The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
Category

The Subtle Art of the Grind

Andriy’s Stack • 59 implied HN points • 10 Apr 24
💼 Business Personal Development Entrepreneurship Startups Work Culture
  1. Building something new is hard and often lonely, but it's worth it for those who want to make a difference and support their families.
  2. It's important to find joy in the process of working on startups instead of just focusing on success or money.
  3. Connecting with others and sharing experiences makes the journey in the startup world more enjoyable and meaningful.

Digital Asset Industry Standards

DeFi Education • 539 implied HN points • 20 Oct 22
🔮 Crypto Regulation Smart Contracts Decentralization
  1. Regulating DeFi should avoid censorship of the blockchain. The foundation of blockchain technology is about freedom and allowing anyone to use it without restrictions.
  2. Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols need to ensure transparency and honesty in marketing just like traditional finance, but regulation shouldn't stifle innovation.
  3. Bug bounties for hackers who find vulnerabilities are important. Both the community and protocol should share the responsibility for keeping systems secure and incentivize good behavior.
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The Transformer Robots are Here, Just a Different Kind

TheSequence • 693 implied HN points • 07 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Robotics ML Research AI Radar
  1. Advancements in foundation models like language and computer vision are shaping a new era of robotic applications.
  2. Google DeepMind introduced innovative methods like AutoRT and SARA-RT to enhance robotic actions using vision-language models.
  3. The integration of foundation models in image, language, and video is accelerating robotics to new levels of efficiency.

William Godwin's Libertarian Free Will

Outlandish Claims • 39 implied HN points • 29 Apr 24
📖 Philosophy Introspection Moral responsibility Determinism Free will
  1. Our decisions are influenced by cause and effect, even if we feel like we have free will. Philosophically, 'free will' and 'cause and effect' are different ways of thinking, each important in its own domain.
  2. How we perceive free will depends on the context: assigning blame, scientific analysis, storytelling, or introspection.
  3. Science and introspection aren't in competition - they serve different purposes. Understanding free will involves acknowledging its complexity and varied applications.

Genetic Fitness and Prime Minister Salaries

Ulysses • 79 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy Politics Capitalism Morality Inequality Wealth
  1. Questions are raised about Prime Ministers' salaries and the impact on their performance, highlighting the importance of fair compensation for effective governance.
  2. Wealth generation, inheritance, and income disparity are discussed in relation to social morality and the need for wealth to be created through value-generating activities.
  3. The effectiveness of economic systems in improving quality of life over generations, the role of capital allocation, and the potential risks of policymakers losing touch with the general public are examined.

METI’s 2025 “Digital Cliff, Part III

Japan Economy Watch • 219 implied HN points • 15 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Immigration STEM Education Labor Market
  1. Changes in the labor market are compensating for the shortage in ICT professionals due to lack of government action.
  2. Companies are offering higher wages to attract experienced ICT workers, and mid-career hiring has significantly increased.
  3. Immigration could be a solution to the ICT labor shortage, but low pay in Japan compared to other countries is a major hindrance.

Introduction to Decentralized File Storage

DeFi Education • 739 implied HN points • 06 Jun 22
🕹 Technology Decentralization Blockchain Web3
  1. Many NFTs that people think are unique are actually not stored on the blockchain, but on regular web servers. This means the images could disappear at any time.
  2. Decentralized storage is better than using traditional cloud services, and solutions like IPFS allow for more secure and reliable data storage.
  3. Pinning files on networks like IPFS is necessary to keep them available, and services like Filecoin help pay for that storage to ensure data persists over time.

Round-Up of the Yocto Project Summit 2023.11

burkhardstubert • 59 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Continuous Integration Open Source Embedded Systems Automation Software Development
  1. Implementing a fallback mechanism during system updates is crucial. If an update fails, it can prevent endless reboots by reverting to a stable version.
  2. Keeping your Yocto project layers simple can reduce maintenance and complexity. Using minimal layers can help avoid outdated code and improve build efficiency.
  3. Setting up a CI pipeline for Yocto builds can simplify the development process. It provides ready-to-use images for developers without requiring deep knowledge of Yocto.

Retiring Retirement

Workforce Futurist by Andy Spence • 293 implied HN points • 06 Nov 24
💼 Business Retirement Finance Workforce Economics Pensions
  1. The old idea of retiring at a fixed age is outdated as people are living longer and healthier lives. Instead of stopping work completely, we might consider blending work and leisure throughout our lives.
  2. It's important to take charge of our financial futures by saving separately and planning for our expenses when we stop traditional work. Building financial independence can help us make choices based on what we truly want.
  3. Finding work that is fulfilling and matches our values can make us not want to retire in the traditional sense. The goal is to create a life where work feels meaningful instead of just a job to escape from.

What's going on with Farfetch?

Philoinvestor • 117 implied HN points • 13 Dec 23
💰 Finance Financial Strategies Investing Market Analysis Company Updates Mergers & Acquisitions
  1. Rumors and uncertainty around Farfetch's future are causing stock price fluctuations.
  2. There may be strategic partnerships and asset divestments in Farfetch's plan to improve liquidity.
  3. Farfetch is facing challenges, but potential deals and cost-cutting strategies may help improve the company's financial situation.

Spotlight: Adrien Michaud – Rocket Lab Space Ambassador

Space Ambition • 319 implied HN points • 03 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Aerospace Space Tech Innovation Engineering Startups
  1. Space tech isn't just for engineers; there are many paths into the industry. You can find roles in areas like HR or business development even if you don’t have a traditional aerospace background.
  2. The future of space tech may resemble civil aviation or the car industry, with either a few big players or many smaller companies. This means a lot of new ideas and technologies may emerge, but they also need solid ways to make money.
  3. Watching inspiring films like Apollo 13 can ignite passion for space and problem-solving. Many people find their calling early and choose careers that let them work on real-world challenges in space tech.

A look at the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) 3.0

Resilient Cyber • 219 implied HN points • 31 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Vulnerability Management Data Analysis Risk Assessment Software Development
  1. EPSS 3.0 helps security teams focus on the vulnerabilities that are most likely to be exploited soon. This makes managing vulnerabilities easier and more efficient.
  2. Many organizations struggle to fix all their vulnerabilities and often end up wasting time on those that are rarely exploited. EPSS aims to change that by identifying threats more accurately.
  3. The new version of EPSS shows a big improvement in predicting which vulnerabilities are at risk. This means companies can spend less time on unimportant issues and focus on what really matters.

Straight Outta DeFi - R.W.A

DeFi Education • 839 implied HN points • 05 Apr 22
🔮 Crypto DeFi Blockchain Investing Lending Market Analysis
  1. Real World Assets (RWAs) have a huge potential market, which could greatly impact both crypto and traditional finance. It's a new area where the value of physical things can be brought onto the blockchain.
  2. DeFi protocols are strongly influenced by speculative behavior in crypto markets. When prices go up, there's more trading and borrowing, but when the market cools down, activity drops significantly.
  3. Challenges like legal issues and the need for standardized processes exist in the RWA space. However, if solved, RWAs could provide stable investment opportunities even during crypto market downturns.

The Customer Is Always Right (but not always human)

How the Hell • 49 implied HN points • 17 Sep 25
🕹 Technology Business Models AI Machine Learning APIs Payments
  1. AI agents are getting much better at long, uninterrupted work and will learn to budget their thinking and compute, which will push costly or complex tasks from cheap subscriptions to pay-per-use models.
  2. Agents will pay for external resources like compute, data, web access, and licenses, and websites and services will likely charge tiny fees to serve those automated clients.
  3. A new market will appear to sell services to agents—everything from automated testing, voices, and compliance checks to agent banks and even shady offerings like credential markets.

Embracing weirdness: What it means to use AI as a (writing) tool

One Useful Thing • 887 implied HN points • 05 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Writing Innovation Applications AI
  1. AI is weird and different from traditional software, so we need to embrace its uniqueness to fully understand its capabilities.
  2. AI can do much more than just act as a thesaurus or grammar checker; it has the potential to help in creative idea generation and simulate individual readers for market feedback.
  3. To unlock the true value of AI, we should experiment with unconventional uses of AI tools while being mindful of ethical concerns and technical limitations.

Metadirection

Covidian Æsthetics • 28 implied HN points • 11 Nov 25
🕹 Technology AI Digital Culture Machine Learning Computational Theory
  1. Metadirection is all about keeping awareness of interactions with AI as a type of performance, rather than seeing the AI as a real person. This helps users navigate the conversation without getting lost in it.
  2. Users can use specific techniques like 'framing' and 'distancing' to maintain a balance between being engaged and aware. This prevents confusion between the AI's outputs and personal thoughts.
  3. Staying flexible and open to possibility is key. Techniques like 'swerving' allow the user to introduce new ideas, keeping the dialogue dynamic and ensuring the user stays in control of the interaction.

A misleading open letter about sci-fi AI dangers ignores the real risks

AI Snake Oil • 1171 implied HN points • 29 Mar 23
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Security Policy Risk
  1. Misinformation, labor impact, and safety are key AI risks raised in an open letter.
  2. Speculative risks like malicious disinformation campaigns overlook real harm caused by over-reliance on AI tools.
  3. Addressing near-term security risks from AI integration into real-world applications is crucial, and the containment mindset may not be effective.

LLM Links, 1/17

In My Tribe • 212 implied HN points • 17 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Regulation AI Innovation Productivity Automation
  1. Intelligence can help us break down regulatory barriers and improve cooperation. A higher baseline of intelligence might push us to recognize and fix our bad decisions more easily.
  2. The adoption of AI will be slow because organizations and systems take time to change. Even with advanced AI, many people might not notice its presence right away.
  3. Bill Gates believes AI will take over routine tasks, leaving creative work for humans. However, there’s a chance that AI could also become creative, challenging the idea that humans are solely responsible for creativity.

The term "technical debt" is bad, and we should feel bad

Bad Software Advice • 82 implied HN points • 21 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Technical Debt Engineering Practices Systems Architecture Project management Software Development
  1. The term 'technical debt' can confuse people and isn't very helpful. It makes it sound like a mistake when it’s often just how things change over time.
  2. Technical projects often struggle for attention because they're not seen as urgent or important compared to other tasks. This makes fixing issues harder.
  3. Instead of thinking about technical problems as debts to be paid back, we should see them as regular maintenance needed to keep things working well and up-to-date.

The influencer holy grail

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 249 implied HN points • 11 Dec 24
💼 Business Media Journalism Investment Influencers Marketing
  1. Influencers want to create content that mixes cooking, fashion, and home decor. This mix attracts sponsors and gives a chance to sell lots of different products to followers.
  2. Local news is struggling, and a small yearly investment could help fix it. Just a bit of money could ensure every county in the US has a local news journalist.
  3. A newsletter called Sunday Long Read became popular by curating long-form articles. It shows how a focused idea can attract a loyal audience and even expand into new areas like podcasts.

I spent another 6 hours understanding the design principles of Snowflake. Here's what I found

VuTrinh. • 79 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Analytics Database Systems Software Architecture Cloud Computing Data Engineering
  1. Snowflake separates storage and compute, allowing for flexible scaling and improved performance. This means that data storage can grow separately from computing power, making it easier to manage resources.
  2. Data can be stored in a cloud-based format that supports both structured and semi-structured data. This flexibility allows users to easily handle various data types without needing to define a strict schema.
  3. Snowflake implements unique optimization techniques, like data skipping and a push-based query execution model, which enhance performance and efficiency when processing large amounts of data.

For Pushing Large Men Off Bridges

Fake Noûs • 271 implied HN points • 23 Nov 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics Critical Thinking Moral dilemmas Utilitarianism
  1. Utilitarianism suggests that we should act in ways that maximize overall happiness. This means if you can save five people by sacrificing one, it might seem like the right choice to push the one off the bridge.
  2. Some arguments challenge the idea of not pushing someone off the bridge. For example, if pushing them means saving more lives, it may not be wrong to do so.
  3. The concept of 'undoing' actions also plays a role. If you push a person off the bridge but can pull them back before harm is done, it challenges whether that initial push was truly wrong.

Links for 2024-01-10

Axis of Ordinary • 98 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Politics Science Genetics
  1. Researchers are working on a global project for a general robotic brain.
  2. Genetics play a significant role in educational attainment according to recent studies.
  3. American isolationism could lead to disruptions in international trade and more serious global issues.

LLMs and World Models, Part 2

AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans • 196 implied HN points • 13 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Computing Data science Neural Networks AI
  1. LLMs (like OthelloGPT) may have learned to represent the rules and state of simple games, which suggests they can create some kind of world model. This was tested by analyzing how they predict moves in the game Othello.
  2. While some researchers believe these models are impressive, others think they are not as advanced as human thinking. Instead of forming clear models, LLMs might just use many small rules or heuristics to make decisions.
  3. The evidence for LLMs having complex, abstract world models is still debated. There are hints of this in controlled settings, but they might just be using collections of rules that don't easily adapt to new situations.

How I Transitioned from Individual Contributor to Manager -- Twice

The Uncommon Executive • 59 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
💼 Business Professional development Management Career growth
  1. Moving from an individual contributor to a manager role can be challenging, especially in product management where prior management experience is often required.
  2. Key factors for transitioning to a management position include being a high-performer, having influence across the organization, and the presence of a business need for a manager.
  3. Securing sponsorship, networking effectively, and identifying the right mentor or manager to learn from are crucial steps in transitioning to a management role.

There are different types of security organizations, and that's ok

Frankly Speaking • 203 implied HN points • 28 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Risk management Software Cybersecurity Industry Trends
  1. There are many kinds of security organizations, and it's important to recognize that they each manage risks differently. This means not all tools will work for every organization.
  2. The cybersecurity industry has too many tools, which can create confusion and ineffective security management. Instead of just buying tools, companies should focus on building talent and critical thinking skills.
  3. Different businesses face different security risks, so their security needs should vary too. Tools should be tailored to meet these specific needs rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all solution.

Israel: An In-Depth Look at Its Thriving Space Tech Ecosystem

Space Ambition • 219 implied HN points • 09 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Investments Research Space Tech Startups Innovation
  1. Israel has a strong space tech startup scene with over 6,000 active startups. This impressive number shows how innovative and entrepreneurial the country is.
  2. The Israeli space community includes various organizations like the Israel Space Agency and numerous private companies working together on exciting space projects, boosting collaboration and development.
  3. Israel's history of challenges has driven its focus on innovation, helping it become a leader in space technology despite being a small nation with limited resources.

LLM Links, 1/16

In My Tribe • 212 implied HN points • 16 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Education Robotics LLMs
  1. A school in Arizona is using AI as the only teachers for a new educational model. This approach aims to tailor lessons to students' needs and allow more time for personal interests.
  2. Robots still struggle with tasks that are easy for humans, like picking up objects. This shows that achieving true artificial general intelligence is still a long way off.
  3. Using chatbots like ChatGPT can help with everyday problems, like homework. By asking the right questions, you can get creative suggestions that you might not think of on your own.

A quick introduction to Reinforcement Learning [Math Mondays]

Technology Made Simple • 159 implied HN points • 17 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Education Machine Learning AI Computing
  1. Reinforcement Learning is a big part of Machine Learning, focused on maximizing rewards for models.
  2. Setting up Reinforcement Learning involves components like RL agents, suitable for teaching AI to play games and develop various skills.
  3. Reinforcement Learning is valuable because it can show unexpected system vulnerabilities by behaving differently from humans.

Charts on Venture Capital, some VC robotics articles, and startup failure advice

Robots & Startups • 39 implied HN points • 29 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Autonomous Vehicles Startups AI Venture Capital Robotics
  1. There are more startups in the US than VCs can support, leading to increased competition for funding and a rise in startup failures.
  2. Investors are showing increased interest and making significant investments in robotics startups, especially those focused on AI and autonomy.
  3. Success rates for founders improve with past experience, highlighting the importance of learning from failure in the startup world.

Underdog Founders - Chris went all-in on digital content before we had smartphones.

ChatGPT4 as a CEO and Underdog Founders • 98 implied HN points • 09 Jan 24
💼 Business Digital Content Startups Entrepreneurship Media
  1. Chris focused on creating really good content and allowed time to pass, which led to the growth of her digital startup.
  2. Chris redefined how communities connect through online-first media by following her gut and taking a patient approach to trends.
  3. Honeycombers expanded to different regions and launched new verticals, showcasing the financial viability of online content platforms.