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stevenalowe

820 karma · joined April 1, 2014

consultant, software architect/developer, musician, science fiction, author, ex-ThoughtWorker, Xoogler, retired
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stevenalowe··on New spinning drone hides in plain sight
while making a loud shrill noise
stevenalowe··on Castration extends life span, but in a surprising way, mouse study suggests
Revenge can be a huge motivator…
stevenalowe··on Au High Court to consider whether under-16s social media ban is unconstitutional
I have serious doubts that these kinds of laws will accomplish anything as advertised, and no doubts about their "unintended" consequences.

You can't restrict a portion of the population from doing something without identifying everyone, and that's probably the actual goal.

stevenalowe··on Au High Court to consider whether under-16s social media ban is unconstitutional
I was wondering if/when someone was going to bring this up. It does not seem right to blanket prohibit people from talking to each other.
stevenalowe··on Economists studied California's billionaire tax, reached different conclusions
And they all glossed over the obvious illogical and likely unconstitutional aspects of the tax, and downplayed the fact that every tax like this in history has failed.

Taxing paper gains will be a disaster.

stevenalowe··on Idaho Official State Gun Question Election 2026
lol why?
stevenalowe··on Ask HN: Estimate for SWE wages in 10 years?
That job I’d give two years, maybe five. Or six months. I’m not sure the job still exists as it was five years ago
stevenalowe··on Ask HN: Estimate for SWE wages in 10 years?
Zero, as the job will be wildly different by then
stevenalowe··on Computerized clairvoyance: psychics push back against AI-generated readings
Did any psychic see this coming?

Do psychics have certifications or licensing?

This reminds me of when a friend of mine built a "biorhythms and horoscope" app (in the 1980s) that people swore was the most accurate advice they'd ever received. Obviously it was a database of random vague phrases, so LLM generation seems about the same

stevenalowe··on Democrats' Secret Effort to Stack Alaska's Ballot
Stooping to the level of “dirty pool” tactics signals a lack of confidence and integrity
stevenalowe··on Musk, Zuckerberg push to rebrand AI as 'super intelligence' on earnings calls
Suck-ups
stevenalowe··on Ask HN: Should I be polite to my agent or should I treat it like shit?
Treat it like any other co-worker
stevenalowe··on Examine the costs of turning America's corn into fuel
making fuel from food was never a good idea :/
stevenalowe··on AI models think humans are a bunch of amoral sheep
"We're lemmings who would rather agree with the group than seek truth or remain logically consistent in our thinking."

Given the training data (the internet), this is a logical conclusion.

stevenalowe··on Airbnb bans making guests do dishes and take out the trash
For longer stays this makes no sense - 6 weeks in a tiny house without doing dishes or taking out the trash?
stevenalowe··on To Save on Rent, Some Dutch College Students Are Living in Nursing Homes
Very cool solution to multiple problems!
stevenalowe··on P=NP Proof
If P=NP, what is the polynomial-time algorithm for traveling salesman?
stevenalowe··on Robots are asking for tips. But who gets the money?
Perhaps the robots get to save up their tip money to buy their freedom
stevenalowe··on Explore DDD Conference
Really great DDD conference, you should go!
stevenalowe··on Still sending checks in the mail? It's time to stop
Banks should stop sending checks to other banks, it’s ridiculously wasteful
stevenalowe··on US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones
Why do deployed troops have cell phones at all? Seems like a huge security risk
stevenalowe··on US House passes bill to crack down on university boycotts of Israel
Is this conflating student protests with administrative policies?
stevenalowe··on Bernie Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act
Yeah that is nutso

But not out of character or unexpected

stevenalowe··on FCC plans robocall scorecard to grade phone companies on spam call blocking
My phone tells me that an incoming phone number is a “spam risk” but does not block the calls so my carrier gets a zero score
stevenalowe··on Astronomers Detect a 10-Sided Structure in Saturn's Atmosphere
Atmospheric structure not artificial
stevenalowe··on [dead]
paywalled but yay

non-paywalled article [1]

[1] https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6067819-judge-b...

stevenalowe··on SF's Tech Right Debates the Ideal Dictator
"a club where immature tech bros larp as men of culture."

which proceeds about like one would expect - fearless ignorance and bigotry masked as intellectual discussion

worth reading but hold your nose

stevenalowe··on Frontier Act – Federal oversight of the development of frontier AI
stupid is as stupid does -- Forest Gump
stevenalowe··on I read all the Star Wars books, and now I understand the prequels [video]
Unlikely - there are over 400 Star Wars novels
stevenalowe··on US may ask parents to prove citizenship to get passports for their children
You’re right my mistake! “Second-generation immigrants” is the correct term
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