The hottest Substack posts right now

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Open Thread 383

Astral Codex Ten • 1858 implied HN points • 26 May 25
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Meetups Online Courses Rationalism
  1. There's an open thread where you can talk about anything or ask questions. It’s a place for free conversation.
  2. Meetups are happening around the world, including one in London this week. It’s a good chance to connect with others.
  3. There are several upcoming conferences and courses related to AI and safety. You can get involved and learn more about important topics.

Ticker Take: a weekly newsletter on investing.

Jon’s Newsletter • 99 implied HN points • 11 Aug 24
💰 Finance Investing Stock Market Market Trends Economic Analysis Bonds
  1. Market corrections are normal and can be healthy for long-term growth. It's important to own a mix of investments and stay calm during downturns.
  2. After a drop in the stock market, like with the S&P 500, there's often a bounce back, with strong average returns in the months that follow.
  3. Media companies are struggling with changes in viewer habits, which may lead to consolidations in the industry. This means fewer players but potentially stronger companies in the long run.

Steve Jobs’ 9 Product Development Tactics For Startups & The 4 P’s of AI | VC Jobs

Venture Curator • 339 implied HN points • 13 Jun 24
💼 Business AI Startup Venture Capital Product Development
  1. Start with the customer's experience in mind: Steve Jobs emphasized beginning with the customer experience and working backward to the technology.
  2. Avoid asking customers what they want: Instead of focusing on functional needs, look at emotional and social goals to drive innovation.
  3. Disruptive innovation is key: Jobs believed in disrupting industries with low-cost, simpler solutions to stay relevant and drive success.
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Maybe we should make ChatGPT less “WEIRD”

Sex and the State • 23 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Social Impact Digital Advertising Digital Wellbeing Artificial Intelligence AI Ethics Data Bias
  1. Large language models learn mainly from online content produced by Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic (WEIRD) populations, so their outputs reflect those perspectives more than the global population.
  2. WEIRD modes of thinking — more individualistic, analytical, and universalist — differ from many non-WEIRD, more holistic and group-focused cultures, which makes models less accurate or relevant for those other groups.
  3. That WEIRD bias can shape real-world effects: by reinforcing individualistic and commercial norms, LLMs may worsen loneliness and reduce real-world socializing with heavy use and advertising, so we should consider making models less WEIRD and study these downstream impacts.

That was 2025!

atomic14 • 173 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Open Source Embedded Electronics Manufacturing Crowdfunding Product Design Hardware
  1. One person can design, crowdfund, and ship a real hardware product worldwide, but production costs, certification, tariffs, and shipping logistics make margins very tight.
  2. Building an audience before launch, using AI tooling, and embracing open source helped make the product possible and created a supportive community.
  3. Hands-on experiments with high-voltage gear, tiny RISC‑V chips, and better debugging drove learning, and sharing both successes and failures proved more valuable than chasing big profits.

Don’t Ride This Bike! Generative AI’s persistent trouble with compositionality and parts

Marcus on AI • 3952 implied HN points • 08 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Image Processing Natural Language Generative models
  1. Generative AI struggles with understanding complex relationships between objects in images. It sometimes produces physically impossible results or gets details wrong when asked to create images from text.
  2. Recent improvements in AI models, like DALL-E3, show only slight progress in handling specifications related to parts of objects. It can still mislabel parts or fail to follow more complex requests.
  3. AI systems need to improve their ability to check and confirm that generated images match the prompts given by users. This may require new technologies for better understanding between language and visuals.

Those who danced were thought insane by those who couldn't hear the music

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 298 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Agriculture Disasters Climate AI Energy Biotech Materials
  1. By 2025, materials science, plant/animal breeding, and energy systems are closest to the ambitious technical goals, while medicine, disaster control, and especially precise weather control lag well behind.
  2. Without a major AI revolution, the next five years will bring steady gains: renewables, storage, materials, and crop improvements will move substantially, but life extension, earthquake/eruption control, and weather steering will only improve modestly.
  3. If abundant, well-aligned superintelligent AI appears by 2030, discovery and design in medicine, materials, energy, and agriculture could accelerate dramatically, yet physical scaling, safety, regulation, politics, and the chaotic nature of weather will still constrain full realization.

Under the microscope: Kinetica (PlayStation 2)

Rings of Saturn • 43 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Retro Gaming Debugging Cheat Codes Gaming Tools Reverse Engineering Emulation
  1. The game encodes button sequences into an accumulator: L3 clears it and other buttons shift the value by 3 bits then OR in a small button code.
  2. Entering L3, Right, L1, Down, R1, Left on the title screen sets the accumulator to the unlock value and reveals all seasons, bonus characters, tracks, and the history movie.
  3. The same cheat-input system appears in other Sony games like God of War, and there’s a separate hidden sequence (Down, Start, Left, L1) that sets a different value likely meant to show biker coordinates but has no visible effect.

Big O vs Hardware: Better Complexity ≠ Better Performance

Confessions of a Code Addict • 1106 implied HN points • 03 Aug 25
🕹 Technology Algorithms Performance Hardware Software Computing
  1. Not all algorithms with lower time complexity perform better in the real world. Hardware efficiency also plays a big role in how fast they run.
  2. An algorithm may have a good time complexity but if it relies on expensive operations, it won't win in performance. It's important to consider how the algorithm works with the CPU.
  3. Some algorithms can perform better on hardware depending on their design. A well-optimized algorithm can take advantage of hardware strengths, leading to faster results compared to those with similar complexity.

Under the microscope: Aero Elite: Combat Academy (PlayStation 2)

Rings of Saturn • 58 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Software Video Games Reverse Engineering Emulation Cheat Codes Debugging Game Development
  1. There’s a hidden secret-command system that’s triggered by disconnecting controller 1 and entering specific button combos on controller 2; the primary unlock code is hold L3+R3+Triangle and press X to enable cheat mode.
  2. Using the cheats unlocks every aircraft and emblem and activates an Alert Hangar menu option, and other codes enable features like a free camera (enter R2+L3+R3 then Triangle, use Square+Triangle to pause and L1/R1+D‑pad to move) and a replay cinematic bars effect.
  3. Reverse‑engineering with the game’s debug symbols revealed additional flag bits tied to fog, object scaling, and an unused bit that appear to be leftover developer features with no obvious in‑game effect.

The startups are thriving

Alex's Personal Blog • 262 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
💼 Business Artificial Intelligence Regulation Startups Venture Capital Fundraising
  1. The federal government moved to preempt state AI laws by creating a task force and directing agencies to build a uniform national AI policy that can challenge conflicting state rules.
  2. A coalition of allied countries is coordinating to secure AI supply chains—investing in chips, rare earths, and infrastructure to reduce reliance on strategic rivals.
  3. AI-first startups are growing far faster than traditional benchmarks, posting huge ARR gains and forcing investors to expect growth well beyond the old T2D3 model.

From Theory to Practice: Inductive Biases in Machine Learning

Mindful Modeler • 639 implied HN points • 23 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Modeling Bias Data Algorithms
  1. Different machine learning models exhibit varying behaviors when extrapolating features, influenced by their inductive biases.
  2. Inductive biases in machine learning influence the learning algorithm's direction, excluding certain functions or preferring specific forms.
  3. Understanding inductive biases can lead to more creative and data-friendly modeling practices in machine learning.

Tim Cook’s Apple Has Been Meta’s Best Friend. Completely By Accident.

Big Technology • 10007 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Market Impact Messaging Advertising Augmented reality Social media
  1. Apple's Tim Cook unintentionally became a key asset for Meta through various business moves.
  2. Apple's Vision Pro launch helped boost Meta's mixed reality efforts by establishing it as a category.
  3. Apple's ad tracking restrictions unintentionally harmed Meta's competitors, giving Meta an advantage in the advertising space.

The History and Evolution of Open Table Formats - Part II

Practical Data Engineering Substack • 79 implied HN points • 18 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Cloud Computing Software Development Data Management Database Systems Open Source
  1. The evolution of open table formats has improved how we manage data by introducing log-oriented designs. These designs help us keep track of data changes and make data management more efficient.
  2. Modern open table formats like Apache Hudi and Delta Lake offer database-like features on data lakes, ensuring data integrity and allowing for easier updates and querying.
  3. New projects are working on creating a unified table format that can work with different technologies. This means that in the future, switching between data formats could be simpler and more streamlined.

How One UX Researcher Ignited Sweeping Changes to YouTube

Elizabeth Laraki • 419 implied HN points • 28 May 24
🕹 Technology Product Design Digital Media Research Methods User Experience Data Analysis
  1. Kerry Rodden, a UX researcher, helped YouTube understand how users navigated the site. By deeply analyzing user data, they found out what people really wanted from YouTube.
  2. One big surprise was that most YouTube sessions didn't start on the homepage. Instead, many users went directly to watch videos they found elsewhere on the internet.
  3. Kerry created clear visualizations of user data that showed how people moved through YouTube. This helped the company improve its homepage and focus on personalizing content for users.

Paris AI Summit Train Wreck

Marcus on AI • 3003 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Public Policy Global Issues Events Regulation AI
  1. The Paris AI Summit did not meet expectations and left many attendees unhappy for various reasons. People felt that it was poorly organized.
  2. A draft statement prepared for the summit was criticized, with concerns that it would let leaders avoid making real commitments to addressing AI risks. Many believed it was more of a PR move than genuine action.
  3. Despite the chaos, French President Macron seemed to be the only one enjoying the situation. Overall, many felt it was a missed opportunity to discuss important AI issues.

Issue #149: Stripe Eyes PayPal, Block Cuts 4,000 Jobs for AI, And Coinbase Opens Stock Trading

Fintech Radar • 10 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
💰 Finance Regulation AI Fintech Lending M&A Investing Stablecoins Crypto Banking Payments
  1. Stripe is exploring buying all or parts of PayPal — likely eyeing Braintree or Venmo — which would merge merchant infrastructure, consumer wallets, and crypto rails into a single payments powerhouse.
  2. Coinbase opened stock and ETF trading to all US users and teamed up with Yahoo Finance, letting people trade thousands of equities (and fund trades with USDC) so stocks and crypto live on one platform.
  3. Block cut about 4,000 jobs, betting that new AI capabilities can replace large swaths of work and turning the company into a much smaller, more automated organization — a move that could signal similar shifts across fintech.

Carbon Bias and AI functionality

In My Tribe • 288 implied HN points • 24 Nov 25
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Human-computer interaction Digital Culture Creativity Future Technology
  1. People often criticize AI for either being too powerful or not reliable enough, but both extremes show a bias towards human abilities.
  2. There's a common belief that human-created works, like novels, are more acceptable than those created by AI, which reflects a preference for human involvement.
  3. Creativity shouldn’t be seen as solely a human trait since AI can also explore new ideas, but there's a concern that humans could become less relevant in creative roles.

Not all media outlets are worried about declining Google traffic

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 324 implied HN points • 19 Nov 25
💼 Business Media Startups Subscriptions Advertising Digital marketing
  1. Many new media startups are doing well without depending on Google for traffic. They focus more on building strong connections with their audience.
  2. The Economist is seen as a luxury brand like Ferrari because it maintains high standards and limits supply, making it more valuable to its subscribers.
  3. Vox is teaming up with Patreon to create exclusive content, showing that media companies are finding new ways to attract paying audiences.

Big Risks: Catastrophic Risk in Investing and Business

Musings on Markets • 1139 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
💼 Business Valuation Methods Investment strategy Risk management Financial Analysis Market behavior
  1. Catastrophic risks can come from many sources like natural disasters, hacks, or changes in laws. They can seriously threaten a business's survival and impact its value.
  2. It's crucial for business owners to understand how these risks affect their financial situation. They can either be insurable or uninsurable, and knowing this helps in making better decisions.
  3. People often react emotionally to risks, sometimes ignoring them until it's too late. Understanding these reactions can help in making smarter investments and preparing for the worst.

🚨 This Week in Cybersecurity 🚨

Vigilainte Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 16 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Digital Infrastructure Legal issues Data Privacy Social media
  1. A teenager was arrested for a cyberattack on London's transport system, showing that young people are increasingly involved in serious cybercrimes.
  2. Australia is setting age limits for children on social media to protect them from online dangers like predators and inappropriate content.
  3. Apple dropped its lawsuit against NSO Group, which developed spyware to target individuals like journalists and activists, indicating a shift in its legal approach.

PSA: Microsoft may be training on your private data without your knowledge

Marcus on AI • 4070 implied HN points • 26 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Data Privacy Big Tech Ethics Consumer Rights
  1. Microsoft might be using your private documents to train their AI without you knowing. It's important to check your settings.
  2. If you have sensitive information in your Office documents, make sure to turn off any options that share your data.
  3. Big tech companies are increasingly using sneaky methods to gather training data, so it's vital to stay informed and protect your privacy.

New on Substack: A/B testing for headlines, profile customization tools, and livestream updates

Substack • 1038 implied HN points • 06 Aug 25
🕹 Technology User Experience Software Digital marketing Web Development
  1. Substack now offers A/B testing for headlines, helping publishers find the best title for their posts. This means you can test different titles and see which one gets more people to read your content.
  2. You can customize your profile more than ever with new design options, including accent colors and cover photos. This helps you express your personal style and make your profile stand out.
  3. Substack has improved its livestream tools, making it easier to manage guests before going live. You can track guest status and get reminders to ensure everything runs smoothly during your livestream.

Amazon Should Acquire PayPal

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 27 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
💼 Business Payments Corporate strategy M&A E-commerce Antitrust Valuation
  1. Buying PayPal would give Amazon an instant, global payments and crypto platform—including peer-to-peer payments and merchant acquiring—and let it compete more directly with Apple and Google while deepening Prime’s customer lock‑in.
  2. Amazon has the balance sheet and liquidity to move fast with an all‑cash bid and could potentially buy PayPal at an attractive valuation after its stock slide, shortening or avoiding a prolonged bidding war.
  3. Significant risks remain — board decisions, financing, and regulatory review could block a deal — but Amazon might face fewer antitrust objections than a direct payments competitor attempting the same acquisition.

MicroTimes Interviews T/Maker’s Heidi Roizen and Royal Farros (1994)

Computer Ads from the Past • 256 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
💼 Business Leadership Partnerships Strategy Product Marketing Distribution Finance
  1. They pivoted from selling a Mac word processor to focusing on content like ClickArt and multimedia ZoomBooks, and that shift unlocked rapid growth and consistent profits.
  2. They took VC money, bought other art libraries, and brought in experienced managers to redesign products and packaging so they could win retail shelves and sell at multiple price points.
  3. They invested in technical know-how (CD-ROM, multi-platform formats, a reusable ZoomBooks interface) and used joint ventures with TV networks and publishers to share costs and reach much bigger audiences.

One feed to rule them all

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 3045 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Content curation User Experience Digital Trends Apps Social media
  1. Tapestry is a new app that combines multiple social media feeds into a single view, making it easier to keep track of updates. Users like that it is chronological and ad-free, offering a smooth browsing experience.
  2. There are other timeline apps besides Tapestry, like Reeder and Unread, which aim to help users organize their online content better. These apps reflect a shift from traditional RSS readers to modern feed solutions.
  3. The challenge with timeline apps is making them user-friendly for a variety of content types, such as videos and podcasts, while also allowing interaction like liking or commenting on posts.

Something Big Is Happening in Cybersecurity

The Security Industry • 35 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Cybersecurity Artificial Intelligence Software Development Venture Funding
  1. AI development is accelerating fast, with new models that feel like a qualitative leap and are even being used to build the next generation of models.
  2. The AI security market has exploded into hundreds of companies, including many focused on automating SOC work, and it has attracted substantial venture funding.
  3. AI security is becoming a standard part of organizational defenses, and soon it will no longer make sense to treat it as a separate category because every vendor will have AI-driven security features.

On things happening "to" you

The Stoic Journal • 66 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
📖 Philosophy Stoicism Moral Psychology Agency Selfhood Practical philosophy Ethics
  1. Seeing events as happening with you instead of to you turns you from a passive victim into an active participant in your life.
  2. Life’s challenges are not random mistakes but are matched to your capacity and growth, so they fit your path even when they cause pain.
  3. That shift moves you from asking “why me?” which leads nowhere, to asking “what now?” which opens up choices and action toward growth.

Real-time systems with Combine and WebSockets

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 1530 implied HN points • 16 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Development Networking Programming Software
  1. WebSockets are great for real-time communication because they keep a constant connection open, allowing data to flow smoothly without the delays of making separate requests. This is much more efficient than traditional methods.
  2. Combine is a powerful tool that helps manage and combine streams of data in a clean and organized way. When used with WebSockets, it makes building reactive applications easier and more straightforward.
  3. Using real-time systems can enhance user experience in various applications, like gaming or auctions, by providing instant updates and interactions. Implementing these technologies can help create engaging and responsive apps.

Getting Even

Tigerfeathers! • 24 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
💼 Business Startups Healthcare Regulation Finance Insurance Hospitals
  1. India’s healthcare incentives are misaligned: fee‑for‑service and fragmented delivery reward more procedures while payers try to limit payouts, which drives opaque pricing, catastrophic out‑of‑pocket bills, and inefficient care.
  2. Vertically integrating care (telehealth → salaried primary care → in‑house diagnostics → lean secondary hospitals) aligns incentives, captures provider margins, lowers claims, and improves retention by making prevention and appropriate care financially sensible.
  3. Existing hospitals and insurers find this integration hard to copy because it cannibalises incumbent economics or requires new capabilities, so startups can build a durable advantage — but the model must guard against new risks like under‑treatment and needs long time horizons and smart regulation.

Corrected Headlines

Human Capitalist • 119 implied HN points • 26 Aug 24
💼 Business Diversity Workforce Issues Human Capital Layoffs
  1. Every news story has more depth than just the headline. It's important to dig deeper to grasp the full context of what is happening.
  2. Major corporate changes, like layoffs and new trends in industries, can greatly impact employees and jobs. These shifts affect people's lives beyond just business numbers.
  3. Engaging with the audience for story suggestions can create a better connection and encourage more interactive discussions about relevant topics.

Top 10 Books we read in 2025

Graphs For Science • 105 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Software Engineering Data science Algorithms Natural Language Developer Tools Artificial Intelligence
  1. A strong theme is practical engineering: many books show how to turn LLM demos into working agents using RAG, embeddings, knowledge graphs, tool use, and prompt patterns to make outputs more reliable and auditable.
  2. There’s a clear focus on hands-on playbooks and trade-offs—quick-starts, checklists, code examples, and patterns for prototyping, retrieval, latency/cost decisions, multi-agent orchestration, and production concerns.
  3. The collection balances technical how-to guidance with broader perspectives on responsible use, human uniqueness, organizational strategy, and interdisciplinary science, highlighting ethics, norms for academics, and big-picture questions about life and intelligence.

What You Are That Machines Are Not

New World Same Humans • 37 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
📖 Philosophy Language Mind Society Ethics Identity Human nature
  1. Machines can be smarter and more efficient than us, but they can never be human; our personhood comes from a shared, subjective way of seeing the world and the community of language-bearers around us.
  2. Trying to outcompete machines on their terms—by being smarter or more efficient—is a losing game that leads toward human obsolescence.
  3. Our best path is to lean into and protect distinctly human things like art, empathy, shared meaning and community, because that unique way of seeing is what makes us valuable.

Liquid vs. Illiquid Careers

Optima & Outliers • 119 implied HN points • 03 Aug 24
💼 Business Human Capital Skill development Job Market Professional networking Career Paths
  1. Some career paths are easier to understand and value than others. For example, working at a well-known company makes it simple for employers to see your worth.
  2. Less conventional career journeys can be harder to evaluate, but they may also lead to unique opportunities. People often favor clear paths, so you might stand out if you're willing to explore the unknown.
  3. Working in a less structured environment means you need to rely on your network and manage risks. Building relationships and being proactive can help you succeed in these careers.