jonyt

Sure. I haven't published it yet, so here's the OneDrive link https://1drv.ms/t/c/bc01c33494ab32b1/IQDSR0rolJrKSqaqvWuyQtn...

The WWII article, or the bug hunting story?

Two things, both from this week.

First, I asked Claude to write an article based on an idea I had about WWII. In a passage about the futility (from the German side) of the Battle of Britain it wrote: "The Luftwaffe was fighting to unlock a door that opened onto a wall." I couldn't find any mention of a similar metaphor, and I think it's a great one. Claude has really improved its creative writing skills lately, I wonder if it's an artifact of improvements in other fields, or if Anthropic is working on it specifically.

Second, Claude, with access to DataDog and a code repo, managed to find the reason for a bug, propose an effective temporary fix and a permanent one in code. To be clear, this was something that had multiple engineers stumped.

https://archive.is/8vKQk

The article comes off as a laughable attempt to fire the arrow and then paint the target around it. For example the author claims about 9/11 that "the first attack had already achieved its aims: it dragged the U.S. into a protracted war in Afghanistan, pushed the country back into the moral swamp of torture, and, as a bonus, helped goad America into invading Iraq." Bin Laden was a fanatical mass murderer and his aim was to establish a caliphate. I highly, highly, highly doubt that he saw the attacks as an attempt to degrade the morals of the CIA (or any of the other outlandish claptrap that the author claims).

Iran isn't being attacked because it's not nice to its own people (which is a shame really, all dictators and theocrats should worry for their lives). It's being attacked because it has ballistic missiles, a nuclear weapons program, a giant sign in the middle of Tehran counting down the existence of Israel and its leaders have repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. So weapon, opportunity and motive. It's of course free to work towards the destruction of Israel but then it's hardly fair to complain that Israel may try to preempt that.

Iran is a signatory of the NPT so - not approved.

Thanks! It's historical fiction so 90% true :-) The novel is set during the First Jewish–Roman War[0] and I tried as much as possible to adhere to what we know of actual events. There's a good case to be made that the effect it had on Judaism greatly impacted the development of Christianity. Plus it helped crown the Flavian Dynasty. I have just a short blurb and the first chapter here[1]. I'll definitely post more about the book and the process if I manage to get it published. There are quite a few aspiring novelists here so it might be encouraging to them.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War

[1] https://jonyomtov.me/the-deserter

Getting my historical fiction novel published. I finished writing it a couple of months back. Extremely short plot summary: guy deserts from the Roman XI legion, goes back home only to find that his entire province is about to revolt against the Roman Empire at the height of its power. It's one of the most spectacular feats of collective self-immolation in human history and it had a large effect on human history. I think not enough has been written about the role of abject stupidity in human affairs. This book is an attempt to correct that.

Already done in Israel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_99

I think the commenters here relying on a more robust response if Putin invades a NATO country are being overly optimistic. Let's be honest with ourselves and recognize that without the US NATO is no match for Russia. Fragmented, with small and outdated armed forces, the Russian army would quickly roll over any resistance. Can you imagine a Republican president committing US troops to the defence of Lithuania in the current climate? Just look at what Trump is saying right now. If I were a European leader I'd be investing very heavily in an my armed forces right about now. Putin has succeeded in undermining the international order. First, by getting someone like Trump elected and undercutting faith in NATO. Second, by invading neighboring countries and having everyone realize this has no real consequences. It's likely that, unfortunately, the new world order is the old world order. Either a country has the power to defend itself or it doesn't. Other countries can't be relied upon to help.

Where in the linked article does it say "Israel infiltrated high levels of government and got compromising information"?

What about this fake Nazi death camp, apparently a hoax by Polish nationalists?

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-fa...

"Job interviews help us grow professionally."

I disagree. In most places job interviews mainly test for your ability to pass job interviews. So if the job title you're going for is interviewee then maybe. But if you see yourself as a developer then interviewing is not going to improve your professional abilities.

Meh. First, the articles cited all have the same familiar problems of statistical psychology studies - small sample size drawn from psychology students.

Also, unrelatedly, I find ancient stories in many cases better than modern ones because of modern literary fiction's obsession with recording the minutiae of every character's thoughts. As the article notes, in one short story David Foster Wallace takes 12 pages to record a boy walking to a pool and jumping in. I can see the case for representing characters' inner states, it's an important part of the story, but modern literary fiction takes it way too far.

Possibly downvoted because of no references. So first, cats are a menace to wild animals. Second, "We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually"[0]. Entirely humans' fault of course. Without humans there wouldn't be so many cats.

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380

I think you're very much mistaken about the risks involved. For example[0]. I really have a hard time understanding people who think the US is worse than China. China is orders of magnitude worse. Sure, the NSA may spy on your electronic communications but the level of invasive, oppressive surveillance is not even comparable[1]. As far as I know no people are in jail in the US for protesting the government's policies. In China that's not the case[2].

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/08/daughter-gui-m... [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/twelve-days-in-xinjiang-how-chi... [2] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/political-prisoners-chi...

Simply disallow startup acquisitions for companies above a certain value/marketshare. This will prevent them from killing competition. For example the social networking space would probably have been disrupted several times by now had Facebook not been allowed to purchase Instagram and Whatsapp.

Not sure what the author's point is. That all spies are incompetent? KGB infiltrated UK's intelligence establishment successfully, got the plans for the nuclear bomb and the space shuttle etc. etc. So clearly at least one organization is not completely without merit. Maybe he means specifically UK's spies? If so his anecdotes are not very convincing.

Presumably this is the same Moody's that predicted the 2008 crash so well? Why does anyone even listen to them anymore? They failed miserably at their role.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/14/moodys-864m...

Personally I think Brexit was a bad idea but I don't understand the sentiment in the article. Back when Obama was using big data (and yes, big money) to win the election he was hailed as smart and tech-savvy. Now when it's the Brexit supporters doing it democracy is coming to an end. How about instead of weakening people's support for democracy leftists instead try to win elections?

Hmmm..."capitulation to global financiers", "stateless rentier classes", methinks I sense a common theme here. Not a supporter of David Irving by any chance are you?

I believe GP is referring to Islam, not Arabs. Islam is responsible for none of the things you mentioned.

Relative to what? Do you have citations for this claim?

Really? I think it's more accurate to say that Syria was a repressive, violent dictatorship before all this started[0]. Since the war started the government has slaughtered more of its citizens than the rebels have.

0 - http://www.refworld.org/docid/4a1fadbcc.html

Bin Laden lists a rather long litany of grievances stretching all the way back to the crusades. He also blames the US for East Timor's independence[0], not a very terrible crime unless you believe in Islamic supremacy. Are you seriously suggesting that bin Laden would not have become a racist mass murderer had the US not helped overthrow the Iranian government?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_ideology_of_Osama_...

How is the overthrow of a secular prime minister of a Shiite country related to an attack by Sunni religious fanatics?

So you're saying Allied war crimes were in no way comparable to Axis?

Hmmm...neither author is an expert on Saudi Arabia. Alex de Waal is an expert on Africa[1], Sara Chayes is a journalist of some sort[2]. Why is this opinion piece any different than asking John Doe about his ideas on the Saudi monarchy?

[1] http://fletcher.tufts.edu/World-Peace-Foundation/About/Staff... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Chayes

Fancy camera work, but the obstacle avoidance is not convincing. The drone basically passes by one tree, and that's mostly it. Compare that to any bird that lives its life in the brush. Human built flying machines are fast and can carry huge loads but compared to animals we still lag far behind in control and finesse.