smath (u/smath) - Readit News

smath commented on Nearby peer discovery without GPS using environmental fingerprints svendewaerhert.com/blog/n... · Posted by u/waerhert

smath · 2 months ago

Shameless plug: More than a decade ago, I wrote a paper [1] on how the random perturbations in the wireless channel between an ambient RF transmitter (FM radio, TV) to the two devices, allow nearby devices to authenticate locality because the perturbations are correlated only if they are nearby (where nearby is relative to the wavelength being monitored)

[1] https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/121443

smath commented on The history of Casio watches casio.com/us/watches/50th... · Posted by u/qainsights

smath · 3 months ago

As a kid I loved casio digital watches (metal band, digital display). But as a grown up I found I like analog watches better -- my brain is quicker at interpreting the visual image of the hands. For the last few years I wore this [1] very simple and robust casio watch and eventually gave it to my son to help him learn to tell time. Very clean crisp design and 1/3rd the price of a similar looking swatch.

[1] https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.MQ-24-7BLL/?u...

smath commented on Eye prosthesis is the first to restore sight lost to macular degeneration med.stanford.edu/news/all... · Posted by u/gmays

smath · 3 months ago

Very very cool. I have this condition - I got it randomly ("idiopathic" as opposed to age-related) when I was 22. At the time it wreaked havoc on my mental health.

smath commented on Synthetic aperture radar autofocus and calibration hforsten.com/synthetic-ap... · Posted by u/nbernard

YZF · 4 months ago

1650-1750 Britain?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

And I'm sure lots more?

Or maybe more generally Europe circa 18th century?

Probably a lot more creativity/discovery/"personal projects" vs. the US 50s or 60's would be my guess? So we need prosperity and a monarchy?

smath · 4 months ago

A benevolent monarchy maybe - like some places in the east (maybe).or maybe UBI? Some way to not have to worry about basic health and needs

What places have this today? I see an answer suggesting AUS below. ChatGPT says Switzerland

smath commented on Synthetic aperture radar autofocus and calibration hforsten.com/synthetic-ap... · Posted by u/nbernard

smath · 4 months ago

Slightly tangential: this is a wonderful and deep project, that requires a lot of personal time. Lately I've been wondering what social/economic/govt conditions allow for this type of deep thinking + tinkering among working people (not academia). My very rough guess is the US of 1950-60s did, and some other countries today do, but not so much the US of today because the cost of living and time pressures are higher. I'd be curious if anyone has a more detailed answer (or a rebuttal of my thesis altogether).

smath commented on Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot figure.ai/news/introducin... · Posted by u/lairv

martythemaniak · 4 months ago

Rodney Brooks (of iRobot fame) wrote an essay recently about why humanoids are likely decades and not years away from fulfilling their promise. It is quite long, but even a gpt summary will be quite valuable.

https://rodneybrooks.com/why-todays-humanoids-wont-learn-dex...

In short, he makes the case that unlike text and images, human dexterity is based on sensory inputs that we barely understand, that these robots don't have, and it will take a long time to get the right sensors in, get the right data recorded, and only then train them to the level of a human. He is very skeptical that they can learn from video-only data, which is what the companies are doing.

smath · 4 months ago

came here to see if anyone had read Rodney's recent essay - and to ask how does this announcement by Figure square with Rodney's essay.

The essay was long so I cant claim I read it in detail - one q in my mind is whether humanoids need to do dexterity the same way that humans do. yes they dont have skin and tiny receptors but maybe there is another way to develop dexterity?

smath commented on Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 nobelprize.org/prizes/med... · Posted by u/lode

slider22 · 4 months ago

In the past here on HN, someone spoke of a set of books that were an incredible resource on the body’s immune response. Does anyone know which books those were? I’m assuming they will get an update to include info on T-reg.

smath · 4 months ago

“How the immune system works”, Lauren Sompayrac

smath commented on US cities pay too much for buses bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/pavel_lishin

RobKohr · 4 months ago

"Federal funding typically covers 80% of bus purchases, with agencies responsible for the remainder."

Well, there is your answer. The one making the purchase isn't the one primarily paying for the purchase. This makes them less sensitive to pricing.

Kinda like how expensive healthcare is since it is paid for by insurance.

Or how you don't care how much you put on your plate or what you choose to eat at an all you can eat buffet.

The second you detach the consumer from the price of something, even through an intermediary such as health insurance, that is when they stop caring about how much something costs, and so the price jumps.

smath · 4 months ago

Also (I think?):

- Govt beaureucreats spending taxpayer money - Availability of cheap credit for the US govt (the spender is other countries buying the debt) - Availabiulity of cheap student loans

smath commented on The Color of the Future: A history of blue hopefulmons.com/p/the-col... · Posted by u/prismatic

smath · 5 months ago

Obligatory mention of the Radiolab episode titled 'Colors' [1] - which among other things, talks about how the color blue appears in almost all world languages much later than other colors.

[1] https://radiolab.org/podcast/211119-colors