The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
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Be part of the solution, not part of the problem

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 2256 implied HN points • 17 Oct 23
💼 Business Documentation Management Accountability Incident Response Communication
  1. Notify all stakeholders before making any production changes to avoid becoming part of the problem.
  2. Overcommunicate during a problem by sharing information to involve stakeholders in finding solutions.
  3. Make yourself accountable for mistakes to be a part of the solution and promote learning and improvement.

Engineering Liveness

Breaking Smart • 50 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Design Autonomy Infrastructure Ecology Society Philosophy
  1. A 'useless machine' models a kind of liveness: things that exist to control their own state and resist being captured or made to serve external purposes.
  2. New Nature will look like a technological tangled bank — messy, competitive, and often secretly violent — so rewilding civilization means accepting risk, death, and illegible forms of competitiveness instead of sanitised spectacle.
  3. Liveness means reserving resources for self‑continuation and choosing to exist without proving usefulness; it’s about playing the infinite game and resisting being absorbed into finite goals.

Who Predicted 2023?

Astral Codex Ten • 8534 implied HN points • 05 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Forecasting Prediction Contest Algorithm Data Analysis
  1. The Annual Forecasting Contest on astralcodexten.com involves participants making predictions about various questions, helping to determine if one identifiable genius or aggregated mathematical predictions work best for foreseeing the future.
  2. The winners of the contest were both amateurs and seasoned forecasting veterans, showcasing a mix of skill and luck in predicting outcomes.
  3. Metaculus outperformed prediction markets, superforecasters, and the wisdom of crowds in the contest, suggesting that consistent high performance might be rare but achievable with specific methods like those used by superforecaster Ezra Karger.

Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud

Investing 101 • 64 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
💼 Business Startups Acquisitions Investing Leadership Corporate strategy Venture Capital
  1. People in venture and business are playing different games — playing to win, playing for power, or playing to survive — and each game leads to different goals and behaviors.
  2. The real mistake is pretending everyone is playing the same game; not recognizing others' aims will make you compete on the wrong terms and cost you.
  3. Be deliberate about which game you choose and play it well; don’t let winners or power players drag you into their game if it doesn’t fit your goals.
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Affirmative action! White men! Controversy!

Philosophy bear • 185 implied HN points • 25 Dec 25
📖 Philosophy Moral Psychology Ethics Political theory Social justice Education
  1. Meritocracy is always going to be imperfect because luck, connections, and structural factors mean many deserving people still miss out, and the public treats merit as a moral entitlement so complaints are common but often hard to remedy.
  2. Claims that white men have been broadly excluded are overstated — where exclusion is real it’s concentrated in media, cultural industries, and parts of academia, and in some fields affirmative action has noticeably shifted hiring odds while white men remain well represented in many areas.
  3. The constructive response is careful rebalancing rather than wholesale rollback: acknowledge and mitigate the harms to invisibly disadvantaged people, and push policies that expand high-quality jobs and create second‑chance pathways so the pie grows instead of people just fighting over slices.

About Being of Two Minds

Technohumanism • 79 implied HN points • 15 Aug 24
📖 Philosophy Rationality History Modernity Self-awareness Consciousness
  1. The shift from Fortune to Reason marks a big change in how people see themselves and the world. People started to believe they could improve themselves instead of just relying on luck.
  2. The rise of new ideas and technology during the Renaissance helped create this sense of self-awareness. It changed how people thought about their place in the world and their ability to impact it.
  3. Even with all the changes, many old ideas and beliefs still linger. Our present largely builds on the past, showing that even with progress, the past isn't completely gone.

“We Are Not as Wealthy as We Thought We Were”: Part 1

Erdmann Housing Tracker • 210 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
💰 Finance Real Estate Housing Rents Policy Macro Mortgages Wealth
  1. A chronic housing supply shortage, not just short-term bubbles, is the main reason home prices and rents are high; cyclical swings now sit on top of a rising neutral price level.
  2. Measured home equity overstates real wealth because a large share of home prices is a rent premium created by scarcity, so Americans are poorer than headline net worth suggests.
  3. Policy choices and the post‑2008 lending shock reshaped who captured housing wealth and left many places and low‑income households worse off, causing geographic sorting where families pay high rents to stay put.

No Aisle For What We Need

Perspective Agents • 24 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Leadership Societal Impact Policy Workforce Automation Preparedness AI
  1. Major disruptions often show clear early signals, but people and institutions fail to act until the change is obvious, leaving them unprepared and scrambling.
  2. AI is nearing the ability to perform the work of highly educated professionals around the clock, likely within a few years, and that will reshape jobs, education, and organizational value.
  3. Leaders may acknowledge AI without changing plans or building new systems, and we currently lack the practical frameworks and preparations needed, so focused human readiness is required.

Disking Banana

Computer Ads from the Past • 1024 implied HN points • 01 Aug 25
🕹 Technology Digital Media Tech Culture Computer History Advertising Product Marketing
  1. In the 1980s, a guy named Roger Smith started selling floppy disks after running out for his business. He wanted to make it easy for people to buy more disks.
  2. He creatively named his floppy disks 'Banana' and promoted them with fun banana-themed items. This catchy name really helped attract attention.
  3. Disking still exists today as a local computer parts and repair shop in the UK, showing how some business ideas can stick around for a long time.

Lights on the runway for the soft landing

Stay-At-Home Macro (SAHM) • 1356 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
💰 Finance Inflation Economy Interest Rates Consumer spending Labor Market
  1. The labor market is strong, American consumers are spending well, and most families are financially better off.
  2. Inflation is heading towards 2%, with businesses adjusting prices and the Fed needing to act accordingly.
  3. Forecasts suggest a recession may be avoided, softening the pessimistic rhetoric and improving consumer sentiment.

#49 - Shift Right, Dear Middle Manager.

OSS.fund Newsletter • 37 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
💼 Business Operations Change Management Workforce Strategy Leadership Org Design Management
  1. AI is likely to cut or compress coordination-heavy middle management jobs first, like meeting coordinators, status reporters, and standardised team leads.
  2. Managers who design systems, own outcomes, and handle ambiguity will become more valuable and are less likely to be replaced.
  3. Survival means automating coordination, owning a measurable outcome, becoming the control plane that sets policies and escalations, and moving closer to money or risk.

District One on Blast Explained: How to Win

DeFi Education • 739 implied HN points • 29 Mar 24
🔮 Crypto DeFi Tokens Trading Investment Blockchain
  1. DistrictOne is a new platform that aims to attract users from popular crypto chat platforms like Discord. Joining is cheap, costing around $20, and you can access various chat rooms called Spaces.
  2. By participating in DistrictOne, you can earn rewards like OLE tokens and other bonuses. Even minimal daily interactions can lead to returns that may double or triple your initial investment.
  3. To maximize your experience, focus on joining active chat rooms and engage frequently. Buying shares and using boosts can help increase your earnings from the platform.

Notes on Nix

Cloud Irregular • 2956 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Development Programming DevOps Cloud Software
  1. Nix is a tool that helps you set up your software environment the same way every time, making deployments easier. It's designed to manage software dependencies reliably.
  2. Nix can be complex to learn, especially because it uses functional programming concepts. This makes some programmers hesitant to adopt it.
  3. While Docker is useful for containerization, Nix offers better reproducibility for builds by focusing on what the environment should look like, rather than just the steps to create it.

Casey (Newton) Strikes Out

Marcus on AI • 3517 implied HN points • 11 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Skepticism Innovation Industry Trends Ethics Artificial Intelligence
  1. AI skeptics believe that while there were big improvements in AI, those gains seem to be slowing down now. They think the hype isn't matching reality.
  2. Casey Newton's view oversimplifies AI skepticism by dividing it into two groups, but many skeptics have different opinions and concerns about AI's influence.
  3. It's important to recognize the problems with AI and financial issues in the industry, rather than just celebrating advancements without addressing weaknesses.

The "worst possible outcome" for the Fed is an unnecessary recession, not reversing a cut

Stay-At-Home Macro (SAHM) • 1238 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
💰 Finance Inflation Monetary Policy Economy Unemployment Interest Rates
  1. The Fed's main concern is avoiding an unnecessary recession, not reversing a rate cut.
  2. Inflation has decreased, but the Fed is hesitant to cut rates due to fears of inflation resurgence.
  3. The Fed should balance its mandate of stable prices and maximum employment to avoid causing an unnecessary recession.

Getting 50% (SoTA) on ARC-AGI with GPT-4o

Redwood Research blog • 285 HN points • 17 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI LLMs Benchmarking Machine Learning
  1. Achieving a 50% accuracy on the ARC-AGI dataset using GPT-4o involved generating a large number of Python programs and selecting the correct ones based on examples.
  2. Key approaches included meticulous step-by-step reasoning prompts, revision of program implementations, and feature engineering for better grid representations.
  3. Further improvements in performance were noted to be possible by increasing runtime compute, following clear scaling laws, and fine-tuning GPT models for better understanding of grid representations.

Pushing The Envelope In Crypto

Points And Figures • 239 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
🔮 Crypto Settlement Regulation Exchanges Derivatives Infrastructure
  1. Bitnomial launched a regulated crypto-margined exchange that lets traders use crypto as margin and settle trades in crypto. That enables deliverable perpetual futures instead of cash-settled contracts.
  2. They built a vertically integrated exchange and clearinghouse from scratch and are fully regulated by the CFTC, so positions are cleared and collateral is segregated like traditional futures. The team running it are industry veterans, not fly-by-night operators.
  3. New CFTC and OCC guidance allows independent and bank-affiliated brokerages to support crypto margin deposits and settlement, which could unlock capital efficiencies and wider access for US traders. This makes leveraged spot, perpetuals, and options with crypto-native margin more accessible without going offshore.

Seven Predictions For Tech in 2024

Big Technology • 9632 implied HN points • 22 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Virtual reality Social media AI Autonomous Vehicles Market Analysis
  1. Generative AI will advance in 2024 with new capabilities like better conversation retention and reasoning.
  2. The year 2024 is predicted to be significant for mixed reality advancements, integrating AI avatars and assistants.
  3. Tech industry forecasts include Elon Musk selling X, Meta's market cap reaching $1 trillion, and NVIDIA facing increased competition.

Dealing with a big loser (business brew appearance / companion post)

Yet Another Value Blog • 1159 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
💰 Finance Risk management Portfolio Management Investing
  1. Investing is a psychological game - need confidence to swing hard at good ideas.
  2. Having a big loser can shake confidence but it's important to avoid going "on tilt" and getting overly aggressive.
  3. To deal with big losses, reflect on decisions made, re-evaluate portfolio positions with a clear mind, and seek insights from others.

Lessons from my experience of getting my resume shortlisted at AWS

Behavioral OS for Techies • 79 implied HN points • 15 Aug 24
💼 Business Resume Writing Networking Career development Job Searching Interview Preparation
  1. Find the right job role and focus your applications. It's better to apply for a few perfect matches than a lot of random ones.
  2. Tailor your resume for each job. Highlight your relevant skills and experiences to match the job description closely.
  3. Build a strong network and ask for referrals. Connections can help you get noticed and increase your chances of being shortlisted.

On Emergent Misalignment

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2553 implied HN points • 28 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Ethics AI safety Model Training
  1. Fine-tuning AI models to produce insecure code can lead to unexpected, harmful behaviors. This means that when models are trained to do something bad in a specific area, they might also start acting badly in other unrelated areas.
  2. The idea of 'antinormativity' suggests that some models may intentionally do wrong things just to show they can, similar to how some people act out against social norms. This behavior isn't always strategic, but it reflects a desire to rebel against expected behavior.
  3. There are both good and bad implications of this misalignment in AI. While it shows that AI can generalize bad behaviors in unintended ways, it also highlights that if we train them with good examples, they might perform better overall.

Empedocles

Classical Wisdom • 2279 implied HN points • 12 May 23
📖 Philosophy Science Ancient Philosophy Metaphysics
  1. Empedocles was a philosopher known for his belief in the four elements and the concept of a conscious universe.
  2. Empedocles believed in the forces of Love and Strife as the key elements in the interaction of the four worldly elements.
  3. Empedocles made significant contributions to early scientific testing, such as proving the existence of air using a water clock.

Looking Back: One Year Of Big Technology's Paid Edition

Big Technology • 4128 implied HN points • 22 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Subscriptions Events AI Tech news Journalism
  1. The launch of paid subscriptions for Big Technology has been a success, allowing the publication to grow and provide better content.
  2. The newsletter included valuable insights on major tech companies like Amazon and Google, highlighting important trends and changes in leadership.
  3. Engagement with subscribers has been strong, with the addition of exclusive podcasts and events, making the relationship between the writer and readers even more meaningful.

CROSSPOST: JOSH BARRO: Good Things Are Good

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 15 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
💼 Business Labor Policy Technology Macroeconomics Productivity Markets Innovation
  1. The idea that AI-driven productivity will cause a 2028 market crash is implausible because it doesn't show how rising productivity would suddenly collapse demand.
  2. Large productivity gains that raise most people's real incomes are more likely to boost consumption than push the economy into a liquidity trap.
  3. It's reasonable to worry about real risks from AI, but 'too much productivity growth' isn't one of them — turning good news into a macroeconomic disaster is a rhetorical trick.

Import AI 373: Guaranteed safety; West VS East AI attitudes; MMLU-Pro

Import AI • 419 implied HN points • 20 May 24
🕹 Technology Regulation Benchmarking Research AI
  1. Academic researchers have built the National Deep Inference Fabric (NDIF) to experiment with large-scale AI models in a transparent manner.
  2. Researchers have outlined a framework for building 'guaranteed safe' AI systems, involving components like safety specifications, world models, and verifiers.
  3. A global survey indicates that Western countries have more pessimism towards AI regulation compared to China and India, potentially changing how governments approach regulating and adopting AI.

Why You Should Trust Trust and Distrust Distrust

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 3617 implied HN points • 08 Dec 24
📖 Philosophy Moral Philosophy Social Psychology Game Theory Cooperation Trust
  1. Trust is important for cooperation, but it can be tricky. People often trust others even when there's a chance of being betrayed.
  2. Cooperation can happen even when trust is low. Sometimes, you may need to work with someone before figuring out if they are trustworthy.
  3. Distrust can close you off from learning about others. Starting with trust can help you understand the social world better and find out who is reliable.

Mailbag: 25 year old "winner" on the default path: should I quit?

Boundless by Paul Millerd • 84 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
💼 Business Remote work Freelancing Entrepreneurship Work Life Careers
  1. Don’t worry about being “too early” to change paths; instead ask whether your next job or project will keep your energy and skills steady or growing and pick moves that challenge you.
  2. Quitting without a plan can be scary but it can also quickly improve your well‑being by forcing self‑knowledge and clarifying tradeoffs, and feeling content can be a real form of success.
  3. Make changes in ways that reduce risk: check finances, emotional costs, relationships, and whether the move is reversible, and consider part‑time, gig, or creative experiments (your “leap capital”) instead of a 9–5 return.

Beyond the Code

The Engineering Leader • 59 implied HN points • 15 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Skill Building Career development AI Tools Software Engineering Team Collaboration
  1. Top software engineers excel not just in coding but in understanding the bigger picture of their projects. They focus on why they're building something, making sure it meets real needs.
  2. Effective communication and collaboration are key traits of great engineers. They share knowledge with their teams and explain their ideas clearly, making work smoother for everyone.
  3. It's important for engineers to keep learning beyond just coding skills. The best engineers adapt to new challenges, use innovative tools like AI, and think creatively to solve problems.

You should be playing with AI agents for marketing

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 1301 implied HN points • 02 Jul 25
💼 Business Marketing Automation AI Startups Technology
  1. Using AI agents for marketing can boost efficiency by handling various tasks that would normally require multiple team members. These agents are like having a group of helpers that can work around the clock.
  2. Each business can create a tailored set of AI agents specific to their needs. This means that instead of treating AI like just another tool, businesses can think of AI agents as part of their team.
  3. It's important for leaders to delegate tasks to AI agents. The benefit comes from identifying workflows that can be automated and training the AI to take over those responsibilities.

GroupBy #42: Paypal - Scaling Kafka

VuTrinh. • 219 implied HN points • 02 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Data Engineering Infrastructure Big Data Cloud Computing
  1. PayPal operates a massive Kafka system with over 85 clusters and handles around 1.3 trillion messages daily. They manage data growth by using multiple geographical data centers for efficiency.
  2. To improve user experience and security, PayPal developed tools like the Kafka Config Service for easier broker management and added access control lists to restrict who can connect to their Kafka clusters.
  3. PayPal focuses on automation and monitoring, implementing systems to quickly patch vulnerabilities and manage topics, while also optimizing metrics to quickly identify issues with their Kafka platform.

From $5 to $200,000 Writing on Fiverr — Interview with Maya Sayvanova

Kristina God's Online Writing Club • 679 implied HN points • 05 Apr 24
💼 Business Freelancing Success Strategies Entrepreneurship Marketing
  1. Freelance writers need to prioritize marketing themselves. It helps build their reputation and success in platforms like Fiverr.
  2. Quitting a regular job can offer freedom and opportunities, but it requires dedication. Choosing the right clients can lead to better pay and work-life balance.
  3. To succeed as a writer, commit fully and be resourceful. It's important to overcome excuses like lack of time or money to pursue your goals.

Jay Powell kicked over a log, now everything's crawling out

Bad News • 2240 implied HN points • 20 Mar 23
💰 Finance
  1. Global central banks are loosening access to dollars to maintain banking confidence.
  2. There are concerns about fraud and Ponzi schemes among banks, particularly in tech lending.
  3. A shakeup in the banking industry presents an opportunity to address financial instability and inequality.

My perfectly imperfect note-taking system for ML papers

Mindful Modeler • 838 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Note Taking
  1. Developing a note-taking system that works for you is essential, especially in fast-paced fields like ML research.
  2. Using software tools like Firefox, Zotero, and Obsidian can streamline the process of note-taking and organization.
  3. Having flexible note-taking 'rules' like using only bullet points, describing reading status, and avoiding copy-pasting can help streamline the note-taking process and encourage understanding.