Flapping Airplanes | Hacker News Reader

Flapping Airplanes

flappingairplanes.com

Flapping wings because ... rigid wings were too energy efficient?

Anyway, the post tells me little. Aren't the big AI labs already doing all these things?

> Flapping wings because

It's memorable and cute and funny. And you can over-intellectualize it by talking about how "an optimized flapping wing could actually require 27 percent less power than its optimal steady-flight counterpart at small scales" [1], emphasis on small scales. (Propeller-powered fruit flies would be a good airport-bar name.)

[1] https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/09/birds-fly-more-effi...

Yes, emphasis on small scales, and probably also on hovering at one point.

I thought this was a joke, but apparently it isn't.

> "We have developed the world’s most complete megakernel framework"

Where is it? Can we see it? Test it? Play with it?

The most efficient aircraft are gliders.

> most efficient aircraft are gliders

L/D, yes. Complete aircraft configuration, not always (actually, rarely).

Now valued at $6 billion dollars apparently, not having shipped a single thing. What a time to be alive

https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/21/year-old-ai-lab-flapping-a...

> "Together, the founders “are building the ‘young person’s AGI lab,’” as Cahn described it."

As opposed to what exactly? Is OAI considered now the IBM of AI?

Isn't that mantle taken up by Google?

Do you know whats even more efficient ?

Not flying...

Depends on requirement vs. distance.

Yet another example of a false requirement that should not exist. In todays age of internet video there is actually little if no need for business travel.

The glitchiness of this website on my fairly new iOS device…

Goes to show big investment doesn’t mean shit if the engineers behind it don’t know what they’re doing.

Or maybe they know that the website isn't super important if they already hve backing by the big firms and they don't yet have a product to sell.

I also don't know how "Good HTML/Javascript" translates to hyper optimization, analog computing, optical computing, or whatever skills their approach needs.

It just comes across as jealous and petty.

I hoped this would be flappy birds but with airplanes :/

The founders know the company name and the entire AI VC bubble is a joke (but the company isn’t) and the US VCs will invest in anything (if you have the correct old pedigree connections)

Don’t be fooled by the company’s name. Its silliness all got your attention and curiosity. The VCs invested in the team, not the company name.

This is a joke, right? "Flapping airplanes" is a great metaphor for AI as it exists today; e.g. we basically already have what we need and more is stupid.

Planes are awesome and important, and also building ones that actually flapped is technically possible and also wasteful and pointless.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com