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I’m taking some time away from Comma

geohot.github.io

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Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comma was always riding the tailwinds of the underdog effect. When Tesla ships an autopilot on mass market cars that fails in edge cases, commenters are up in arms that it wasn’t tested to perfection in every scenario. Big companies are punished if they don’t deliver perfection. When an underdog company hacks together an autopilot proof of concept and takes a reporter for a ride with it, they’re heroes for pulling of…

Is this why Argo AI (legacy funded startup from the ranks of CMU, system set them up for success) just shut down their entire company and Comma is still selling devices? No? Ok.

I'm not sure what you think this proves, but Argo's shutdown is indicative of just how difficult driverless is. GP's comment is entirely about how Comma needs to mature beyond the hacker underdog shipping some devices to DIY tinkerers, and that's an incredibly challenging task.

If anything, your comment is proof.

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all suffer from deep regret, burnout, resentment, depression Nonsense. John Carmack is the most obvious counterexample. But pretty much anyone that works in gaming. While the stories of resentment of specific employers abound — your general thesis is nonsense.

I think John Carmack is amazing but also an outlier. The intersection of the sets of developers who: A) make it to their 40s and are still IC's B) still work > 40hrs/wk on a startup for little-to-no-pay C) are still happy and enjoying themselves Is small. It's not empty though! But I do think there are many people who think this is the ideal way to live or something they ought to strive for. And the set of people who…

I'm trying to make it through your comment but get stuck at IC, asking the Internet gives me this list:

https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/IC

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#403
post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think John Carmack is amazing but also an outlier. The intersection of the sets of developers who: A) make it to their 40s and are still IC's B) still work > 40hrs/wk on a startup for little-to-no-pay C) are still happy and enjoying themselves Is small. It's not empty though! But I do think there are many people who think this is the ideal way to live or something they ought to strive for. And the set of people who…

I'm trying to make it through your comment but get stuck at IC, asking the Internet gives me this list: https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/IC

Apologies, given the audience I assumed it was a well-known acronym, my bad.

It stands for, Individual Contributor, and means "a programmer whose only responsibility is to contribute to the code."

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#404
post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Namedropping Peterson when he has 0 relevance to the conversation at hand He absolutely has relevance considering he's the most recent prominent public figure pushing the Bible as "the foundational stories" without which we cannot live. Yes, there are others and it may be that OP arrived at this independently, but I've heard this most from his followers. I acknowledge that I may've been slightly nudged by OP's unfo…

He really doesn't though. Just because you personally make company with his followers doesn't mean anyone else on this site does. In all my time here I don't think I've _ever_ seen someone take his side, I've only ever seen him used as a weird strawman in the same fashion you are. I think it's a pretty dull tactic to namedrop e-celebs you don't like as a very crude way of making a point. Clearly you have some fairly…

As I said in my previous reply, I don't disagree I could have framed my response better, however I am not just throwing Peterson here for fun, I am reacting to "You have no time to waste on western civilization's foundational text?" which is in my opinion a non-constructive argument of the sort that the likes of Peterson use to make people who disagree with their arguments feel like they're just not on the same level if they're missing the brilliance of the Bible.

I came across this sort of thing a lot in my life from Christians trying to convert me so I don't necessarily have the same amount of patience as others might to these sorts of tactics.

Note that I'm not even arguing against reading it to inform oneself, (something I've done multiple times), just this particular tactic of trying to get people to read it.

That's all.

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to the people who want to argue this: show me a body of work which has been more influential on western society. A potential competitor would be Ancient Greek Philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle). Though it is hard to measure. > What people seem to identify as 'western' values are largely just judeo christian values. Nope, 'Judeo-Christian values' is a horrible Christian-Americanism that seems to erase the vast…

'Judeo-Christian values' is actually phrase coined by George Orwell, but it's clear that you're much better studied on the topic. Any Christian or Jew will obviously acknowledge the many differences between the faiths, but I'm confused that you seem to be saying there aren't HUGE similarities in their value systems. Do you have many Jewish or Christian friends? I feel as if your understanding of Jewish/Christian cult…

> 'Judeo-Christian values' is actually phrase coined by George Orwell

I didn't know that, but this phrase seems to be common in the US. I have not encountered it much elsewhere.

> I'm confused that you seem to be saying there aren't HUGE similarities in their value systems

I don't deny there are many similarities, but my lived experience is that the core values and tenets of the two religions are quite different. Maybe you have a different experience.

Judaism also has many similarities with Samaritanism and Islam. So why don't we speak speak of Abrahamic values? My point is I am suspicious of the term 'Judeo-Christian values'.

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#406

comma.ai has too much regulatory and third party (car mfg.) risk. it's also too expensive when the most compelling features are upgrades to 2015-2018 level technology. i could instead do without and then upgrade to a new car with stop and go cruise control, lane minding, etc.

If expense is the only drawback, there's knockoff you can find on AliExpress. Browse /r/Comma_AI for more info.

the major drawback I didn't even bother mentioning is the "faff" factor.

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#407
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please read the details of Howard Hughes's test flights (also Winston Churchill) and realize that perhaps it's people like that who are required to make anything work. If planes were designed by safety committees we would have never figured out how to make them light enough to fly.

No one is saying people cannot experiment. We'd just not rather be the unsuspecting rats in Tesla's try-not-to-kill-too-many-pedestrians beta.

Well personally I'd rather not be any of the 1.35 million annual road deaths. It wouldn't make a huge difference to me if I was one of the 0.000001% got by a Tesla or one of the other ones.

If you want to help US pedestrians you'd be much better going after SUVs and pickups https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/news/20220318/turning-pickup...

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’d suggest some strong psychedelics to crack the ego and take a look at what’s inside. I'd submit that his use of psychedelics is precisely the issue. There was a really odd "/r/Im14AndThisIsDeep" talk he did a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESXOAJRdcwQ It's been a pretty steady decline into run of the mill schizo "demons and angels" talk from him since then.

I found that talk quite interesting/thought provoking (still thinking about some parts years later), is something wrong with me as well?

>is something wrong with me as well?

Nah. It was just a very naive talk. Highly intelligent people without a philosophical education are prone to going off on these tangents where they independently rediscover ancient concepts through modern analogies in a roundabout half-baked way, and start thinking of themselves as gurus.

What a proper study of philosophy teaches you is that you cannot, and will not ever, have a truly novel thought. It's all been said. And if you do happen to have one, it will be the result of an incredible dedicated effort and take a lifetime of work to prove it, building on the work of others. Not an hour long TED talk.

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#409

Kinda surprising that he's stepping away from Comma.ai after they just opened their new office in San Diego. Anyhow, there's a Hotz stream out in the world where he completes a few of those hacking challenge exercises. George is an amazing engineer and I use that stream as a metric for where I want to be in my knowledge and technical ability.

A link to that would be awesome if possible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFaFmkCEGEs

https://github.com/geohot/twitchchess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hlb8YX2-W8

https://github.com/geohot/twitchslam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8nhQSp__3s

Re: I’m taking some time away from Comma

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this why Argo AI (legacy funded startup from the ranks of CMU, system set them up for success) just shut down their entire company and Comma is still selling devices? No? Ok.

I'm not sure what you think this proves, but Argo's shutdown is indicative of just how difficult driverless is. GP's comment is entirely about how Comma needs to mature beyond the hacker underdog shipping some devices to DIY tinkerers, and that's an incredibly challenging task. If anything, your comment is proof.

It proves that comma is making money today by being an “underdog” while Argo never made a dime and is now out of business by being the opposite of an underdog. Would you rather be an underdog or be unemployed?
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