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What Happens Next Will Amaze You

idlewords.com

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Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#221

Post by radlad »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #156
tedks wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ehhh I think HN already directs too much of the discourse. I understand the intent of minimum karma downvoting, for example, but I think that encourages elitism, because if you have to be validated with 500 karma before you can downvote, then the implication is that you're in a class of people that's better than others and you don't feel you have to explain yourself. EDIT: like how this comment is being silently down…

Downvoting of this comment only makes sense to me if someone disagrees with you. And on that note, is that what downvoting on HN is for? Other link aggregators typically say downvoting isn't for disagreements; that's what commenting is for.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#222

Post by beambot »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #182
colordrops wrote: post #30

From the article: > In a television interview this week, Musk said: "I'm trying to do useful things." Then he outlined his plan to detonate nuclear weapons on Mars. > These people are the face of our industry. It's hard to take the rest of the article seriously when the author is purposely misquoting people to make them look bad. The comment in question was said on Late Night with Stephen Colbert, when asked what the…

The entire article is written to be humorous, but that's doesn't mean he doesn't have a point here. Namely, this mindless pursuit of space is hilariously culture-deaf because in the end, if all these miracles somehow come to pass, we'll just bring our stupid problems with us to our colonies. In a few generations we'll have homeless people on Mars and a tech bubble exploding there as well. If we can't fix these proble…

> If we can't fix these problems locally, how do we expect to fix them remotely?

That seems at odds with centuries of human existence. Nations, cultures, and people have migrated, immigrated, expanded, and contracted for a very long time. A hyper-local focus is (probably) just as toxic as a hyper-global focus, no?

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#223

Post by mizzao »

dexterdog wrote: post #154

"Apple alone has nearly $200 billion in cash that is doing nothing." Um, I assume they have it invested in some manner.

According to http://www.cheatsheet.com/features/how-does-apple-invest-its...:

Cash, money market instruments, and other types of fixed income. Basically lots of things that can be turned into cash quickly without much volatility in their price.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#224

Post by jessaustin »

gjm11 wrote: post #200
jessaustin wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I don't think I'm caught on the euphemism treadmill; I have no problem describing some systems and some people as socialist. (And, for the avoidance of doubt, I don't regard it as an insult to do so.) I just don't think it applies accurately to Scandinavian-style social democracy.

That's reasonable. If you wouldn't mind, you could help understanding by pointing to particular aspects of the Scandinavian style that disqualify the "socialist" classification. After all, there are some people on HN who unironically describe USA as "socialist".

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#225

Post by collyw »

magoghm wrote: post #148
pascalmahe wrote: post #23

Thank you for this talk. Especially the part about fighting against the tobacco industry. It really made me realize that this is a fight that can be won. I honestly thought this was a lost battle. It will, however, be a more subtle battle as the advertising industry (Big Ads ?) cannot be linked to something as clearly detremental as lung cancer and will be quick to point out that the technology developped can help fi…

Michael Crichton on the Unproven Dangers of Secondhand Smoke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGoZ-b1OaW4

Not accoding to the study mentioned here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2013/12/12/study-fi...

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#226

Post by hoprocker »

This will probably get me hellbanned here, but here's a bit of gold:

"The companies that come out of [venture capital funding] are no longer pursuing profit, or even revenue. Instead, the measure of their success is valuation—how much money they've convinced people to tell them they're worth."

I yearn now for a modern day Ambrose Bierce to write up something clever and cutting, with entries like:

_valuation_: how much money you've convinced people to tell you you're worth

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#227

Post by vlehto »

keyme wrote: post #71
vlehto wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How about ending hunger worldwide? It's mostly a distribution problem nowadays. It's also incentives problem if you are not all in communist. If you simply send food from Europe to Africa, it disincentives food production in Africa. Which causes unemployment and hinders economic growth with it. And it also causes huge security of supply problem and might cause starvation if something happens to the shipping. My best…

I'm sure this will work brilliantly, considering that no one who needs your money there has a bank account or credit card. Cash also won't work due to the tiny problem of all the warlords and corrupt government/police/military/paramilitary taking all this money away by force. The only way to make a shit place better for people, is if some rich guy finds an investment opportunity there, that as a side effect, might di…

>bank account or credit card

Cash has been invented. They also don't have mail addresses but still some people suggest sending food.

I supposed a way to give aid. No matter what way you choose the warlords and corrupt governments are going to be huge problem.

The best way to help so far has been private investing. But it doesn't matter if the investor is single rich guy or bunch of average westerners. That's how stock works. But the warlords are again a problem. During the past 50 years, western "help" has done probably more harm than good. But that doesn't mean we are unable to ever do any good. As far as I understand, that UBI idea has been only once for limited time, and it looked like it could be a success.

It would be great if we could incentivize the warlords to behave. We should start from a country that's relatively safe and where the locals can anonymously report if they got to keep the money. Despite such country not being the absolutely poorest one. This should turn out for the best once more restless countries figure out they could be collecting fat taxes from the imported goods. If they just settle down.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#228

Post by tptacek »

idlewords wrote: post #220
tptacek wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still a bit confused about how right-to-download helps non-nerds. I think I have a minor allergic reaction to things that are (a) so hard to implement that they raise barriers to newcomers and (b) only help the nerd class.

Some ways I can think of that help non-nerds: - lets you make backups you physically control - prevents vendor lock-in - lets you spot and correct mistakes in things like your user profile - lets you verify that things you deleted were actually deleted - promotes competition by making it easier to take your data and go elsewhere - protects your privacy by forcing vendors to keep better track internally of what user d…

You don't think these are things that mostly just nerds care about?

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#229

Post by gozo »

Retra wrote: post #103
gozo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that your opinion. The point is when you change the variables you change the outcome and it won't magically be for the better, especially since there's little precedence. It's pointless to loose karma over this on HN though when I can and regularly do talk about it with actual aerospace engineers.

You could say that about any technology. "The invention of microwave technology will just lead to microwave weapons, Oh No!"

I don't see any problem in considering the good and bad of any technology, its implementation and its effects. I would say it's good engineering practice if anything.

More than anything I think premature, excessive and/or misguided credit is damaging to engineering and entrepreneurship. It shifts the focus from knowledge and creativity to adoration and exceptionalism. Quite opposite the mindset of Musk himself.

Re: What Happens Next Will Amaze You

#230

Post by look_lookatme »

JacobJans wrote: post #211

> The losers are small publishers and small advertisers. Universal click fraud drives down the value of all advertising, making it harder for niche publishers to make ends meet. This is absolutely not true in my case. I'm both a small publisher and a small advertiser. I have absolutely no trouble making ends meet. Perhaps I will in the future, but it is very unlikely that click fraud or or privacy concerns will be to…

How many people do you employ and/or pay livable wages to produce content?
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