lkozma

9 ms·

31.
by lkozma 9y ago
They probably referred to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_topographic_map
32.
by lkozma 9y ago
That's a great observation. There was a _very long_ but funny and insightful article expanding on this issue, calling such interfaces "hubristic": http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.de/2009/07/
33.
by lkozma 9y ago
Yes, I think von Neumann made this claim somewhere already that AI is a moving target, because once some task is automated it doesn't seem intelligent anymore.
34.
by lkozma 9y ago
This is a valid criticism from a practitioner point of view. From someone doing research in algorithms and data structures or someone just curious about it at an intellectual level, there is a different criticism: All this focus on algorith
35.
by lkozma 9y ago
Isn't this the broken window fallacy?
36.
by lkozma 9y ago
Going with your examples, I think "leave your phone at home" is more actionable than "stop wasting time on the internet", and both are vastly more actionable than "stop staying awake" and "just be happy&qu
37.
by lkozma 9y ago
I think you misrepresent the parent post. Suppose you had insomnia. Wouldn't it be a fair suggestion to cut back on coffee and other stimulants first, before trying sleeping pills?
38.
by lkozma 9y ago
Yes, your last point seems quite accurate -- smokers often complain that they would like to stop smoking, but don't want to miss out on the social connections it entails.
39.
by lkozma 9y ago
"everything in moderation", including moderation.
40.
by lkozma 9y ago
You can even do a week's shopping, using a bicycle-pulled trailer (otherwise used for carrying small kids). As a side-effect you even benefit from the courtesy of drivers, who may think you are carrying your children as usually.
41.
by lkozma 9y ago
Funny that you don't even consider the third alternative of there being _less_ per billion capita today.
42.
by lkozma 9y ago
Yes, if more than 10% are over 60', then, even if everyone else has zero height, the average is already be over 6'.
43.
by lkozma 9y ago
I recently came across some "burekasim" in Israel. The double plural there has a taste of the entire mediterranean from turkish/greek/arabic/ladino/spanish/hebrew :) I guess it could be dialed up one more
44.
by lkozma 9y ago
I agree -- in addition, such problems can also be seen as a springboard into research - tweak any of them or ask if you can prove that the solution is optimal, and you are quickly in the realm of open questions.
45.
by lkozma 9y ago
Nice list, but a side-note: all this focus on interview-preparation may give the false impression that algorithms and data structures is a closed body of work, when in fact it is an active and lively field of research with many basic questi
46.
by lkozma 10y ago
According to Ethnologue (2005), by number of speakers: Hindi -- native: 370m | total: 490m Bengali -- native: 196m | total: 215m German -- native: 101m | total: 229m
47.
by lkozma 10y ago
Not the OP, but I guess an argument against globalisation could be made (and has been made by many) from the perspective of better robustness/resilience of a less centralized/less interconnected system, avoidance of single points
48.
by lkozma 10y ago
Having written a thesis about "balancing trees and Bih-Oh notation" I am saddened that you consider the topic mindless :)
49.
by lkozma 10y ago
Or coffee/chocolate/etc.
50.
by lkozma 10y ago
Still, the original architecture "Design Patterns" book by Alexander (which this book is supposed to be the software analogy of) discusses "good practices", emphatically recommended for architects, city planners, etc. So
51.
by lkozma 10y ago
At least for grocery-shopping I find that a children's bike trailer can pack a surprisingly large amount of stuff -- of course it is not quite as convenient as a car.
52.
by lkozma 10y ago
I don't mean to side-track a very valid point that you are making, but stepping back a little, isn't it amusing that humanity has reached such an advanced state where a strong argument for owning cars is to ship dogs around? Also,
53.
by lkozma 10y ago
One of the best explanations I've read of this phenomenon was on reddit: https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3pcvfb/saudi_arab...
54.
by lkozma 10y ago
But even for humans the quality of air/water/etc. has been going down for some time in many places.
55.
by lkozma 10y ago
I mostly agree with your view, but I wonder how you can reconcile it with the unfolding environmental disaster and loss of biodiversity across the globe.
56.
by lkozma 10y ago
I think you describe the tone quite precisely -- it is the same tone the author may have used to describe someone who built an Eiffel tower out of matchsticks -- the premise being that we get an objective description of a subculture (SV tec
57.
by lkozma 10y ago
Are you sure that you are in disagreement with the article's author? I think both you and te_chris may have missed some of the irony in the article.
58.
by lkozma 10y ago
Also obligatory to mention NN Taleb's rebuttal of this thesis, and the back and forth between them that followed.
59.
by lkozma 10y ago
I very much doubt that we have that kind of information available about prehistoric (say, Neantherthal) humans, except perhaps in very sparse and unreliable form.
60.
by lkozma 10y ago
Yes, I agree, but my point was more that I doubt that those who suggest a value of, say, 29.4 for stone age humans, have gone through any these calculations.

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