101–110 of 245 posts
its in the running for the biggest technological change maybe in the last 100 years? whats so confusing about this, thinking machines have been invented
Yeah... we took raw elements from the earth, struck them with bits of lightning, and now they think for us. That in itself is pretty amazing.
What I found insightful about this article was the framing of another article cited. > " This pretty negative post topping Hacker News last month sparked these questions, and I decided to find some answers, of course, using AI" The pretty negative post cited is https://tomrenner.com/posts/llm-inevitabilism/ . I went ahead to read it, and found it, imo, fair. It's not making any direct pretty negative claims about AI,…
Weird what counts as "negative" on HN. Question something politely? You're being negative. Criticize something? Negative. Describe it in a way someone might interpret badly? Negative. Sometimes it seems like anything that's not breathless, unconditional praise is considered being negative and curmudgeonly. It's turning into a "positive thoughts only" zone.
So the emotional process which results in the knee-jerk reactions to even the slightest and most valid critiques of AI (and the value structure underpinning Silicon Valley's pursuit of AGI) comes from the same place that religous nuts come from when they perceive an infringement upon their own agenda (Christianity, Islam, pick your flavor -- the reactivity is the same).
What I found insightful about this article was the framing of another article cited. > " This pretty negative post topping Hacker News last month sparked these questions, and I decided to find some answers, of course, using AI" The pretty negative post cited is https://tomrenner.com/posts/llm-inevitabilism/ . I went ahead to read it, and found it, imo, fair. It's not making any direct pretty negative claims about AI,…
It’s certainly not the worst article I’ve read here. But that’s why I didn’t really like it.
its in the running for the biggest technological change maybe in the last 100 years? whats so confusing about this, thinking machines have been invented
Yeah... we took raw elements from the earth, struck them with bits of lightning, and now they think for us. That in itself is pretty amazing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weird what counts as "negative" on HN. Question something politely? You're being negative. Criticize something? Negative. Describe it in a way someone might interpret badly? Negative. Sometimes it seems like anything that's not breathless, unconditional praise is considered being negative and curmudgeonly. It's turning into a "positive thoughts only" zone.
I would generally file questioning and criticism under "negative". Are you interpreting "negative" as a synonym for bad or something?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a relevant number of power users that also flag everything that is critical of big tech and won’t fit their frame as well, sending it into oblivion, regardless of the community rules and clear support from other voting members. But also calling that out is seen as negative and not constructive, and there goes any attempt at a discussion.
Can you point to a set of recent comments that are critical of big tech while also not breaking the guidelines and make good points, and are flagged anyway? All of the anti-big-tech comments I've ever seen that are flagged are flagged because they blatantly break the guidelines and/or are contentless and don't contribute in any meaningful sense aside from trying to incite outrage. And those should be flagged.
I explicitly enable flagged and dead because sometimes there are nuggets in there which provide interesting context to what people think.
I will never flag anything. I dont get it.
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How do you know who flags submissions?
i don’t, but I know certain users have a strong flagging penchant. check my recent submission, the vitriol it received, and read this https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/03/27/youll-never-gue...
I noticed at one point a few days ago that all 10 out of the top 10 articles on the front page were about AI or LLMs. Granted, that doesn't happen often, but wow. This craze is just unrelenting.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would generally file questioning and criticism under “neutral”, in some very specific cases “positive” or “negative”. Are you interpreting “negative” as “anything not strictly positive”?
Questions can be neutral but questioning is probably negative, and criticism is solidly negative in my book. So no I am not doing that. In what world does "criticism" not default to "negative"?
The ethos of HN is to err on the side of assuming good faith and the strongest possible interpretation of other's positions, and to bring curiosity first and foremost. Curiosity often leads to questions.
Can you clarify what you mean by distinguishing between "questions" and "questioning"? How or why is one neutral while the other is probably negative?
I'll also point out that I'm questioning you here, not out of negativity, but because it's a critical aspect of communication.
> In what world does "criticism" not default to "negative"?
Criticism is what we each make of it. If you frame it as a negative thing, you'll probably find negativity. If you frame it as an opportunity to learn/expand on a critical dialogue, good things can come from it.
While I understand what you're getting at and get that some people are overly critical in a "default to negative" way, I've come to deeply appreciate constructive, thoughtful criticism from people I respect, and in those context, I don't think summing it up as "negative" really captures what's happening.
If you're building a product, getting friendly and familiar with (healthy) criticism is critical, and when applied correctly will make the product much better.
Would be fun to do similar analysis for HN front page trends that peaked and then declined, like cryptocurrency, NFTs, Web3, and self-driving cars. And actually it’s funny: self-driving cars and cryptocurrency are continuing to advance dramatically in real life but there are hardly any front page HN stories about them anymore. Shows the power of AI as a topic that crowds out others. And possibly reveals the trendy na…
Is cryptocurrency advancing dramatically? Maybe this is an illustration of this effect, but I haven't seen any news about any major changes, other than line-go-up stuff.