avz

32 ms·

211.
by avz 12y ago
These short-term benefits are minuscule compared to both the costs and the long-term benefits. There are more cost-effective ways of developing better frying pans, pillows and small blinking lights than running a space exploration program.
212.
by avz 12y ago
This is fundamentally a question of the balance between our efforts focused on the long-term vs those focused on the short-term. Space exploration offers significant benefits long-term but generally provides no immediate pay-off next quarte
213.
by avz 12y ago
We're all humans and we all have some fears and insecurities. One practical suggestion: organize a private hackathon with people you trust like your friends or colleagues. This might help to build confidence for larger events.
214.
by avz 12y ago
I do. And I love hackathons. In general I always found the separation of life into life and the other stuff rather blurry, but hackathons have given me so much fun, excitement, great memories and occasional friendships that I definitely put
215.
by avz 12y ago
Where does it say that the post is about mandatory hackathons organized by a company for its employees ? Also, I think you're missing the point of the parent post. The point is that the balance of pros and cons of a hackathon is a
216.
by avz 12y ago
Computer systems may be complex, but they're not the most difficult to use. I'd say a lathe for example is harder to use than a smartphone or a PC. Generally, high complexity of the implementation does not necessarily translate
217.
by avz 12y ago
I think there are actually two interesting questions here since there are now many Pirate Parties in Europe. One about the general stance of pirate parties and one about the stance of the German PP specifically. I would generally expect a p
218.
by avz 12y ago
You're making implicit assumption that a new OS must come in with a new ecosystem built from scratch. There is a significant number of standards (e.g. POSIX, ELF, PDF etc) that can help you ensure different levels of interoperability w
219.
by avz 12y ago
Natural monopolies are things like infrastructure where the entry cost of providing a fully separate parallel network (of railway lines, phone lines, broadband etc) is prohibitively high or where provision of such parallel network is undesi
220.
by avz 12y ago
First, curiosity and the need for understanding the universe and our place in it are real human needs. I agree they do not have the short-term urgency and fulfilling them is a long-term objective. Second, having all of humanity live on a si
221.
by avz 12y ago
Improved understanding of our solar system, its history and our place in the universe is a real benefit that soon will be available for anyone. Comets are generally very old, so can enable us to learn a lot about solar system's history
222.
by avz 12y ago
Time and again, the luxury of one era becomes a basic need of the next. Legal protection, education, electricity, health care...
223.
by avz 12y ago
> ...math (in the sort of "doing stuff with functions in (R -> R), or multiplications/division") This is not what math is. It's more what calculus is and math is a lot more than calculus. Most mathematics is not ab
224.
by avz 12y ago
I've always been surprised when my friends mention how hard it is to install FOSS packages from scratch. I mean what can be more natural than cd directory ./configure make make install it's almost like in
225.
by avz 12y ago
Everybody's knowledge breaks down if you dig deep enough. You can for example ask how to produce the metal for the wiring of that power supply and from which minerals and ores. You don't need to know this since this isn't com
226.
by avz 12y ago
> opportunities to grow your wealth aren't scale invariant. This can be solved by pooling your capital with a group of people until you reach the scale at which the opportunity you were looking for becomes available. One way this ha
227.
by avz 12y ago
See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8365158
228.
Jsonnet – Data Templating Language(google.github.io)
6 points by avz 12y ago|0 comments
229.
by avz 12y ago
I wonder whether this assessment of the market efficiency and benefits to society brought on by price discrimination would change if we account for the time and effort people spend on trying to game the system.
230.
by avz 12y ago
I think one should spend their time on whatever one is passionate about. It seems some people have jobs which are so interesting and engaging that they are essentially aligned with their passions. I think it's great!
231.
by avz 12y ago
> So why sacrifice compatibility for no improvement. No improvement? How about improvement in security?
232.
by avz 12y ago
I used checks and wire transfers and had to pay a fee for both. I've never been charged for making a cash payment.
233.
by avz 12y ago
> This sounds straight up criminal. Carrying a GPS enabled phone and mapping the route driven should gather enough evidence to persuade regulators to take action. This happened to me multiple times in the US, Europe and Asia generally wh
234.
by avz 12y ago
Not so fast. You seem to assume that measurement in this case is simple and non-controversial. In fact measuring the amount of deliberate practice is very hard. How do you account for the difference in the types of activities individuals en
235.
by avz 12y ago
From my point of view that is a risk. It would allow complacency and underachievement (why work hard on your dreams if your achievement is already determined by your genes anyway and there are others better suited for whatever it is your dr
236.
by avz 12y ago
To see an extra color, i.e. to become tetrachromats, we would need a lot more than a dietary change, so this is an entirely new subject barely related to the original post. To distinguish an extra color we would need a new type of cone cell
237.
by avz 12y ago
I'm skeptical about a specific number of 10,000 hours claimed to be valid across multitude of skills and domains, but I think the spirit of the rule makes a lot of sense. I think the value of innate talents compared to training and exe
238.
by avz 12y ago
> Everyone ended up in the same position as before, but now they work 2x more Surely the extra people working produced more output (e.g. ~twice as many bugs fixed/year or ~twice as many new anti-cancer drugs/year). Supply of so
239.
by avz 12y ago
I think you're trying to solve a wrong problem. Work isn't a problem. Work is what propelled humanity to explore, understand and conquer the world around us. Human work is a requirement for the development of medicine, greener tec
240.
by avz 12y ago
> “If every man and woman would work for four hours each day on something useful,” Benjamin Franklin assumed, “that labor would produce sufficient to procure all the necessaries and comforts of life.” True, but I hope we aspire to more t

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