sfpotter

34 ms·

481.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Personally, I try to take a more inductive approach. We don’t know what intelligence is, but we assume it’s something we exhibit. We also clearly recognize other animals as possessing the same trait to varying degrees. Since we don’t know w
482.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Is “fake grass” (i.e. astroturf) a form of deception in your eyes?
483.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Yes. I’ve heard loads of people refer to it as fake without an implied pejorative meaning.
484.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Not necessarily true. People talk about “fake meat” all the time but it’s clear there’s no level of fraudulence implied by this usage. It’s meant in the sense of “artificial meat”. There are multiple ways the word “fake” is used, and one i
485.
by sfpotter 4y ago
“AI” isn’t bull shit, it’s correctly labeled. It’s intelligence which is artificial: i.e. fake, ersatz, specious, not genuine… It’s our fault for not just reading the label. (I absolutely agree with your post and your viewpoint, just to be
486.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Eh, maybe. I don’t think many NumPy people would reach for a decimal dtype even if it were available and implemented in hardware. It just isn’t useful in the primary domains where NumPy is used. That leaves vanilla Python. You’re right that
487.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Judging from other comments here, it is not clear how widely supported IEEE754-2008 is. If it isn’t supported everywhere, it would make a VERY bad default for a numeric type. It also appears that the logic for implemented something like thi
488.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Read the other responses here, and the “Alternatives” section of the article you posted. I am very happy the default is not what you just suggested.
489.
by sfpotter 4y ago
This is an insanely bad idea. You think Python is slow now, wait’ll you see it after this “improvement”.
490.
by sfpotter 4y ago
It’s okay to not be familiar with terms. No one knows everything. At the same time, maybe try modulating your response to be a little less reactive and childish. Just because you haven’t heard these terms before, doesn’t mean they aren’t ea
491.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Hell yeah. This is a great response. Lots of positivity and challenging the usual HN tropes! More of this please.
492.
by sfpotter 4y ago
If you work full time, work is your life, or it’s whatever percentage of your life that you spend there on average per week. You can try to ignore this fact and focus on your life outside of work, but you’re just going to build cognitive di
493.
by sfpotter 4y ago
The slippery slope here isn’t obvious to you? Or you just don’t care?
494.
by sfpotter 4y ago
His article is perfectly reasonable, straightforward, and logical. It’s also more or less devoid of academic jargon. He makes clear points that are easy to relate to. Can’t speak to his book. Why do you think admitting that technological so
495.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Also, personally, I think ChatGPT is uncool.
496.
by sfpotter 4y ago
If you have to ask, you’ll never know.
497.
by sfpotter 4y ago
The iBook G4 was a really cool looking laptop, was a big fan when it came out. I hope they bring back this aesthetic at some point. The current options for laptops are pretty homogeneous and uninspired.
498.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Me too!
499.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Coolness: the thing defined by what parents say at graduation parties.
500.
by sfpotter 4y ago
If you’re downvoting my post instead of upvoting it you’re definitely a conformist.
501.
by sfpotter 4y ago
These guys are full of shit. Tech isn't cool. People pretend that tech is cool because they want money. That's all there is to it. People who understand this aren't going to let on that they understand it, and people who do
502.
by sfpotter 4y ago
I learned C as a little kid, and then learned Python a bit later. C always seemed a lot simpler to me than Python.
503.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Herons’s method is just Newton’s method applied to the problem of computing a square root recast as a rootfinding problem.
504.
by sfpotter 4y ago
The extent to which these kinds of lifestyles are astroturfed is always interesting. Not claiming it is necessarily the case, just that it does happen from time to time. Thomas Frank’s “The Conquest of Cool” is a good reference here.
505.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Couldn't agree more. Your comment about the weirdness of high-dimensional spaces is funny. I think this sort of stuff gets deployed for its high "Gee whiz!" factor. Not that it isn't interesting in its own right, but I f
506.
by sfpotter 4y ago
The problem with this is that if you need to be told where to go next you aren't going to be able to get there. If you're in the research community, you won't need to be told where to go next. You will be surrounded by people
507.
by sfpotter 4y ago
None of the comments here discuss anything about the book. They're just knee jerk responses, either saying the book is too mathematical, or that other books are better. I wish the quality of comments on HN was higher. Here are some a
508.
by sfpotter 4y ago
Wow. Thoughtful and insightful comment right here.
509.
by sfpotter 4y ago
It is technically true, Julia and other programming language's implementation of multiple dispatch notwithstanding. First sentence from the Wikipedia article on multiple dispatch: "Multiple dispatch or multimethods is a feature of
510.
by sfpotter 4y ago
If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

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