While I'm a big fan of open source, I don't understand what the alternative is for this dilemma...
Is it supposed to be illegal for me to create my own homegrown database with the same API as MongoDB? If not, then when people start using it, can I offer a hosting solution?
I feel like that should be allowed. It's just not always a happy outcome for everyone...
Next thing you know, someone on hacker news will be posting about how they reverse engineered their iPhone so they could charge the battery 10x faster! Everyone will complain about Apple being a walled garden and how regulation nerfed their batteries and how we should be in control of the things we buy and be able to modify them…
Its worth checking out a recent interview with the Flock CEO on Cheeky Pint (Stripe's podcast with John Collison) [1]
As much as I fear the Orwellian future this could turn into, I think its important to recognize that the burden of preventing that is on lawmakers, not companies.
He explains in the interview that he would love for laws to be passed to create tighter controls over how these systems are used. The problem is that police departments don't want it! Perhaps they can elect to do it themselves, but then they expose themselves to competitors who have "more powerful features".
Something like 70% of homocides go unresolved! I think its cool that Flock is trying to help police departments fight crime. But it's time to yell at your lawmakers. Don't hate the player, hate the game!
> But blaming them for not accepting email is kind of silly. They are not empowered to do that kind of thing.
Perhaps it's irrational, but I have this viceral feeling that refuses to allow me to believe that people don't have agency.
Who is her manager? Tell them how stupid this is! When they say "there's nothing I can do about it", then talk to their manager!
I recently left Chase bank due to this same kind of helpless attitude they have toward you. And then they ask "have I addressed all of your problems today?" lol
I grew up in Sacramento and I remember when my parents were had a flat rate water bill. Those were the good ol' days!
It frustrates me how everyone moralizes water use rather than accepting that free markets allow for people who are simply willing to pay for it. For example, if you live in Sacrmanto and don't have a pool, you're just doing it all wrong (in my opinion, of course).
I watched my friend's family farm in Modesto flood their fields to irrigate them. No meter, just a valve off the canal and they pay a flat rate. So it offends me that my shower head is legally required to restrict it's flow. Or that neighbors decide that a pile of rock in the front yard is "better for the environment" as it radiates heat on a 105°F day...
I might be missing something because I don’t really understand why you mean by “health” related deaths…
But it seems like you’re making Dan’s point for him. “We need to adapt our lifestyles to climate change” is not an acceptable answer to someone dying of heat stroke who would very much prefer (out of self-interest) air conditioning and a higher standard of living…
I’ve never understood why time is the metric people are using here. If LLMs get so much better we can “run them overnight”, what makes you think that they won’t also get faster and so they accomplish exactly what you’re talking about in 5 minutes?
I think these numerical constraints are because range trees use numerical averages to construct themselves. This is important for OVERLAPS queries common with dates. But you could construct interval tree indexes lexicographically using text but they are quite uncommon. It’s something I’ve experimented with a decent amount though.
Seems like this logic could all be represented in Claude.md and some agents. Has anyone done this? I’d love to just import that into my project because I’m using some of these tactics but it’s fairly manual and tedious.
Is it supposed to be illegal for me to create my own homegrown database with the same API as MongoDB? If not, then when people start using it, can I offer a hosting solution?
I feel like that should be allowed. It's just not always a happy outcome for everyone...