mhardcastle

9 ms·

1.
by mhardcastle 2y ago
I found myself accidentally behind the secured area of this solar installation while driving in the Mojave National Preserve. It is truly bizarre to see up close - the glow that you see around the towers in the photo on the article is quite
2.
by mhardcastle 2y ago
“However, it is important to note that this does not impact our results,” [lead study author] Liu told National Post." So an order-of-magnitude difference has no impacts on the result? How can that be?
3.
by mhardcastle 2y ago
Why include that capacitor at all if it doesn't matter whether it works?
4.
by mhardcastle 2y ago
This goes massively against the consensus of experts in this field. The modal AI researcher believes that "high-level machine intelligence", roughly AGI, will be achieved by 2047, per the survey below. Given the rapid pace of deve
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by mhardcastle 2y ago
In 2022, the median ML researcher surveyed thought that there is a 5% or 10% chance of AI leading to "human extinction or similarly permanent and severe disempowerment of the human species," depending on how the question was asked
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by mhardcastle 2y ago
In most companies, "operations" staff is among their lowest-paid: customer service, cashiers, bank tellers, factory workers, etc. They are used to constant adherence to strict metrics. Medical care is strange in that the operation
7.
by mhardcastle 2y ago
For what it's worth, "play money" betting site Manifold is currently at a 69% chance of sale versus 31% of shutting down. https://manifold.markets/mint/conditional-on-the-tiktok-ban-...
8.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
> Separately this is generally not a great idea economically. You do kill inflation in Argentina (replaced with American inflation but that is extremely low and stable by Argentine standards). But you have no control over your monetary p
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
Social status is positional and follows arms race dynamics. Everyone would have more money and nobody would suffer worse ring-positional-status if everyone spent proportionately less. Also, there is a deep body of economics and psychology l
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
Traffic is a function of how many cars go through a road/intersection per unit time, which is reduced if cars keep shorter following distances, which self-driving cars can do because of faster reaction times. In the extreme, imagine if
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner had similar sentiments. A very interesting interview along these lines: https://jameswphillips.substack.com/p/s-and-t-a-conversation...
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
Somebody using your social security number and other information would be able to apply for credit. As soon as they do that, the bureau(s) called by the lender would have a file on "you". The federal government requires that all t
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
People respond to incentives. If you make something harder, people will do less of it. New barriers include: the actual work of moving money around to and from friends and family and directing trades, counterparty risks in doing so (e.g. si
14.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
People respond to incentives, why wouldn't they respond to taxes on alcohol? "Public policies affecting the price of alcoholic beverages have significant effects on alcohol-related disease and injury rates. Our results suggest tha
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
If you're donating because you know your levels are elevated then I'd agree with this thought. (While also agreeing with those in the thread saying that high-PFAS donations are likely often better than no donations)
16.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
Donating blood or plasma has evidence of reducing pfas. If I knew I had high measured levels, I'd certainly think about doing it more. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8994130/
17.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
I also had a pixel begin to boot then make 911 calls upon getting moisture in it. I damaged the sim slot prying it out so it wouldn't dial 911 any more. I figured my experience was a freak occurrence - how is this a (n=2) failure mode
18.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
Regarding (1), for blacktails I'd add meadow encroachment. Parts of their range have sees a sizeable portion of the meadows where they browse taken over by conifers and shrubs. These were kept in-check by fires pre-1500.
19.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
Self-driving cars, particularly if they communicate, can safely keep shorter following distances. All-else-equal, this means that many more cars can drive on the same amount of road.
20.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
If you take the precepts of the parent comment at face value, then you have an intelligence far greater and faster than humans. Can something like this persuade humans with whom it freely communicates to do things not in the interest of hum
21.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
How does it work now? When I did it twice before (including semi-recently), I could only do it via chat or over the phone - either option took about 5 minutes and required talking with somebody.
22.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
This is a great way to think about it, and upon reflection I definitely operate in this way. I'd love SiriusXM at the promo rates they offer, or even at full price in a month where I know I'll be on the road for a while. I will ne
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
"However, if it would restrict my freedoms in any manner, state must leave it to parents. I shouldn't be punished because some people can't find the time for their kids." This seems like drawing a very, very firm deontol
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
If you use that baton, or even if you are seen with it by the wrong person, there is a good chance that you will be charged with a crime. Look up penal codes 12020 and 22210, possession of a club or baton in California is not legal. (To say
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by mhardcastle 3y ago
Companies will only get better at creating addictive products for children. This represents an ever-increasing burden for parents. Also, there are some times when coordination would result in better outcomes than single disorganized actors.
26.
by mhardcastle 3y ago
Animal feed makes demand for food highly elastic. Simplest example, you can convert #2 corn to cow feed and make 1 calorie out of 7, turn it into chicken feed for closer to 1:2, or turn it into corn-based food directly. People can and do sh
27.
by mhardcastle 4y ago
Is this not a statement fully generalizable to tighter regulations on food and medicine, no matter how tight current regulations are?
28.
by mhardcastle 4y ago
"Federally qualified health centers" (FQHC) are required to treat people regardless of ability to pay, and are able to provide preventive care to non-citizens. A list of such health centers is available here, and there are quite a
29.
by mhardcastle 4y ago
I don't disagree with the limitations of Teams, but Microsoft improved their video call/conferencing software substantially when they moved from Skype for Business to Teams. At least things haven't been entirely stagnant.
30.
by mhardcastle 4y ago
Here is a lecture by Robert Sapolsky, an extremely well-regarded researcher, that goes over some evidence on depression being a disease: https://youtu.be/NOAgplgTxfc It's been a while since I've seen it, but I rec

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