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randomdrake commented on This time is different   shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/02/... · Posted by u/speckx
libraryofbabel · 14 days ago
Ex historian here, now engineer. I would gently suggest you’re underestimating the magnitude of some of the transformations wrought by the technologies that OP mentioned for the people that lived through them. Particularly for the steam engine and the broader Industrial Revolution around 1800: not for nothing have historians called that the greatest transformation in human life recorded in written documents.

If you think, hey but people had a “job” in 1700, and they had a “job” in 1900, think again. Being a peasant (majority of people in Europe in 1700) and being an urban factory worker in 1900 were fundamentally different ways of life. They only look superficially similar because we did not live the changes ourselves. But read the historical sources enough and you will see.

I would go as far as to say that the peasant in 1700 did not have a “job” at all in the sense that we now understand; they did not work for wages and their relationship to the wider economy was fundamentally different. In some sense industrialization created the era of the “job” as a way for most working-age people to participate in economic life. It’s not an eternal and unchanging condition of things, and it could one day come to an end.

It’s too early to say if AI will be a technology like this, I think. But it may be. Sometimes technologies do transform the texture of human life. And it is not possible to be sure what those will be in the early stages: the first steam engines were extremely inefficient and had very few uses. It took decades for it to be clear that they had, in fact, changed everything. That may be true of AI, or it may not. It is best to be openminded about this.

randomdrake · 14 days ago
Thank you for your post. Very informative. Why is it too early for AI? It’s clearly an emergent cultural evolutionary byproduct that’s been many years in the making and quite mature. Perhaps your own bias is limiting you to imagine what AI is truly capable of?
randomdrake commented on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)    · Posted by u/david927
randomdrake · 4 months ago
Wrote and released a daily reader on sobriety and stillness called I Will Not Drink With You Today.

There’s a companion website: https://iwillnotdrinkwithyoutoday.com

I wrote the book in markdown, stuck it in a SQLite DB and wrote a parser to put all the data in static JSON so it loads very fast.

I also created a new personal homepage to update my presence on the web as a published author and experienced leader and technologist: https://davidbyrondrake.com

Book was released less than a month ago—growing it organically like a startup has been fascinating in terms of marketing, sharing, building, and measuring success.

Have been utilizing my acting skills again with readings from the book on my Instagram and TikTok.

Having a really good time with it!

randomdrake commented on Staying opinionated as you grow   hugo.writizzy.com/being-o... · Posted by u/hlassiege
randomdrake · 4 months ago
Defending focus is way harder than adding features.

When you're building, adding yet another feature can sometimes shave off all the edges that made you successful in the first place.

Same with messaging. The more you try to sound universal, the less anyone hears you.

Strong opinions that are honestly held and communicated are such great signs of respect. It's refreshing to see: "This is who we are. If it's not for you, that's okay."

Good piece.

randomdrake commented on React Flow, open source libraries for node-based UIs with React or Svelte   github.com/xyflow/xyflow... · Posted by u/mountainview
randomdrake · 5 months ago
This is a well-done library that’s fun to work with. I put together a proof of concept org chart generator[0] with it a while back when working on another project. Very easy to use and well-documented.

[0] - https://github.com/randomdrake/react-flow-org-chart

randomdrake commented on Betty White's shoulder bag is a time capsule of World War II (2023)   americanhistory.si.edu/ex... · Posted by u/thunderbong
randomdrake · 5 months ago
Betty White holds such a highly regarded “Hollywood Star” place for me. It was fascinating to see her brought to life through her very ordinary belongings. Fun read.
randomdrake commented on Violence alters human genes for generations, researchers discover   news.ufl.edu/2025/02/syri... · Posted by u/gudzpoz
randomdrake · a year ago
The original research[0] is available for free online.

It goes into more detail about how they established the genetic signatures and has a lot more images as well.

Epigenetic signatures of intergenerational exposure to violence in three generations of Syrian refugees

[0] - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-89818-z

randomdrake commented on SQLite on Rails: The how and why of optimal performance   fractaledmind.github.io/2... · Posted by u/tosh
iambateman · 2 years ago
General SQLite question for the group…

I’m making a FOSS analytics system, and ease-of-installation is important. I want to send event data to a separate SQLite database, to keep analytics data separate from the main app’s data.

I’m concerned about scaling, since even a modestly busy website could have 1000+ events per second.

My thought is to store events in memory on the server and then make one batched write every second.

Does this seem like a reasonable way to get around the SQLite limitation where it struggles with lots of DB writes? Any better ideas?

randomdrake · 2 years ago
Worked here. Changed my mind on SQLite. Hipp worked alongside us. SQLite can be crazy performant:

https://use.expensify.com/blog/scaling-sqlite-to-4m-qps-on-a...

u/randomdrake

KarmaCake day3931July 15, 2011
About
Husband, father, writer, technologist. Silicon Valley veteran (former Y Combinator CTO & startup CEO). Background bridging theatre and computer science — former actor turned engineering leader turned independent researcher.

Currently exploring narrative compression as a formal framework for human-AI interaction: how narrative functions as cognitive coordination technology, and what that means for building AI systems that integrate rather than accumulate.

Writing online for 18 years with features in Sky News and The Huffington Post. Author of I Will Not Drink With You Today (https://iwillnotdrinkwithyoutoday.com) — a daily reader grounded in Stoic philosophy, serving as a companion for those navigating the quiet work of sobriety.

Queer, neurodivergent, sober. Avid home cook finding stillness in the kitchen. Enjoyer of good humans, aromatic coffee, and plants. Fond of science (especially astronomy and quantum physics). Commodore 64 tattoo included.

Everything I say is my own opinion and not representative of any organization.

https://davidbyrondrake.com

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