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Scott Aaronson posted about this on his blog https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3880 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3880 I like his update - a messa

by cwkoss 8y ago

Scott Aaronson posted about this on his blog https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3880 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3880 I like his update - a message to Hacker News commenters: "On the Hacker News thread, some commenters are lamenting that such a brilliant mind as Ewin’s would spend its time figuring out how to entice consumers to buy even more products that they don’t need. I confess that that’s an angle that hadn’t even occurred to me: I simply thought that it was a beautiful question whether you actually need a quantum computer to sample the rows of a partially-specified low-rank matrix in polylogarithmic time, and if the application to recommendation systems helped to motivate that question, then so much the better. Now, though, I feel compelled to point out that, in addition to the potentially lucrative application to Amazon and Netflix, research on low-rank matrix sampling algorithms might someday find many other, more economically worthless applications as well."

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
HiroshiSan 8y ago
note that this was reference to a previous HN thread.
Alex3917 8y ago
This result is really a benefit for startups building on Filecoin-type platforms, not for FAANG companies that are already at scale. Reducing the barrier to creating good recommendation algorithms is an import step in re-democratizing the web.
tensor 8y ago
That seems a bit passive aggressive. I don't think economical value is what is in question, but rather the social impact of the application (or lack of positive social impact). Applications can be both economically valuable and have positive social impact. Now recommender systems are in fact useful to discover new things, not just to entice people to buy more. E.g. finding new music, related research, or other things.
- jholloway7 8y ago
  The tone of his comment seems to me he's just frustrated a community of programmers took the conversation down the path of debating the merits of recommendation systems rather than exploring the more general applicability of the algorithm in other problem spaces.
  - wilg 8y ago
    I agree with him. Half the time you'll enter an HN discussion and the most upvoted comment will an unrelated bikeshedding discussion. Usually one of these: - "I love the idea but can we talk about how the website doesn't look good when CSS is disabled?" - "25MB of JavaScript? Really? You know, websites used to..." - "This website is impossible to read because the contrast ratio is too low and I am personally offended." - "Did anyone else get an ad from this news website? Why does advertising exist?" - "An obscure open source project uses the same name as this unrelated business. Have you no shame?" - "The website looks weird on mobile, by which I mean my rooted Android phone running Opera." - "The text is too big." - "The text is too small."
    - MadcapJake 8y ago
      When did "comment" transition into "thought-provoking well-defended essay"? Is there no water cooler talk on the internet anymore? I find interesting tidbits and interesting tangents here on HN and I appreciate it all!
      - Asquil 8y ago
        I think the "most upvoted comment" part is important here. Tangents are indeed good to have, but I don't think they should occupy the most visible parts of the comment section.
    - KaoruAoiShiho 8y ago
      OMG this is so true. Should be a HN bingo.
    - 8y ago
posterboy 8y ago
It's a satirical pun. "More economic" - "more economic what?"
8bitsrule 8y ago
Funny! It's as though we moderns are all grazing in a 100-acre meadow that's been grazed for two centuries. The easy stuff is gone. Even the magic beans are rare. The question is: with your magnifying glass, which seeds do you look at in hopes that they're nutritious? One of my college advisors muttered, and I quote, "Einstein wasted 30 years of his life" (looking for a unified theory). Well now. Sadly, this advisor put graphite on paper for a whole career with little to show for it (apart from employment). Mr. Nobel's name is -not- still recognized because of his economically worthy applications. And it's lucky for Kelvin that he invented a temperature scale.

by cwkoss 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

HiroshiSan 8y ago

note that this was reference to a previous HN thread.

Alex3917 8y ago

This result is really a benefit for startups building on Filecoin-type platforms, not for FAANG companies that are already at scale. Reducing the barrier to creating good recommendation algorithms is an import step in re-democratizing the web.

tensor 8y ago

That seems a bit passive aggressive. I don't think economical value is what is in question, but rather the social impact of the application (or lack of positive social impact). Applications can be both economically valuable and have positive social impact. Now recommender systems are in fact useful to discover new things, not just to entice people to buy more. E.g. finding new music, related research, or other things.

jholloway7 8y ago
The tone of his comment seems to me he's just frustrated a community of programmers took the conversation down the path of debating the merits of recommendation systems rather than exploring the more general applicability of the algorithm in other problem spaces.
- wilg 8y ago
  I agree with him. Half the time you'll enter an HN discussion and the most upvoted comment will an unrelated bikeshedding discussion. Usually one of these: - "I love the idea but can we talk about how the website doesn't look good when CSS is disabled?" - "25MB of JavaScript? Really? You know, websites used to..." - "This website is impossible to read because the contrast ratio is too low and I am personally offended." - "Did anyone else get an ad from this news website? Why does advertising exist?" - "An obscure open source project uses the same name as this unrelated business. Have you no shame?" - "The website looks weird on mobile, by which I mean my rooted Android phone running Opera." - "The text is too big." - "The text is too small."
  - MadcapJake 8y ago
    When did "comment" transition into "thought-provoking well-defended essay"? Is there no water cooler talk on the internet anymore? I find interesting tidbits and interesting tangents here on HN and I appreciate it all!
    - Asquil 8y ago
      I think the "most upvoted comment" part is important here. Tangents are indeed good to have, but I don't think they should occupy the most visible parts of the comment section.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 8y ago
    OMG this is so true. Should be a HN bingo.
  - 8y ago

posterboy 8y ago

It's a satirical pun. "More economic" - "more economic what?"

8bitsrule 8y ago

Funny! It's as though we moderns are all grazing in a 100-acre meadow that's been grazed for two centuries. The easy stuff is gone. Even the magic beans are rare. The question is: with your magnifying glass, which seeds do you look at in hopes that they're nutritious? One of my college advisors muttered, and I quote, "Einstein wasted 30 years of his life" (looking for a unified theory). Well now. Sadly, this advisor put graphite on paper for a whole career with little to show for it (apart from employment). Mr. Nobel's name is -not- still recognized because of his economically worthy applications. And it's lucky for Kelvin that he invented a temperature scale.