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ismail

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<my-user-name>@zyelabs.net

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www.dailymaverick.co.za 4y ago

The Sputnik case study (Part One): How not to run a Covid vaccine clinical trial

ismail
5pts1
www.wsj.com 5y ago

South Africa: Drop in Covid-19 Cases Adds to Questions About Waves of Infections

ismail
3pts0
thoughtleader.co.za 5y ago

Future gun control has been shot down

ismail
69pts94
csis.pace.edu 6y ago

Principles of the self-organizing systems (1962) [pdf]

ismail
2pts0
news.ycombinator.com 6y ago

Ask HN: Would you differentiate between hacker, artist, craftsman and engineer

ismail
8pts4
pespmc1.vub.ac.be 6y ago

Every good regulator of a system must be a model of that system (1970) [pdf]

ismail
92pts31
news.ycombinator.com 7y ago

Ask HN: Were you unschooled, or are you unschooling your children?

ismail
50pts39
news.ycombinator.com 7y ago

Ask HN: Can you download your entire history of upvotes on HN?

ismail
5pts5
qz.com 8y ago

The fake-news hack that nearly started a war this was designed for one man

ismail
3pts0
finance.yahoo.com 9y ago

The Airline Industry – The Past

ismail
1pts0
news.ycombinator.com 9y ago

Ask HN: How do you remember the best stuff from non fiction books?

ismail
3pts1
www.telegraph.co.uk 9y ago

Buy gold, they say – but how do you sell it? (2013)

ismail
2pts0
inbound.org 10y ago

I Quit Instagram

ismail
2pts0
news.ycombinator.com 10y ago

Ask HN: Best books to understand Bitcoin?

ismail
1pts1
news.ycombinator.com 10y ago

Ask HN: Should we apply for YC Fellowship if YC has funded similar company?

ismail
2pts2
www.motherjones.com 11y ago

What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?

ismail
2pts0
arstechnica.com 11y ago

Ballmer: iPhone has “no chance” of gaining significant market share

ismail
2pts1
news.ycombinator.com 11y ago

Ask HN: Which YC Company does A/B Testing for anything

ismail
3pts2
www.dailymaverick.co.za 11y ago

State of the Nation: Shame of the Nation 2015 (South Africa)

ismail
2pts0
www.theguardian.com 11y ago

Africa in 2030: drones, telemedicine and robots?

ismail
4pts0
github.com 11y ago

Show HN: WhatsApp Desktop App with NW.js

ismail
5pts0
www.npr.org 11y ago

Domino's Becomes a Tech Company That Happens to Make Pizza

ismail
5pts0
phish5.com 11y ago

Show HN: Phishing Audits as a service

ismail
2pts0
www.garyshood.com 11y ago

Run as the Root Account

ismail
1pts0
peerj.com 12y ago

Mobile phones carry the personal microbiome of their owners

ismail
2pts0
blog.clarity.fm 12y ago

The hackers guide to getting press

ismail
3pts0
www.youtube.com 12y ago

Live Coverage Mandela Memorial

ismail
1pts0
www.theregister.co.uk 12y ago

Hacker almost derailed Mandela election in South Africa

ismail
1pts0
www.youtube.com 12y ago

Armed robbery/car hijacking with AK47 caught on camera in johannesburg

ismail
2pts0
news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

Ask HN: Graph Theory, What kind of Graph is this?

ismail
1pts3

Agree with most of what he says. Fundamentally, we are relational and moral beings.

In Africa there is the concept of Ubuntu "I am because we are". Identity and personhood arises within community, rather than being constructed indivudually.

I think we need to differentiate between self-help in the modern sense, and viewing the self as a continuous process of engaging in meaningful activities, within community, with purpose that helps cultivate virtue. i.e "Becoming"

When self-help is treated as only individual optimisation, without any ultimate end it risk becoming self-referential.

Philosopher Charles Taylor describes a similar shift with modernity that he calls "Disengaged reason" [0]. Where reason is disconnected from moral frameworks, that once helped orient us.

The deeper issue may be Self-help/Improvement that is often not contained within these larger frameworks of meaning, that answer:

To what ultimate end?

[0] https://www.academia.edu/26548899/Disciplinarity_and_Islamic...

previously discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46743214

also here:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ismaildhorat_a-new-world-does...

Thanks for sharing. I was trying to build something similar , mostly for myself to get an overview of papers. think I was being too specific which gave inconsistent results. Will check for the detailed prompt but it was basically: extract key concepts, arguments and theories and then build visualisations and simulations. Sometimes it seems being too directive can be detrimental

New YC homepage 6 months ago

Here is my insight: VALUATION is not the same as VALUE CREATION.

Put another way, the ability to accumulate resources, is not a reliable indicator of the "good" being created in the world.

When the quantitative metric of "Money" is used a a proxy for value creation, it creates serious and dangerous side effects.

This is a fundamental failure mode of modern capitalism.

Capitalism requires ethical discipline. Without it, we get runaway resource accumulation, that rationalises actions and strategies (externalisation, extraction, optimisation-at-all-costs) which cause more harm than good.

The techno-optimists (See e/acc/Marc Andreessen)[0], frame progress as intrinsically good.

I believe a more prudent approach is needed, one that is wise and looks at business from the perspective of:

STEWARDSHIP & BALANCE,

rather than

RESOURCE ACCUMULATION & PROGRESS.

While I do not disagree with all he says, and do not think technological progress is bad, you will notice there is no mention of ethics in the entire manifesto other than as an "enemy".

Philosopher Charles Taylor argues that a defining feature of modernity is the rise of what he calls “disengaged reason” [1]:

  > Contrary to a Platonic understanding of reason where a meaningful order exists in the cosmos and in the soul that serves as a source for the highest good for reason to discover and conform to, disengaged reason "is no longer defined in terms of a vision of order in the cosmos" (Taylor 1989, 20). This disengagement allows reason to look at the world from an 'autonomous' viewpoint, leading to the abandonment of all 'horizons' > or frameworks "within which we know where we stand, and what meanings things have for us" (Taylor 1989, 29), thus rendering any inquiry to be independent of an overarching telos.
This idea is captured bluntly in this video (paraphrasing)[2]:
  > The great innovation with modernity was to convince people that money is *GOD*. With the enlightenment *MONEY* replaced *GOD* for a lot of people
In a sense, a lot of people in the modern world treat money itself as "The Sacred"

This is not to say I am arguing that money, profit and competition are morally wrong, but rather the way it is packaged. It is often elevated to the ultimate end (telos), rather than the means.

The fundamental category error is making the assumption that:

VALUATION (or Money in the bank) = Value Creation (For The Greater Good)

As you have rightly pointed out, the "It started here, now it's worth $xB" is an indication of this worldview, where the telos itself is "MONEY"

[0] https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/

[1] https://www.academia.edu/26548899/Disciplinarity_and_Islamic...

[2] https://youtu.be/B5FtHagng8c?t=249

Nah , most people are by default looking for something more meaningful than increasing profits. It’s modernity that’s created a society of profit at all cost, which has to be unlearned.

learning typically follows a specific path.

1. Unconsciously incompetent

2. Consciously incompetent

3. Consciously competent

4. Unconsciously competent

The challenge with AI, it will give you “good enough” output, without feedback loops you never move to 2,3,4 and assume you are doing ok. Hence it stunts learning. So juniors or inexperienced stay inexperienced, without knowing what they don’t know.

You have to Use it as an expert thinking partner. Tell it to ask you questions & not give you the answer.

Think you are missing the point. This wasn’t an analogy about the actors , but rather the framing.

During apartheid , and towards the end plenty were making arguments for gradual control ; gradual processes which just would have further perpetuated oppression. I was highlighting the similarities to that. We also had people saying the ‘blacks’ just want to ‘kill the whites’ and it would result in violence.

Your mapping of roles is completely incorrect, Indians cannot be the Zionist since they were an oppressed minority and did not have power. Equating Afrikaners to ottomans / British is incoherent.

You, and the original comment completely ignores the power imbalance as was the case in apartheid South Africa. This framing further perpetuates oppression and is a way to prop up the apartheid state.

I won’t post all of the evidence here confirming that Israel functions as an apartheid state. Numerous reports exist that describe and draw the comparison.

The link to Orwell……….?

Think about it from a logical perspective.

Apartheid South Africa’s real enemy—the ANC, the liberation movements, the “terrorists”—wouldn’t stop and wouldn’t surrender until white minority rule and its entire system didn’t exist. They had taken the innocent Black civilians of South Africa hostage. They were also so ingrained into the townships that resources were literally siphoned from humanitarian sites like churches and schools into hidden safehouses and underground networks; as just one example of reporting that many at the time were inclined to believe was credible, even with the mutual atrocities both sides were carrying out.

What would “winning” look like from a moral and ethical standpoint? Liberating the people of that region from the violence and suffering. Returning them to a “functioning society” with social and civic infrastructure. Fully denying major resistance and insurgency in the region for lifetimes—to the point that the hate and anger finally cooled off enough for people to “move on.”

Winning would require a multi-generational investment in humanity by humanity. It would require the buy-in of the people on the ground. It would require a United Nations coalition and boots on the ground from “responsible” countries who wanted to raise everyone above the hate. And of course, South Africa would need to be an absolute DMZ for that entire time—no armed liberation movements allowed, only peacekeeping forces sanctioned by the “international community.”

Getting from here to there? Even less popular than the hugely unpopular interventions elsewhere in the world. Don’t ask me how anyone could do it—those skilled in the art of diplomacy had tried for longer than my lifetime and probably longer than yours, and NOTHING had stuck. ———

wait; that’s not what it took.

It took the abolishment of apartheid; colonisation and oppression, peace was achieved. Your framing is flawed , it is framed as equal sides. Not the reality a colonial apartheid state.

I am not surprised. With the amount of misinformation that is produced and disseminated from the highest levels of israeli society. See my other posts on 1) Zionism = racist / supremacist ideology 2) misinformation 3) links to a documentary demonstrating how people are being awakened to the truth (and how they realise they have been lied to) Israelism film on YouTube 4) psyops campaigns both against their own citizens , and Americans etc.

Really, the H accusation card?

Point noted. I should have prefixed it with zionist Israelis.

There are Israelis that have been awakened to the truth (see BT Salem, Ilan Pappe milo peled etc)

Also many former American Jewish Zionists [1] see Israelism film. You can also watch this to understand how these ideas and misinformation is propagated at an industrial scale.

You will note I clearly specified Zionist , which is an inherently racist/supremicist ideology. Akin to aparthied in South Africa.

[1] https://youtu.be/Iq6J7Q6L0yw?si=8GJXsENLxRfj3aSp

This is a very interesting take, and I am going to largely agree with you here. It really looks like this may be what is going on. This is really a symptom of a much larger phenomenon, in that a society that values material wealth , and only acknowledges a material reality without realising or recognising the metaphysical reality.

Let’s be super clear, [2] does not ban the user for being Jewish as per [1] claims.

There is no way for the mod/bot to know this rather. It is clearly spelt out in the terms.

“You have been banned for participating in a bad-faith subreddit (specifically Israel) which brigades other subreddits and spreads propaganda/disinformation/racism/sexism.”

Personally I don’t use Reddit that much, so I can speak to if this statement is true or not, the mods however do think it is.

If was running a major site that depends on Wordpress , or am an agency that makes use of Wordpress extensively I would be very concerned. Irrespective of who is right/wrong, Matt’s actions come across as rash, irrational , and reactive.

Definitely not the type of leader I would want to be leading an open source project I depend on.

From a risk analysis perspective, this would make me question if wp is fit for my company. If the ceo/leader can behave in this way , what are the risks he pulls similarly self destructive moves that jeopardises my sites?

I am have no bone in this fight, I dropped wp back In 2010, due to the multitude of issues with plugins, themes and security. It was easier(and more secure) to roll an app with django/rails.

Though, I think if you are using Wordpress. Either look for alternatives , or look to a fork with better governance.

The concept he discusses of “the edge” is very similar to “edge of chaos” from physics, but has been studied extensively in complexity sciences, specifically complex adaptive systems.

The theory proposes that all complex adaptive systems (CAS) naturally adapt to a state at the “edge of chaos” which is a transition zone between order(stability) and disorder.

The theory proposes this is the zone where maximal learning/innovation/creativity in social systems occur.

We studied complex adaptive systems in 2019, at the time I changed my LinkedIn tag line to : “learning at the edge of chaos” , still have not changed it since then.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_chaos

I like to think about it this way.

The “what” is often timeless and stays the same.

The “how” the what is achieved changes.

I need to get from point a to point b (the what)

V1: walk/run/horse

V2: carriage

V3: train

V4: cars

Etc etc

There is another dimension to this as well.

Sometimes the what has to completely be re-architected since society has fundamentally changed.

As an example:

Consider education (what) this will always be required in society.

A naive version of innovation in this space would be to keep things the same and just change the delivery mechanism (online)

A better innovation would be to re-imagine what it means to be educated/schooled.

The best place to start is identifying the assumptions inherent in the current system. , and asking are they still relevant?

Taken this way, they can lead to chronically depleted adrenals and long term downregulation of your dopamine receptors, which means you’ll feel like shit when you run out of medicine. The road to up-regulating your receptors is long and arduous.

Do you have references?

There are also long term risks such as the development of Parkinson’s disease

Do you have references?

Basement Fertility 4 years ago

A Typical WEIRD (western, educated, industrialised, rich, democratic) finding. For much of human history children have been raised in multi-generational homes. Just being raised by parents is relatively new. I recall reading in a book [0] that proposes this as one of the reasons we have such an issue with mental health etc. with our children. This also seriously hampers learning as wisdom is not passed down.

[0] free to play

Countries like Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea that practiced land reform to wrench land away from idle landlords and distribute it widely, have had this success.

This is an interesting view. how did they avoid being punished for this?

Zimbabwe tried redistributing farms but it turned out horribly for them.

Would be interested In understanding how Zimbabwe attempt was different to these countries.

Here in South Africa land reforms is a politically charged issue. Due to apartheid we have a deeply unequal society, where productive farm land is concentrated in primarily in a few hands. Split along racial lines.

I recall meeting some labourers on a farm here in the western cape. They worked on a farm that had been “claimed” by colonisers who arrived in the 1800’s, and then handed down in families.

Where as this labourer ancestors has been in that area for generations before the colonisers got there.