rapidfl

If anything it's a miracle that the US economy is so efficient that we can just skip all the small talk and bullshit and build out the infrastructure to support AI immediately.

This is a good take. But then it makes you think - China can build a data center cheaper. Their non-chip cost is likely much smaller. So if there is a down-cycle in chip and memory prices and/or the technology-progress slows, whoever can build horizontal capacity has the advantage.

We have been pushing to the frontier very fast. But there will be a lot of efficiencies found. The agentic use-case has some room to run even if models stay static ie inference needs continue to grow. This puts pressure on the edge that US has of pushing frontier at higher costs. This is likely the AI bear scenario.

People are looking for the AI bear case - so this headline gotta work better. Its not a bad idea haha. More people suspect there is some circular shenanigans but want confirmation -- so maybe this is the best way to lure them in. Come as the bear, stay for the bull.

With just these 2 comments, now I'm really gonna read that article.

For most people "learn to code" is like telling programmers to "learn asm".

This is such a good way to put it.

I could learn asm maybe in a college course. But no other incentive.

No one wanted to read asm. Now no one wants to read thru code.

+1 that motivation reel on IG hit so hard...

AI is likely correlation not causation. The generation that resonated with the self-help books has aged out. Short form vids on YT, TT, IG taking mind-share is likely the bigger cause.

This is a good point. If there was timeless material, they would continue to sell. Maybe War of Art or Meditations still continue to sell. Deep Work is a joke.

if we get to the stage where the AI hardware is a more of a commodity and usability becomes 10x simpler, then people may buy their own hardware and run local models.

Everybody owns a car, washer, TV, etc today. Maybe one could finance a server-box/trailer costing $20k, trade it in every 7 years for a newer model, etc. Many people are going to own a $20k Optimus.

There is efficiency in the cloud model for models. So maybe there is a scope for Apple or an "Apple for AI" in the AI compute game - mainly from the perspective of privacy etc.

And once the servers are in space, everything is fully out there.

You keep building on the last available version?

yes but a sovereign can allocate some resources and a few people to stay in the loop from a first principles level. No need to wait for a rug pull.

Of course, it can not compete with the frontier labs. But good to have researchers and professors "in-house". LLMs are here for the long-term.

tried to read Prince and I assume it is a translation to English from Italian or whatever.

Assuming that translation was done a while ago (100+ yrs?)... It is hard to read. I can understand it if I try. But the phrasing is not current. 100 pages will take double the time at the least.

Almost think AI needs to rephrase it into current English.

Probably has these double negatives, long sentences, etc.

all that said.. most of the clothes are not so "branded"? Who cares if a GAP or something ends up in outlet or wherever..

That's a good point. Some of the (many) B2B companies in YC also get a decent start by selling to the other YC companies.

The existence of people who succeed in pushing for inferior solutions, and managing to leave before it becomes clear

Guess this is just random evolution at play. Some companies will pay a bigger price than others. And not everyone even recognizes it and pinpoint it like you did.

But overall influencing people is on net good skill for the individual. And what is good for the geese is good for the gander??

I personally agree with the premise to ship early, with some rough edges, etc. But teammates may not be supportive. You need the whole team to have that mindset/culture.

yeah there are ways, but is it good for your career lol

Also the one person who has to review it before checking in needs to be resilient too

have families, real estate, weird funky interests and hobbies Many people would rather have these^ but stay stuck in cities/downtowns despite knowing it is only delaying the inevitable for them.

It is good only if the whole team believes it.

If the team mates have a different mindset, they see it as half baked or hacky. And if there is ever some bad feedback, they just use it as a "I told you so" and throw you under the bus.

After reading this comment, I feel leaning into the cosplaying will make me more productive/prolific. Many things I do not push thru on are because they seem superficial or a bit fake.

Does not apply to all ppl but maybe there should be phases to cosplay hard. Then reflect and realign.

SO was by far the leading source of high quality answers to technical questions

We will arrive on most answers by talking to an LLM. Many of us have an idea about we want. We relied on SO for some details/quirks/gotchas.

Example of a common SO question: how to do x in a library or language or platform? Maybe post on the Github for that lib. Or forums.. there are quirky systems like Salesforce or Workday which have robust forums. Where the forums are still much more effective than LLMs.

my thinking is that NW does not have to be tracked in a way that the double entries zero out. Every six months, I just open the 3-4 brokerages and banks and make an entry in a spreadsheet for cash/stock/bonds/crypto/others. Where the stocks are mostly ETFs and crypto is less than 5%.

And create a pivot table for totals and %s. And rebalance as needed. This may be too crude for some. But I am only starting to get organized, so this works, esp as you said for directional. Actually this is one of the reasons I have dropped hledger in general.

I just leave notes and comments in the spreadsheet as needed.

These days, I find it is doable 2-3 times a year. Its a lot of work at one shot but somehow able to catch up so as to review the main spending accounts. The zeroing is what attract me still. I get to see some patterns in my overall spending/categories. And it is side project where there is perceivable concrete progress, so still somewhat easier dopamine.

Simplifying/automating the workflow is a pull. As I type this, I have an idea to stop tracking NW in hledger - it can seem incomplete because money moves from checking to brokerages. That's fine. I only want to see expenses.

The hard part has been to import all the accounts and to categorize the transactions on the 1-2 cards and 1-2 checking accounts that get used a lot. However doing hledger motivated me to simplify things. Either delete cards and accounts. Or barely use them so I can update them once or twice a year. And helps to reduce the number of categories.

I have not made updates for all of 2025 after 3 or 4 years of hledger. ROI diminished once the itch to zero everything wears off and since I have somewhat steady state expenses.

The negative externality of EV car manufacturing seems net worse (today) per car. Harsher chemicals, more mining, more processing, lesser life of a car and battery, less mature tech so more wastage, etc.

Tesla might be responsible but almost all other EVs are likely externalizing a lot in their supply chain.

Anyway according to Gemini: ``` In the U.S., a typical EV becomes "cleaner" than a gas car after about 15,000 to 20,000 miles (roughly 1.5 to 2 years of driving).

If your primary concern is climate change, the EV is the clear winner after about 1.5 years. If your concern is local land/human rights impact, the EV has a heavier "upfront" cost that requires better regulation to solve. ```

EV is the way to go but is it going to scale sustainably to say 25% or more of all cars? Apparently yes, with the new battery tech in the pipeline.

that's an interesting point. A echo chamber could lead to fatigue and boredom.

Reels is able to keep me engaged because it is able to surface similar content I would like but from different users. And they have such a breadth of producers these days.

The X home feed algo is not so good apart from it being text only, even for infotainment content. YT shorts also does not work as good as the Insta algo

EV car production is likely worse or equal to ICE car production at each step

Does anyone feel otherwise? Is the net carbon and environmental footprint really lower over the entire lifecycle per car for an EV? Not today

That's my point about ICE not innovating enough. And of course hybrid would be one of the innovations. Also it should have more electronic luxuries and connectivity to match the newly designed EVs. Hybrids would carry a bigger battery that can pre warm without engine running.

ICE itself is close to fundamental limits. But iiuc other parts like frames and chasis are not, like they could be lighter and stronger.

ICE cars have bigger mileage than equivalent EVs? Meaning you fill gas once every few weeks in 5 mins.

EV’s are a substantial win even without subsidies

Why are they subsidized then? It is somehow better than no subsidies from the company's viewpoint.

Agree subsidies does not seem like the correct incentive structure. But that's what the other guy is doing so I guess that's what we have to do.

In general, can the EV industry survive without government subsidies? Maybe now it can in the US.

Also not convinced EVs (as they are currently) are vastly superior to ICE cars. Not accounting for the potential for ICE cars to vastly improve if there wasn't so much vested interest. So the whole EV industry seems a bit unsustainable...

Like many sibling comments, many companies are on a range that is on the bad side. There is a part of EV supply chain that is particularly bad and that is for all companies.

But what about the environmental costs that are being externalized? EV car production is likely worse or equal to ICE car production at each step. And the only arg seems to be that some day all EVs will be powered by solar/clean energy somehow.

+1. A WhatsApp group with 10-20 ppl (in similar stages of life) worked well for a while for organizing hiking/tennis/squash/some sport/DotA. We got consistently 4-5 people including their spouses showing up. Usually 2-4 weekends a month. With that size, many people can comfortably pass on the invite.

Then organically these tend to turn into trips together or simple hangouts for someone's birthday or a holiday.

It is kinda crazy someone can be so triggered by something so simple as men starting/joining a club.

Buffet surely made lots of upgrades and has added plenty of material comforts.

But it is quite possible to be a kind of lazy where even 10-20x current wealth, people would live where they currently live. American neighborhoods are reasonable that way. It is just primary home and they would holiday/vacation wherever.