Tried generating a 6-month plan to upskill in VLSI programming. It was pretty useful and helped lay out a comprehensive roadmap using different sources and projects to try.
Also tried generating a 6-month plan to upskill my guitar playing. Wasn't as useful.
Readit Newslurker616 commented on Ask HN: How do people around you use AI? · Posted by u/nicbou
lurker616 commented on DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data theatlantic.com/technolog... · Posted by u/perihelions
My brain immediately latched on to how much control could be exerted through the guise of "efficiency", you could effetely run a whole government from there. But I was expecting more installing a bunch of so-called "efficiency officers" in every department to report back when they weren't being loyal... er efficient.
I was not expecting the complete takeover of computer networks and rapid firing of large numbers of employees.
Musk has basically discovered that you can ignore existing laws, since by the time lawyers sue and courts order injunctions, it'll be too late and too expensive. Especially when lawyers can argue against basic facts like "Musk doesn't head DOGE". It's the same playbook as the twitter layoffs - when you are so rich, you don't need to care about laws.
This is an interesting way of reflecting on one's life.
I have calculated my ROL (Rest.Of.Life i.e. before been garbage collected) productive hours (hours dedicated to side projects) in a similar way, and the result panics me.
Assume that I still have 37 years before been garbage collected, and 35 years before cognitive degeneration:
Starting from today:
[Time-frame 1]:
I have 200 days before kid goes to primary school. That's roughly 56 days of weekends and 144 days of workdays. For each weekend day, I'd assume an average of 2.5 hours of productivity towards my side projects (I do have more but some are dedicated to gaming and light reading). For each workday, I'd assume an average of 1 hour (usually it is a burst of 2-3 hours for 2-3 days followed by 0 hours for 3-4 days). So this gives me 562.5 + 1441 = 284 hours.
I think this is a generous estimation because I'm struggling with minor depression from time to time, and TBH I hate my work, so I lose a day if either flares up.
[Time-frame 2]:
Kid is going to spend roughly 6 years in primary school. He is going to get friends and gradually gives me more time if he chooses so. However, I'll probably spend more time checking his assignments, talking to him, and introducing him to some hobbies in hope he can find his passion as early as possible. I read "iWoz" and would like to influence my kid as his father influenced him. The upside is -- I can work on my hobby while educating him by just doing it. Downside of primary years is that he is going to weekend classes and clubs so those will take away my time too.
I'd give myself the same 2 hours every weekend day, and 1.5 hours every working day. Let's take 250 working days and 115 non-working days (weekends + holidays). This gives 2501.5 + 1152 = 605 hours each year, and 3,630 hours for 6 years.
[Time-frame 3]:
Kid is going to spend 5 years in secondary school. Judging from my own experience, he is going to gradually leave his parents alone, rebel against them, and stay much more time with their friends. I don't really know about my employment at the time, but let's assume I'm still working a corporation cog.
I'd give myself 3.5 hours every weekend day, and the same 1.5 hours every working day. This gives 2501.5 + 1153.5 = 777.5 hours per year, and 3880 (rounded down) hours for 5 years.
[Time-frame 4]:
Kid is either going to a college or a technical school. Either way, we will probably rent him a condo close to where he studies. I'll also probably go into consulting if possible, or at least take some long breaks during this time frame. If I want to learn General Relativity, this is probably the last chance. I don't think I'm as lucky as those who still possesses a sharp mind in their 70s, so 10 years between 50s and 60s is my best shot.
I'd give myself 5 hours every weekend day, and maybe 2.5 hours every working day. This gives 2502.5 + 1155 = 1,300 hours per year. But I'd be in my mid-50s so this is probably an overestimate. I'll round it down aggressively to 1,000 hours. I can keep the same schedule for 5 years, so 5,000 hours for 5 years.
[Time-frame 5]:
I'm not sure what my cognitive ability looks like in my 60s. I'll have a lot of time, like, 10 hours every day because I don't want to work after 60. So that gives me 3,650 hours per year, and 36,500 until I'm 70, at which point I believe I wouldn't be able to pursuit serious academic or technical objectives. I know, I know, many people can still do it, but I don't think I can do it. I doubt I can work on side projects more than 5 hours per day, so I need to cut down that number at least half, to 18,000 hours. Probably more TBH.
[Time-frame 6]:
70 till garbage collected. It's going to be mostly volunteering work or looking after grandchildren or travelling with my wife, so 0 hour.
[Conclusion]:
Overall, if my mental health and physical health is good enough, my calculation is that I can put 30,000 hours into my side projects. That is, I have to be very lucky to get this number. No mental issues, no heart issues, kid doesn't cause any issues, wife is healthy, etc. In reality, probably a half or two thirds are more realistic.
Isn't that scary? There is so much to learn, yet so little time.
30000 hours seems like a lot, more than enough time for anything you might want to do. More than that, there might be enough changes in technology and the world that something you learn in the first 100 hours might not matter in the last 100 hours etc. If you start taking all these complexities into account, it might be better to count at a granularity of weeks rather than hours. Or maybe even ignore time, and focus on goals and aims. You can always make more or less time to fit your goals.
Another complication - H1Bs are valid for 6 years. However, the physical paper stamp given on passports is only valid for 3 years at a time. So if I chose to stay in the US (and not travel internationally) I'd be fine to continue working without renewing my physical visa paper stamp. But to get a new physical stamp, I have to re-enter the country every 3 years. How does that make sense?
Explain please how my suggestion bans GitHub.
GitHub does not show me (on my home page) "recommended" repositories, rather only the ones I specifically searched for, and the information on it is organized in a chronological fashion, which is permitted by my suggestion.
Is your issue that I can see public comments regarding the repository? That's permitted - comments on random repositories do not show up on my home page, only if I specifically go to a particular repository, which is effectively joining it for the purposes of what I wrote. (Although I guess that could be clarified.)
How about Discord? Or reddit? Would those be limited to kids as well? You can be sure that even if FB/Instagram were to ban kids, there would be hundreds of companies jumping in to scoop up all that teenage DAU.
Facebook already knows how old its users are with a great degree of accuracy. The block does not have to be perfect to be effective at a societal level. Some curious kids may circumvent it. But it would prevent the massive network effect whereby all teen social life is online on platforms that monetize them.
Some very large fines for social media companies found providing services to minors would make it impossible to advertise to teens there, and would make a huge difference.
Even if Facebook implements these controls, what guarantee do we have that another social app won't come along without these controls? Do we regulate TikTok, Youtube, Snapchat, GroupMe or whatever the latest flavor of the month is as well? There are probably thousands of startups that would jump at the chance to monetize teenagers even if FB were to step aside.
lurker616 commented on Tell HN: GitHub is blocking search unless you are logged in · Posted by u/nancyp
How often are you not signed in to GitHub? You’re presenting this as a practical pain, but I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t signed in to GitHub.
It's especially bad because I don't really remember my passwords, so I always have to reset password when logging in again, and that refreshes the dev keys so my terminal git push also stops works - a complete PITA.
I think that is a far more fun way of looking at it!
But the bacteria aren't the whole story - we also have our own cells, all doing their thing and all participating (even if bacteria in us are -also- participating). We're just groups of trillions of cells all working together to keep themselves alive and reproducing.
And then we go work together with other blobs of trillions of cells, just to further that goal: survival of the cells.
These groups of cells that started working together many, many billions of generations ago, are now looking at space exploration, colonising other planets, and wondering if there are other big groups of cells on other planets.
There's no way they'd have gotten there if they'd kept living alone as single-celled organisms.
That's fun to think about.
So each of us is basically an AGI for the tiny cells
lurker616 commented on The Internet Is Full of AI Dogshit aftermath.site/the-intern... · Posted by u/thinkingemote
> It feels like the end of Usenet all over again
Eternal LLMber.
Great phrase!
lurker616 commented on Where Have All the Websites Gone? fromjason.xyz/p/notebook/... · Posted by u/benrutter
We’ve gone, but replacement never came. They got stuck on twitter, discord, tiktok, twitch, snapchat.
Websites are difficult to build for the average Joe. Having a personal website doesn’t seem to be cool anymore. The number of followers on platform xyz seems to be the thing today. Lets hope the trend dies out and personal websites become cool again.
It's like saying, I hope the new pop music trends that all the kids are listening to dies out, and 80s rock becomes cool again. It just isn't gonna happen.