istewart

joined 3 months ago
[–] istewart@awful.systems 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think in this case, the equivalent of a compiler error for undefined behavior would be a swiftly forgotten wire story entitled "Trump promotes cryptocurrency project" published on a Friday afternoon. Just one more scam among the flood, and not one that can be offered for easy monthly payments with a banner ad in the margins of an RSBN broadcast.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My baseline understanding is that "NPUs," as such, are vector accelerators with perhaps lower precision and definitely lower peak TDP. I say this because much of the incremental ML research I've skimmed over seems to be around getting away with lower precision, dropping down to FP8 or even FP4 from FP16 when they can get away with it.

I'm still confused as to why and how this is an acceptable tradeoff to firing up an iGPU with precise power/TDP stepping. Perhaps one of those situations where the power budget and latency to fire up the whole GPU block or burst it to max power ends up costing as much as the actual calculation. I think for purposes of this discussion, we also need a source that sheds light on the architectural differences between NPUs and GPU shader/execution units.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 8 points 2 weeks ago

Just chiming in to say to hell with skeuomorphism, I still want Apple Platinum back. Bonus points if it comes with an option for Dark Platinum that was only present in the early releases of OS X Server.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 17 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

But Trump can't explain things, and Urbit defies explanation. So does the statement "Trump explains Urbit" represent undefined behavior in English?

[–] istewart@awful.systems 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't think Trump's presence changes much regarding the AI bubble. It's still massive capital and operational expenditure, with ??? revenue to show for it. Trump very likely faces a big stock market correction in 2025 or no later than 2026, just as surely as Harris or Biden would have.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I am left thinking that many people here in the US are going to have a hard time accepting that having this person, at this stage in his life, as the national figurehead will do permanent damage to the US' prestige and global standing. Doesn't matter if Reagan was sundowning, media was more controlled then and his handlers were there to support the institution of the presidency at least as much as they were there to support a narcissist. In 2016, other countries could look at Trump as a temporary aberration and wait him out. This time, it's clear that the US is no longer a reliable partner.

An intentional sacrifice of the US' role as head manager of the global economy is not nearly as well thought out as the people pushing it think it is.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It doesn't even fit with the axioms of market logic! If the platform in question has terrible content moderation, primarily generates revenue from profoundly repulsive people, and was intentionally bought out to be used as the central propaganda organ for a destructive political movement... why wouldn't you leave?! Dude just doesn't want to admit he's too lazy to redo his follows elsewhere

[–] istewart@awful.systems 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (15 children)

Atlantic writer: "better dubble down on Twitter huhuhuhhuh"

https://archive.is/OtYCo

Calls to disengage from X, now that Elon Musk has turned it into a white-supremacist haven, certainly have a moral appeal. But if this election showed how difficult it is to meaningfully “deplatform” speakers you disagree with, it also demonstrated the danger of ignoring the platforms where they speak. Unfortunately, the only way to change what’s happening in an echo chamber may be to add your own noise.

This is your periodic reminder that Steve Jobs' widow owns that toilet-paper factory. And that they still pump out hot new singles from hitmakers like David Frum and, occasionally, my personal favorite, Eliot "GW Bush Did Nothing Wrong" Cohen.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 6 points 3 weeks ago

Given that Trump lost votes compared to 2020, I think it's past the peak of its relevance. Not many new people are entering the self-referential echo chamber. It's one of the main vectors for crypto and meme stock scams, as well as the main vector for Musk himself. When all those promises are broken once again, fatigue will start to set in among the bluechecks. It may linger, but it will be a spent force by the end of the decade. Keep up social pressure to get people to leave.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Malcolm McDowell successfully blew up a star in one of the Star Trek movies, even if it did immediately get reversed by a time-travel MacGuffin. Perhaps we just need new leadership?

[–] istewart@awful.systems 6 points 3 weeks ago

The more I think about it, the more "Day One" comes across as nonsensical.

I woke up this morning, we had multiple data centers across the globe filled with millions of servers... Day One.

I clocked into the swing shift, we have bins overflowing with unthinkable amounts of returned items, many of which are semi-perishable toiletries and personal hygiene products... Day One.

As a simple-minded catchphrase to orient one's thinking, it becomes more and more absurd as the company scales. But Jeff don't care, he punched out a long time ago.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Said it before, I'll say it again: if Americans are all temporarily embarrassed millionaires, HN is where the temporarily embarrassed billionaires go to hang out

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