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141 ms·

811.
by ced 19y ago
Wow, it didn't even cross my mind that the quote was a "bash" on social sciences. My title picked on sociology because it seemed like a clearer case, but the quote lumps evolution among the "ambiguous sciences" as well. I very much agree. I
812.
Why Math is deeper than Sociology [quote]
12 points by ced 19y ago|25 comments
813.
by ced 19y ago
I "ported" my app from CLisp to SBCL and got a 4x performance decrease . Granted, I must create code at run-time, so CLisp's fast byte code generation probably ends up making the difference. Still.
814.
by ced 19y ago
Wouldn't it be best to just interface Python and an existing Lisp, using FFI, or something similar? I'm already using matplotlib and scipy with CLisp, communicating through pipes. I can write (plot '(1 2 3)). The communication between the t
815.
by ced 19y ago
From my point in view, encouraging scientists to be socially/politically active is a good thing (what's the alternative?) The problem is the funding process. You don't get money for saying that you don't know. In my field, a semi-prominent
816.
by ced 19y ago
Joel's point was that they have to put at least some hurdle, otherwise, they would crush Borland and co, which would be a bad thing, since they provide devs useful tools. I don't really know whether that's true or not, but it makes some s
817.
by ced 19y ago
"Through their Empower ISV program you can get five complete sets of MSDN Universal (otherwise known as "basically every Microsoft product except Flight Simulator") for about $375. Command line compilers for the .NET languages are included
818.
by ced 19y ago
I was put off by the grandiose claims (and the download!). I know it's the way these things are normally written, but you should at least substantiate what you can. Like the "ten times" bit. 10X Compared to what? Otherwise, I love the websi
819.
by ced 19y ago
1. Where do they get data on top web apps? It looks like it came out of nowhere. 2. Canada is 30 million people. Even if they all used Internet most of the time, it would hardly be worthwhile to target specifically as a market. (OTOH, some
820.
by ced 19y ago
"It's a mistake to only consider expected value." Agreed, to be precise, one has to look at the entire value range, associated probabilities, and their effect on one's personal "happiness function". That's what I was trying to do with my
821.
by ced 19y ago
Well, I've got to admit that I don't see the fundamental difference. One involves death, but death is also quantifiable. "Your strategy should be to seek upside while limiting downside.": But it's all a matter of degree! Taking insurance wo
822.
by ced 19y ago
- Isn't that like a safe job with a 100% chance of low income vs a startup with 10% chance of jackpot? With health insurance, you're assuming bad luck, but with a startup, you're assuming the opposite. - 77$/month is still quite a bit of
823.
by ced 19y ago
Yikes, that's awfully long... Is it reasonably negotiable? Are there fields where this is not true?
824.
by ced 19y ago
How long does this typically last?
825.
by ced 19y ago
Thanks for the details. If you ever want to post more about it, I'd be interested.
826.
by ced 19y ago
Do you create one closure/session/page? Why not just one semi-permanent closure/page?
827.
by ced 19y ago
Doesn't it depend on the contract, of which there are many flavors?
828.
by ced 19y ago
Can you give examples? I do have at least one idea which is not consumer-oriented... My problem is that since these domains are not in-your-face advertised, or talked about here, it's harder to evaluate the market and the competition. Plus,
829.
by ced 19y ago
It seems to me that it's more like a network effect than a lack of education. Why are there few startups in Europe? I read (can't find link) from an outsourcer that Indian programmers don't want stock options, presumably because they have n
830.
by ced 19y ago
Is any YC-funded company built specifically for such a platform? Pmarca skips over the danger of being copied by Facebook, which is even easier for them than it was for MS in the Windows era.
831.
by ced 19y ago
Inequality within an economy where everyone has equal opportunity might be optimal, but that's nothing like the state of the world we're in.
832.
by ced 19y ago
"The legal lifespan of the fund is usually 10 years" Does that mean that Sequoia will disappear in a couple of years, or is it that VCs manage various funds? And why is there that restriction?
833.
by ced 19y ago
That's hardly crazy. It's just an application that fetches data from a server. The cool thing is, of course, the underlying symbolic system for solving equations, and graphical capabilities, that have been there for 20 years or so. "A profo
834.
by ced 19y ago
It's not inherently bad. There are trade-offs. Yes, proprietary software carries increased legal risks. OTOH, it is often better precisely because there is more incentive to build it than to build OSS.
835.
by ced 19y ago
That's a MS screw-up, not an argument against using proprietary platforms. God knows how many web site owners Google could sue if it applied its Adsense TOS to the letter, but they know better than doing that.
836.
by ced 19y ago
Theories are ultimately validated through experimentation and observation. For "intelligence", that means coding it up, and see if it learns anything. That doesn't sound very different to me from "funding teams to code up someone's personal
837.
by ced 19y ago
A lot of hormones start flowing when doing exercise. I used to go burn myself running for a kilometer right before my exams.
838.
by ced 19y ago
reddit never had any export button, even though members have spent a lot of time creating content for it. People don't worry about exporting/importing until they are significantly invested in the product. And even then...
839.
by ced 19y ago
I haven't checked the other examples, but the Python one doesn't use scipy, which makes a huge difference (50X for one example, see below). So I'm skeptical of the whole exercise. http://www.scipy.org/PerformancePython
840.
by ced 19y ago
Donating to the institute you mention triggers the same reaction in me as the article's plea for funding: if anyone has a good idea for making AI, he should have no problem convincing other hackers to join in and form a startup. Computer re

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