Worth remembering that many African telcos are not just mobile phone/data providers but also digital wallets (mobile money) - much of the GDP flows through them. Companies like Safaricom are the de facto financial utility of the country, so they are not going anywhere any time soon. That said Starlink is forcing the telcos to innovate and expand footprints. They’ve held very comfortable politically protected monopolies for far too long.
The open secret here is that we have a system that collects billions (~$100 billion annually[1]) in unclaimable taxes while keeping the labor force just vulnerable enough to stay cheap. That said, ICE's actions seem like self sabotage.
Zitron is begging for a collapse at this point. Yes, his macro analysis correctly identifies a massive financial risk but his incessant pessimism completely misses the incredible ground-level utility that many of us on HN celebrate every day through undeniable, massive productivity gains.
At this point I'm trying to believe there's a middle ground where the level of individual capability this unlocks, leads to major discoveries.
Thank you for making this whoever you are. There is a wonderful video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FT-oz9aZU4 that visualizes space travel and time dilation in Hail Mary. What I wished I had immediately after watching it was an interactive stellar chart.
The primary issue here is that CEOs and investors are particularly vulnerable to AI psychosis which is then forcibly propagated to the rest of the organization. Understandably, the perceived benefits are almost impossible to ignore, compounded by the FOMO of the AI first/AI native narrative being sold by AI influencers.
This always blows my mind. We are currently breathing in the DNA of the trees, animals, and people around us—and we’re leaving ours behind for them, too. We’re all one big genetic soup.
It seems like the whole world could massively benefit from this much like the other great innovation out of the EU -- the Common Charger Directive (aka USB-C).
I’m running local models with a maxed out M4 but I find local models only useful and reliable for trivial tasks and sensitive items like database optimization work. Local LLMs just don’t come anywhere close to Claude or Codex for heavy work.
Just when you think Egyptology can't get more interesting, it does. No wonder "just a quick search about the Pyramids" turns into a lifelong obsession for many.
The average price of a new car in the US is now ~$50,000 and the average monthly payment is almost $800. All people want is an affordable car and it is clear that won’t happen any time soon. It isn’t strange at all that prisoners to this system are cheering on the Chinese disruption.
Surely what they make from these ads is negligible enough to not warrant the terrible user experience for something users pay for. The ads in Apple News are infuriating.
I had the privilege of working with a great SWE intern this year. Their fresh ideas and strong work ethic made a real impact. Experienced engineers need this kind of energy.
Yes many over-rely on LLMs, but new engineers see possibilities we've stopped noticing and ask the questions we've stopped asking. Experience is invaluable, but it can quietly calcify into 'this is just how things are done.'