The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
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The end of scarcity

Kathy PM • 42 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Design Product AI Software Tech Culture Developer Tools
  1. AI is making specialized craft and hard technical work much easier to access, so execution is no longer the main barrier to building things.
  2. Taste and discernment become the short-term advantage when execution is cheap, but those preferences are learnable and can harden into defaults that tools encode, turning taste into table stakes.
  3. Lasting leverage will come from judgment, accountability, and long-term ownership—being willing to explain, maintain, and take responsibility for what you ship after the novelty wears off.

Are You Working On A 'Tarpit Idea?' | VC Jobs

Venture Curator • 219 implied HN points • 02 Apr 24
đź’Ľ Business Venture Capital Startups Job Opportunities Entrepreneurship
  1. Tarpit ideas can be deceivingly appealing at first but end up draining time and resources.
  2. Consumer ideas are common tarpit ideas due to the high bar set by successful consumer products and the crucial factor of timing.
  3. Recognizing and avoiding tarpit ideas, such as those with survivor bias or difficulty in scaling, is vital for a startup's success and founders should pivot strategically based on supply and demand dynamics.

Ronin Profile Updates are LIVE!

Ronin’s Newsletter • 61 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
đź”® Crypto Wallets Rewards Onboarding Privacy Social Identity Profiles
  1. Ronin Profiles now give you a unified on‑chain identity with customizable pixel houses, claimable @ handles linked to RNS, and a single place to manage multiple Ronin addresses.
  2. The Mission Board gamifies onboarding so you can complete simple quests (link accounts, fund your wallet, set a handle, spin Fortune machines) to earn Arcade Coins and time‑limited gifts, and eligible users can claim a free lifetime handle from snapshot criteria.
  3. Privacy is now the default: you choose one Default Wallet to show publicly while other connected wallets stay hidden, and profiles include a live activity feed to see recent onchain actions and help builders find power users.

Morality as respect for a social contract

Optimally Irrational • 55 implied HN points • 22 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Social Philosophy Social contract Moral Psychology Political Philosophy Ethics
  1. Morality is best understood as a social contract or set of conventions that evolved to help people coordinate and cooperate, not as a set of absolute, universe-level truths. These rules are meaningful because they define how to be treated within social games, not because they exist independently of human agreement.
  2. Saying morality is conventional does not mean anything goes: moral norms must be self-enforcing equilibria shaped by incentives, sanctions, and the structure of social interactions, so only certain rules can persist and be widely followed. Violating these norms risks loss of cooperation, punishment, or exclusion, which gives them practical force.
  3. Our moral intuitions and feelings (guilt, duty, blame) are evolved proximate mechanisms that track risks, benefits, and the likelihood of sanction, which explains why we feel bad about cheating even when unobserved. These feelings don’t establish absolute moral laws; they support the social contract by motivating cooperation and enforcement.

Import AI 362: Amazon's big speech model; fractal hyperparameters; and Google's open models

Import AI • 299 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
đź•ą Technology Fiction AI Models Language Models
  1. The full capabilities of today's AI systems are still not fully explored, with emerging abilities seen as models scale up.
  2. Google released Gemma, small but powerful AI models that are openly accessible, contributing to the competitive AI landscape.
  3. Understanding hyperparameter settings in neural networks is crucial as the fine boundary between stable and unstable training is found to be fractal, impacting the efficiency of training runs.
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TBM 361: Context, Collaboration, Intent, and Investment

The Beautiful Mess • 476 implied HN points • 06 Jun 25
đź’Ľ Business Management Strategy Operations Investment Collaboration
  1. Understanding context is important. It helps teams see the bigger picture and how things change over time.
  2. Intent is about setting clear goals for the future. Being specific about what you want to achieve can help guide actions.
  3. Collaboration and investment matter, too. Good teamwork and smart use of resources can drive better results and make projects more successful.

Has Google gone too woke? Why even the biggest models still struggle with guardrails

Marcus on AI • 2608 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
đź•ą Technology Data AI Ethics Machine Learning Bias
  1. Google's large models struggle with implementing proper guardrails, despite ongoing investments and cultural criticisms.
  2. Issues like presenting fictional characters as historical figures, lacking cultural and historical accuracy, persist with AI systems like Gemini.
  3. Current AI lacks the ability to understand and balance cultural sensitivity with historical accuracy, showing the need for more nuanced and intelligent systems in the future.

Mohists: Early Effective Altruists?

Thing of Things • 412 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
đź“– Philosophy Ethics Political Metaphysics Metaethics Epistemology
  1. Many modern ideas have ancient roots, showing that historical societies were not as different from us as we may think.
  2. Considering knowledge as a skill, not just a set of facts, could offer valuable insights.
  3. Consequentialism relies on being correct, highlighting the importance of ensuring accuracy in ethical decision-making.

Alternative Prosperities

In Bed With Social • 534 implied HN points • 24 Dec 23
đź•ą Technology AI Sustainability Generative AI
  1. A growing shift towards sustainability and conscious consumer behavior is gaining momentum globally.
  2. Generative AI is revolutionizing the processing of unstructured human data, offering new insights into behaviors and social interactions.
  3. Technological advancements, such as generative AI, provide opportunities for self-discovery and redefining our understanding of humanity and the world.

The Present Future: AI's Impact Long Before Superintelligence

One Useful Thing • 1256 implied HN points • 04 Nov 24
đź•ą Technology Society Automation AI Monitoring Workplace
  1. AI technology is rapidly evolving and can already perform many tasks that humans do, like monitoring and analyzing work environments. Even today, AI can help identify issues that need attention.
  2. Using AI for management and analysis can make work easier, but there are risks too. If not handled well, AI could lead to constant monitoring rather than support for workers.
  3. The choices companies make about AI right now will greatly impact how we work in the future. It's important to ensure that AI helps people, rather than replacing their skills or judging them unfairly.

Godspeed, OpenAI's Compute Flywheel

Alex's Personal Blog • 65 implied HN points • 18 Dec 25
đź•ą Technology M&A AI Compute Semiconductors Startups Venture Capital
  1. OpenAI is chasing enormous amounts of funding to buy more compute because limited GPUs are constraining both research and product growth, and that compute race is driving huge investment into chip makers and related firms.
  2. China says it has an operational EUV prototype, and if it turns that into production it could break ASML’s chokehold on high-end lithography and shift chipmaking power away from Taiwan and its partners.
  3. Political and corporate money are merging in odd ways, exemplified by a Trump-linked media company pairing with a fusion firm backed by big tech, showing that access to capital and government influence is reshaping deal logic beyond pure business sense.

The Lunduke Journal is moving exclusively to Locals

The Lunduke Journal of Technology • 4595 implied HN points • 09 May 23
đź•ą Technology Content creation Community Building
  1. The Lunduke Journal is moving exclusively to Locals for a better user experience and to consolidate their content in one place.
  2. Locals offers unique features like community discussions, live video streaming, and an events calendar for subscribers.
  3. Subscribers transitioning from Substack to Locals can easily create accounts and access all content from The Lunduke Journal.

Monthly Python Data Engineering, September 2024

Monthly Python Data Engineering • 2 HN points • 26 Sep 24
đź•ą Technology Open Source Python Software Development Libraries Data Engineering
  1. A new free book called 'How Data Platforms Work' is being created for Python developers. It will explain the inner workings of data platforms in simple terms, with one chapter released each month.
  2. The Ibis library has removed the Pandas backend and now uses DuckDB, which is faster and has fewer dependencies. This change is expected to improve performance and usability.
  3. Several popular libraries in Python, such as GreatTables and Shiny, have released updates with new features and improvements, focusing on better usability and integration with modern technologies.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 533

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 339 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
đź•ą Technology Data science Data Engineering AI Research Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning
  1. Satellite data is important for machine learning and should be treated as a unique area of research. Recognizing this can help improve how we use this data.
  2. Many data science and machine learning projects fail from the start due to common mistakes. Learning from past experiences can help increase the chances of success.
  3. Open source software plays a crucial role in advancing AI technology. It's important to support and protect open source AI from regulations that could harm its progress.

#8: How to Blow $250 on Ads For Your Self-Published Book

Shades of Greaves • 412 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
đź’Ľ Business Data Analysis Marketing Strategies Book Sales Advertising Self-Publishing
  1. The author tried investing $250 in ads for their self-published book but didn't see good returns, highlighting the challenges of advertising for self-published authors.
  2. Despite spending on ads, the author sold very few copies through Facebook and Amazon, underscoring the risk of not getting desired results from advertising efforts.
  3. Data from the failed ad campaigns is seen by the author as a way to learn and refine future advertising strategies, showing the importance of using past experiences to improve future marketing efforts.

Germany Surpasses Japan At #3 Nominal GDP Spot

Japan Economy Watch • 319 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
đź’° Finance Competitiveness Population Currency GDP Economy
  1. The reversal of rank in GDP between Germany and Japan is largely due to currency fluctuations, rather than significant changes in real GDP, population, or workforce size.
  2. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) offers a more accurate comparison of economic power by adjusting for currency exchange rate differences.
  3. Japan's slower growth in comparison to Germany is influenced by changes in population size, with significant implications for economic performance and global influence.

12 Things That Get VCs To Write A Check (Backed By 100+ Founder Interviews) | VC Jobs

Venture Curator • 199 implied HN points • 11 Apr 24
đź’Ľ Business Tech news Venture Capital Startup funding Job Opportunities
  1. Successful VC fundraising starts by identifying the right fit - pay attention to signals VCs give about the types of startups they want to fund.
  2. Pitch big visions to VCs, focusing on disruptive opportunities with outsized returns to stand out in the competitive startup landscape.
  3. Key factors for VCs to invest include unique insights, good timing, clear messaging, scalable growth plans, strong moats, early traction, and founder's passion.

​ GDP=C+G+I+NX

Points And Figures • 772 implied HN points • 04 Mar 25
đź’° Finance Economics Inflation Government spending Market Trends Investments
  1. GDP is an important measure of how well an economy is doing. When GDP goes up, it usually means people are earning more and living better.
  2. Different economists have different views on government spending. Classical economists often see it as a negative thing for the economy, while Keynesians believe it can be beneficial.
  3. Current economic uncertainty affects business investment decisions, making it tough for the economy to grow. However, there are signs of recovery, like increased merger activity.

Fundamentally Broken IPO Market

Points And Figures • 319 implied HN points • 01 Aug 25
đź’° Finance Investing Market Trends Venture Capital Regulations
  1. When companies go public, there can be a big gap between their initial stock price and what it trades for right after. For example, Figma's stock jumped from $33 to $85 at the start, leaving a lot of money on the table for early investors.
  2. The current IPO process favors big investors and leaves retail investors with little chance to buy in at a fair price. This has led to a broken system that needs a rethink to be more fair for everyone involved.
  3. Direct listings could offer a better way for companies to go public. This approach could help more founders and investors keep profits instead of giving them to brokers and large funds.

The Dollar's Death In 2026 Is Now A Mainstream Talking Point

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 49 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
đź’° Finance Financial Markets Global Finance Monetary Policy Currencies Central Banking Commodities International Trade
  1. The US dollar’s global dominance is eroding as countries and blocs build alternative settlement systems and settle more trade in local currencies, making the dollar increasingly optional.
  2. US fiscal and monetary policy choices plus the weaponization of dollar-based finance are pushing other nations to de-dollarize, and the US Treasury market shows structural fragility that often needs central bank support in stress.
  3. Market signals—rising gold and silver, growth of RMB-linked and commodity-backed stablecoins, and wider mainstream coverage—suggest a steady loss of confidence in the dollar rather than a sudden collapse, with major shifts likely ahead.

Delusion

Venture Prose • 698 implied HN points • 30 Jul 23
đź’Ľ Business Startups Investing Self-awareness Entrepreneurship Leadership
  1. Self-awareness is crucial to avoid delusion. Recognize your failures, flaws, and biases to make better decisions.
  2. Surround yourself with the right people who can provide constructive criticism. Be open to inner and outer conflicts to improve.
  3. Ask for clear feedback and address concerns about your business. Work towards understanding and extracting value from others' perspectives.

Axie Capsules are LIVE in Jin’s Fortune Spin!

The Lunacian • 414 implied HN points • 26 Jun 25
đź”® Crypto Blockchain Market Trends Digital Assets NFTs Gaming
  1. Axie Capsules are a fun way to collect NFTs. You buy a spin for a chance to get a sealed capsule that reveals an axie NFT inside.
  2. Each capsule has a 25% chance of containing a collectible axie. There are different types of axies you can get, ranging from common to rare.
  3. If you buy five capsules, you can earn extra rewards like accessories and the chance to win special axies by completing specific quests.

What comes next with reinforcement learning

Democratizing Automation • 435 implied HN points • 09 Jun 25
đź•ą Technology Reinforcement Learning Data science Software Development AI Machine Learning
  1. Reinforcement learning (RL) is getting better at solving tougher tasks, but it's not easy. There's a need for new discoveries and improvements to make these complex tasks manageable.
  2. Continual learning is important for AI, but it raises concerns about safety and can lead to unintended consequences. We need to approach this carefully to ensure the technology is beneficial.
  3. Using RL in sparser domains presents challenges, as the lack of clear reward signals makes improvement harder. Simple methods have worked before, but it’s uncertain if they will work for more complex tasks.

Searching for insight

benn.substack • 1099 implied HN points • 29 Nov 24
đź’Ľ Business Media Publishing Data Marketing Economics Analytics
  1. Many jobs in areas like think tanks or journalism are more about creating a background or illusion rather than producing real change or value. They serve as props for the more influential figures.
  2. There's a concern that as AI becomes capable of producing content, it might not be because it’s better, but because the original jobs might not have mattered as much as once thought.
  3. In analytics, there's a question of whether the insights businesses claim to offer are real or just part of the narrative they tell to appear competent and important.

The Machine as Manager

Brave New Teams • 16 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Labor markets Organizational Design Corporate Governance Automation Regulation Risk management AI Ethics
  1. Autonomous organisations are already emerging: software now runs pricing, routing, risk and learning, while humans shift toward exception handling, goal-setting and oversight.
  2. Success depends on trust and accountability, not just accuracy; firms will need constraint-by-design, audit trails, incident reporting and clear governance to make autonomy legitimate.
  3. Autonomy brings real risks like metric gaming, slow drift and brittleness, so resilience measures and human custodians who set values and handle ambiguity are essential, and law and norms will likely evolve to reshape corporate forms and roles.

Learning from the Past: Comparing the Hype Cycles of Big Data and GenAI

Gradient Flow • 159 implied HN points • 02 May 24
đź•ą Technology Artificial Intelligence Data Management
  1. Adopt a measured approach to GenAI implementation by learning from past technology hype cycles like Big Data.
  2. Organizations should clearly define business problems before adopting GenAI to avoid misalignment and wasted resources.
  3. In navigating the GenAI landscape, prioritize data quality, governance, talent investment, and leveraging open-source solutions for successful adoption.

Skills: The Missing Piece in AI Security Tooling

Boring AppSec • 23 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology DevOps Cybersecurity AI Security Software Engineering Machine Learning Open Source
  1. Generic threat modeling tools miss risks unique to multi‑agent AI systems, so one‑size‑fits‑all methods like STRIDE are insufficient.
  2. Skills are modular, LLM‑native knowledge packages that let agents detect agentic patterns and find context‑specific threats (like cascade failures and goal hijacking) that generic rules miss.
  3. Skills are portable and quick to create and share, so teams can build reusable, relevant expertise that yields better findings than lots of generic noise.

Under the microscope: Steam-Heart's (Saturn)

Rings of Saturn • 72 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
đź•ą Technology Reverse Engineering Cheat Codes Software Video Games Retro Gaming Console hardware
  1. The Saturn port includes NSFW interstage scenes that are less explicit than the PC-98 original but can still be disturbing or offensive.
  2. Multiple undocumented cheats work from the title screen by holding button combos and pressing Start — e.g., A+B unlocks all stages and extras, X+Y+Z disables enemies, L+R shows hit boxes, A+C upgrades weapons — and an old invincibility code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A) is also known.
  3. Reverse engineering with Ghidra shows the game checks controller bitmasks to set bits in a cheat_flags variable and a stages_available value at specific memory addresses, and there’s an A+X code path that sets a flag which appears unused.

The US Must Return To A Gold Standard

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 25 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
đź’° Finance Monetary Policy Fiscal policy Central Banks Currency Banking Macroeconomics Government debt Inflation
  1. The dollar has been heavily debased over time because the government and the Fed keep creating money, which erodes purchasing power and risks a currency collapse.
  2. Reinstating a gold standard—by promising future redeemability of dollars for gold at the market price and never suspending that promise—would force strict monetary discipline.
  3. Without a hard money anchor like gold, politicians will keep hiding the real costs of spending and war through inflation, so only a gold-based system can deliver lasting monetary stability.

The Future of Peace (3/4)

The Joyous Struggle • 375 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
đź“– Philosophy Technology Spirituality Society War Peace
  1. Peace is a vital challenge of our time and a necessary condition for a well-governed world.
  2. There are three possible futures: two lead to global conflict, while the third envisions a more positive, evolving society.
  3. Modern-day equivalents of 'Death Stars' like nuclear weapons and Moloch symbolize threats to peace that need to be addressed to secure a peaceful future.

Grok 3: Another Win For The Bitter Lesson

The Algorithmic Bridge • 817 implied HN points • 18 Feb 25
đź•ą Technology AI Development Tech Innovation Startup Ecosystem Machine Learning Computing
  1. Scaling laws are really important for AI progress. Bigger models and better computing power often lead to better results, like how Grok 3 outperformed earlier versions and is among the best AI models.
  2. DeepSeek shows that clever engineering can help, but it still highlights the need for more computing power. They did well despite limitations, but with more resources, they could achieve even greater things.
  3. Grok 3's success proves that having more computing resources can beat just trying to be clever. Companies that focus on scaling their resources are likely to stay ahead in the AI race.

If the doctrine fits, ...

In My Tribe • 1002 implied HN points • 20 Dec 24
đź“– Philosophy Political theory Ethics History Human behavior Ideology
  1. Some ideologies, like Communism, can attract people who seek power and control, often leading to oppressive regimes. This happens because the ideology allows leaders to justify cruelty in pursuit of a supposed utopia.
  2. Certain belief systems can be appealing to individuals with violent tendencies, while others attract more peaceful people. This means that personality can shape which doctrines someone might follow.
  3. The way people interact with each other, such as cooperating or competing, is influenced by their personal traits. People usually lean toward beliefs that match their nature, which affects how societies function.

ioctls from Rust

Blog System/5 • 827 implied HN points • 13 Feb 25
đź•ą Technology Programming Unix Open Source Software Systems
  1. The 'ioctl' system call is used in Unix-like systems to communicate with the kernel in ways that go beyond normal file operations. It allows for special operations not covered by standard read/write calls.
  2. Using 'ioctl' in Rust can be tricky. It often requires unsafe code blocks since it involves direct interactions with the kernel and can affect the running process in unpredictable ways.
  3. There are multiple ways to call 'ioctl' in Rust, including using libraries like 'nix' and 'libc', or even creating custom C wrappers. Each method has its trade-offs in terms of complexity and code structure.

AGI won't use computations

John Ball inside AI • 79 implied HN points • 23 Jun 24
đź•ą Technology AI Computing Natural Language
  1. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) might be achieved by focusing on pattern matching rather than traditional computations. This means understanding and recognizing complex patterns, just like how our brains work.
  2. Current AI systems struggle with tasks like driving or conversing naturally because they don't operate like human brains. Instead of tightly-coupled algorithms, more flexible and efficient pattern-based systems might be the key.
  3. Patom theory suggests that brains store and match patterns in a unique way, which allows for better learning and error correction. By applying these ideas, we could improve AI systems to be more human-like in understanding and interaction.

2023 Annual Report

The Wolf of Harcourt Street • 479 implied HN points • 09 Jan 24
đź’° Finance Newsletter Investments Performance Goals Lessons Learned
  1. Achieved a return of 34.3% in 2023 compared to 24.1% for the S&P.
  2. Focused on refining the investment strategy, promoting Growth at a Reasonable Price (GARP) over Growth at Any Price (GAAP), and emphasizing value for long-term market-beating potential.
  3. Learned lessons such as avoiding blind dollar-cost averaging, seeking stocks with low expectations, and collaborating with others to improve quality and results.