btilly

5 ms·

31.
by btilly 4mo ago
So now that Tesla is clearly crashing, fold it into the more successful SpaceX and get to roll the dice again? Classic Elon. This is the same thing that he did to rescue a failing Solar City by making it part of Tesla. It takes a lot to get
32.
by btilly 4mo ago
Just so that nobody jumps in with what I first wanted to jump in with, this estimate was done with the assumption that Elon Musk's Starship is built, works as advertised, and launch costs are at the lower end of the projected range. It
33.
Atlantic 'cold blob' likely caused by weakening AMOC near a tipping point(phys.org)
6 points by btilly 4mo ago|0 comments
34.
by btilly 4mo ago
How does almost everyone pay for food at the grocery store? If stores don't have a good way to get money from customers, how do they pay the next step up the line?
35.
by btilly 4mo ago
Yes. Read through https://www.the-scientist.com/universe-25-experiment-69941 to see that, given a good enough environment, mice can wipe themselves out. Here is a particularly telling passage: Eventually Universe 25 took a
36.
by btilly 4mo ago
Here is what it actually means. When the economy is growing, investment makes sense. Why put your money under the mattress when it could be out there, working for you? When the reverse happens, investment stops making sense. Why risk your m
37.
by btilly 4mo ago
I could rant about the stupidity of spending fossil fuels, to grow biofuels, for no net gain in energy. But with a definite cost in engine wear. That said, like Democracy, capitalism is the worst economic system, except all of the others th
38.
by btilly 4mo ago
Populations do not tend to grow to equilibrium and then stop. They tend to overgrow their environment, outstrip resources, and then collapse. The result may not be extinction. But losing 90% of the human population won't feel that diff
39.
by btilly 4mo ago
The other 99% is even more dependent on the machine than the top 1%. They can build themselves reinforced bunkers, just in case. What is your plan if, say, the food distribution infrastructure breaks down? Does that sound like an extremely
40.
by btilly 4mo ago
Most power outages are local, not regional. And cellphone towers will work at a surprising distance. Therefore my experience has been that cellphones tend to remain up, even though the power is down.
41.
by btilly 4mo ago
The first thing that I did was zoomed out, surely Shakespeare wrote about something in the New World? No. It is amazing how small his world was. He was born and grew to adulthood, in the world where Spanish dominance kept England from attem
42.
by btilly 4mo ago
Wonderful strategy. Take something that someone else said. Come out swinging at a distortion of what they said. Then if they call you on it, say, "You seem very defensive and angry." Thereby dismissing what they said without havin
43.
by btilly 4mo ago
> Why are you escalating this? I didn't personally attack you or question your comprehension, I'm challenging some of what you said. On personal attacks, you literally said that it looked to you like I am part of a productivi
44.
by btilly 4mo ago
> And why did you decide the AI makes you a better speaker than talking and getting feedback from your fellow humans? You've just demonstrated a lack of reading comprehension. The choice that I made wasn't humans, OR AI. It w
45.
by btilly 4mo ago
Thank you for getting it. The essay https://www.paulgraham.com/say.html captures the problem perfectly. I think that Paul Graham was completely correct when he said: "I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will
46.
by btilly 4mo ago
It's clear that you're discussing this from an ideological bias that I do not share. I see no reason to engage further in your assertions about what content is worthwhile.
47.
by btilly 4mo ago
If this does not fit your personal experience, then I have no percentage in trying to convince you. It does fit the personal experiences of a wide variety of people that I've talked to about it. Including therapists who are having to d
48.
by btilly 4mo ago
The AI is available when humans aren't. We should not reduce how much we talk to humans. But we should not avoid using AI where it makes sense. As for why optimize, we should each decide what we care about, then optimize for that. I ha
49.
by btilly 4mo ago
If that is what you think of Derek, then you really don't understand Derek. The video that I linked to is over an hour on why new technologies never transform education. He has a number of videos that critique what capitalism has lead
50.
by btilly 4mo ago
Not everyone did. But many now talk less. Why? AI psychosis is real. People who talk to LLMs too much, get used to them sucking up. Real humans feel jarring after that. (Just like people who get used to being in echo chambers, stop wanting
51.
by btilly 4mo ago
Odd. I never had any friends, families, or coworkers who were willing to be available for a dozen rough drafts. I've only had ones who were willing to talk during the idea stage, or after it was closer to a final speech. For me, AI giv
52.
by btilly 4mo ago
The problem is that professors say "learn to think critically", then actually just want the students to learn to sound like them, and agree with them. Actual critical thought has been on the decline for some time. This is especial
53.
by btilly 4mo ago
I am reminded of Veritasium: What Everyone Gets Wrong About AI and Learning (original video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xS68sl2D70 ) from a year ago. "The world is full of heavy things, and yet most of us aren&#x
54.
by btilly 4mo ago
When we are put into a catch-22 situation, we should not expect sympathy from the ones who created the catch-22 situation.
55.
by btilly 4mo ago
Three more factors matter a lot, and get missed. The first is corruption. When the Iron Curtain fell, every country behind it suffered from corruption. The Russian word for how it worked was блат, pronounced blat. When the official way of d
56.
by btilly 5mo ago
Polymerization is a slower exothermic action than combustion. So if we have to choose between them, that's the one.
57.
by btilly 5mo ago
Solids generally take less volume than liquids. Water is very unusual in this regard
58.
by btilly 5mo ago
It is also a slower exothermic reaction. Which makes it possibly manageable.
59.
by btilly 5mo ago
They are having valve problems. One of the possible reasons is that it may be turning into a solid plastic. If so, that could be one of the best outcomes. As long as it does not blow up before the process completes.
60.
by btilly 5mo ago
You can make the best product, or hire the best lawyers. If you've slipped on product quality relative to the competition, the lawyer option starts to look really good.

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