iambateman

What makes it make sense?

This is like saying that the internet hasn’t created positive value for all but the biggest firms in 1998. Give it a second.

So, let’s do it. Human — what is your most controversial take on humans?

Thanks Pete. I appreciate you taking the time to post here.

I turned the server off on our app until this storm is over.

You guys. They made a car fly. It was damn cool. I know there’s more to the story and we all need a “take” but I remember watching Speed Racer as a kid and being totally enchanted by the idea of a flying car.

Yesterday, that’s exactly what we saw and it’s ok to just enjoy the spectacle.

People educate lawmakers without contributing money all them time. Think about AI…how many lawmakers could even tell you what a token is, much less how AI should be regulated? They learn from experts.

Not offended! So if you took money out of it, what would you do to substitute?

(IANALobbyist but I do work for a lobbying firm)

Lobbying is how businesses talk to government. And I get that that sounds nasty—and sometimes it is nasty—-but it’s necessary.

Most of us work for businesses and when a rule comes out that legitimately threatens your business, you want to be able to tell the government in realtime.

Remember the rule change to the amortization of software expenses, which inadvertently would have killed thousands of software companies? Well, a big push from businesses got the rule amended and eventually removed, which is better for everyone. That’s lobbying.

Many businesses and local governments hire people who specialize in that work due to the sheer volume (America has a lot of layers of government).

I understand why the profession has such a bad reputation. When we think of a “lobbyist” we think of Big Tobacco or Big Tax Prep Software…companies who are trying to preserve their position by paying off the right people. But for every one of those, there are a hundred companies trying to make sure the law doesn’t screw then over and a hundred local communities trying to convince their state capitol to fund their schools and parks and bridges.

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Edit: there’s a dangerous assumption that lawmakers are corrupt and in it for the money. If we allow that assumption, we discourage the best people from choosing civil service because they think the only way to make it is to accept backroom deals. We have robust ethics laws, and we should expect everyone to follow them.

I’ll take that bet up to all the money in the known universe.

Should the public have an expectation of total privacy for their chats? It seems responsible for a chat provider to report things like this.

If they were to offer total privacy, is it ok for the public to use chat to get advice on _how_ to commit a crime? Basically everyone agrees that crime-committing advice is inappropriate…but if it is not ok to get advice, that means there must be a portal for law enforcement to step in when that may have happened. Then the question becomes what is the line for when to report? In other words, the issue needs to be adjudicated.

But we don’t want OpenAI/Claude to have some $20/hour reviewer making decisions that are this high stakes…we need the courts to do the judicial work because they (1) have a public charter, (2) have meaningful expertise and specialization at interpreting the law and (3) we can hold them accountable.

I learned this the hard way with OpenAI last week. A key got hacked and a Chinese-language bot used $300 in tokens in an hour.

I had a spending limit on for $30, so why did it keep charging? Because the spending limit is meaningless without a hidden checkbox called “enforce spending limit,” which is (or at least was for me) off by default.

To OpenAI’s credit, they refunded the money.

Andy Reid is retiring when he gets his 303rd regular season win. At nearly the same time, Tomlin is going to find he once again has the zest for coaching.

It had also been 8 years since he had a decent QB. At some point it’s up to the GM to figure out how to get someone good.

I’m in the same age group and I agree but I feel frustrated that our grandparents went with “marijuana is the gateway to hell” as the social message.

I don’t know if there is responsible weed or psychedelic use (not my area) but I’m confident that responsible alcohol consumption exists.

Though I doubt any of it is a net benefit to society.

Most of the commenters in the media are very much hoping the conversation doesn’t get to that level.

A good friend of mine works for them. It’s a weird combination of (1) probably the long-range future and (2) absolutely not going to use my kid as a test subject.

If you believe, as I do, that half of students only achieve half of their academic potential, then experiments like this are some of the most valuable work we could do in society.

But again, let me know how it goes in 25 years and my children can enroll my grandkids.

A lot of negativity here on Buffett. I doubt any mega-billionaire is a total saint, but by comparison Warren seems like a guy who tried to do good in the world.

We should hope for fewer billionaires, but as long as we have them, we should hope for more Warrens.

From a policy standpoint…I wonder about creating a rule that anyone who got a DUI could get an amended license where they could legally operate only autonomous vehicles. First DUI is a permanent AV-only license.

Since 7 million people have DUI’s, that one policy change would completely reshape the industry.

I think there is a difference between a right to safe drinking water and a right to provided water which is safe.

The government cannot have a responsibility to provide every person with water, since some people will choose to live in places which are incompatible with that mandate.

But if the government does provide water, it must be clean.

It’s just the government holding itself to its own standard —— if my bottle of Pepsi turned out to have lead in it, the EPA would go to the ends of the earth to pull every bottle from the shelf until the company fixes it. We should expect nothing less from the water in our pipes.

Very cool. Does it work to connect my phone and laptop to the same firehose?

I often find myself irritated because I read an article on my phone 6 months ago and the history is gone.

When I was a kid, my parents would say “with that attitude, you’re right.”

We can and should expect a lot out of the people around us and especially the ones who choose civil service.

Our grandparents ended slavery, got votes for women, established a merit-based civil service, fought fascism, passed equal rights legislation, and created the most dynamic large economy in history.

We have problems, too, but we are not powerless to fix them.

If you've never seen the Smarter Every Day series on nuclear reactors[0], it's must-watch. It completely reshaped how I think about reactors. Tremendous respect for the people who work on those plants.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0afQ6w3Bjw&t=4007s

We all are, at some level.

I would say this is true, but should be understood in the context of sharecropping, Jim crow, and slavery as a long and continuous outworking of poorly-checked capitalism.

I’m not saying that you meant to say that it’s our first round with this…just pointing out that Americans have significant experience at maintaining a underclass.

I'm sure there's some of that.

There was a moment where I made genuine friends through Twitter...people I worked with, knew their families, and really got to know over time.

Now, X is a mess and HN is intellectually stimulating but impersonal.

There are some of us who are old enough to remember Twitter’s true time of “unprecedented growth.”

I miss old Twitter.

You and I both know it's not always that simple.

What do you call a building that can only be seen once in a hundred years?

99% Invisible.

Ask your doctor if Opus 5 is right for you. Side effects include occasional hallucination, security breaches and unwanted React apps. Some developers have reported receiving entire apps from untrained executives who may or may not know what they’re doing.

Stop using Opus immediately if you experience signs of dizziness or vomiting.

Opus 5…the people’s favorite.