37 ms·

Thank you for sharing. I have been researching this topic for about ten years now and no first hand accounts like to talk or are they alive anymore, this is a v

Thank you for sharing. I have been researching this topic for about ten years now and no first hand accounts like to talk or are they alive anymore, this is a very important story, especially in contrast the the dominant Western narratives, thank you!

Vincent_Yan404 10mo ago
Thank you for this profound comment. It is incredibly humbling to hear this from someone who has spent a decade researching the topic. You are right—the generation that built '404' is aging, and many of their stories are fading into silence. One of my primary motivations for writing this was the realization that if I didn't document these memories now, they might be lost forever. I hope my first-hand account can provide a more nuanced, human layer to the historical data you've gathered. There is so much more to tell beyond the official records.
- panic 10mo ago
  [flagged]
  - embedding-shape 10mo ago
    While reading through the post, I too felt it being similar to LLM generated text, but the stories and the perspective is uniquely human, or is there something specific that sticks out as inhuman from the text? Specific parts that sounds implausible? It obvious that something was used to do the translation, but it doesn't feel worse than any other machine-translated texts, as long as I get the gist and the overall idea of what the author is trying to communicate, I feel like it's good enough.
    - panic 10mo ago
      The fact that OP was a new account communicating completely via LLM made me suspicious. He does seem legit though based on his more recent comments.
    - chaostheory 10mo ago
      I’m going to guess that the dash gave it away. What a lot of people don’t see to understand is that using an LLM for translations is better than using vanilla translate. The traditional translation apps lose a lot of context and subtly, and they sound even more artificial.
      - fn-mote 10mo ago
        I'd just ask writers to be up-front about it. "English isn't my native language, so this is processed using an LLM." Even the replies in HN comments scream "LLM".
        chaostheory 10mo ago
        The guy grew up in mainland China and is still currently in mainland China.
    - Vincent_Yan404 10mo ago
      Yes I used AI to translate. You said "Specific parts that sounds implausible",and the second part is more unbelievable, I can only guarantee it's nonfiction.
    - morserer 10mo ago
      Yes, the author used an AI translator to transcribe his original article, written in Chinese. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46414040 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46414040
  - readthenotes1 10mo ago
    It passed my turing test. I found it well written and interesting.
thomassmith65 10mo ago
As often as not, these days, when someone online criticizes the West, it's for something absurd (eg: Churchill interfering with Hitler's continental invasions, or America using the word 'regime' when discussing Iran). Obviously, other times the criticism is wholly justified. What "dominant Western narratives" apply here? I'm not going to bicker. I'm just curious.
- idiotsecant 10mo ago
  There's no need to be defensive. We are largely westerners on a western website studying history from a western perspective. There's nothing wrong with that, it's natural. It just means we lose some understanding of events if that's the only side we know. OP is performing a service by documenting first-person history, and doesn't need to justify why it's important. It's important.
  - sophrosyne42 10mo ago
    I'm still curious what specific narratives you had in mind when you said "dominant Western narratives"
    - xanthor 10mo ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410398
      - sersi 10mo ago
        To be fair, my father in law who is Chinese and had to exile himself during the cultural revolution would pretty much say the same thing about the Cultural Revolution. Educated people in China who lived through it will certainly criticise the Cultural Revolution (or The Great Leap Forward for that matter) if they are in a situation when they can be honest about it. So I'm not sure that specific comment would be considered to be a "dominant western narrative" unless you're going to tell me that older (and so who have lived through it) educated people in China who don't speak a word of English have a western mindset because they're educated.

Vincent_Yan404 10mo ago

Thank you for this profound comment. It is incredibly humbling to hear this from someone who has spent a decade researching the topic. You are right—the generation that built '404' is aging, and many of their stories are fading into silence. One of my primary motivations for writing this was the realization that if I didn't document these memories now, they might be lost forever. I hope my first-hand account can provide a more nuanced, human layer to the historical data you've gathered. There is so much more to tell beyond the official records.

panic 10mo ago
[flagged]
- embedding-shape 10mo ago
  While reading through the post, I too felt it being similar to LLM generated text, but the stories and the perspective is uniquely human, or is there something specific that sticks out as inhuman from the text? Specific parts that sounds implausible? It obvious that something was used to do the translation, but it doesn't feel worse than any other machine-translated texts, as long as I get the gist and the overall idea of what the author is trying to communicate, I feel like it's good enough.
  - panic 10mo ago
    The fact that OP was a new account communicating completely via LLM made me suspicious. He does seem legit though based on his more recent comments.
  - chaostheory 10mo ago
    I’m going to guess that the dash gave it away. What a lot of people don’t see to understand is that using an LLM for translations is better than using vanilla translate. The traditional translation apps lose a lot of context and subtly, and they sound even more artificial.
    - fn-mote 10mo ago
      I'd just ask writers to be up-front about it. "English isn't my native language, so this is processed using an LLM." Even the replies in HN comments scream "LLM".
      - chaostheory 10mo ago
        The guy grew up in mainland China and is still currently in mainland China.
  - Vincent_Yan404 10mo ago
    Yes I used AI to translate. You said "Specific parts that sounds implausible",and the second part is more unbelievable, I can only guarantee it's nonfiction.
  - morserer 10mo ago
    Yes, the author used an AI translator to transcribe his original article, written in Chinese. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46414040 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46414040
- readthenotes1 10mo ago
  It passed my turing test. I found it well written and interesting.

thomassmith65 10mo ago

As often as not, these days, when someone online criticizes the West, it's for something absurd (eg: Churchill interfering with Hitler's continental invasions, or America using the word 'regime' when discussing Iran). Obviously, other times the criticism is wholly justified. What "dominant Western narratives" apply here? I'm not going to bicker. I'm just curious.

idiotsecant 10mo ago
There's no need to be defensive. We are largely westerners on a western website studying history from a western perspective. There's nothing wrong with that, it's natural. It just means we lose some understanding of events if that's the only side we know. OP is performing a service by documenting first-person history, and doesn't need to justify why it's important. It's important.
- sophrosyne42 10mo ago
  I'm still curious what specific narratives you had in mind when you said "dominant Western narratives"
  - xanthor 10mo ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410398
    - sersi 10mo ago
      To be fair, my father in law who is Chinese and had to exile himself during the cultural revolution would pretty much say the same thing about the Cultural Revolution. Educated people in China who lived through it will certainly criticise the Cultural Revolution (or The Great Leap Forward for that matter) if they are in a situation when they can be honest about it. So I'm not sure that specific comment would be considered to be a "dominant western narrative" unless you're going to tell me that older (and so who have lived through it) educated people in China who don't speak a word of English have a western mindset because they're educated.