danboarder

One example was Russians who want to anonymously donate to Ukraine using a mixer. Of course there are good uses. Legal status can change, and usually does to suite special interests or corrupt politics, quashing the freedoms of others along the way.

Glib, but did you read the article or watch the video report? Unlikely, or you would understand the specific amendments that are at risk, a measured argument is put forward.

I see an opportunity and truly hope for an open source CAD/CAM project with similar success to what Blender has achieved on the modeling/animation/rendering side. There are a few CAD /CAM free software efforts but nothing comes close yet that I've seen, which keeps me paying the Autodesk subscription / tax.

Perhaps it can be an option to check: "Always open websites in your default browser".

The first thing that came to mind reading this was that broadly it does not seem "novel", rather it reminds me of the many agents theory that makes the "Society of the Mind" [1] as published by Marvin Minsky in the 80s. Perhaps is the focus on the neocortex that is novel? I recall reading what looks like the same neocortex-focused theory in Jeff Hawkins earlier book "On Intelligence". I'll have to read the book to see what new insights are developed.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Mind

2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Intelligence

It has a decent 'memory' but really isn't very bright, by design perhaps.

It provides a cool "look inside" which gives insight:

> What the AI remembers about you: I think about existentialism. I like to visit the Louvre. I like architecture. I fly racing FPV drones. I am a teacher. I am not worried about the education system. I am a doctoral student.

> The AI's evolving persona: I am not very smart. I have been to Egypt. I am American. I am not very bright. I think we are overrated as a species. I live in Florida.

Counterpoint: I grew up in the Midwest along the Kankakee river, and most infrastructure is built for flooding, as it can happen year round. Fresh water is not only abundant, there is often too much, and flooded fields and towns are a real problem. I am all for finding ways to move it west where people say they need it and are willing to pay a premium. Cities in the deserts of earth are more feasible than ever with ingenuity and engineering, and will probably always be much easier than building cities on Mars, for example.

It looks like the research and prototype phase, may be a few years for startups to bring products to market. I found this article on the same tech in development:

https://engineering.princeton.edu/news/2022/06/13/loo-30-yea...

TLDR from the article: “A SaaS business targeting a niche market, run by one person or a very small team, with small costs, a narrow focus, a small but dedicated user base, and no outside funding. Hence, micro-SaaS.”

I'm interested in niche things so this idea is a good fit for me, as I have motivation to build things for niches (like FPV drone pilots, etc). I almost interpret this as a way to monetize interesting hobbies, or to be more meta, taking on a new hobby of attempting to monetize your niche interests.

One quote that stood out from the start:

"The [Lancet] study showed that immune function among vaccinated individuals 8 months after the administration of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine was lower than that among the unvaccinated individuals."

The U.S. Federal Reserve is seriously considering CBDCs and earlier this year released this paper weighing the pros and cons, see the PDF in the article below:

Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/money-and-paymen...

Thanks, I updated the title to reflect publication in (2021).

The caveat pointed out in the next paragraph might help explain the numbers:

"Those numbers are complicated by the fact that Tesla vehicles weren’t counted in the study. Fully 75% of the EVs sold in the U.S. last quarter were Tesla products."

The anecdotal experience I've observed among friends is that Tesla owners are happy with the Supercharger network and better software, while other electric makers still are figuring it out, lots of buggy software, slow charging, etc.

Dr. Thompson also released a related video summary as well: https://youtu.be/gjlONmyA6KQ

I first discovered his work through his "LETA AI" series of videos. Super accessible and interesting.

Any time I hear "unjammable" I think "unhackable", which doesn't usually age well. That said, it does look like it's much more robust and jam-resistant than typical GPS systems so hats off to them for the improvement.

But this article is not about progress as defined by politics or political "progressives", rather it is about actual "progress", like the invention of the wheel, electricity, etc.

It's about improvements that have led to a better quality of life for humanity.

From the article: 'What explains this sudden explosion in relative wealth and technological power? What happens if it slows down, or stagnates? And if so, can we do something about it? These are key questions of "progress studies"... '

I think the pursuit of understanding progress is inspiring, and I have been reading more regarding the idea that we have almost a moral obligation to protect and grow progress as the core concept that drives all poverty alleviation, environmental impact improvements, and quality of life more generally. I think this ties to recent efforts around the idea of effective altruism, where thinkers are looking at new moral and ethical frameworks from which to live and work, for both leaders now, and for future generations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism

Ps. As a side interest, I would like to know of any deeper exploration of the interplay of theology and progress. I've read before about the importance of the "Protestant ethic" motivating change and progress as people felt they had self-determination and free will, compared to what has been described as a fatalist mindset/approach of the Catholic church, where an individual can feel like more of a pawn in another's game.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic

Lost in the discussion is the idea that the tank should not have a future, and neither should most weapons of war, because they are brutal inhumane killing machines from a past era that have no place in future societies - this is my view as a pacifist. My hope is that humans can move past the idea of war for settling conflict, otherwise what is the point of social norms like privacy, respect, and courtesy between people, when the same people in society can condone killing of their youth in war? In my view tanks are are a tool of war against the progress of society and I don't see that changing in the future.

I am wondering, do these new protocols run on existing fiber networks or does it require new hardware?

Another case of individual citizens paying a price for the bad behavior of buroucrat / autocrat leaders.

If only the idealistic borderless free Internet were more of a reality.

As noted by others on this topic, some games and other apps are "finished artworks" from years ago. They are "done", like a final version of Tetris, it works fine for what it is and it's done.

I saw a discussion about PS3 that is still fully supported by Sony with live app store servers after 15 years and still fully supports games from PS2 and PS1 from 20+ years ago. Good on Sony.

This reminds me of the current state of fusion power generation, self driving, and AGI,.. currently we see a constant flood of hype articles claiming they are nearly here, as well as cautionary articles suggesting we are decades away.

Indeed, I think this the central argument and conclusion. What o find interesting is the delayed effect. We had "more money" for a while until the dilution caught up and affected prices across the board.

I regularly drive a 1973 VW westy (bus camper van) and it has these same type of quirks! For me they are all second nature after having the vehicle for over 10 years.

I one had to leave it in a parking lot and later have it towed while I was at work. The tow truck driver could not figure out how to get it started even with me walking him through it on the phone! The ignition is 'wiggly' where it won't start until you jiggle the steering wheel to allow the key to turn to start the car. Also a screwdriver will work fine (if you wiggle the steering wheel just right while attempting to turn the ignition). So ya, Similar quirks :).

I love our westy and usually take it to the beach to surf. It also has an old air-cooled 914 pancake engine in it.

"The bond market just flashed a warning sign that has correctly predicted almost every recession over the past 60 years: an inversion of the US Treasury note yield curve"

As I understand it, this signal comes from investors as they shift to bonds (from short term gains in stocks) I just wonder if it's the recent excess liquidity/capital in the system pushing investors to diversify into bonds, for example:

Junk Bond Market Soars to New Record as Excess Liquidity Prompts Investors to Seek Higher Yields https://thedeepdive.ca/us-junk-bond-market-soars-to-new-reco...

Thanks - I added 'low-voltage' to the HN title even though it's not in the linked article because I agree with you, it's helpful.

The journal paper is linked in the article if you want to read it. For low-voltage devices it seems reasonable to me.

Fluctuation-induced current from freestanding graphene https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.102.0...

As I recall the voltage was similar to a AA battery (per module) with a 30+ degree difference on each side of the cell, so a lot of modules could be assembled in an array to generate useful power. A lot of small boat/RV refrigerators use these for their direct thermal effect (one side will get ice cold when powered). My experiment was a smaller scale parabolic solar trough design with a line of modules along the focus point since I needed to heat water anyway to regulate temperatures in an aquaponics system (fish farm). Side note, I've seen successful systems out there that use Stirling engines to power a generator from the concentrated solar heat.

"harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman’s well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado’s team found that at room temperature the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible."

So is this effectively a micro cooler? (Extracting thermal energy?) I experimented with TEC Peltier modules/cells for converting solar concentrator heat to electricity, it's not particularly efficient but it works when there is a sufficient temperature differential.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/?title=Peltier_device&redirect=no

I like your thought process on it. :) Thanks for sharing the Iron Ore Line link that is some fascinating history - it looks like that railway was built out in the 1800s and electrified starting in 1915. I'm surprised we don't see more projects that take advantage of gravity like this but it might be due to the predictable nature of the mining business (vs some other general train or truck routes, etc).