halpmeh

20 ms·

121.
by halpmeh 4y ago
I think we're talking about two different things. Imagine you have a generic program A that you've formally verified. Now you ask me to execute it for you. I say: "ok, the output of the program is X." Can you trust the o
122.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Ok fair. But you can formally verify your smart contracts or you can test them, so this notion of "correctness" seems orthogonal to the discussion. Even if you formally verify a normal application, you can't trust your verifi
123.
by halpmeh 4y ago
The proof is in the pudding.
124.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Sorry but that’s a total straw man. Yes, if you redefine the words I used then you can make any argument you want. In CS, correctness means with “behaves in a consistent manner with respect to a specification”. The smart contract is the spe
125.
by halpmeh 4y ago
So we’ve gone from debating the technical merits to debating the name? The name likely comes from options contracts, which are technically contracts but traded like equities. Most options are very simple tuple: (equity, strike price, call &
126.
by halpmeh 4y ago
So organized religions are not cults because some people just show up for the donuts? You're only trying to add "nuance" because you're intimately familiar with organized religion. When you look at other cults, you say t
127.
by halpmeh 4y ago
I disagree. I may have used hyperbole, but those were then reasons listed: my family wants me in the religion, my social graph is based around the religion and its rituals, my emotional support comes from the religion. That’s cult-like. I t
128.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Yes
129.
by halpmeh 4y ago
All the reasons you listed sound like a cult. “I can’t leave the cult, my family will disown me.” “I can’t leave the cult, everyone I know and care about is in the cult.” “I can’t leave the cult. I need the leaders emotional support.”
130.
by halpmeh 4y ago
This seems like mental gymnastics to justify joining a cult. You realize that your kids only know what you tell them. It takes a very long time for them to even understand analytic thought. What you’ve said is essentially “I chose to join a
131.
by halpmeh 4y ago
They do, but well designed urinals have very little splash back even without the plastic filter.
132.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Yes, the output is guaranteed to be correct. Let’s say you give me a program and ask me to run it for you. Can you guarantee that I won’t tamper with the executable? No you can’t. You can’t trust the output of an arbitrary program you give
133.
by halpmeh 4y ago
I think you’re conflating legal contracts and smart contracts. Legal contracts are instruments used by two or more parties that outlines their responsibilities to one another in a way that is protected by civil law. A smart contract is just
134.
by halpmeh 4y ago
I think you’re moving the goal post. As I mentioned in my original post, smart contracts allow for the creation of a global computing platform we call a blockchain. Maybe you want formal verification, but not everyone cares about that.
135.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Yes, some individuals out of the dozens who have read your comment chose to downvote. Just as other chose not to vote at all. Some may have even upvoted. Doesn’t that kind of prove HN is not a cult? The group is comprised of individual me
136.
by halpmeh 4y ago
No, the output is guaranteed to be correct. Correct, as in what you specified in the contract, which may not be what you had intended, but that’s besides the point. Can you explain how the output would differ from the contract specification
137.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Because there isn't a good way of distributing pre-compiled cross-platform C libraries. So if you want to use a parsing library written in Rust, for example, you'd need to add Rust to your toolchain, which is a pain. One solution
138.
by halpmeh 4y ago
I'm sure some people use religion in the way you describe, but there is tautological induction in religion that makes it cult-like. For instance, you say people go to church to reflect on how they can do better at being "good&quot
139.
by halpmeh 4y ago
You're conflating the HN "hivemind" with the individual members. I doubt most HN users check all 4 boxes. E.g. I read Reddit and don't elevate startup founders to deity status. I'm also not ostracized for these vie
140.
by halpmeh 4y ago
I don't think the point is that everything is a cult. Rather, the point is for you to reflect if maybe you are part of something cult-like. And no, I don't think HN is a cult or most startups are a cult. Yesterday was Sunday. I
141.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Have you ever implemented a smart contract? If not, I highly recommend you do so before holding an opinion on blockchains. I've never owned crypto, and I've recommended others to stay away from investing in crypto. Yet, I think th
142.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Both the ban on drinking and its repeal were constitutional amendments (18th and 21st). So both cases were enacted via large majority opinion.
143.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Trains just aren’t well-suited to carrying bikes. A bike takes up as much space as like 4 people, if not many moor on a crowded train (although perhaps only 3 in a seating-room only train like the Shinkansen). When you consider that, taking
144.
by halpmeh 4y ago
So stop participating in society? Wasn’t that your advice re. watching sports?
145.
by halpmeh 4y ago
You could go to Seattle. You could go to NYC. You could go to Austin. You could go to Boston. You could go to Washington DC. You could go to Boulder. I guess it depends what you like about living in California.
146.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Isn’t the purpose of democratic governance to create a society that the people want to inhabit? I want to watch sports, and I want to do so without being bombarded with sports betting ads. If enough people feel like me, perhaps there is a w
147.
by halpmeh 4y ago
If I could warn all Californian voters against approving sports betting, I would. Would I do so for moral reasons? No, I don’t care what people do with their money or their time. But legalized sports betting has ruined advertisements during
148.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Ok, then please prove that cars are not the solution to transportation. Obviously, you can't, because transportation is not a game with well-defined rules. Detecting the truth is also not a game with well-defined rules. So obviously we
149.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Isn’t that true of everything? There may always be something better in the future. It’s ridiculous to say that we can’t have solutions to anything in the present because there may be better options in the future.
150.
by halpmeh 4y ago
Isn’t IPFS a terrible technology to host copyrighted material on? As far as I know, it has no privacy features, so you can see exactly who is hosting which content.

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