WingNews logo WingNews GitHub [2]

estro's comments

estro | 6 years ago | on: Tech can't remember what to do in a down market

A flu with 20x reported mortality rate caused by a virus with a significantly higher infectivity than influenza virus is something you should be worried about.

Note: data is from current cases, may vary as more data is accumulated.

estro | 6 years ago | on: Breaching a “carbon threshold” could lead to mass extinction

The premise of your brain evolution argument is flawed because you’re assuming nature absolutely wins over nurture in psychological development, which is what I assume you mean by “brain” here. I doubt there’s a particular physical brain configuration that gives rise to pro-life thoughts, although neither of us have proof.

estro | 7 years ago | on: The strength of a monopoly can be guessed at by calling customer support

Could this assessment be extended to "companies can be guessed to be large by calling customer support"? I can think of few examples of large companies, monopolies or not, having good phone customer support; many large companies outsource their call centers, which could contribute. This method of assessing "monopolies" will give many false positives if the answer to my question is yes.

estro | 7 years ago | on: Ask HN: How did you transition from Mac to Linux?

I second the recommendation to get an Asus Zenbook, with the same cons. The case is solid and durable; specs range from reasonable to outstanding (especially at its price point). I would also look at the IBM Thinkpad, as I've had friends and coworkers praise its Linux interoperability.

estro | 8 years ago | on: How our housing choices make adult friendships more difficult

The author is describing a general trend of domicile in American life, which is statistically[0] accurate. Most people who are in a stage of life where they can afford a detached home or mindset to buy one also have or are starting a family. I'm sure there's data to back up my claim somewhere.

[0]: http://www.nmhc.org/Content.aspx?id=4708, see the table "State Distribution of Apartment Residents, 2015", which shows that most US residents live in non-apartment homes.

estro | 9 years ago

This. It's easy to assume the tech employment environment will improve by holding all other variables constant, ex. the total number of jobs, but in reality the up-front cost offset by hiring cheap labor will continue to be offset via other means, ex. SaaS instead of employees.

estro | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: How would you crack the upcoming unemployment wave?

I'm not sure why people continue to ask this question when the threat of massive global food web and ecosystem disruption caused by human-driven environmental damage is arguably far more imminent than job displacement. I say arguably because there are arguments that state the contrary, but they aren't realistic. Drastic job displacement due to automation will take at least 10 more years, while we're already seeing unprecedented droughts, groundwater depletion, pollinator extinction, and massive biodiversity eradication in the oceans. Scientists are literally saying that we are past the point of no return [0]. So why would people think that a massive unemployment wave will strike before an ecological catastrophe does? I'll tell you why: because rich people don't even know what they're doing. If they did, they'd know it would be in their best interests (granted, long-term best interests) to use their massive capital advantage to improve the longevity of the human race, i.e. their customers. And, as time has shown, the only way to wrangle in stupid rich people is by a revolution, and probably a violent one unfortunately. So ironically, as I say that there are more pressing issues at hand, my solution is to have a revolution. Disclaimer: I don't want this to happen any more than the next person, but it will regardless.

[0] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/donald-trump-clima...

page 1
more