unkz's recent activity
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Comment on archive.org was under DDOS attack few hours ago and it has just recovered in ~tech
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Comment on archive.org was under DDOS attack few hours ago and it has just recovered in ~tech
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Comment on Developers Aren't Nerds in ~comp
unkz Link ParentI wouldn’t expect them to be positively correlated, maybe even negatively correlated, and neither of those are common, so the intersection would seem to be quite rare.I wouldn’t expect them to be positively correlated, maybe even negatively correlated, and neither of those are common, so the intersection would seem to be quite rare.
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Comment on A word about RMS, GPL and the free software movement in ~tech
unkz Link ParentWe are machines whose behaviours have been relentlessly optimized by evolution over at least 3.7 billion years — the idea of the blank slate psyche is incompatible with physical reality. This is...Human nature is part of a bigger picture that is nurtured in context. There is no such intrinsic human nature that we are born with it.
We are machines whose behaviours have been relentlessly optimized by evolution over at least 3.7 billion years — the idea of the blank slate psyche is incompatible with physical reality.
Building an electric car costs more for the environment than keeping the ICE you already have.
This is not a generally true statement, unless one lives in an area where the grid is close to 100% fossil fuel. While the emissions are front loaded on an EV, the inefficiencies of carrying around an inefficient gas motor everywhere you go is eclipsed by purchasing a new EV typically within only a few years.
look at the breakeven graph here
At almost any point in an ICE’s lifecycle, you are better off stopping driving it and getting an EV.
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Comment on A word about RMS, GPL and the free software movement in ~tech
unkz Link ParentI would say that the acceptance that communism has happened is what hasn’t happened, because any time any instantiation of it occurs, it will fail and people will immediately claim that “that...First because communism never happened
I would say that the acceptance that communism has happened is what hasn’t happened, because any time any instantiation of it occurs, it will fail and people will immediately claim that “that wasn’t real communism”.
I don’t think we are ever going to see successful “real communism” though, because it’s incompatible with human nature.
Second because socialism is not about having the same stuff nor about being low quality.
It’s not a tenet, it’s a consequence.
Changing our cars to electric vehicles is worse than everyone keeping the same ones functioning until the end.
Wait, what? How is continuing to drive ICEs forever a positive thing?
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Comment on A word about RMS, GPL and the free software movement in ~tech
unkz Link ParentThe way I would frame this is innovation. The GPL doesn’t promote innovation. The tradeoff is similar to capitalism versus communism. In capitalism we don’t all have access to the same stuff, but...everyone forking and selling their own altered versions.
The way I would frame this is innovation. The GPL doesn’t promote innovation.
The tradeoff is similar to capitalism versus communism. In capitalism we don’t all have access to the same stuff, but the best stuff is higher quality. In communism we all have the same stuff, but it’s all low quality.
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Comment on A word about RMS, GPL and the free software movement in ~tech
unkz LinkI really dislike the way the GPL brands itself as “free” when it’s the opposite. MIT/Apache/BSD/Artistic are far more free — I can basically do what I like with them, no strings attached aside...I really dislike the way the GPL brands itself as “free” when it’s the opposite. MIT/Apache/BSD/Artistic are far more free — I can basically do what I like with them, no strings attached aside from assigning credit. I would never release a piece of code I have written under the GPL, because when I give code away, I really give it away — because I believe in freedom.
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Comment on "Appear weak when you are strong" - This Confucian proverb is keeping everyone in confusion in ~talk
unkz Link ParentI think in some cases it might be better to downplay your position in initial salary negotiations until they've made an opening offer, so you have a stronger position to make a counteroffer. If...I think in some cases it might be better to downplay your position in initial salary negotiations until they've made an opening offer, so you have a stronger position to make a counteroffer. If you've already put all your cards on the table, there's not very much room to negotiate beyond "um ok, but I want more".
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Comment on Webcomics recommendations in ~comics
unkz LinkPretty (ok, maximally) NSFW, but Oglaf is fun. Magical fantasy world built entirely around sex jokes. The first half is semi-long-form stories, but then it transitions to one-offs, updating weekly.Pretty (ok, maximally) NSFW, but Oglaf is fun. Magical fantasy world built entirely around sex jokes. The first half is semi-long-form stories, but then it transitions to one-offs, updating weekly.
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Comment on Am I alone in thinking that we're bouncing back from a highly technological future? in ~life
unkz Link ParentKeep in mind, they lost the space race, and that was while simultaneously totally sacrificing consumer goods and living conditions for the entire population. It was in fact a gross failure of...Keep in mind, they lost the space race, and that was while simultaneously totally sacrificing consumer goods and living conditions for the entire population. It was in fact a gross failure of innovation taken across the economy as a whole, with the sole exception of being kind of okay at rocketry briefly. And America flipped the switch in 1961 and blew the Soviets out of the water in 8 years, while making zero sacrifices at the consumer level.
Kitchen knives haven't really had revolutionary improvements in hundreds of years
That wouldn't be my go-to example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_knife
We're already rapidly approaching those practical limits of diminishing returns WRT electronics and heat pumps.
I don't know what to say -- electronic technology is improving at such an incredible rate it's hard to compare to any other point in human history.
You'll notice that most TVs and monitors look like crap at the default 'home' setting
I'm not sure what that says about the state of technology. From my perspective, there are consumer grade 3d TVs available, and 8k resolutions that can reliably stream full definition content over my home internet connection. TVs of 10 years ago are complete garbage compared to TVs of today.
Dyson
I don't know enough about filters to comment on this, but my somewhat unfounded suspicion is that the manufacturing process and effectiveness for the HEPA filter built in 1950 is not very similar to the modern one.
Do we need cellphones to be faster every year? Or do we just need to insure everyone on the planet has one, even if it means 'freezing' the technology
I would say yes, I do want more from my phone. And here we're explicitly planning on killing innovation, which is abhorrent to me.
And does it? Because what I've seen over the course of my 40 years is that for every massive innovation, there's about 1,00,000 regressions as quality is sacrificed and factories are moved to slave-wage countries to get the lowest price, creating massive amounts of garbage and masking the true cost of luxury goods.
Honestly, it sounds like we live on separate planets. When I look around, I see constant improvements in nearly every way, and I do not feel any desire to live in a rebooted Soviet Union or China. We've seen what that looks like -- it's not good, and I don't believe for a second that it's just because it wasn't "real communism" or something. It's just a bad system that disregards actual human nature.
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Comment on Am I alone in thinking that we're bouncing back from a highly technological future? in ~life
unkz Link ParentI don't see how converting to a Soviet style command economy isn't going to destroy innovation, and the idea of a "solved commodity" doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned -- every product's...I don't see how converting to a Soviet style command economy isn't going to destroy innovation, and the idea of a "solved commodity" doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned -- every product's innovation is only bounded by people's imagination and the surrounding technological ecosystem. Even something as "simple" as the production of toilet paper or vacuum cleaners can and will be improved over time so long as economic pressures continue to act on it, but the second the government comes in and starts dumping products at cost into the market those forces will dry up.
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Comment on Am I alone in thinking that we're bouncing back from a highly technological future? in ~life
unkz (edited )Link ParentThis would seriously disincentivize me from bothering to create …. anything at all. Frankly one of the more disturbing and dystopian ideas I’ve seen seriously proposed. The outcome of this...This would seriously disincentivize me from bothering to create …. anything at all. Frankly one of the more disturbing and dystopian ideas I’ve seen seriously proposed.
The outcome of this perverse incentive scheme would be bizarre to witness, as companies struggle to make their products marginally worse to avoid being stolen by the government.
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Comment on Scarlett Johansson says she is 'shocked, angered' over new ChatGPT voice in ~tech
unkz (edited )Link ParentThat’s not how I read the situation at all. OpenAI was being intransigent so Microsoft brought Altman on as a stopgap, but then they convinced OpenAI to come to heel and they reinstalled Altman...That’s not how I read the situation at all. OpenAI was being intransigent so Microsoft brought Altman on as a stopgap, but then they convinced OpenAI to come to heel and they reinstalled Altman plus put Microsoft on the board so they wouldn’t be caught unaware of the board did something against their interest in the future.
As I see it, Microsoft is all in on Altman. In fact, I see it like Microsoft was about to torch their entire relationship with OpenAI and build a new division around Sam Altman if OpenAI refused to reinstate him.
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Comment on Scarlett Johansson says she is 'shocked, angered' over new ChatGPT voice in ~tech
unkz Link ParentWhat do you mean?Microsoft did the wise thing to not further the relationship with him for technology collaboration.
What do you mean?
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Comment on Police are not primarily crime fighters in ~life
unkz Link ParentMore people die in car accidents than they do from homicide. It seems like a pretty good use of police time on the face of it.More people die in car accidents than they do from homicide. It seems like a pretty good use of police time on the face of it.
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Comment on Students invent quieter leaf blower in ~engineering
unkz Link ParentI have limited experience with gas powered blowers, but I use a battery powered one regularly and it's quite good -- power-wise, it's somewhat comparable to a gas powered blower. The one I use...I have limited experience with gas powered blowers, but I use a battery powered one regularly and it's quite good -- power-wise, it's somewhat comparable to a gas powered blower. The one I use does 200 mph, 765 cfm. In comparison, pretty high end backpack gas models can be found in the 240 mph 835 cfm range so there's a bit of a gap but I imagine there must exist higher end electric versions as well. You can get 2-3 hours of work off a single charge on low speed which is what I'm generally using, but that does drop down to about 15 minutes on turbo. I would think typically you wouldn't need to be on turbo the entire time though, and you could expect somewhere in the middle. I'm not using it to move leaves around though, so I don't know what a typical use pattern would be.
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Comment on Cryptocurrency mining as a novel virtual energy storage system in islanded and grid-connected microgrids in ~enviro
unkz Link ParentBitcoin mining wastes energy either way. This moves some of the bitcoin to the MG, but the savings are illusory on a whole system perspective. It simply redistributes the waste as all global miner...Bitcoin mining wastes energy either way. This moves some of the bitcoin to the MG, but the savings are illusory on a whole system perspective. It simply redistributes the waste as all global miner efficiency drops. This is environmentally horrifying.
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Comment on How do you organize your Linux packages? in ~comp
unkz LinkI do about 95%+ of my development inside docker containers to avoid these kinds of issues.I do about 95%+ of my development inside docker containers to avoid these kinds of issues.
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Comment on Honest Question: Why did PHP remove dynamic properties in 8.x? in ~comp
unkz Link ParentThis is... unlikely for at least a few reasons. It's such an easy fix, that codeigniter/cakephp updated their code to work with these changes almost immediately, over a year ago. If this was an...This is... unlikely for at least a few reasons.
- It's such an easy fix, that codeigniter/cakephp updated their code to work with these changes almost immediately, over a year ago. If this was an attempt to undermine PHP, it's a very poorly planned out sabotage.
- People with commit privileges to PHP's codebase, who have dedicated years of their lives to the ecosystem, are not there to destroy their life's work.
- How on earth could this even happen? Someone at SAP or IBM calls a meeting and orders staff to go deep cover to infiltrate the PHP Foundation for the purpose of sabotaging downstream open source frameworks?
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Comment on Honest Question: Why did PHP remove dynamic properties in 8.x? in ~comp
unkz LinkI'm not totally following here. Are you saying that "Big IT" could have deliberately sabotaged PHP for some reason? Why?The influence of Corporate IT in various open source foundations is pretty well known and also well known is the extent to which corporate greed goes to achieve its interests and objectives across the world. The only way to assuage this uncomfortable thought (at least in this particular case) is to ask if there was any technical merit at all in removing dynamic properties feature from a dynamic programming language?
I'm not totally following here. Are you saying that "Big IT" could have deliberately sabotaged PHP for some reason? Why?
And wants it down for… a couple hours? Seems like a weird use of resources.