cactusface

7 ms·

1.
by cactusface 11y ago
Here's my sealion of a question. What parts of climate change research are actually backed up by the scientific method (experiments with falsifiable hypotheses and all that) and what parts are more akin to natural history or something
2.
by cactusface 11y ago
Why doesn't a bike save you a lot of money on fuel? Keeping a car on the road is expensive, you can save on insurance too. Also you can take the bus. I know, it's a pain.
3.
by cactusface 11y ago
> They're selling real products that everyone needs (not wants) Sikhs?
4.
by cactusface 11y ago
If you can simulate matter, certainly you can simulate a brain. Qualia appear not to derive from pixie dust but accumulated experience in the world. You might need to train a brain for a long time to develop qualia. You might not be able
5.
by cactusface 11y ago
It's actually reasonable. Step 1, translate key push. Step 2, broadcast key message. What you're missing is that there's an alternate Step 1, translate joystick hat push (or mouse drag, or whatever). So Step 2 should be b
6.
by cactusface 11y ago
On reflection, I concede that AirBnB is largely landlords renting their space or tenants subletting for substantial profit without their landlord's permission. However, I think subletting is fine, as long as you aren't making a s
7.
by cactusface 11y ago
Japan > England >> USA. Just being able to take the TGV from London to Paris is mindblowing. I define great as it being generally possible to get where I want to go on the train (this is the most important factor) and then as a bo
8.
by cactusface 11y ago
It is if you live there. You share space and cost.
9.
by cactusface 11y ago
I think population density is a factor. China and the US have the same area, but China has 4x the population. Consider also England and Japan, densely populated islands with great train service.
10.
by cactusface 11y ago
When you take a roommate, aren't you sharing the cost of rent? Sharing can mean mutual contribution as much as it means mutual partaking. Also, what? Amazon is not a retailer? They have giant warehouses, they ship physical product
11.
by cactusface 11y ago
Oh, it was a suggestion to the guy, but thanks for elaborating.
12.
by cactusface 11y ago
Is a statement of disbelief a belief? I believe that all beliefs are false, except this one? I disbelieve all beliefs, except this disbelief? I disbelieve everything except I believe in the goodness of science? I disbelieve all hypothes
13.
by cactusface 11y ago
I believe that all beliefs (in non-falsifiable existence) stem from imagined experiences.
14.
by cactusface 11y ago
This was a neat summary. I'd add that often, you can use a length of string to measure something, without actually needing to know the numerical length. But then from that perspective, a tape measure is just ~2000 pieces of string ne
15.
by cactusface 11y ago
NaCl?
16.
by cactusface 11y ago
I think programs written in dynamic languages are generally harder to optimize because they're more likely to take advantage of complex features. Since these languages often compile to C, you can obviously write the same program in C,
17.
by cactusface 11y ago
Also consider that fixed point optimization algorithms can only ever approach the optimal solution. Languages that are closer to the hardware generally have simpler (tighter) optimization constraints, and compilers for them will generally
18.
by cactusface 11y ago
Yeah, but nothing says you can't specialize your C code.
19.
by cactusface 11y ago
This was actually a really entertaining telling of a boring old story about capitalist competition. Act I: We tried A, then we outgrew it. Someone said B was better. Act II: We tried B, then we outgrew it. Act III: By this time A had ca
20.
by cactusface 11y ago
Has the pursuit of strong AI been a waste of time?
21.
by cactusface 11y ago
I don't know, he has a point. Science and engineering can go hand in hand. We built the bomb. We broke Enigma. We landed on the moon. We didn't have all the science when we started.
22.
by cactusface 11y ago
Well, I disagree, but it's subjective so you're entitled to your opinion. That said, the decision about whether or not to use metrics in the first place is also a subjective assessment by your manager.
23.
by cactusface 11y ago
Why are fake IDs criminal when the business is not legally required to check for identity? Is it because it's a government document? I'm just curious.
24.
by cactusface 11y ago
What if all your time is spent cleaning up after the cowboys? Or talking to the other team members about the problems they are stuck working on? A mission critical 2-line bugfix can take months. There aren't objective measures of pe
25.
by cactusface 11y ago
You can poll your friends. It can work. I have a couple friends without Facebook accounts, they are not anti-social. Perhaps introverted. Sometimes we have to remember to tell them about events. Personally though, the invites and priva
26.
by cactusface 11y ago
It's not the only way, it's just really convenient. Just about everyone has mail / email / text / phone. The ones that don't have those, aren't going to have Facebook.
27.
by cactusface 11y ago
Well said. Also, there would be no interpersonal relationships.
28.
by cactusface 11y ago
I don't really think "the left" and "the right" are useful categories, unless you want to talk about people who don't think for themselves, which granted is a lot of people. I think it's perfectly accepta
29.
by cactusface 11y ago
I don't think most people have even one Facebook account.
30.
by cactusface 11y ago
If I understand what you're saying, that's an interesting point. With a smaller government and less regulation, corporations tend to have more influence over your day to day freedoms. When there isn't much choice or variety

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