What Happens Next Will Amaze You • Hacker News Board

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#161

Post by jessaustin » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 3:49 PM UTC

morgante wrote: post #76

gjm11 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is only in the United States that "modern Scandinavian-style social democracy" is apparently indistinguishable from socialism. Socialism means large-scale state ownership -- or some other kind of collective ownership by The People -- of "the means of production", in the hope of controlling production to match need. Scandinavian-style social democracy means high taxes, a generous welfare state, and quite a lot of g…

Uh, considering that many major European parties explicitly identify as "socialists," I'm not sure it's the US that's confused. It's the US that is confused with the notion that socialism == communism.

Perhaps 'gjm11 is caught on Pinker's euphemism treadmill? If "socialist" is no longer a word we can use in polite company, how will we signify that political and economic arrangement?

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#162

Post by wcummings » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 3:52 PM UTC

seiji wrote: post #79

rl3 wrote: post #46

>I've also met people on the YouTube ads team, and they hate their lives and want to die. Maybe those informational widgets that pop up when you Google suicide-related terms didn't actually arise from a sense of humanity or civic duty, but from a desire to reduce employee turnover in their ad divisions. /s Macabre humor aside, I actually wonder if there's any organizations out there funding ads targeted at suicidal i…

Asking google for suicide topics usually starts off with a big info box (non-ad unit) of: Need help? United States: 1 (800) 273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week Languages: English, Spanish Website: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org As for YouTube ad engineers, pretty much everybody on the planet knows forced pre-roll youtube ads are a bad idea. Nobody wants to watch them. So, t…

>pretty much everybody on the planet knows forced pre-roll youtube ads are a bad idea

What makes you say that?

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#163

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 3:55 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#164

Post by tptacek » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:00 PM UTC

tedks wrote: post #147

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easier to call out the author on a nitpick than to thoughtfully refute his arguments for the sake of racking up more imaginary internet points.

And the imaginary internet points incentive system HN uses implicitly incentivizes those posts. One way to stop this would be to have people who post low-value high-expected-karma-yield posts get randomly banned. This would function as a variable punishment and should be quite effective at training HN users.

"Worst. HN. Suggestion. Ever."

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#165

Post by tlb » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:02 PM UTC

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #121

Of all the recommendations in this piece, I think the right to be offline is by far the most necessary. I simply do not trust my devices not to track me without permission. I have no way of knowing whether or not my mic and webcam are on at any time and if someone in Maryland is staring at my bloodshot eyes staring at the New York Times. Every Internet-connected device should have a hardware off switch, same for came…

Not that I disagree overall, but there are good reasons why manufacturers avoid hardware off switches:

  - ugly
  - unreliable
  - confusing UI: you need to know whether it was physically switched off or auto-powered-down to know how to turn it back on

Solving some of these, like by designing a better mechanical switch, might push things forward.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#166

Post by macca321 » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:03 PM UTC

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #123

jonstokes wrote: post #119

Ok, this is a fantastic piece that says a lot of useful and thoughtful things, some of them critical about the priorities of the SF startup scene. And what are a nontrivial portion of the HN comments doing? Complaining that he was unfair to Elon freaking Musk!! This is exactly the sort of techno-douchebaggery that the author is writing about, so way to prove his point, nimrods. The one redeeming quality of such comme…

It's easier to call out the author on a nitpick than to thoughtfully refute his arguments for the sake of racking up more imaginary internet points.

" in confrontation with entities that we encounter for the first time or do not have enough appreciation of their complexity, we approach from the most accessible angle we can understand. "

http://byterot.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/rule-of-most-accessibl...

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#167

Post by ised » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

Phlarp wrote: post #159

ised wrote: post #141

"When it bursts companies are going to be more desperate and will unload all the personal data they have... to any willing buyer." I have long predicted this outcome and always thought I was being a bit too realistic. It's nice to see someone else making the same forecast. Of course, only time will tell.

Insurance companies essentially already do unload what data they have about you to any willing buyer. Doubtful many folks will stop buying insurance due to this fact.

I am not sure I understand the comparison. Search engines and adtech are not selling a product, other than the process of serving ads. If sales of ad space and adtech decline, these companies are in trouble. And their "assets" are mainly personal data.

Maybe I missed what you were trying to say.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#168

Post by knowaveragejoe » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:13 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #4

It starts of by saying there is a video version. Does anyone have a link?

I would like to know this as well. I'd love to show this to people, but asking them to read a rather lengthy piece is a bit much.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#169

Post by vlucas » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

Draiken wrote: post #139

hliyan wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's truth in that, but in Musk's case, he's already done a great deal for the world with Tesla and SpaceX. If Mars is what he wants to do with the rest of his money, that is his choice. Certainly better than what certain other billionaires are doing with theirs.

As much as I'd love to own a Tesla car and it does show a lot of innovation in the right direction, it's still a luxury sports car that only few very rich people can own. If he built an electric car for the masses, that would be a big deal for the world. Of course he's pushing inovation, but he still hasn't done "a great deal for the world". Maybe he caused some changes in the US, I'm not in a position to see that, b…

> If he built an electric car for the masses, that would be a big deal for the world.

This is exactly Tesla's goal with the Model 3, targeted at $35,000.

I don't think you understand the amount of time and money required to reach mass production scale of affordable vehicles. Tesla was very wise to start with high-margin sports and luxury cars, because it gives them the capital needed to continue re-investing in production capacity and battery technology for more affordable cars in the future.

Tesla is playing a long game, and so far it's working. The popularity of Tesla alone has driven other auto makers to step up their electric car game, which is indeed a "great deal for the world" to help get us all off combustion engines.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#170

Post by jarek » Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

majani wrote: post #48

mozumder wrote: post #2

The correct answer is to never use programmatic ads. Ever. If you own a site, just curate a set of ads on your site that actually enhances your sites appeal. A fashion site should have matching fashion ads. A tech site should have matching tech ads. A local site should have matching local ads. Reach out to advertisers to get these ads. Never use an algorithm. You, as an editor, should be better than the algorithms. A…

That would work for an independently wealthy individual blogger. Otherwise for a blog with a sales team with aspirational dreams, when the Flash SSD advertiser expresses interest in advertising, he'll go for the deal to make his commission. As the owner of the blog, you block enough such deals, and you'll have yourself a never ending sales exodus

If your salesmen are suggesting SSD ads for your high-production-value female-fashion-and-lifestyle site, you need to pay more for better salesmen

If you're a content farm then rock on