Hacker News Reader

SpaceManNabson Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?

I mostly agree with grades as a concept. I just hated the princeton grade deflation system because it was obviously harming grad school applications for us, and the administration would gaslight us. They got rid of it and basically said that the only reason was for the mental health of students.

I disagree with grades as implemented because schools have so many diverse grading policies. I think grading systems should be improved.

SpaceManNabson Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?

I am so happy princeton got rid of grade deflation lol. All this grades stuff is bullshit anyways.

SpaceManNabson The Inside Story of Microsoft's Partnership with OpenAI

So? He is still a slimy person. Btw, Lisa Su and Rose Marcario, but both are women so maybe you are right in that nice guys can't be ceos. ;)

SpaceManNabson Star neuroscientist may have manipulated data to support a major stroke trial

The issue is that a lot of scientists and researchers don't even know basic math or stats lol. The biggest idiot in a PhD program still gets a degree.

SpaceManNabson Star neuroscientist may have manipulated data to support a major stroke trial

I have seen peer review hinder actual research more than actually catch fraudulent papers. There is no incentive to call out bullshit in academia because you might not even pass peer review when you call out bullshit. Might as well work on another paper instead.

Meanwhile people doing actual work get scooped or ignored by people abusing the practice or just doing outright fraud.

SpaceManNabson Firefox for Android is adding support for 400 add-ons

Your comment is incredibly dismissive, especially given that the "OP" is in fact a donor.

SpaceManNabson BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

Yeah I first looked that up and kept getting confused. Like why make BBC Micro? Other comments kinda helped but I am still confused lol.

SpaceManNabson BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

Why did a broadcasting corporation have a version of BASIC?

SpaceManNabson Let's try to understand AI monosemanticity

> deep connection between neural networks and differential or algebraic geometry

I disagree with how you came to this conclusion (because it ignores non-linearity of neural networks), but this is pretty true. Look up gauge invariant neural networks.

Bruna et al. Mathematics of deep learning course might also be interesting to you.

SpaceManNabson Google Drive misplaces months' worth of customer data

vim

SpaceManNabson Meta Designed Products to Capitalize on Teen Vulnerabilities, States Allege

A lot of the research says that social media isn't a cause, but more of a catalyst in the presence of other factors like cyber bullying

This reminds me of similar effects where people attributed misinformation online to mostly right wing people, but it was actually right wing was only a catalyst when a predisponsity for chaos was also present OR when de-policing and federal investigations were blamed for rise in crime when it was only also when a particular district had a "viral" event.

I don't think social media is a causal factor in itself, but it is definitely a catalyst factor in the presence of other things like wealth inequality, clout chasing, and cyberbullying.

SpaceManNabson Python Is Easy. Go Is Simple. Simple != Easy

> great stdlib

Many comments say the opposite of this. I am not too experienced, but I do know that go has a great standard library for web apps.

SpaceManNabson Judge finds 'reasonable evidence' Tesla knew self-driving tech was defective

Is there a way to request fraudulent flags to be removed? I see the flag button but not an opposite.

SpaceManNabson Meta Designed Products to Capitalize on Teen Vulnerabilities, States Allege

It has been studied mostly on US adolescents. There is some research on Dutch teens too.

I would say more that this effect is more well studied on US teens so we can say more conclusive things on US teens. In addition, there is some indication that the effect could also be present in non-US teens and should be further studied.

SpaceManNabson Meta Designed Products to Capitalize on Teen Vulnerabilities, States Allege

Thank you! It is well established that teenage girls’ attempted suicide rates rose with the advent of social media.

I dont think there are any smoking-gun causal studies, but the correlation evidence is very strong.

SpaceManNabson AI system self-organises to develop features of brains of complex organisms

Actually you dont need 5. just boundary conditions or decay.

SpaceManNabson AI system self-organises to develop features of brains of complex organisms

https://github.com/mdeff/cnn_graph/issues/35

Gcns

SpaceManNabson Pokémon is no longer just a game – it's a lifestyle

Minmaxing in RPGs is kinda expected and pretty fun.

I am thinking:

1. most bioware games

2. most fromsoft games

3. RTS games

4. tower defense games

5. bethesda games since morrowind

Minmaxing there is a natural outcome and often makes the game funner (because otherwise the difficulty is a lot).

SpaceManNabson AI system self-organises to develop features of brains of complex organisms

I don't think it has to be the fourier transform necessarily.

I think the fourier transform might be a really approachable version because it is already in so much signal processing. Sometimes its periodicity can work against you.

From what I can tell you, what you need are:

1. invertible, identifiable basis

2. Something like Parseval's Identity

3. Able to "smooth" out things like the heaviside function or dirac deltas

4. Workable on graphs as well

5. decays at infinity

6. eigenfunctions are all orthonormal

Turns out, making something like that gets you something similar to the fourier transform, and the math is probably the simplest since you are working with easy exponentials that work nicely with convolution.

People have done similar work with Chebyshev polynomials, and there are actually a lot of applications in ML/AI using Chebyshev polynomials in graphical neural networks and triangulation.

edit:

The fourier transform also comes about pretty nicely in quantum mechanics because of poisson bracket stuff and its nice derivative properties for position-momentum space. I am don't think other transforms/function basis come out so naturally.

SpaceManNabson Pokémon is no longer just a game – it's a lifestyle

> too tedious for my adult self

What? You don't want to breed 100 pokemon in the same lineage to get one with the perfect (hidden) EV/IV stats, attitude, and moves? How lazy!!! At least do it for 8 pokemon so you have one good team!!!! Get off your ass mate. /s

Yeah I can't believe they thought this was a good idea lol. Glad they are making the system easier. But way too japanese games have grinding mechanics just for gear.

SpaceManNabson Polio is on the brink of eradication

> And any utilitarian thinker who wanted to do the op would tell you that they weren't going to get caught

Then they aren't being utilitarian because they are not including the risk into their cost calculation.

Or at least not a good one. Definitely not "any"

edit:

Oh I see this now > who wanted to do the op

Yeah any person can make any false argument to justify a conclusion they wanna reach. You don't have to be utilitarian for that. Just unethical.

SpaceManNabson Polio is on the brink of eradication

That is great news. I sincerely hope we continue that trajectory. I am afraid at the uptick of recent antivaxxers but hopefully that is just temporary.

I went to the ER recently and saw an orthodox jewish kid in a polio bed. I felt so sad for him. (This was in NYC).

SpaceManNabson Polio is on the brink of eradication

> The ends cannot justify the means.

Oh they absolutely can in an utilitarian sense. But a basic utilitarian argument would tell that jeopardizing an entire region's vaccine rollout program to get revenge on some asshole already living the rest of his life out of a hole was not worth it.

SpaceManNabson Developer account removed by Apple

The developer might be scummy (very arguable tbh), but Apple being the arbitrator of what scummy bait and switch behavior is allowed is not acceptable.

I don't see apple going after gambling like behavior in freemium games as long as they get a 30% cut for example.

If apple can't enforce an ethical stance as a standard uniformly, then they aren't being ethical.

SpaceManNabson Reflecting on 18 Years at Google

I am also a bit confused by that comment. Flink, Spark, Beam, Flume are all pretty similar...

SpaceManNabson Reflecting on 18 Years at Google

Ok... Where am I supposed to go after Google tho?

SpaceManNabson Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

It has been a decade, but let me guess, Mass effect 3 Mordin? I rather not look it up lol.

SpaceManNabson Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

Absolutely. It is borderline salacious. Honestly didn't feel too good watching so many people opine on matters they had no real data on and insult people; also the employees of openai announcing matters on twitter or wtv in tabloid style.

I hope people apologize to Ilya for jumping to conclusions.

SpaceManNabson Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

A thing a sad, understated ongoing is that so many people are throwing vitriol at Ilya right now. If the speculation here is true, then he just chased by a mob over pure nonsense (well, at least purer than the nonsense premise beforehand).

Gotta love seeing effective altruists take another one on the chin this year though.

SpaceManNabson Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

yeah because hyperfocus or losing track of how much energy you are wasting on spurious tasks.