alternative_a (u/alternative_a)

alternative_a commented on How the append-only btree works (2010) bzero.se/ldapd/btree.html... · Posted by u/kevmo314

btilly · 2 years ago

So if we ignore the technical merits based on which append-only data structures were chosen in general, we don't necessarily have additional technical merits for any particular time append-only was chosen.

The reasons why append-only structures were chosen in general apply surprisingly often to any particular system that scales to large data, which would like to be robust to a wide variety of real world problems. You won't see it in looking at the data structure because the hard parts are abstracted away from you. But you'll see it if you try to reimplement the same system from scratch, then scale it up to production.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

The subtle point I read in GP is the historic correlation between storage systems and data structures. Your point is equally valid in that this correlation is not indicative of non-general applicability.

Both points need to be kept in mind imho in design.

alternative_a commented on How the append-only btree works (2010) bzero.se/ldapd/btree.html... · Posted by u/kevmo314

airstrike · 2 years ago

There are actually only two hard problems in computer science:

0) Cache invalidation

1) Naming things

5) Asynchronous callbacks

2) Off-by-one errors

3) Scope creep

6) Bounds checking

alternative_a · 2 years ago

Let’s be pedantic here and get all religious over the words “Science” and “hard”.

Computer “science” has a difficult conceptual problem with caching. The optimal cache, this science tells us, is indistinguishable from a fortune teller who is never wrong (oracle). Fortune telling is a “hard” problem for a science based on reasoning. The best we can do is hedge bets (which is what the science of caching focuses on).

This same science also has a difficulty with naming things. Now numbering things is easy and science loves maths and maths love sciences, but science and letters have a more difficult history. Science would approve of “factoryfactoryfactoryImpl” btw ... it’s “a rational scheme of naming”. .

Here we see a “science” that is facing actual difficulties.

The rest of your list are difficult but not “hard”. The science of these matters is clear and the rest is up to the “scientists” struggling with “scope creep” and “bounds checking” ..

alternative_a commented on How Did Polyamory Become So Popular? newyorker.com/magazine/20... · Posted by u/vwoolf

hitekker · 2 years ago

The private desire to please oneself motivates apathy to any strict morality forbidding that self-pleasure. I suspect more so than any supposed rationality; see atheists and religion.

The article on Russell is actually quite relevant to the overall discussion on polyamory & unfaithfulness. The final quote by Russell on his realization of what eluded him in his life, nails it.

  Through the long years
  I sought peace
  I found ecstasy, I found anguish,
  I found madness,
  I found loneliness,
  I found the solitary pain
  that gnaws the heart,
  But peace I did not find.
  Now, old & near my end,
  I have known you,
  And, knowing you,
  I have found both ecstasy &amp; peace
  I know rest
  After so many lonely years.
  I know what life & love may be.
  Now, if I sleep
  I shall sleep fulfilled.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

> I suspect the private desire to please oneself motivates apathy to a strict morality forbidding that self-pleasure. More so than any supposed rationality; see atheists and religion.

That theory of yours has legs, imo. (see below ;)

> Through the long years

Russell is borrowing heavily from king Solomon here .. /g

alternative_a commented on How Did Polyamory Become So Popular? newyorker.com/magazine/20... · Posted by u/vwoolf

Phoenix12052023 · 2 years ago

I'm deeply cynical that polyamory is "popular" outside of select corners of the Internet. Why? I'm just going to be blunt and say it: very few men are going to tolerate a situation where their wife or girlfriend is having sex with several other guys and they aren't having sex with several other women for long. Given how supply and demand for casual sex works, that's going to be what happens, more often than not. This is the sort of situation that could turn very explosive, very fast.

And that's before we to whether most people are temperamentally suited to the emotions of "sharing" something this intimate, or the child-raising angle. Just because it can work for some doesn't mean it'll work en masse for most people.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

Bertrand Russell came to mind when I read this. I remember reading some story featuring a flustered Russell at the dinner table with his wife Dora, her baby (by another man), and the other man. Now Russell had gone preaching and practicing free love for a long time but now he was on the receiving end.

https://philosophynews.com/what-can-be-learned-from-bertrand...

A society of emasculated males will tolerate the situation. It’s possible we’re watching patriarchy molt into matriarchy or some bonobo monkey thing. TBD, but as for OP, my perception is that the media conglomerates are leading indicators and not trailing indicators. They introduce these subjects to normalize them.

alternative_a commented on Meta censors pro-Palestinian views on a global scale, report claims theguardian.com/technolog... · Posted by u/cratermoon

smsm42 · 2 years ago

> For Palestinians to say the want to be “free from river to sea” means the “genocide of Israelis”.

Yes.

> But, amazingly but unsurprisingly, for Israelis to say they want to be “free of Palestinians”

Who says that? And more importantly, who does that? Arabs are 20% of Israel population. They have full citizenship rights. Nobody tries to be "free" of them in any way or form. I mean, there are probably people that dream of Israel being a mono-ethnic state and how it would make things much easier, but those are empty dreams, without any support in policy or law.

> it does not mean “genocide of Palestinians”.

It doesn't, because Israel never declared its goal to be genocide of Palestinians, and, as I mentioned, is fine with a large part of Arab population. There are more Arabs in Israel, percentage-wise, than Black Americans in the US, for example. On the contrary, there's no Jewish population in any of "Palestinian"-controlled areas and can't be - because we just witnessed what Hamas does to any Jewish (or non-Jewish but having bad luck to be around Jews) population when they have the power even for an hour. And it's not some surprise - it's written in their charter, and they have claimed, before and after October 7th, that this is exactly what they plan to do to any Israeli that they can lay their hands on. Genocide is their official goal, and their official method of achieving "free Palestine". There's no any organization that has "freeing Palestine" as their goal and does not include genocide as their method of achieving this goal. And their "freedom" never means "enjoying the same rights as Jews in Israel" - that Arab citizens of Israel already have. Their "freedom" means no Jews and no Israel at all.

On the contrary, Israel has already achieved this goal - of both Jews and Arabs living in a free democratic state - and is not advocating murdering any of the Arabic populations, whether in Israel or otherwise. Moreover, 18 years ago Israel passed all control of Gaza to Arabic self-government - and those 18 years were used exclusively to shoot rockets at Israel, send terrorists into Israel, convert hospitals, schools and mosques to military outposts and prepare for war with Israel. A war that has the genocide as the officially declared goal of it, and Hamas proudly and constantly confirms this to anybody that asks them.

> Palestinians say they want to be free from river to the sea!

No, that's not what they say. They say "Palestine will be free". Free of what? Free of Jews. Judenfrei, if you will. And only then it will be real freedom - when the filthy Jews are all destroyed. It's not about individual freedom - if you think somebody living in Gaza enjoys any personal freedoms not available in Israel you are absolutely ignorant. It's about freeing the land from the infidels.

> - They say they are not Arab, they are Palestinian.

They are not saying that, where did you see them saying that? These are not contradictory identifications, just as you can be Arab and Jordanian or Syrian. Or Jewish and American.

> Hah. Nationalism is a sickness.

Who you are reproducing here? Whose words are these? I am starting to lose here what "goes" you try to present here. Certainly nobody in Israel would say that. That sounds like some woke student from Harvard. But a woke student already hates Israel, so your whole scenario makes no sense.

> I can’t believe they want to kill us all.

Actually that's very easy to believe because they are saying it over and over and over. And are doing it when they can. For many decades now.

> Well, they ain’t gonna be “free” while we’re here. That can’t possibly work.

It's not some conjecture. Hamas is openly declaring it. And overwhelming majority of the population btw supports them.

> Yeah, so obviously, they want to kill us all. A genocide.

Yes, a genocide. That is exactly the goal. No metaphors, no exaggerations, no equivocations. That is the thing. I know you are trying to be facetious and sarcastic and somehow imply only an idiot can make such a far-fetched conclusion, but it's not far-fetched. It's openly and proudly proclaimed by Hamas. And Hamas is the government of Gaza and by the vast majority the most popular movement among the Palestinians (the only reason why it didn't capture West Banks is because Israel is much more involved there and is not letting them to gain strength, while in Gaza it was an experiment of letting it go - which failed spectacularly). I understand it is very hard to stomach such truths - that in 2023, when we are supposed to be all past those things, we still have millions-strong movements that want the same old genocide of Jews, and the people that want that genocide are the ones we're supposed to be sympathetic with because they are poor and "oppressed" - but that's the harsh reality we are living in. And ignoring this reality would only mean it will reassert itself with blood and murder - which is exactly what happened on October 7th. Israel can not ignore that reality anymore, if they want to survive - and neither can any Jews outside of Israel, if they want to survive too.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

TLDR:

“‘Pre-emotive genocide’ is not genocide”.

alternative_a commented on Meta censors pro-Palestinian views on a global scale, report claims theguardian.com/technolog... · Posted by u/cratermoon

smsm42 · 2 years ago

Yes, it is convenient for potential victims of genocide that calling for genocide of those people is considered calling for genocide. It's also true. "From the river to the sea" is calling for the genocide of Israel population. It was known before, and Hamas proudly demonstrated it just now, there can not be any misunderstanding what they meant.

The lines on the flag have zero to do with rivers, it's a symbolic representation of a talith, a prayer garment, which can be seen in any synagogue. Try to get a bit of factual information before you go around spreading nonsense.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

Let me see how this works:

For Palestinians to say the want to be “free from river to sea” means the “genocide of Israelis”. But, amazingly but unsurprisingly, for Israelis to say they want to be “free of Palestinians” (who happen to currently be in part in the area “from river to sea”) it does not mean “genocide of Palestinians”. This must be Schroedinger’s genocide. Now you see it now you don’t. Amazing.

A conversation somewhere in the area between river and the sea. That oh so special place on earth that is worth having a world war over. “How long o lord?” Seriously lord.

Here it goes:

- Palestinians say they want to be free from river to the sea!

- Hah, really? The nerve. Why can’t they just go to some Arab country or maybe America?

- They say they are not Arab, they are Palestinian.

- Hah. Nationalism is a sickness.

- Agreed.

- I can’t believe they want to kill us all.

- How you figure?

- Well, they ain’t gonna be “free” while we’re here. That can’t possibly work.

- Hmm.

- And they know that we know that they know.

- Aha.

- Yeah, so obviously, they want to kill us all. A genocide.

- Ingrates.

- Animals!

alternative_a commented on Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends wsj.com/tech/ai/sam-altma... · Posted by u/himaraya

CPLX · 2 years ago

His values are completely aligned with the ruling class.

Billionaires need on the ground types like him to actually do stuff.

It’s hard to find people who are young and ambitious and effective, and yet fundamentally and ruthlessly aligned with corporate hegemony.

And I suspect he must be spectacularly good at flattery.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

> [elite’s HR issues]

We share this thought.

My pet theory regarding the recruitment efforts of this class: two broad fronts, one to drive the herd and the other to pick candidates.

The first front permeates our head space in form of content in the full spectrum of the bandwidth of this class: entertainment, news, organizations. Here the message is insistently that “Only suckers play straight”, “crime pays”, “winners and losers”. This is a consistent message.

The second front is more selective and here I am speculating (unlike the former which one gets to experience first hand, whether one likes it or not.) Here I suspect a more ‘direct’ sales pitch is used, and likely references the former.

Imagine you are a bright young thing from ‘not money’ raised in that “cultural” environment just mentioned. Now you open your favorite “journal of record”. You read barely disguised lies, note how these lies lead designated demographics by the NOSE with them not even aware of this fact, and finally your mentor has a conversation with you:

“Do you really think that the general population, these same people we were discussing being led by the nose with lies, are actually capable of self-governance and should have a say in “important” matters?”

alternative_a commented on How Africans are changing French, one joke, rap and book at a time nytimes.com/2023/12/12/wo... · Posted by u/mikhael

pezezin · 2 years ago

That depends on the country. In Spain ice with your soft drinks is the default, even in winter.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

Yes, this was France.

alternative_a commented on Word2Vec received 'strong reject' four times at ICLR2013 openreview.net/forum?id=i... · Posted by u/georgehill

hnfong · 2 years ago

Imperial exams arguably started in the Sui and Tang dynasties, in the 6th century AD.

The 722-222BC in the article you linked to is the "wrong period". That period was a time where Chinese states transitioned from feudalism to empire, and the clan-based aristocracy was replaced by a class of educated and scholars due to societal change (which needed lots of literate administrators, and not so much nepotism). The typical path for a person who aspired to work in government is to apply to be an "employee" (very loose translation of 門客) of a prominent minister, and rise up the ranks by impressing their bosses. It was also common for rulers of the time to hold meetings with intellectuals, who then tried to sell the rulers on the latest ideology/methods to run a country -- if the sales pitch worked, they'd have the job of implementing those policies. In general there were no exams, although one would assume to become an "employee" they'd test your skills in some way, but it was not systematized at all.

Between 222BC and 6th century AD, the educated/scholar class gradually consolidated into a handful of prominent families who tended to monopolize high government posts. During the Jin dynasty (266–420AD) people generally believed one's virtues/abilities were tied to their birth and family status more than anything else. This was a time when prominent families monopolized government power and systematically rejected outsiders from holding important positions, even if they proved their abilities.

The imperial exam system introduced in the Sui/Tang dynasties gradually reversed this trend by allowing commoners to participate in the government exams, though it must be noted in the Tang dynasty exams the circumstances of the candidates were taken into account (family background, social ties, subjective opinion of the examiners, etc.), so it wasn't purely based on the paper exam results.

The exams were gradually systematized in the later dynasties, ultimately ending in the "Eight-legged essay", which was famous for its rigidity in form. It provided a great opportunity for intelligent aspirants from a underprivileged background since everyone took the exam on an equal footing, but it kind of sucked the soul out of learning the classics.

alternative_a · 2 years ago

Thank you for your correction & very interesting info. I overly generalized the matter as of one societal changes that led to class mobility.