Astrohacker

7 ms·

1.
by Astrohacker 15y ago
Thanks. This looks right up my alley.
2.
by Astrohacker 15y ago
Thanks for the response. I believe many forms of AI will be huge industries (of course, they already are, but they will be bigger in the coming decades): * consumer products * AI as a service, like more advanced search engines * AI for busi
3.
Ask HN: As a physicist, how do I get a job in AI?
12 points by Astrohacker 15y ago|9 comments
4.
by Astrohacker 15y ago
Things have gotten better for most people because of moral advances and technological advances. But government has gotten worse and has slowed down progress.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
You wouldn't replace it with anything. You'd need a cultural change where people recognized that stealing is always wrong, even if they call it taxes and declare it legal. Police and courts would be businesses like any other and not funded
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Government isn't effective, democratic or otherwise. But I'm not a cynic. I have high hopes for humanity, long term. The sooner we get rid of the institutionalized use of force (government) the better.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Politicians created the problem by creating IP laws. If they "solve" it, they will undoubtedly just introduce some new problem.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Or maybe governments should just not take on ludicrous amounts of debt.
9.
by Astrohacker 15y ago
Agreed. Children and young animals play because they learn from it. This is why evolution has programmed them to enjoy it. Play=self-improvement.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
The next big thing will start out looking like a toy = bitcoin
11.
by Astrohacker 15y ago
Funny. I just disabled my account this week and don't have plans to go back. Facebook never made much of an impact on my life and I've finally decided the loss of privacy is no longer worth staying on. Edit: Now after having read the post I
12.
by Astrohacker 15y ago
But inflating the money supply doesn't take away everyone's purchasing power. It redistributes it to the people who get the new money.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Krugman thinks deflation makes things worse. So if bitcoin ends up making things better, that proves Krugman wrong.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Krugman prefers the dollar, which has a supply that is constantly inflated by the central bank. But if the dollar is so good, why do people have to be forced to use it? (You have to pay your taxes in dollars, and you have to accept payments
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Public services would be provided by businesses like everything else. "Law and order" would be maintained primarily the way it is now, which is through social custom. But since there would still be aggressors, you would have to pay for priv
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
> Immoral does not equal illegal. I meant criminal as in immoral, not as in illegal. Obviously the government is going to declare its taxes legal. > I'm not even going to get into the fact that it's not always wrong to force people
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Agreed. I find it disturbing that other commenters in this thread would evidently use this program if they had a chance. I can sense the downvotes already... but let me explain why this program is terrible. If I charged everyone a tax, and
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
There are tons of free textbooks available. Google for physics or math textbooks. There are also tons of free lectures available on YouTube and Khan Academy.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
There is an enormous amount of information about science readily accessible to anyone who wants to learn it. Perhaps many people just don't care about science. If that's true, forcing them to learn it probably isn't going to accomplish anyt
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Not all uses of cryptography are for encrypting information sent over a channel. Consider bitcoin, which uses public/private keys and hashing functions to create a digital currency. No encryption is even involved.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
YouTube is good, but it isn't really designed for education. How can you give out assignments with YouTube? What about paying teachers? A YouTube-for-education would be explicitly designed to bring people together for learning purposes. And
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
I don't think credentials are very meaningful. An alternative is to let students simply display all their work on the internet. Employers can check out their work to determine their eligibility for a job.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Cool. But is the future of education really having professors give lectures, except now it's online? Here are some brainstorm ideas for alternatives: * Allow anyone, not just existing professors, create a course on any topic and of any leng
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
I'll handle my own identity, thanks.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Patent laws should be ignored. Run your company pseudonymously, and violate patents all you want. No one will be able to stop you.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
> We really need a killer app that pushes the limits of most Internet connections and you'll see more companies betting on (expensive) upgrades to deliver those speeds. I don't see much on the horizon. If bitcoin gets very popular, runn
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
> Exposing people to science and math in school is absolutely critical. I dunno. I'm a physicist, and a lot of people tell me "I hate physics" when I tell them what I do. I think K-12 is doing more harm than good.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
They can tour the mine or nuclear reactor, or work there. Colleges and universities add nothing to this.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
> I have yet to see an online lab course. Equipment is expensive, and proper training is important... The students can rent the equipment and acquire training online.
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by Astrohacker 15y ago
Force is unethical. The government's fundamental tool--which distinguishes it from most other organizations--is that it forces people to do stuff under the threat of violence (and it often actually employs violence to demonstrate that it is

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