atroyn

17 ms·

151.
by atroyn 11y ago
I sort of left two additional open questions: - How long can the current era last? I.e. are we default-alive or default-dead? - Am I not thinking laterally enough about what pre-industrial civilizations could have done?
152.
by atroyn 11y ago
Accessing shale is trivial for our civilization, not necessarily for those of even 200 years ago. - You have to know the shale gas is there - You have to be able to extract, capture and refine it - You have to be able to distribute it
153.
by atroyn 11y ago
The problem there is, such a benevolent AI us not a robust technology. If we are thrown back into the pre-industrial era, there's a good chance that the AI would stop functioning. Make no mistake, I'm optimistic about technology i
154.
by atroyn 11y ago
I'm not sure I understand how exactly a human-equivalent AGI would be more dangerous than an actual human.
155.
by atroyn 11y ago
I wrote this in response to much of the hoopla around the 'threat' of A.I super-intelligence, and other unlikely disasters. The future of humanity as a species is worth thinking about, but we also ought to be considering the very
156.
The Scariest, Most Boring Armageddon(medium.com)
52 points by atroyn 11y ago|74 comments
157.
by atroyn 11y ago
Robot arms are a complex control problem all on their own. To catch the rocket they'd have to be very fast, and very precise. At the same time, the rocket's control loops already have only a very small margin for error. A small mi
158.
by atroyn 11y ago
They didn't cut the stream, the satellite link to the drone ship failed - SpaceX wasn't getting telemetry either.
159.
by atroyn 11y ago
Now you have two problems. But I wonder if something much simpler, like a net, wouldn't make more sense. As soon as the rocket touches down, the net extents and wraps the rocket, keeping it upright.
160.
by atroyn 11y ago
I wonder how much of both there was left though. If they can salvage the engine it still might be a success. It would also depend on when the leg broke - do they vent any unspent LOX/Kerosene after they land?
161.
by atroyn 11y ago
Every extra part is extra weight, needing extra fuel, which in turn needs extra-extra-fuel because of the weight of that new fuel, and so on. There is very little redundancy on a rocket. It's unknown what exactly 'not upright&#x27
162.
by atroyn 11y ago
I wonder if it exploded this time, last time they didn't stay upright the remaining fuel ignited and it blew up.
163.
by atroyn 11y ago
I believe a lot of the autonomous mowers also require you to lay a guidewire around the boundary of your property.
164.
by atroyn 11y ago
Kiva really seems to be the anomaly - and afterward, Raffaello D'Andrea went off to be a professor (though he has some new companies in the works to do with drones).
165.
by atroyn 11y ago
While it's true that DoD can allocate considerable funding, it seems strange that there is no other business model.
166.
by atroyn 11y ago
There is also having pulls accepted on open source, e.g. fixing bugs in various libraries and so on - one doesn't need to start a whole OSS project from scratch to contribute.
167.
by atroyn 11y ago
That's true. In fact, it seems like cosying up to DoD is the only way for a robotics company to really get anywhere or stay afloat in the long run. This shouldn't be true, yet seems to be. Why?
168.
by atroyn 11y ago
It seems like every consumer and industrial robotics company, with the exception of the drone makers, tends to run into trouble sooner rather than later - and it turns out being a division of Google doesn't help that much. Rethink Robo
169.
by atroyn 11y ago
Cynical answer: because companies want to see that you'll write code for free, so you'll never ask for a raise or overtime. The less cynical answer is because working on some open source thing at least exposes your willingness to
170.
by atroyn 11y ago
I urge you to look into the price of 'party hats' in runescape. They were released only on Christmas 2001, and since then have blown up in real dollars.
171.
by atroyn 11y ago
Musk's comments about using nuclear weapons to warm Mars were an offhand joke. It confuses me to see many people take them seriously.
172.
by atroyn 11y ago
I have a dozen or so friends who have done YC who aren't even American, let alone from the Ivies. Don't make things up.
173.
by atroyn 11y ago
Because that would make it more expensive than people are willing to pay for an autonomous lawnmower. What a strange comparison to make, lawnmowers don't need LIDAR.
174.
by atroyn 11y ago
Bosch already has a line of automated lawn mowers. You can buy one today.
175.
by atroyn 11y ago
A lot of the discussion in this thread focuses on culture annd safety, but I think the main lever of autonomous vehicles will be economics. For example, cargo vehicles not carrying any passengers or a driver would represent a huge cost savi
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by atroyn 11y ago
This might be seen as the tipping point in commercial space ventures. With SpaceX running LEO operations, NASA/Roscosmos can focus on the planets next.
177.
by atroyn 11y ago
It's one reason, another was in case you'd been there a long time and could comment on what's changed over the last 5-10 years. And I think that describes most startup ecosystems, just those also happen to be the conditions f
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by atroyn 11y ago
My question was intended toward the parent comment.
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by atroyn 11y ago
Single dude in mid 20s who likes to party - not more than 1.5k/month. 1k if you're frugal. Cost of living in Berlin is rising but still way below other Western European capitals. Housing is the biggest issue but your company can h
180.
by atroyn 11y ago
How long have you been in Berlin, out of curiosity?

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