FD3SA

14 ms·

121.
by FD3SA 12y ago
I find it fascinating that this new wave of post-modernist "equalism" demands segmenting and dissecting every group into ever smaller minorities. Black, Asian, Latino, Gay Asian, Lesbian Latino, Hetero Black Woman, etc. Ignoring f
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Exactly. I've written about this at length because people who don't have much experiences in the hard science/engineering fields have a vast disconnect between what's possible in software vs. what's possible in the
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Good thing we've been cutting science funding across the board! Doubt the NIH and NSF grants were helping science much anyway. As a matter of fact, science should be privately funded and privately run. What idiot thought it was a good
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Please elucidate exactly to which sub-industry Goldman-Sachs belongs. I'm all ears. Last time I checked, banks are the most powerful industry, and GS is the most powerful bank[1]. Aleynikov was single handedly building, deploying, main
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Actually in his case, his worst enemy was himself. He did not accurately value himself within the organization either politically or economically [1]. He thus paid the price. The programmer types were different from the trader types. The t
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by FD3SA 12y ago
I felt the same, but I've come to realize that the comment you take issue with perfectly encapsulates the tech industry. A no holds barred race to the bottom. That's why work conditions, salary, stability and prestige are nowhere
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by FD3SA 12y ago
The NASA site on lift is phenomenal. Particularly the Java applet which does a simple simulation of of an airfoil with velocity and pressure plots. I've completed a specilization in Aerospace engineering, and this simulation basically
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by FD3SA 12y ago
The current generation seems to be more preoccupied with social media and video games and less with pushing the boundaries of scientific and technological achievement" This is because the current generation has been dealt the worst d
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Cannot agree more with this. Open source software is a perfect fit with public institutions. I don't understand why any government uses proprietary platforms. It would be cheaper and far more effective to hire a dozen open source devs
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Two days after this was posted I found my home IP blocked from Hacker News (or rather slowbanned to the point that Cloudfare gives up), reinforcing everything I said above. Was it really necessary to ban him? I found this post very insigh
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Precisely. Cases like this demonstrate exactly why democracy is meaningless when paired with an unrestrained capitalist system. Money completely triumphs votes in every policy issue. Income taxes are significantly higher than capital gains
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by FD3SA 12y ago
After going through those photos, I was overcome with an immense sadness. Such a perfect portrait of the decline of institutional science.
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by FD3SA 12y ago
You may take issue with it, but it's a fact that a large number of very profitable companies have avoided hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes over recent years. Trying to shame an individual who wants to save a few hundred thousan
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by FD3SA 12y ago
This man speaks the truth. Michael has elucidated the the nature of employee/employer relations in tech with surgical precision. Highly recommended. Particularly, this article [1] about the perceived status of engineers vs. managers so
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by FD3SA 12y ago
For the record I'm a die-hard scientist at heart and hold individuals who attempt to tackle the greatest scientific and technological challenges (e.g. fusion) in the absolute highest esteem. I understand that at the moment, the VC fund
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by FD3SA 12y ago
The takeaway from Thiel's fairly accurate assessment of broad technological progress is the following: You get what you incentivize. Winner-take-all free market capitalism is not synonymous with advanced, century-long research and deve
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by FD3SA 12y ago
I never understood why the politically correct crowd happily accepts that athletic ability is heritable, yet when it comes to intelligence suddenly all bets are off. As soon as we accept reality for what it is, we can begin adapting our soc
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Except Boeing is not the "least risky" option, because their vehicle hasn't even been tested. "Least risky" doesn't just mean the company record. The CST-100 is a brand new vehicle, and Boeing's oh so famo
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by FD3SA 12y ago
This is a ridiculous article based on completely illogical assertions. It states that Boeing and Blue Origin are the "low-risk option", when the Boeing CST-100 and the Blue Origin BE-3 rocket have had precisely zero test flights,
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Exactly. It is quite optimistic and borderline naive to believe that YC can replicate the Manhattan project in every one of these fields with a few hundred grand and a few months in a dorm. This is just a huge lack of perspective by people
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Does anyone know how Musk plans to address the lack of Mars' magnetosphere? [1] As much as I am rooting for him, I don't see how a long term colony is possible without addressing this problem. If we're going to live in underg
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Precisely this. Fusion, AGI and Longevity almost account for the entire set of Very Hard Problems in science. Any progress made in these fronts will yield massive breakthroughs in our understanding and lead to immediately increased quality
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Now that we're sadly past the era of "Big Science", we need to rely on business models to get anything done. This includes trips to the moon. I would argue though, that even if Big Science were to make a comeback, manned Moon
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by FD3SA 12y ago
A fascinating document, thank you for the link. As a Canadian, I'm quite disturbed by these numbers, since the "trickle-down" theory that these tax rates are based on have been proven false by Thomas Piketty's work. Iron
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Capitalism`s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The profit motive is so strong that it often ends up creating irrational scenarios such as the economic situation we have today. European countries seem to have struck a far bett
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by FD3SA 12y ago
I wonder why we never see articles about the gender imbalance in investment banking, underwater welding, or trucking.
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by FD3SA 12y ago
You really need to mention that you're a navy carrier pilot. In the world of pilots, navy carrier pilots are the heroes. My hat's off to you, I have the qualifications but have always hesitated to apply to my nation's pilot p
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Does anyone know why this layoff occurred? Was it a case of their designs maturing, and thus SpaceX no longer needing the large R&D staff they previously did? Quite curious, as they seem to be doing very well. Musk has capitalized on th
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by FD3SA 12y ago
HN is a fascinating place mainly because it is one of the most diverse communities of incredibly intelligent people on the web. The level of discourse is usually high while covering a very broad range of subjects. Subject specific communiti
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by FD3SA 12y ago
Meant to upvote you but may have fudged it. You've hit the nail precisely on the head. SV is now a well oiled machine for taking ideas and turning them into money for investors via IPOs. Technology and "saving the world" have

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