Nostr notes by ewhac

One problem with the social graph (or Web of Trust, as it was ...

2026-07-24T22:22:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…4l2j
_________________________

One problem with the social graph (or Web of Trust, as it was called by PGP/GPG advocates) is that The Bad Guys can stand up billions of fake identities that all vouch for each other (q.v. "link farm"). If you bias simply for link quantity, The Bad Guys win.

Yes, the graph will be isolated. So bribe (or threaten) a few real people in desperate straits to vouch for some fake identities (or pwn their Windows machines to do it). Poof! The fake island now has "legit" links.

Thanks to the Anthropic code disclosure, we now know LLMs do ...

2026-04-05T05:03:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…j8gm
_________________________

Thanks to the Anthropic code disclosure, we now know LLMs do exactly the same thing, only much faster.

This is not productivity. This is not engineering. This is, to coin a phrase, "Guessing at scale."

Ever watch a newcomer to programming write code? Too often, ...

2026-04-05T05:02:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…85h9
_________________________

Ever watch a newcomer to programming write code? Too often, they're programming by auto-correct. They type a plausible-sounding function name, look at the fuzzy-find hovertext that pops up, pick something plausible, and see if it works. Rinse, repeat. A valid approach for a beginner, but let us not pretend that, at least at this stage, the coder actually *understands* what they're doing.

They're lab rats, poking the button until treats come out.

RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@dougmerritt/116349163827428010 ...

2026-04-05T04:50:51Z

RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@dougmerritt/116349163827428010

Dissent.

The author's thesis makes a fundamental assumption: Code is now cheap.

This assumption is false.

When machine code was supplanted by assembly code, code did not suddenly become cheap. When assembly code gave way to compiled languages (COBOL, FORTRAN, Algol, Pascal, C, etc.), code again did not become cheap.

If we assume LLMs are the next step in programming (and I don't), then we've simply moved another layer out -- another layer of abstraction. But nothing will get cheaper.
nostr:note1747p4mlexa3x6820r2p5dchtpjq86v2t7x8ahmrxk6twtdkfzpgq6a7zpu

I think this is said book: ...

2025-09-10T23:14:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…nx5y
_________________________

I *think* this is said book:

https://archive.org/details/harlanellisonsci0000elli/mode/2up

It was a short-ish book, detailing his experience writing ...

2025-09-10T23:11:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…zuha
_________________________

It was a short-ish book, detailing his experience writing "City on The Edge of Forever" for Star Trek, including copies of all the draft scripts he submitted.

I am reminded of a quote by Harlan Ellison, a footnote in one of ...

2025-09-10T23:04:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…m0pl
_________________________

I am reminded of a quote by Harlan Ellison, a footnote in one of his book, which I recall as follows:

"If you poke at a monkey in a cage with a stick for six days, you have absolutely no right to be surprised when, on the seventh day, he bends apart the bars of the cage, rips your arm out of its socket, and shoves it up your ass to make a schmucksicle out of you."

wrote: > Vikings would be lowered into the set from above, all ...

2025-07-06T00:17:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…ujnq
_________________________

wrote:
> Vikings would be lowered into the set from above, all annoyingly chanting "SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM [ ... ]

"Um, actually..." The Vikings were already there. It was the modern English patrons who were lowered on to the set. (And then they were floated back out at the end of the sketch.)