity so someone looking into it can figure out what's going on. Avoiding unnecessary complexity sounds easy, but it often isn't. Banging out code as fast as you can is one of the surest ways to produce systems that are devilishly complicated and brittle.
Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma
#150I hope his shine hasn't burned out yet. People seem to do great things in their 20s, and then at best ride the wave they set in motion. Actually creating a wonder from zero after you've clocked 30 is very rare.
This isn't a true stereotype. The average unicorn founder is aged 34. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-21/what-s-th...
I'm 74 so I guess it's GAME OVER, huh? Oh well