elcano (u/elcano) - Readit News

elcano commented on AI is making critical health care decisions, but is unregulated politico.com/news/2024/02... · Posted by u/isaacfrond

ylluminate · 2 years ago

And this is a good thing. I know MANY doctors who are getting out of healthcare and going into business in the USA due to the many problems that range from regulation to BU problems to - well, many other issues. People should be able to take risks as long as they know what the risks are and regulatory clamps need to be released.

elcano · 2 years ago

Many more will go out of healthcare once the medical insurance industry is allowed to demand that their customers use their AI software for the initial visit instead of going to their general practitioner, and once hospitals start using a few doctors as rubber-stamps for decisions made by their AI software. I suspect that the eventual net benefit to society will be positive. But the transition will be bumpy, with most people supporting deregulation until another Elixir Sulfanilamide event shifts the pendulum in the other extreme direction. I might be wrong, but I think that people aren't great aiming for the pragmatic balance.

elcano commented on Now that cars are like smartphones, we don't really own them washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/bookofjoe

drchiu · 2 years ago

One day, a new car startup will come out offering exclusively analog cars.

elcano · 2 years ago

That doesn't solve the problem. I mean, a manufacturer that doesn't want to grant you access to repair your car can use analog computers, analog transmission/reception protocols and most importantly, deny selling you proprietary parts, tools and documentation. That is, unless you were expecting them to make new cars reusing designs from the '70s.

No, what I need is a manufacturer that is willing to sell at reasonable price the parts, diagnostic/repair tools and documentation to any car owner or repair shop without any delays or restrictions.

Even better, I would like a car that doesn't save and/or transmit to the manufacturer any information about my car usage and location. Or a manufacturer that supports my right to modify the car any way that I wish. But those two are completely different topics. Related, but not the same as right-to-repair.

There's a startup that is making a pledge to support your right to repair, but they are not manufacturing their cars yet. And honestly, their cars aren't for everybody: https://aptera.us/right-to-repair-commitment-feat-rich-rebui...

elcano commented on Why is RC Cola popular in Tajikistan? snackstack.net/p/why-is-r... · Posted by u/benbreen

elcano · 2 years ago

OMG, I had forgotten that Royal Crown ever existed. It was a minor, but still important cola beverage, here in Puerto Rico back in the '70s.

elcano commented on Ask HN: To what extent have digital payments replaced cash in your country? · Posted by u/jn31415

elcano · 2 years ago

Puerto Rico (USA Territory) - Digital payments in the form of debit or credit cards are pretty much universal here, but most fast foods, small business and even semi-formal business (mom+pop) accept an app-based payment called ATH movil. This system is sponsored by the largest bank here (although it's not owned by them). This is so strong here that many businesses apologize when they can't accept it, and the smallest business only accept either cash or ATH móvil. Not all the local banks and credit unions support the system. So when you don't have cash and cannot use ATH móvil to pay, you might feel excluded from the local economy. In my opinion this bank is using the app to consolidate the oligopoly in the local market. Which is almost a monopoly because the other banks are insignificant to them (in size). Of course, they share the system with other tiny banks and credit unions, so you cannot claim monopoly. In addition, the system belongs to a company that they spun off a few years ago.

elcano commented on Gene-Engineered Mouth Bacteria lanternbioworks.com... · Posted by u/apsec112

hadlock · 2 years ago

Mouthwash (WITH alcohol) daily almost completely eliminates the need for daily brushing and flossing. This was later retracted by demand of the ADA to only say "as good or better than flossing"; from here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894074/ "mouth rinses would be considered to be “at least as good as” daily flossing if the upper limit of the 90% confidence interval" there are a number of studies on this topic and they all seem to generally be in agreement. Mouthwash even once a week is really good for dental hygiene. They make alcohol free mouthwash but it's hard to argue with the antimicrobial properties of alcohol and the price difference is neglible.

elcano · 2 years ago

No thanks. I'll not be using alcohol-based mouthwash. https://drugfree.org/drug-and-alcohol-news/australian-study-...

elcano commented on I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex truthonthestreets.substac... · Posted by u/Michelangelo11

elcano · 2 years ago

This is not possible. No other country have implemented a program against homeless that works, and those who tried in the past have given up because it's an impossible problem to solve. Ohh wait. Finland Housing First program have been running since 2008?

How do they can? Maybe there are other factors, like a better economy and support systems that generate less homeless people, maybe? Or maybe most homeless people die in the cold and are lost in the snow forever?

https://www.themandarin.com.au/205500-finland-ends-homelessn...

elcano commented on Self-driving cars less likely to detect children and people of color businessinsider.com/self-... · Posted by u/Tozen

GaggiX · 2 years ago

>This is due to bias in open-source AI, on which self-driving cars rely, researchers say.

Or they are simply less visible.

elcano · 2 years ago

You mean, to all possible sensors and spectrum signals in the arsenal?

elcano commented on Self-driving cars less likely to detect children and people of color businessinsider.com/self-... · Posted by u/Tozen

candiddevmike · 2 years ago

It should be illegal, the current systems will never deliver without additional object detection methods (radar, lidar, etc). Get this shit recalled and back to the drawing board.

elcano · 2 years ago

I wouldn't say 'never'. But the right thing to do is to keep the training wheels (radar, lidar) until it's proven that the system has learned to drive without them when there's good visibility and to reduce speed (or stop, if necessary) when the visibility is reduced. This also includes learning to recognize almost every possible situation, including zero shot events.

elcano commented on Tell HN: t.co is adding a five-second delay to some domains · Posted by u/xslowzone

dang · 2 years ago

Well, yes, many sites are banned on HN. Others are penalized (see e.g. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...). None of this is secret, though we don't publish the lists themselves.

Edit: about 67k sites are banned on HN. Here's a random selection of 10 of them:

  vodlockertv.com
  biggboss.org
  infoocode.com
  newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com
  moringajuice.wordpress.com
  surrogacymumbai.com
  maximizedlivingdrlabrecque.com
  radio.com
  gossipcare.com
  tecteem.com

elcano · 2 years ago

I can't believe you all fell for the whataboutism.

elcano commented on Being ‘Too Busy’ Means Your Personal Strategy Sucks rogermartin.medium.com/be... · Posted by u/kiyanwang

dotnet00 · 2 years ago

I don't really get what this article is trying to say...

It seems to kind of skip over what they mean by "too busy". Are they arguing that being too occupied to focus on another equally important task is a personal problem (which is obviously a ridiculous idea), or are they talking about people who just don't want to do something and thus pass it off as being too busy? Or is it about someone who's occupied with a task they think is more important?

Plus, all the buzzwords at the start made me think I was about to be sold a scammy self improvement course by a crypto-influencer.

elcano · 2 years ago

I'll summarize it for you:

'I'm the bomb! Just awesome. Here's the evidence. If you are a CEO looking to improve your time management and delegation skills, you can throw lots of money at me and I can coach you into being almost as good as me.

This article took 1/24th days of my time. B-)'