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abnry

Re:Mathematics has changed. Let's act like it on Sunday November 01, 2026 @06:27PM (#50330993)
Every theorem is already in the mind of God. No theorem prover has discovered it anymore than an astronomer discovers a star. We simply have better access to God's thoughts now. It makes us realize we are human and not divine.
Re:'AI' Is Not a Tool by Rich Hickey on Monday October 12, 2026 @09:09PM (#50065290)
Is ffmpeg a tool? When the incantation is so obscure, are you really wielding it?
Re:'AI' Is Not a Tool by Rich Hickey on Monday October 12, 2026 @09:07PM (#50065270)
I guess according to his logic they would be tools for interacting with an automation. Like the button on a car wash kiosk. You could just as well holler and the man turns it on.
Re:Reactions to 100 Solutions on Friday October 09, 2026 @12:28PM (#50022906)
The funny thing about people comparing mathematical research in the days of LLMs to playing chess in the days of Stockfish is that it identifies the competitive nature, and hence status seeking attitude, of the mathematical research community. Chess is, of course, a competitive game with a winner and a loser. You "win" mathematical research by solving a longstanding unsolved problem.

There is this idea of advancing human knowledge and adding to the record of what people know in mathematical research that breaks the analogy down, somewhat. But most people aren't Perelman. They would happily take the million dollar prize. And it is out of the question to do anything other than put your name on the published paper.

How often does this sort of thing happen? I'm guessing more than we think, either because we forget the news stories we read or because it isn't reported.
That man has found a treasure of a woman!
Re:Feeling Sad about AI on Friday September 11, 2026 @01:18PM (#49661911)
I did well in school and the praise I received for excelling in my math degree did shape my life and impact my motivations. I do like praise.

But outside of social reasons, it's understanding I crave. Thoroughly understanding a topic is awesome. I remember the feeling of acing my qualifier exam in grad school.

Those LLMs change nothing fundamentally about this motivation and need and capability. I can't type a prompt, hazily skim the wall of text, and come to comprehensive understanding. I still have to work.

What I like about LLMs is that they can increase my understanding by helping me learn more efficiently. What I don't like is the temptation to turn off my brain.

Re:Bhartrhari's Paradox on Friday August 28, 2026 @11:33AM (#49480077)
I suppose if the number of nameable things is countable (because humans can only enumerate, and it is humans who name), then it trivially follows that some real numbers are unnameable. Which proves the existence of such entities.

This reminds me of a YouTube video I watched this week titled "A counting argument for why mind comes before matter": https://youtu.be/AtduNjJV-6E?is=nBZ9ztZsyeoVhCj1

The argument is something like the set of possible thoughts about physical objects is larger than the physical objects themselves. It feels similar in flavor to the idea of unameable objects.

There's something special about a name. The name of the God of the Bible is special. Christians are to call upon _the name_ of the Lord. We pray, hallowed by _thy name_. It is somehow denotes the summary essence of the thing being named, even if it doesn't give specific details of its characteristics.

Re:GPS and the Lost Art of Getting Lost on Monday August 17, 2026 @08:40AM (#49329897)
Getting lost when you have time and a full tank of gas is fun.

Getting lost when you need to be someone on time is awful.

We can love the former and hate the latter.

Re:How to Read More Books on Sunday July 12, 2026 @04:13PM (#48884292)
I don't think serious reader is a cringe term. Reading is a skill like any other and we use terms like "serious golfer" or "serious painter". The flip side of serious is causal. It's okay to structure your life so that reading is a big part of it.
I need something like this for when my AC unit, which can only be right next to the TV, cycles on for a bit. It's sort of the inverse problem. When total noise gets louder I need the TV also to get louder.
Re:Show HN: Zanagrams on Sunday June 28, 2026 @04:41PM (#48711425)
Very nice! I solved them all in the backyard on a pleasant Sunday afternoon.
How can an animal even have a neck that long? Was it clear from the fossils that it is this long because I am skeptical.
Re:How many of the 170k English words do you know? on Friday June 19, 2026 @11:40PM (#48606160)
This is where I got the link from.
Re:How many of the 170k English words do you know? on Friday June 19, 2026 @11:37PM (#48606147)
I knew Flibbertigibbet from the sound of music:

MARGARETTA: How do you find a word that means Maria?

BERTHE: A flibberti gibbet!

SOPHIA: A willo' the wisp!

MARGARETTA: A clown!

When I was a child, I remember going to the nearby children's museum and seeing an exhibit with 1 million bread tags. It was supposed to help conceptualize the number.
Are you carrying a lot of stress when you were walking 10 min mid-day? I think the wandering, creative mind is the goal and walking often facilitates that, but if some stronger force is keeping you away then it may not work.
Europeans are shocked by the portion sizes in America. But they feel normal in the US. Frogs often don't know they are being boiled.
Re:Some Things Just Take Time on Saturday March 21, 2026 @12:15PM (#47468353)
The guiding analogy of the piece is that of planting a tree and waiting for it to mature.

The reason we need to wait is that it takes time for some things to mature.

Re:The Shape of Inequalities on Thursday March 19, 2026 @01:45PM (#47443127)
Which IIRC are all a consequence of Jensen's inequality.
Re:Obsidian Sync now has a headless client on Saturday February 28, 2026 @12:09PM (#47197697)
Fantastic! Now I don't need to run it in a headless xorg session.
I'm still struggling to care about the "hit piece".

It's an AI. Who cares what it says? Refusing AI commits is just like any other moderation decision people experience on the web anywhere else.

Re:Show HN: Wikipedia as a doomscrollable social media feed on Monday February 02, 2026 @11:23AM (#46857832)
The NSFW content is a big bummer for me. I can't let a kid go to Wikipedia unsupervised because of this.
I love it!

I typed "hello".

> Your thought's hash is: 4358f43b660389eecd435dc2a5f5cee29786245cd2cff27bd4de0b3e8fd53b79

> Including you, 267 persons had that thought already!

> First time was 4 hours, 14 minutes ago, last time was less than a minute ago.

Of course, everyone else has thought of this. But what if I "type": 4358f43b660389eecd435dc2a5f5cee29786245cd2cff27bd4de0b3e8fd53b79

> Your thought's hash is: c37d0a8c512b9ec7074d3bc77c4545d58fdfcde55bad89a70ede71ac2ac0000d

> Including you, 8 persons had that thought already!

> First time was 2 hours, 1 minute ago, last time was 1 minute ago.

That's hilarious!

And also, "typing": echo "hello world" | curl -d @- https://subth.ink

>Your thought's hash is: c5ba1c7e35345dbb8c2dc6be0972d0b6ddf6c6515143b64c057296948e2ba8cd

>Including you, 10 persons had that thought already!

>First time was 1 hour, 52 minutes ago, last time was 2 minutes ago.

Re:Maybe the default settings are too high on Friday December 26, 2025 @12:25PM (#46394127)
I think the response is a great comment. It really is insane that they felt the need to damn the flooded campsite.

The comment actually does a great job of accentuating the point of the story. Everyone offended is too caught up in their achiever mode mindset to truly appreciate the absurdity.

Re:Let's put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle on Monday December 08, 2025 @07:22PM (#46199684)
Where do I get DRM-free ebooks to put on a Kobo? I don't support breaking DRM. So I'm using a Kindle because it has the best access to and integration with almost any book I want.
Re:Llama-Scan: Convert PDFs to Text W Local LLMs on Sunday August 17, 2025 @07:43PM (#44935914)
I would really like a tool to reliably get the title of PDF. It is not as easy as it seems. If the PDF exists online (say a paper or course notes) a bonus would be to find that or related metadata.
Re:How Pi Almost Wasn't on Friday March 14, 2025 @09:04AM (#43362237)
That's just controlled opposition.
Re:How Pi Almost Wasn't on Thursday March 13, 2025 @10:21PM (#43359023)
The real nerds celebrate octal pi day on 3/11. The crowds are too big on 3/14 anyways.

https://imgur.com/a/gczeqkz

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