archontes's comments

On: Canadian math prodigy allegedly stole $65M in crypto

[archontes]

I can't tell if this is a typo or not, and it's perfect.

[racl101 → archontes]

I thought it was deliberate. Clever play on an Orwell quote nevertheless. Hmmmyes.

[CPLX → archontes]

From 1984 to 2024

On: Canadian math prodigy allegedly stole $65M in crypto

[archontes]

Define theft.

If you write a contract and give it to a lawyer with the instruction, "Anyone who satisfies this contract gets this money." And someone satisfies the contract to the lawyer's -but not your- satisfaction, and the lawyer sends the money, did the third party steal from you?

[danielvf → archontes]

There's a very relevant XKCD on this, where someone discovers a clever "bug" in an insurance contract, and is then disappointed.

https://xkcd.com/1494/

On: Canadian math prodigy allegedly stole $65M in crypto

[archontes]

Imagine I write a contract and empower an AI to execute it. I put $10,000 in a bank account and write, "I'd like a nice car."

I do this of my own free will, at my own hazard. I know I'm playing this game. I have intentionally elected to use a system that will execute without any further intervention or oversight on my part. Verbally, I state that I am confident enough in the writing of my instruction that I feel secure in whatever outcome it may bring.

The system automatically executes and someone has sold me a very nice remote control car.

I sue that person.

Why should I have standing?

[olddustytrail → archontes]

Like buying from eBay?

On: Training AI Using 'Pirated' Content Can Be Fair Use, Law Professors Argue

[archontes]

It's a stretch to call training an AI creating a 'derivative work' by the legal definition.

You could count the words in a book and publish the word count, and while the information is based on the contents of the book, that would fall incredibly short of being a derivative work.

I suspect they committed whatever copyright violation is committed when they downloaded the copyrighted works. Training an AI on them is simply not related to the protections that copyright offers.

On: Apple has locked me in the same cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

[archontes]

I'm not even a Linux "enthusiast". I simply find Windows to be a terrible product and Linux to be a better product. I simply use the least terrible option.

On: Show HN: Recommendarr – AI Driven Recommendations Based on Sonarr/Radarr Media

[archontes]

Can it differentiate between different household members?

On: $30 Thrift Store Find a $223,000 Jet Engine Valve

[archontes]

+1. There's a lot of money invested in having very very high confidence a part is perfect all the way through.

On: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

[archontes]

Apologies for the tangent, but may I ask what you use to write your blog? I love how clean it is.

[elipsitz → archontes]

Thanks, it's generated with Hugo using the https://github.com/adityatelange/hugo-PaperMod theme.

However, I made some modifications to the theme for the first time recently, and learned that I absolutely hate Hugo's templating language. I might switch away at some point in the future (perhaps to https://github.com/getzola/zola -- the templating is Jinja2-esque).

On: Microsoft cracking down people upgrading to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

[archontes]

+1 Steam works wonderfully on my Ubuntu VM.

On: Donut Lab's next-generation in-wheel motors

[archontes]

I'm thinking about the motorcycle motor. If they're really lighter than competing motors, I don't see the downside of using them like a traditional motor, taking the weight savings, putting it inside a sealed cavity, and coupling it to a driveshaft. Simplifies some of the other problems with sealing and bearings mentioned elsewhere, avoids unsprung mass.