unkz's recent activity
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Comment on The tech baron seeking to “ethnically cleanse” San Francisco in ~life
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Comment on US FCC to vote to restore net neutrality rules years after the agency voted to repeal them in ~tech
unkz Link ParentI mean based on my experience in regulated industries, you don’t want to be in a regulated industry, even if you are playing by all the rules. Compliance and inspection handling are full time jobs...I mean based on my experience in regulated industries, you don’t want to be in a regulated industry, even if you are playing by all the rules. Compliance and inspection handling are full time jobs for entire departments of people.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
unkz Link ParentHave you considered trying a reinforcement learning based approach?Have you considered trying a reinforcement learning based approach?
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
unkz (edited )Link ParentIt's not uncommon in embedded systems, where space is extremely limited. I used to work on PIC microprocessors with only 384 bytes of program memory. Security coding, especially writing exploits,...It's not uncommon in embedded systems, where space is extremely limited. I used to work on PIC microprocessors with only 384 bytes of program memory. Security coding, especially writing exploits, often requires hand crafting individual program bytes to get the code past various constraints, eg masquerading as valid UTF-8 data while also being executable code. Writing emulators for other hardware generally means getting down and dirty with specific machine code. Working on weird old stuff, like how they are remote fixing Voyager's code. There are other situations, but it's certainly not common anymore. And of course writing compilers themselves will generally require some machine code.
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Comment on The beautiful dissociation of the Japanese language in ~humanities.languages
unkz LinkMinor quibble Not true, about 20% of Chinese characters have multiple pronunciations. These are the 多音字 (duō yīnzì). Far less irritating than Japanese though, where probably close to all...Minor quibble
This had two major effects. First, while in any Chinese language each character is associated with a single way to speak it, in Japanese every kanji can be pronounced in multiple, very different ways.
Not true, about 20% of Chinese characters have multiple pronunciations. These are the 多音字 (duō yīnzì). Far less irritating than Japanese though, where probably close to all characters have multiple pronunciations.
Here’s a little article that gives some examples:
https://www.digmandarin.com/duo-yin-zi-polyphones-chinese-characters.html
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentWe would jointly be making the agreement at the moment, would we not? And afterwards, we would be bound by that agreement.We would jointly be making the agreement at the moment, would we not? And afterwards, we would be bound by that agreement.
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentFrom my perspective, I feel like I should be entitled to what I agreed to before starting the experiment. I would think I would be very careful about making that agreement.From my perspective, I feel like I should be entitled to what I agreed to before starting the experiment. I would think I would be very careful about making that agreement.
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentIt's not a completely separate experience though, is it? We would share the same history, and in both our histories we would have consented to this experiment.It's not a completely separate experience though, is it? We would share the same history, and in both our histories we would have consented to this experiment.
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz (edited )Link ParentI think this is actually pretty obviously true, with the slight exception that I don't think the universe is deterministic. Yes, definitely. I don't think we are really using the word...I think it is possible that the totality of human behavior can be explained as deterministic interactions of matter
I think this is actually pretty obviously true, with the slight exception that I don't think the universe is deterministic.
All of it can be explained by soulless material interactions.
Yes, definitely.
I don't think we are really using the word consciousness in the same way though, or if the way you are using consciousness has any clear meaning at all to me.
What you are describing sounds to me like something that even inanimate objects might experience. Or, I can’t quite see how you demarcate the experiencing of qualia versus not experiencing qualia.
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentI basically disagree that p-zombies are epistemically possible. Human behaviour, and other complex systems, are emergent properties of the arrangement of matter and energy in our bodies, and much...I basically disagree that p-zombies are epistemically possible. Human behaviour, and other complex systems, are emergent properties of the arrangement of matter and energy in our bodies, and much of our behaviour is dependent on consciousness. Therefore, the existence of that behaviour is itself proof of the existence of its dependencies.
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentThat seems like a large leap. What justification is there to suspect that another human, that is generally similar to other humans, happens to function radically differently?That seems like a large leap. What justification is there to suspect that another human, that is generally similar to other humans, happens to function radically differently?
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentIf something is physically identical to a non-p-zombie, then it will have the same behaviour as a non-p-zombie. Which means if a non-p-zombie has consciousness, then this other thing must have...If something is physically identical to a non-p-zombie, then it will have the same behaviour as a non-p-zombie. Which means if a non-p-zombie has consciousness, then this other thing must have consciousness. To a high degree of certainty, other people are made of the same stuff as me, which implies that if I have consciousness, then they must too.
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Comment on SSL.com is evil and deceptive: Don’t do business with SSL.com in ~tech
unkz Link ParentWell, from ssl.com there's no good reason. I buy from AWS though because it's technically possible but quite a hassle to use letsencrypt with Cloudfront/ELB.Well, from ssl.com there's no good reason. I buy from AWS though because it's technically possible but quite a hassle to use letsencrypt with Cloudfront/ELB.
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentWhat about cloning my own mind? Can I can give consent on behalf of my soon-to-be duplicate?What about cloning my own mind? Can I can give consent on behalf of my soon-to-be duplicate?
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Comment on Former naturalists/materialists, what changed your view? in ~humanities
unkz Link ParentDo you frequently have visions? That's interesting.Do you frequently have visions? That's interesting.
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Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro
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Comment on New Foundations is consistent - a difficult mathematical proof proved computationally using Lean in ~science
unkz LinkThe project "New Foundations" presents a fascinating endeavor in the realm of mathematical logic and computer-assisted proof verification. By employing the interactive theorem prover Lean,...The project "New Foundations" presents a fascinating endeavor in the realm of mathematical logic and computer-assisted proof verification. By employing the interactive theorem prover Lean, researchers have now validated the consistency of Quine's set theory proposal from 1937, known as "New Foundations."
I've always found theorem proving algorithms to be exciting. This kind of project is particularly interesting to me, as it has actually clarified and made more accessible the logic, unlike the four colour theorem which remains as opaque as ever despite being solved in Coq, another proof assistant that is similar to Lean.
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New Foundations is consistent - a difficult mathematical proof proved computationally using Lean
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Comment on The troubling trend in teenage sex (it's strangulation) (gifted link) in ~life
unkz LinkI have to say, as a regular participant in consensual strangling in a sporting context, some of the research about brain injuries is somewhat concerning. I've always heard and believed that as...According to the American Academy of Neurology, restricting blood flow to the brain, even briefly, can cause permanent injury, including stroke and cognitive impairment. In M.R.I.s conducted by Dr. Kawata and his colleagues (including Dr. Herbenick, who is a co-author of his papers on strangulation), undergraduate women who have been repeatedly choked show a reduction in cortical folding in the brain compared with a never-choked control group. They also showed widespread cortical thickening, an inflammation response that is associated with elevated risk of later-onset mental illness. In completing simple memory tasks, their brains had to work far harder than the control group, recruiting from more regions to achieve the same level of accuracy.
I have to say, as a regular participant in consensual strangling in a sporting context, some of the research about brain injuries is somewhat concerning. I've always heard and believed that as long as I don't make a habit of going out and tap early, that there's minimal risk -- this seems to indicate that I may be wrong.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
unkz Link ParentI think I've talked about as much as I'm willing to about crypto, so I'm going to leave that part alone. However, on the subject of c++ vs assembly -- honestly, no. This is the big one, so I'll...I think I've talked about as much as I'm willing to about crypto, so I'm going to leave that part alone. However, on the subject of c++ vs assembly -- honestly, no.
- This is the big one, so I'll list it first. Assembly is not portable. You can't write assembly code for a PDP-11 and then run it on your iPhone. The importance of this can't really be overstated.
- C++ (or other HLLs) give humans tools to reason efficiently about problems in ways that assembly does not.
- Following on to that, those abstractions give machines tools to reason about code, which has tremendous security implications.
- In most cases, humans can no longer write machine code as efficiently as an optimizing compiler can under reasonable time constraints -- outperforming a compiler can take days or weeks of coding effort, and is rarely done except in extreme circumstances
for some context,
In other words, a staggeringly stupid bet.