The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
Category

Movers, Shakers, & Money Makers (6/24)

Human Capitalist • 19 implied HN points • 25 Jun 24
💼 Business Workforce Trends Job Changes Employment Leadership Career development
  1. There were several notable job changes last week, including moves from big companies like Amazon and PayPal to startups and other industries. This shows that people are exploring new opportunities in different fields.
  2. Some of the job changes reflect current trends, like the growth in AI and crypto sectors. This means companies are looking for talent that can adapt to new technology.
  3. A list of new companies was shared that are part of YCombinator's latest funding batch. These startups could be the next big thing, so it's worth keeping an eye on them.

Comparing Human, LLM & LLM-RAG Responses

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 59 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Research Studies Data science Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Healthcare Technology
  1. The study compared answers from humans, a basic LLM, and an LLM that uses RAG to see which is most accurate in healthcare. The LLM with RAG performed the best.
  2. Using RAG, the model was much quicker than humans, taking only about 15-20 seconds. Humans took around 10 minutes to respond.
  3. GPT-4, especially with RAG, showed high accuracy and can support doctors by providing fast and reliable answers, but humans should still check the information.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

💎 Lab-grown diamonds, +$10M in funding opportunities, fundraising in 2024, BHM and more

Lolita's Newsletter • 58 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
💼 Business Venture Capital Startups Investing Funding Entrepreneurship
  1. Lab-grown diamonds are trending, attracting over $10M in funding opportunities.
  2. In startup investment, there's a shift towards valuing business durability over growth obsession, with a focus on sectors like AI and defense.
  3. Founders have access to various funding opportunities ranging from grants for underrepresented groups to equity crowdfunding up to $5 million.

Do OpenAI's New Reasoning Models (o1 Series) Differ Politically from Their Predecessors?

Rozado’s Visual Analytics • 150 implied HN points • 28 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Reasoning AI Models Model development Political Bias Data Analysis
  1. OpenAI's new o1 models are designed to solve problems better by thinking through their answers first. However, they are much slower and cost more to run than previous models.
  2. The political preferences of these new models are similar to earlier versions, despite the new reasoning abilities. This means they still lean left when answering political questions.
  3. Even with their advanced reasoning, these models didn't change their political views, which leads to questions about how reasoning and political bias work together in AI.

Video: Weakest Real Yen In Half Century Reflects Deterioration of Japan’s Competitiveness

Japan Economy Watch • 279 implied HN points • 14 Nov 22
💰 Finance Trade Economy Currency Competitiveness Monetary Policy
  1. In the short term, Tokyo has limited options to address yen's weakness primarily due to the gap between American and Japanese interest rates.
  2. The weak yen reflects not just monetary policy differences but also a significant decline in Japan's real competitiveness over the years.
  3. To improve the situation, Japan needs to focus on reforms that enhance the country's underlying efficiency, making Japanese firms competitive in the global market once again.

HOISTED FROM COMMENTS: RAFAEL KAUFMANN: Carving Nature at the Joints: Faithful Representation, the Platonic Dream, & the Unreasonable Near-Success of GPT LLM MAMLMs

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 69 implied HN points • 25 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Machine Learning AI Automation Data science Philosophy
  1. Machines, like large language models, can imitate human language because they find patterns hidden in how we express ourselves. They simplify the chaos of our words into something easier to understand.
  2. Even though these models are good at predicting responses, they struggle with truly understanding the world. They can replicate language well, but grasping the deeper meaning remains a challenge.
  3. The hope is that with better training and understanding causal relationships, these models could evolve to not only imitate but truly comprehend the world around them.

The Math of the Housing Crunch

The Sunday Morning Post • 58 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
💰 Finance Interest Rates Economy Housing Market Construction
  1. The housing crisis has worsened in recent years due to factors like increased rents and higher home prices, impacting policymakers and individuals alike.
  2. The root of the housing crunch dates back to the Great Recession in 2007, leading to a significant drop in new home construction that never fully recovered.
  3. To ease the housing crunch, there is a need for an increase in the construction of various types of housing units, which has already shown some promise in the rental market.

Scott Alexander's "Prison And Crime: Much More Than You Wanted To Know": My Thoughts

Philosophy bear • 200 implied HN points • 28 Nov 24
📖 Philosophy Utilitarianism Justice Public Policy Social Issues Ethics
  1. Prison doesn't seem to effectively reduce crime overall. Instead, we should consider reducing incarceration since it often causes more harm than good.
  2. The costs of imprisonment go beyond just the economic side. They include suffering for prisoners and their families, and even increased crime within prisons.
  3. Even if people feel good about tough on crime policies, a cost-benefit analysis suggests that it's better to invest resources into alternatives to prison that can lead to safer communities.

Postponomics: Kishida Punts On Startups and Income Redistribution

Japan Economy Watch • 259 implied HN points • 07 Dec 22
💼 Business Economic Policy Startups Taxation Government intervention Funding
  1. Kishida's administration has postponed crucial decisions on tax breaks for startups and corporate tax hikes, potentially hindering economic growth and income redistribution.
  2. Access to funding remains a significant challenge for startups in Japan, impacting their growth potential compared to other countries. More support is crucial for new companies to thrive.
  3. Government actions such as expanding angel tax credits and implementing R&D tax credit carry-forwards can significantly boost support for startups and innovation in Japan.

Lesser-Known High-Paying Roles in Venture Capital

Venture Curator • 159 implied HN points • 06 May 23
💼 Business Venture Capital Operations Finance Career Opportunities Roles
  1. Venture Capital has high-paying roles beyond just investment positions, like Community Managers responsible for networking and supporting founders.
  2. Roles like Investor Relations are essential in VC for managing communications with fund investors and attracting new ones.
  3. Talent + Hiring roles play a crucial part in VC by helping portfolio companies find suitable talent for key positions.

Results from poll #2

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Readability Empirical Studies Text Analysis Human factors AI
  1. The poll showed that readers are interested in how well large language models (LLMs) can change the readability of texts. This will be explored further in a detailed study.
  2. The study will involve real people judging how easy or hard the modified texts are to read. This is important because readability is something people understand best.
  3. Updates on the study will be shared about once a month, along with regular posts on other topics related to language processing and understanding.

The Elusive Built-in not Bolted-on

Resilient Cyber • 239 implied HN points • 17 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Systems Design Public Policy Risk management Software Development
  1. Cybersecurity should be included from the start of product design, not added later. This means making security a priority throughout the whole development process.
  2. Products should come secure by default, so users don't have to figure out how to protect themselves. Just like cars come with seatbelts, software needs built-in security features.
  3. There needs to be accountability for software security. Companies should not shift the blame to users but should instead be responsible for ensuring their products are secure and safe to use.

Understanding the Hawthorne Effect in UX Research

UX Psychology • 138 implied HN points • 06 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Research Methods UX Research Human behavior User Experience
  1. The Hawthorne Effect is when individuals change their behavior because they know they are being observed, impacting various behaviors from dietary habits to research study results.
  2. Possible explanations for the Hawthorne Effect include people conforming to expectations when observed and feeling pressured to perform better.
  3. To mitigate the Hawthorne Effect in UX research, steps like using control groups, minimizing feedback during studies, focusing on cause-and-effect relationships, and creating judgment-free environments can help obtain more accurate data.

GM Shaders: WebGPU

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 58 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Graphics Game Development Coding Web Programming
  1. WebGPU is the new standard for accelerated graphics and compute, set to replace WebGL. It offers more features, deeper low-level access, and enhanced security, making it exciting for developers.
  2. WebGPU provides cross-platform support, allowing for better control over GPU resources, and introduces compute shaders for handling diverse data types efficiently.
  3. WGSL, the shading language of WebGPU, is stricter than GLSL with similarities to Rust or Swift. It offers optimizations and consistent results across different hardware configurations.

Under the microscope: Congo the Movie — The Lost City of Zinj

Rings of Saturn • 58 implied HN points • 23 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Cheat Codes Video Games Game Development Game Mechanics Gaming Industry
  1. Congo the Movie is a game inspired by the 1995 film, but it has its own unique story and characters.
  2. There are several cheat codes that can make the game easier, like unlimited health and level selection.
  3. Understanding how cheat codes work can make playing games more fun and allow players to explore different aspects of the game.

What happens if mass unemployment never arrives

State of the Future • 126 implied HN points • 05 Mar 25
💼 Business Automation Employment Technology Trends Economic Impact Work Culture
  1. Mass unemployment might not happen, but instead, we may see job roles that are less meaningful or filled with busywork. This could lead to people being employed without feeling fulfilled.
  2. The speed of AI's impact on jobs is much faster than previous technologies. Workers may struggle to adapt since the transitions that used to take generations are now happening in just a few years.
  3. People might still need jobs for their sense of identity and purpose, even if those jobs are not necessary for the economy. Finding meaning in work could become a bigger issue than just having a job or not.

Issue #113

Infra Weekly Newsletter • 13 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🕹 Technology DevOps Cloud Infrastructure Linux Networking Security Containers
  1. Ingress NGINX is being retired in favor of the Gateway API, so teams should plan and follow migration steps to switch to API Gateway.
  2. Infrastructure-as-Code best practices emphasize modular design, testing, and isolating dependencies; they also recommend safe update patterns like blue‑green deployments, cross-team collaboration, and secure, scalable provisioning.
  3. Linux 6.18 is the new LTS kernel and distributions like Alpine 3.23 are adopting it quickly, so operators should plan OS/kernel upgrades and test their stacks against this LTS.

Obvious Business Opportunities

In My Tribe • 425 implied HN points • 09 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Robots Customer Support Software
  1. Addressing technical debt in outdated software systems is a significant business opportunity, especially using new pattern-matching models to optimize and secure old software.
  2. Leveraging large language models (LLMs) for customer support improvement and developing efficient back-office apps for various sectors presents lucrative business prospects.
  3. Special-purpose robots tailored for specific tasks like security or medical procedures offer practical business opportunities compared to humanoid robots.

Demystifying Liquidity

DeFi Education • 659 implied HN points • 01 Mar 22
🔮 Crypto Trading DeFi Liquidity Assets Economics
  1. Liquidity means how easily you can buy or sell something without changing its price too much. Cash is the most liquid because it can be used right away.
  2. In crypto, anyone can provide liquidity by pooling two assets for others to trade against. This is not something you can do in regular finance.
  3. Measuring liquidity is important because it helps understand how quickly you can make transactions. If an asset has low liquidity, selling it can be harder and may hurt the price.

Bootstrapping Berry Bot: 'from revenue to robot'

Robots & Startups • 19 implied HN points • 02 Jun 24
💼 Business Startups Investing Manufacturing Beauty industry Robotics
  1. The beauty and wellness robotics industry is growing, with Berry Bot being a soap making robot that showcases the potential for automation in the sector.
  2. The global personal care and beauty market is significantly larger than the industrial robot market, providing ample opportunity for innovation and growth.
  3. Berry Bot, a smart system for making natural soaps, highlights the importance of scalability and automation in the production process for success in the industry.

Last Week in AI #227: NYC adopts anti-bias AI hiring law, EU and Japan to partner in AI chips and de-risk from China, ChatGPT traffic slows, and more!

Last Week in AI • 198 implied HN points • 10 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Business Analysis Policy Artificial Intelligence
  1. NYC has a new law on anti-bias AI in hiring processes that requires audits and public disclosure
  2. EU and Japan are partnering in AI and chips to reduce reliance on China
  3. ChatGPT, a popular AI chatbot, experienced a significant drop in traffic in June

Weekly Dose of Optimism #145

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 84 implied HN points • 23 May 25
🕹 Technology AI Research Biotech Energy Health
  1. OpenAI is teaming up with Jony Ive's design company to create AI-powered consumer devices. This partnership is generating excitement about upcoming innovative products.
  2. Google is heavily investing in AI, launching new tools that enhance their search and other services. They are a major player in the tech landscape, and their resources support widespread adoption of AI.
  3. Recent research suggests that creatine might provide benefits for people with Alzheimer's, showing it could improve cognitive function and brain energy levels. This is promising news for further studies in neurodegenerative diseases.

Last Words on AI

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 80 implied HN points • 10 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Climate Impact Data Privacy Machine Learning Automation
  1. AI can't solve new problems unless they've been solved by humans before. It relies on previous data and patterns to operate.
  2. AI is largely a tool driven by greed, impacting our environment negatively. Its energy demands could worsen the climate crisis.
  3. Current AI models are not genuinely intelligent; they mimic patterns they've learned without real reasoning ability. This highlights that we are far from achieving true artificial general intelligence.

Stablecoin Saturation

Reverie by Daniel Cawrey • 66 implied HN points • 02 Jul 25
🔮 Crypto Investment Blockchain Stablecoins Fintech Payments
  1. Stablecoins like USDC and USDT are very popular, with market values reaching around $250 billion. This growth shows how important they are for both crypto businesses and regular users.
  2. Many people are starting to notice stablecoin apps that make financial transactions easier and cheaper. Companies are building new applications using existing stablecoins to help users move money without banks.
  3. As stablecoins become more common, they will help bring more users into the blockchain world. These users might not even realize they are using crypto, since everything will function like regular dollars.

Jobs and Opps at The Financial Times, Prospect Magazine, Arts Professional, and Many, Many More ☀️

Journo Resources - The Opportunities • 218 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
💼 Business Journalism Job Opportunities Financials Media industry Marketing
  1. The financial data showed a turnover of nearly £92,000, breakdown of revenue sources, and major expenses.
  2. Revenue sources included grants, job ad sales, memberships, sponsorships, and affiliate sales.
  3. Major expenses included staff costs, freelance payments, services, and goods like printing.

Age of Invention: Freight Expectations

Age of Invention, by Anton Howes • 736 implied HN points • 23 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Innovation Energy History Transportation Infrastructure
  1. Transport infrastructure plays a key role in boosting economic growth by providing access to energy and markets.
  2. Historically, the primary focus of early transport infrastructure like canals and railways was to transport goods, especially coal and grain.
  3. While passenger transportation is beneficial for connecting cities and improving labor market efficiency, access to energy and markets are more crucial for economic growth.

How to Introduce Electric Vehicles in Sub Saharan Africa

In Depth on Africa Fintech • 78 implied HN points • 28 Dec 23
💼 Business Infrastructure Electric Vehicles
  1. Focus on applications where you maximize benefits and minimize problems when introducing EVs in Sub Saharan Africa.
  2. Consider fleet vehicles like delivery trucks and buses for EV adoption in Africa; they fit within defined urban routes and offer operational savings.
  3. Relaxing import duties on EVs compared to IC vehicles and providing incentives can help jump start the EV industry in Africa.

Polygon Releases 'Type 1 Prover', Reaching Vitalik-set Milestone

Daily Digest • 58 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Blockchain Regulations Market Updates Ethereum Cryptocurrency
  1. Polygon released the 'Type 1 Prover' that integrates zero-knowledge proofs with EVM-compatible networks, reducing costs.
  2. U.S. senators criticized SEC Chair Gary Gensler for unethical handling of a crypto case involving the DEBT Box project.
  3. Ethereum's 'Dencun' upgrade is scheduled for March 13-16, aiming to improve the network's efficiency and scalability.

WTF is going on at SuperMicro? (SMCI)

Mule’s Musings • 449 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
💰 Finance Investing Stocks Market Analysis Options
  1. An ongoing gamma squeeze at SuperMicro has led to a significant buying pressure, possibly due to high volumes of options expiring.
  2. The significant demand for shares due to in-the-money calls can lead to billions of dollars worth of shares needing to be accounted for.
  3. After the gamma squeeze peaks, there may be a period of share buying, but ultimately, there are expectations for SuperMicro's stock to stabilize and return to normal.

LLM Links

In My Tribe • 212 implied HN points • 28 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Software Innovation Digital Tools AI Education
  1. Using AI to do students' writing can take away the benefits of creativity and expression that come from writing practice. It's important for students to engage with the writing process themselves.
  2. AI tools like NotebookLM are changing how we create content, such as podcasts. These tools can generate engaging discussions, but they need to be customizable to suit individual styles.
  3. AI is seen as a powerful tool that can enhance research and intelligence. Instead of just analyzing data, it can help in conducting experiments and discovering new methods in various fields.