placebo

24 ms·

211.
by placebo 9y ago
I think this was a very sober presentation of things, however it seems that it underestimates our inability to tell how the future will pan out, especially when we're moving on an exponential function of technological progress and crea
212.
by placebo 9y ago
This reminds me of a great snippet from one of Raymond Smulyan's books ("This Book Needs No Title") that I think best captures the implied and unfounded fear behind these sort of articles. Here's the quote in full: “Re
213.
by placebo 9y ago
> Is it a mistake though to think of people as machines? Yes and no... It is not a mistake because much (and perhaps eventually all) of observable human functionality and behavior can be logically explained and therefore eventually sim
214.
by placebo 9y ago
I don't think you can fight this with laws: We live in an age and society that prefers young over old, smart over wise, quick profits over steady growth - I could go on with the contrasts but you get the idea. This might change over ti
215.
by placebo 9y ago
True, but admittedly, I'm so fond of the ability to have no "middlemen" between the code I write and what gets run by the browser that my dislike for any logistics/bureaucracy overhead is stronger than my attraction to E
216.
by placebo 9y ago
> We're all writing let instead of var now, and a book that continues to write var is starting to look a bit out of touch Serious question: Does this also refer to client side web developers? According to caniuse.com, only around
217.
by placebo 9y ago
Point taken regarding criminals using criminal methods to gain anonymity, and I have little doubt that often the real agenda behind government action in this field is accumulation of power and control over the population in the guise of pro
218.
by placebo 9y ago
Could you explain? I mean, if the government has the ability to catch criminals that think they are anonymous then how exactly is true anonymity of non-criminals maintained? To be clear, of the two evils I'd prefer having the risk of a
219.
by placebo 9y ago
Honestly, I'm blown away that someone has actually read cover to cover Knuth, CLRS, Dasgupta and Skiena. Is this a common thing? Has anyone here done something similar? For years I've had the textbooks of CLRS and Skiena at home (
220.
by placebo 9y ago
The assumption that hermits are insightful is probably derived from an image of some experienced meditating wise soul, contemplating in solitude the meaning of life. While people who genuinely want to meditate upon life might sometimes wish
221.
by placebo 9y ago
> You're saying that there is a morality held in a person that is invoked in an observed situation that is being rationalized away, implying that they fundamentally subscribe to the same morals as you No, I'm saying something
222.
by placebo 9y ago
> How can you both agree that a clear line doesn't exist, while in the same sentence saying "obviously wrong"? Same way as I can say something is obviously a heap of sand without pointing out exactly at which point it turn
223.
by placebo 9y ago
Interesting question. As long as the controversies remain in the field of abstract/theoretical mathematics, I guess it would be hard to resolve them, but I would guess that if a controversial statement (not just a controversial proof)
224.
by placebo 9y ago
The fact that a clear line doesn't exist is used too many times as an excuse to continue doing what is obviously wrong. Logically, you could take it the other way to the extreme and say that since there is no clear line, then there isn
225.
by placebo 9y ago
Cool. Nice to learn of another option. What would be the advantages of using this over wkhtmltopdf ( https://wkhtmltopdf.org ) ?
226.
by placebo 9y ago
Two examples I know of are: https://github.com/metacurrency/holochain/wiki/FAQ and http://bitlattice.org/ Although I'm far from being knowledgable enough to know the disadvantages of the
227.
by placebo 9y ago
From the little that I've managed to learn, it seems like cryptocurrencies have immense potential but, beside the natural opposition from those who prefer the "conservative way of doing things" (due to a variety of reasons, s
228.
by placebo 9y ago
I found JOE while looking for a free cross-platform, preferably open source editor that could handle huge files with ease - you know, file sizes that make most editors choke and die (or make your system freeze while trying to allocate an in
229.
by placebo 9y ago
>The era of Framework churn is coming to an end, and now we can all go back to working on what makes our apps unique instead of spending precious time, energy, and money jumping to something new every year. I believe this to be naively o
230.
by placebo 9y ago
Not sure what new insights were brought up here.
231.
by placebo 9y ago
I've often wondered about the theoretical limit of a neural net to learn from examples - seems like a fascinating subject with a lots of implications. From a quick search, I found this paper: https://experts.illinois.edu&#x2
232.
by placebo 9y ago
Show me one groundbreaking technology that wasn't also used to the detriment of humanity. As long as there are shitty human traits, there will be shitty use of new technology. The only question is whether good will outweigh the bad. Ju
233.
by placebo 9y ago
That's neat, thanks.
234.
by placebo 9y ago
>1. You can just invent a trait. Of course you can, though it will probably be a useless invention. >2. You don't have to define a trait, measure it or distinguish it from other traits or use it to predict the important ways that
235.
by placebo 9y ago
You are right regarding my broad claim - I stand corrected. You are also right regarding my lack of authority, but experience shows that authority (professional or otherwise) is not always backed up by a broader understanding. If I'm w
236.
by placebo 9y ago
I'm aware he's an authority, which is exactly the reason I caution against blind acceptance.
237.
by placebo 9y ago
I read the answer, and my response is to the repeated "There is no such thing as EQ" statements which are stressed throughout it. How is anything I wrote not related to that statement? (edited my reply to be more constructive)
238.
by placebo 9y ago
Wow, so many wrong things with this answer... Of course, it would not surprise me to learn that measuring IQ as a predictor for success (or at least what a measurer defines as success) is much more accurate than "measuring" EQ for
239.
by placebo 9y ago
same score, same reasons :)
240.
by placebo 9y ago
"One possible conclusion would be that if we look at the universe in totality and not bracket any subset of phenomena, the mathematics we would need would have no axioms at all. That is, the universe in totality is devoid of structure

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