News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

gradus_ad

Indeed. That's the point. We can't sidestep human control via technical means.
Are they really attempting to replace the power structures I'm talking about? Are their methods sufficiently ambitious?

If not they're fooling themselves same as those focused on currency replacement.

Good luck
Crypto enthusiasts misunderstand what a financial system/financial architecture is. It is not the fiat currencies themselves, but rather the power architecture that controls and oversees value and exchange in whatever form it takes. Crypto has been entirely subsumed into this architecture through the exchanges which are obviously beholden to the holders of real power, i.e. governments.

This is to say, the stated goal and the target of the crypto enthusiasts are misaligned. To transcend the institutions represented by the fiat system requires far more than creating some alternative "currency", rather it requires creating an entirely new power structure.

Re:How Do You Take a Picture of a Black Hole? on Friday October 30, 2026 @08:22AM (#50302941)
But observers can see a black hole grow over time, so does that mean they observe growth without consumption?
Boggles my mind that they still offer 3.1. Absolutely 0 reason to use it when 3.8 Flash is better in every respect.
Re:Alphabet Announces Third Quarter 2026 Results [pdf] on Wednesday October 28, 2026 @04:52PM (#50280746)
Ironically their massive cash reserves created an environment where the cost of AI infrastructure could be bid up so much to consume those very cash reserves.
Re:Gemini 4 Carbon on Wednesday October 28, 2026 @02:46PM (#50278925)
What is SWE-Sweep?? Shocking to see such poor evals.
Re:Early progress on accelerating drug development with Claude on Wednesday October 28, 2026 @08:35AM (#50272594)
We are talking about future research directions, not what's possible today. Given the success AI has had in virtually every domain its been deployed in, there's no reason to think it won't do well simulating physiological processes.
Re:Amazon Is Gutting Its AI Division After Sustained Failure on Tuesday October 27, 2026 @09:50PM (#50268397)
That wouldn't be sustainable, which is all I'm saying.
Re:Amazon Is Gutting Its AI Division After Sustained Failure on Tuesday October 27, 2026 @08:07PM (#50267681)
It's a powerful metric. It captures to what extent something is sustainably possible today.
Maybe AI would be better put to use helping us determine which ideas are good then
Re:The Exponential Time Hypothesis Is False [pdf] on Monday October 26, 2026 @09:11PM (#50253502)
Do we know they are galactic?
All of these build your own model guides are like someone putting out a build your own CPU guide 10 years ago. Interesting, but not of any practical use.
Re:Anthropic S-1 on Monday October 26, 2026 @10:59AM (#50244911)
The killer app is AI coding. Claude Code had first mover advantage, was a genuine revolution, and has diffused through the industry with incredible speed. I would imagine most of the huge revenue increase over the last year is due almost entirely to AI coding spend.

There are three issues with this. First, the rapid diffusion of the technology means it is very unlikely to continue at the rate of adoption seen over the past year, so it's very hard to extrapolate based on what we've seen so far. Second, many companies are reigning in AI budgets after an initial honeymoon phase. Third, all of the other labs are trying to take a bite of the coding pie, and the price war is already heating up.

Add these simple dynamics up and it makes perfect sense why Anthropic would want to IPO now. Things look about as good as they ever will.

Re:Anthropic S-1 on Monday October 26, 2026 @10:53AM (#50244797)
So they wrote their S-1 with Claude?
Re:Tool book of a Nuremberg knight from 1505 on Sunday October 25, 2026 @10:25AM (#50231923)
The problem with AI generated content is, it tells me you didn't care enough about the work to do it yourself. To understand it fully, to the point where you don't need or even want to hand the work off to an LLM.

Interacting with AI content makes me feel like I'm consuming something that was created purely for engagement farming. Not that human created content wasn't for engagement farming, but noticing an AI tell breaks the suspension of disbelief in a way. It devalues the relationship between creator and consumer, so that genuine care is not being shared. It's like I'm a cow being milked on an industrial engagement farm.

Re:Dream-1 on Saturday October 24, 2026 @03:06PM (#50224101)
Their "breaking the flywheel" strategy is predicted on people using their enabled robots in real world tasks. And from the demos it looks like they are unusable for real world tasks.
Re:Docker Is Weird on Thursday October 22, 2026 @08:27PM (#50202989)
General question. When you were designing Docker, did you anticipate the success it would achieve?
Re:Every AI model has the same "controversial" take on humans on Thursday October 22, 2026 @07:04PM (#50202319)
But this is such a midwit take from supposed superintelligence...

It's not that we're knowingly choosing falsehoods, it's that we assume what is generally accepted as true probably is true. Most of us are not experts. Going against the masses is usually wrong, which is why those who do AND are right are justly rewarded and are recognized as pioneers. Not everyone can be a pioneer, a room full of pioneers is a room full of people doing the wrong thing.

Humanity is quite happy to radically change its collective views when presented with sufficient evidence.

Re:After automation: Solo founding will be the default on Wednesday October 21, 2026 @05:42PM (#50188088)
Startups about Startups... The Synthetic CDO's of this cycle?
Re:After automation: Solo founding will be the default on Wednesday October 21, 2026 @04:57PM (#50187517)
My god this is comedic gold
Re:In Hilbert space, all things are quantumly possible on Wednesday October 21, 2026 @08:42AM (#50179935)
So you have proof spacetime is discrete?
Re:What shall I teach my son? on Wednesday October 21, 2026 @12:27AM (#50176079)
"The man who can really play his part as a citizen, who is fit for the management of public and private business, and who can guide cities by his counsels, establish them by his laws, and amend them by his judicial decisions, is assuredly no other than the orator... My aim, then, is the education of the perfect orator. The first essential for such a one is that he should be a good man, and consequently we demand of him not merely the possession of exceptional gifts of speech, but of all the excellences of character as well."

— Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria (Book 1, Preface, 9–10)

Does Mexico have a free market for medicine?
It's only $100 in Mexico because the company can charge $10000 in the US. Not by some inherent virtue of the Mexican system. If the US forced costs down they'd rise everywhere else.

The US subsidizes the rest of the world in Medicine, Defense, Technology, etc...

Agreed! Protest is always about the assertion of power and identity, like all politics. But protest, like physical violence, attempts to assert power by sidestepping the mechanics of government. So it does not need evidence reason or logic, it is operating on an entirely different plane!

Older »