ricogallo (u/ricogallo)

ricogallo commented on Response to "Ruby Is Not a Serious Programming Language" robbyonrails.com/articles... · Posted by u/robbyrussell

jrm4 · 2 months ago

Anyone else feeling like discussions like this feel archaic? due to Generative AI?

For all its problems, the presence of AI feels like it should solve some of these quibbles for the vast majority of people who program. I can't quite put my finger on why just yet, though.

ricogallo · 2 months ago

I feel the same. I think the reason is that GenAI has effectively abstracted away the tooling layer. Not perfectly, and not always efficiently, but in terms of going from requirements → workable outcome, it has removed much of the pain of choosing one developer experience over another.

ricogallo commented on The trust collapse: Infinite AI content is awful arnon.dk/the-trust-collap... · Posted by u/arnon

everdrive · 3 months ago

Doesn't matter. We must keep building more and more technology no matter the cost. Have an idea for a business? Build it. Does your business make the lives of people worse? Doesn't matter, keep pushing. Could some new technology ruin the lives and relationships that people have? Doesn't matter, just build it. We always need more, need to do more. Every experiment is valid, every impulse must be followed. More complexity, more control, more distraction, more outrage, more engagement. Just keep building forever no matter the cost.

ricogallo · 3 months ago

It sounds like the "The City" in "Blame!"

ricogallo commented on Researchers have found a faster way to do integer linear programming quantamagazine.org/resear... · Posted by u/pseudolus

3abiton · 2 years ago

To be fair, I don't see why LP is still being used for many applications nowadays and not replaced, as it tends to be a brute force techniques.

ricogallo · 2 years ago

Would you care to elaborate?

ricogallo commented on Show HN: EdgeDB Cloud and 4.0 with FTS and Auth edgedb.com/blog/edgedb-cl... · Posted by u/1st1

1st1 · 2 years ago

I'm going to hang here and answer questions!

ricogallo · 2 years ago

Are there any plans to support stored procedures?

ricogallo commented on Reconciliation is a knapsack problem moderntreasury.com/journa... · Posted by u/saarons

ricogallo · 2 years ago

I think they got their math wrong too: the binomial coefficient for (5 1) is 5, not 120.

ricogallo commented on France experiencing worst drought on record bbc.co.uk/newsround/62456... · Posted by u/ksec

actually_a_dog · 4 years ago

How would understanding systems have been significantly adaptive for humans before a few thousand years ago? I agree with you that humans generally lack this capability. We also lack the ability to understand exponential growth, which I think is partially a cause of our lack of ability to comprehend systems.

My personal theory on this is that it comes from the fact that our sensory systems operate on a logarithmic response curve [0]. Note, for instance, how the decibel scale for measuring sound intensity is a logarithmic scale. Because our sensory systems respond logarithmically, that means an exponential increase in stimulus feels linear, at least until the point where the stimulus is damaging or so intense as to be uncomfortable. The end result is that we think "it's not so bad" until it's really bad.

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[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber%E2%80%93Fechner_law

ricogallo · 4 years ago

I find your perspective interesting, but have the feeling that you are not thinking in systems (!). The sensory systems are perceptual systems, but they are subsystems of a larger "cognitive" system, and we cannot be sure that it exhibits the same logarithmic response behavior.

ricogallo commented on France experiencing worst drought on record bbc.co.uk/newsround/62456... · Posted by u/ksec

bmitc · 4 years ago

We don't understand complex systems well at all.

I think the more defective part of humans is our near complete inability for long-term thinking and planning, especially collective long-term thinking and planning. Just look at our daily lives and jobs. When are long-term plans every truly engaged and acted upon? Almost none. There is much too much self-induced noise in society and the economy, and there's a hyper-focus on short-term results and concerns.

ricogallo · 4 years ago

I am thinking more of an automatic ability to see how things are related. Chinese language(s) ↔ Taoism, in the context of a holistic approach to worldview [0]. I know I am exaggerating, but maybe some meditative training could help in this regard?

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/04iht-6sncult.1.10...

ricogallo commented on France experiencing worst drought on record bbc.co.uk/newsround/62456... · Posted by u/ksec

shay_ker · 4 years ago

This is precisely why climate change policy is so difficult to enact. Folks don’t understand the urgency until they experience it themselves, and by that point it’s gotten really bad.

There’s an analogy with tech debt or old software here somewhere.

ricogallo · 4 years ago

I actually wonder if humans lack a crucial adaptive advantage if they do not intuitively understand how systems work. But then it occurs to me that some ancient philosophies and religions emphasised the need to be in tune with the surrounding world.

ricogallo commented on Tell HN: Collection of the some top HN Posts gist.github.com/sachinsmc... · Posted by u/sachinsmc

ryanmercer · 4 years ago

Well, thank you! 14 of those look like they'll be fun deep reads over the next few days.

ricogallo · 4 years ago

Tangential to this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31885615

ricogallo commented on Ask HN: Should I publish my research code? · Posted by u/jarenmf

ricogallo · 4 years ago

Publish the code. At worst no one will look at it, at best you will draw more attention to your work and maybe get some good tips.