the_af

39 ms·

721.
by the_af 10mo ago
Extraordinary claims (that RV is a real phenomenon) require extraordinary evidence. The null hypothesis is the default position, it requires no extraordinary evidence; the opposite does. This is scientific method 101. Let's not pretend
722.
by the_af 10mo ago
The "difficulty" with remote viewing is nonsense pseudoscience and crackpottery. It absolutely does not work. Not "unreliably", but not work at all. This reminds me of that one time on HN when someone tried to convince m
723.
by the_af 10mo ago
Sidestepping the whole discussion about "fake" and "real" images, I think what matters is what degree of correlation is there, if any, between the raw sensor data and the final photo you show your friends. Raw data requi
724.
by the_af 10mo ago
Wow. From one of the comments there: > When people take a picture on the moon, they want a cool looking picture of the moon, and every time I have take a picture of the moon, on what is a couple of year old phone which had the best came
725.
by the_af 10mo ago
But right down to the same figures of speech, "the Gobi desert must have smelled of sorghum liquor", the exact same utterance by the judge, etc? Even the photos seem taken by the same person (in composition, style, etc).
726.
by the_af 10mo ago
Oh, I can help you with that concern: anything related to China, mysterious towns, and secret projects will be lapped up by readers from Western countries. You'd have a harder time if you were trying to portray a more positive life exp
727.
by the_af 10mo ago
You seem to be arguing against strawmen. You picked a very fringe and bizarre belief (I honestly never read anything even remotely paraphrasing what you just typed) and made it seem so common that "as often as not" this is what pe
728.
by the_af 10mo ago
> But still, I never went through a protest that ended in a massacre before Yet these happened in the US. Bizarre and secret government projects also happened. Executions also happened. That you didn't witness them doesn't me
729.
by the_af 10mo ago
How is it advocating for liberal democracy when you preemptively cast doubts on narratives other than the dominant Western one? "Useful idiots" etc is the language of Cold War logic.
730.
by the_af 10mo ago
From someone neither from the US nor from China, you sure did your share of weird things too. So I think that yes, you are romanticizing it as an outsider. Almost all of the stories we get told in the West are from the US perspective, so th
731.
by the_af 10mo ago
And do note non-LLM translation works pretty well with that article.
732.
by the_af 10mo ago
Why did it take you 8 years to repost it in English? It's not because of AI, because other translations existed before LLMs and were more than adequate.
733.
by the_af 10mo ago
His story recounts some of your paragraphs word for word, e.g. the execution of the murderer who hacked another man with an axe, right down to the judge uttering the exact same phrase, the same anecdote about using sorghum liquor for the s
734.
by the_af 10mo ago
What exactly are you advocating? You seem to be going back to Cold War logic. Your initial assertion that people online criticizing the West are "often" criticizing "absurd" things is simultaneously wrong and condescendi
735.
by the_af 10mo ago
There was a lot of weird stuff in the 70s and 80s in the US too, no surprise there.
736.
by the_af 10mo ago
It's completely plausible, which is the most convincing kind of unverifiable stories. It also caters to the usual biases of the HN crowd: China, nuclear projects, secrecy, etc. How come the Chinese post is from 2016 and complete but no
737.
by the_af 10mo ago
Yes, you can find it in a 2016 blog post (linked to here in other comments).
738.
by the_af 10mo ago
We don't know how much the imperfect translation would differ from the author’s intent, but we would sure try to meet him halfway. Nobody would criticize his broken English. Contrast this with the faux polite, irritating tone of the AI
739.
by the_af 10mo ago
No, I agree with the other commenter. I'd rather read broken English than the fake tone AI injects on everything (and the suspicion of fabrications, too).
740.
by the_af 10mo ago
An incorrect but more authentic translation would seem more real, like an human earnestly trying to tell a story. We would accept the imperfections and have a subjective feeling of more authenticity. Of course, even this can be faked, sadly
741.
by the_af 10mo ago
The comment with "you touched on an interesting and profound point" is also not a translation of anything a human would write, but AI slop/filler.
742.
by the_af 10mo ago
It feels off to me as well. It's the kind of unverifiable story that we would like to believe, but there's almost zero way of having independent confirmation. The photos could be from anywhere. The author seems likeable and writes
743.
by the_af 10mo ago
... which means you're a normal human being. Who would go to these lengths just to keep in touch with friends, over some deluded sense of "avoiding mediation"?
744.
by the_af 10mo ago
Yes. Sometimes it's a legit call. Not often, though. Example of legit calls: the pizza delivery guy decided to call my phone instead of ringing the bell, for whatever reason.
745.
by the_af 10mo ago
Wow. In my case the YT recommendations system works very well, only suggesting things similar to what I've already watched and liked. I would never use YouTube in incognito mode or logged out... it's positively garish and loud wit
746.
by the_af 10mo ago
> If a company requires 13 people to sign off on a hire, it suggests they operate on a consensus-based model that stifles autonomy [...] the companies with 5 to 8 rounds had the clearest internal culture Wow. 5 already feels like too m
747.
by the_af 10mo ago
I assume it's to make it seem like an actual call center rather than a scam. I recently got two phone scam attempts (credit card related) that sounded exactly like this.
748.
by the_af 10mo ago
Mediate how? And what's the alternative? How do I keep in daily touch with my close friends that live across the world?
749.
by the_af 10mo ago
> I definitely am privileged It shows! And condescending too, I'd add. > The only thing I have left to say is: Try not to confuse obligations with choices. That is meaningless, though doubtless it seems very deep to you. Look
750.
by the_af 10mo ago
> I take it you've not encountered such folks? It must be nice to be shielded. What are you even trying to argue here? "Not dying and not letting your kids die is a choice"? I mean, sure, in a bizarre alien logic kind of

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