Certhas (u/Certhas) - Readit News

Certhas commented on Busy beaver hunters reach numbers that overwhelm ordinary math quantamagazine.org/busy-b... · Posted by u/defrost

wodenokoto · 3 days ago

Numberphile just did a video on subcubic graph numbers which grows much, much faster than Tree numbers.

Do we know if they grow faster than busy beavers?

https://youtu.be/4-eXjTH6Mq4

Certhas · 3 days ago

No. The busy beaver function grows faster than any computable function.

What's more, for any N > 549, you cannot prove (in the usual universe of mathematics) that any computable number is equal to or larger than BB(N). (At least that's my understanding of the independence results (https://wiki.bbchallenge.org/wiki/Independence_from_ZFC))

Certhas commented on Self-driving cars begin testing on NYC streets amny.com/nyc-transit/self... · Posted by u/pkaeding

Certhas · 4 days ago

As a European, US Unions seem absurd. I can't recall a Union in a country I lived in so blatantly agitating against technology (though I am sure you can find examples if you go looking). Maybe because they tend to be much much larger and represent broader slices of the economy, so they would advocate for retraining and education programs for the workers they represent.

In the context of autonomous busses in public transport I didn't see any statements by Verdi, the German union covering this sector, that opposed them in principle.

E.g. in Hamburg:

"Wenn das autonome Fahren dazu führt, dass der ÖPNV ausgebaut und der Takt höher wird, dann ist das ein positives Zeichen in Richtung der von uns geforderten dringend notwendigen Verkehrswende. Wir erwarten aber von den Gesellschaftern unter der Federführung unseres ersten Bürgermeisters Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Finanzsenator Dr. Andreas Dressel und Verkehrssenator Dr. Anjes Tjarks, dass die Einführung von autonomen Verkehren unter Gewährung aller Mitbestimmungsrechte des Betriebsrates der Hamburger Hochbahn eingeführt wird – ganz im Sinne von Hamburg als Stadt der guten Arbeit mit Vorbildcharakter."

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If autonomous driving leads to an expansion of public transport and more frequent service, then that is a positive sign toward the urgently needed mobility transition that we are demanding. However, we expect the shareholders, under the leadership of our First Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Finance Senator Dr. Andreas Dressel, and Transport Senator Dr. Anjes Tjarks, to ensure that the introduction of autonomous transport services is carried out with full respect for the co-determination rights of the works council of Hamburger Hochbahn — fully in line with Hamburg’s role as a city of good work and a model for others.

Certhas commented on Scientists No Longer Find X Professionally Useful, and Have Switched to Bluesky academic.oup.com/icb/adva... · Posted by u/sebg

matthewdgreen · 6 days ago

I have 140k followers and a strong incentive to go back to X. I do check in occasionally for the reasons you state, and it’s unusable and high-noise every time I do it. There was a golden age for science on Twitter and it’s over. On BlueSky I don’t get the huge engagement (and there’s too much politics) but I can blather on about cryptography and people are enthusiastic and I don’t get weird bluecheck crypto scammers in my replies.

Certhas · 6 days ago

I find it much easier to filter out the politics on BlueSky and focus on my professional connections. I gave up on Twitter years ago precisely because I got sucked into politics all the bloody time.

Having control over your timeline/algorithm, and the absence of engagement bait, makes it worthwhile for me to be on such a platform for the first time.

Certhas commented on I tried Servo spacebar.news/servo-under... · Posted by u/robtherobber

lesuorac · a month ago

> so 402/653 is spent on the core activities you favour

I don't think that's correct. IIUC, Software Dev was 260M for Mozilla + Mozilla Corporation + Mozilla Foundation + MZLA Technologies Corp. + Mozilla Ventures + Mozilla.ai. With large increase of 40M from 2023 to 2022 so I'd bet a good chunk of that is going to Mozilla.ai knowing how the rest of the corporate world is acting right now.

Like the Chrome Mobile team is 40 people [1]. I can't image that web + support is going to more than 4x that so you get to ~160 people which at 300k a head is 48 million. I don't see how out of the 6 organizations that 93% (700/750) of the employees are working on FireFox and not a different thing.

48 million just in salaries against the $494 million that Google gave Mozilla in 2023 just seems like it should be extremely possible to save at least half of it. Sure, we've gone beyond the initial ~$150M but for all (?) of Mozilla's life the payments from Google have covered software development [3] and for Safari the payments were in the billions so if Mozilla focused on making a better browser with higher market share their payments would go up as well.

[1]: https://mdwdotla.medium.com/some-thoughts-on-running-success...

[2]: https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2024/mozilla-fdn-202...

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation#Finances

Certhas · a month ago

So one of several teams working on Chrome Mobile (so not the rendering engine, JavaScript engine, etc...) was 40+ people. That tells us nothing about the size of the overall Chrome team.

I have seen comments on HackerNews that estimated 1000-4000 people working on Chrome at Google, but without a sound basis. Chromium had ~800 individuals author a commit, that's probably as close as we can get to actual hard facts.

The Platform Division which includes Chrome was 20.000+ but it's pure guesswork to break out numbers for Chrome for that.

Honestly my prior is that the vast majority of software dev work at Moz goes towards Firefox, I don't see any evidence to the contrary, including in terms of products released/developed. A modern browser is an enormously complex engineering feat, nothing else Moz releases is in that ballpark.

I guess bottom line is that we don't really know the exact breakdown.

Certhas commented on I tried Servo spacebar.news/servo-under... · Posted by u/robtherobber

skinkestek · a month ago

The majority of Mozilla’s revenue came through Firefox—their flagship product and by far their most recognized project.

And yet, somehow, they still struggle to secure adequate funding for Firefox itself, while millions are allocated to executive salaries and various advocacy initiatives.

Certhas · a month ago

What do you even mean? They have adequate funding. Financially they are doing extremely well.

Certhas commented on I tried Servo spacebar.news/servo-under... · Posted by u/robtherobber

lesuorac · a month ago

At what point could FireFox had just invested the money from Google into the SP500 and then just ran the company off of passive income?

Like for 150M$ I bet you could fund browser development for at least a decade and that was just 1 year of income. (of course also burn the entire $150M).

Certhas · a month ago

Not sure that's a realistic assessment of the cost of developing a browser. Mozilla gives Software Development exp names as by far the single largest expense at 260M$ in 2023. According to DuckAI 700 out of 750 Mozilla Co employees work on Firefox.

I am sympathetic to the idea that a global remote team, that doesn't pay Silicon Valley salaries could get this done cheaper, and thus would be a better candidate for such an Invest and live on interests approach but 15M$ budget seems infeasible.

Reading directly from the 2023 financial report: Revenues were 653M, Software Dev was 260M and change in net assets was 142M, so 402/653 is spent on the core activities you favour (and that is ignoring that you do need a legal and HR department, and some management, and some marketing if you don't want Firefox market share to fall further).

Certhas commented on I tried Servo spacebar.news/servo-under... · Posted by u/robtherobber

jqpabc123 · a month ago

It's still baffling to me that Mozilla threw out Firefox's technical future

Very little about Mozilla makes sense --- until you follow the money.

Certhas · a month ago

I think Mozilla makes a lot of sense if you consider the following long term strategic goal: Become independent of Google money. None Google income has grown to 150M$ in 2023, up from 80M$ the year before. Mozilla has used dramatically more of the Google money to build up assets than it spends on advocacy or other projects that irl some people so. In 2023 they had 1B$ in investments. Net assets have been going up by 100M+ per year.

They are not yet in striking distance to truly become independent, but they are making significant steps in that direction. The share of Google money in their revenue went from 90% in 2020 to 75% in 2023.

I don't think following the money actually shows what you think it does.

As a postscript:

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. There were plenty of people at the time arguing that Firefox maintaining one independent browser engine was idiotic and they should just switch to Chromium like everyone else. People like to lambast Mozilla over relatively minor advocacy spending stuff and cry that it should just focus on Firefox, but insist it should have obviously continued with Servo. Even though Servo probably wouldn't have made a substantial difference to Firefox post Quantum for a very long time.

Certhas commented on EU age verification app to ban any Android system not licensed by Google reddit.com/r/degoogle/s/Y... · Posted by u/cft

mytailorisrich · a month ago

"in the US sense" being the key word. Hence my previous comment about people not reading...

None of the replies I got address the point. They are at best beside it, at worst they are misrepresentations and bare insults (guidelines, indeed!) for no apparent reason. Is it because "EU good, Trump bad"? I have no idea.

The restrictions on "free speech" that European countries implement, and which are increasing, would be unthinkable in the US because of their understanding of "free speech" and the legal protections in place.

Certhas · a month ago

> The restrictions on "free speech" that European countries implement, and which are increasing, would be unthinkable in the US because of their understanding of "free speech" and the legal protections in place.

Concrete examples please.

Please also explain how examples differ fundamentally from limits on speech that have historically been and are currently imposed in the US.

Certhas commented on EU age verification app to ban any Android system not licensed by Google reddit.com/r/degoogle/s/Y... · Posted by u/cft

yorwba · a month ago

> The German constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech?

Article 5 of the Basic Law guarantees freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by broadcast and film. It immediately restricts those freedoms with "limits in the provisions of general laws, in provisions for the protection of young persons and in the right to personal honour." https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.h...

Many kinds of speech aren't covered by the enumerated freedoms in the first place, and "protection of young persons" is the basis for age-verification requirements.

Though given that the US constitution claims to guarantee freedom of speech while many things that people would ordinarily consider speech remain illegal, maybe "freedom of expression within limits" and "freedom of speech" is a distinction without difference in practice. But I think the former approach is more honest.

Certhas · a month ago

I am not a lawyer, but, including as in the US case the interpretations adopted by the constitutional courts, the "freedom of expression in spoken and written word and image" is considered to not enumerate a limited list of expressions but cover all forms of expression.

It is true that paragraph 2 allows limiting expression, but the point here is that generally it is not permissible to limit speech based on its content, but only due to other "general laws" that aim to do non-speech related things (including upholding other constitutional rights).

In the case of protection of honor, I find interesting the interpretation of the constitutional court that this does not limit speech if there are alternative non-demeaning ways to express your opinion. This to me seems the strongest divergence to the US concept of Freedom of Speech. If you can express the same content in a less demeaning way, the courts can force you to do so. Still: It is considered crucial by the constitutional court that general laws do not limit the freedom to criticize.

Overall the court has noted that the limits of freedom of expression need to be as small as possible, and that there always needs to be a balance of other (constitutional) rights being protected when there is such a limit placed. Laws can not arbitrarily restrict speech, and the special importance of the constitutional right to freedom of speech needs to be considered.

Paragraph 32: https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheid...

The protections around speech are constructed differently than in the US, but overall seem to arrive at roughly similar results. It is also important to note that protection of speech has varied quite a lot over the 20th century in the US. From 1919 for 50 years, Supreme Court precedent was that advocating against the draft was illegal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenck_v._United_States

"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. ... The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree."

In this case the clear and present danger is that of "hindering the governments war effort". This was the status of Free Speech in the US at the time the German constitution was written.

So yeah, there are important differences, a ton of nuance, many similarities between German and US cases, etc... Which is why I can't really consider anything that boils down to "Well the US has free speech, unlike EU/Germany/...", without even hinting at the freedom of speech trade-offs that are made in both systems, as an argument made in good faith.

Certhas commented on EU age verification app to ban any Android system not licensed by Google reddit.com/r/degoogle/s/Y... · Posted by u/cft

af78 · a month ago

The distinction is academical. As I wrote, freedom of speech is not absolute in the USA either, think copyright law or gag orders etc. And arguing about this day after Colbert's show is cancelled...

Certhas · a month ago

The internet will never run out of idiots arguing that there is no freedom in the EU and freedom of speech is a uniquely US thing. The German constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech? Doesn't matter. The US limits plenty of types of speech? Who cares.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_ex...

> Categories of speech that are given lesser or no protection by the First Amendment (and therefore may be restricted) include obscenity, fraud, child pornography, speech integral to illegal conduct, speech that incites imminent lawless action, speech that violates intellectual property law, true threats, false statements of fact, and commercial speech such as advertising. Defamation that causes harm to reputation is a tort and also a category which is not protected as free speech.

> Under Title 18 Section 871 of the United States Code it is illegal to knowingly and willfully make "any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States." This also applies to any "President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect."[45] This law is distinct from other forms of true threats because the threatener does not need to have the actual capability to carry out the threat; thus, for example, a person in prison could be charged.