Hacker News with Generative AI: Philosophy

The Steam Deck is software-freedom friendly (isomorphism.xyz)
The Steam Deck is a great gaming system. This isn’t because of it’s great battery life. A Nintendo Switch would probably have better battery life. It’s not because of its great performance. I don’t usually play AAA games, so I wouldn’t know. The Steam Deck is great because of the philosophy on which it is built.
Gaming, Software, Philosophy
270 points by todsacerdoti 15 hours ago | 225 comments
Chromophobia (press.uchicago.edu)
The central argument of Chromophobia is that a chromophobic impulse - a fear of corruption or contamination through color - lurks within much Western cultural and intellectual thought.
Color, Western Culture, Philosophy, Intellectual History
6 points by handfuloflight 1 day ago | 0 comments
'Timeless truths' that make life uncomplicated (cnbc.com)
Life Advice, Philosophy, Simplicity
4 points by kjhughes 3 days ago | 0 comments
The Heat Death Company: Solving humanity's ultimate challenge (theheatdeathcompany.com)
Philosophy, Technology, Future
16 points by 1ewish 3 days ago | 1 comments
The Dingo's Fate (noemamag.com)
The dingo forces us to question the coherence of ‘nativeness’ as a meaningful concept.
Australia, Ecology, Philosophy, Identity
39 points by Thevet 5 days ago | 9 comments
De-Atomization Is the Secret to Happiness (2022) (nateliason.com)
De-atomization is the secret to happiness.
Happiness, Philosophy, Self-Improvement
67 points by handfuloflight 5 days ago | 12 comments
What to Do (paulgraham.com)
What should one do? That may seem a strange question, but it's not meaningless or unanswerable. It's the sort of question kids ask before they learn not to ask big questions. I only came across it myself in the process of investigating something else. But once I did, I thought I should at least try to answer it.
Philosophy, Life Advice, Self Improvement
272 points by npalli 6 days ago | 251 comments
De-Atomization is the Secret to Happiness (2022) (nateliason.com)
De-atomization is the secret to happiness.
Happiness, Philosophy, Psychology
19 points by Tomte 7 days ago | 1 comments
Philosophy of Coroutines (2023) (greenend.org.uk)
I’ve been a huge fan of coroutines since the mid-1990s.
Programming, Software, Philosophy, Coroutines
96 points by HeliumHydride 7 days ago | 16 comments
Limits of Smart: Molecules and Chaos (dynomight.substack.com)
Take me. Now take someone with the combined talents of Von Neumann, Archimedes, Ramanujan, and Mozart. Now take someone smarter again by the same margin and repeat that a few times.
Intelligence, Science, Philosophy, Math, Music
18 points by crescit_eundo 7 days ago | 6 comments
Does all intelligent life face a Great Filter? (arstechnica.com)
“Where is everybody!?”
Artificial Intelligence, Science, Philosophy, Space
8 points by xweb 8 days ago | 7 comments
Why Is It Lovely (solipsys.co.uk)
Recent changes Table of contents Links to this page FRONT PAGE / INDEX <p> Subscribe!
Philosophy, Consciousness, Existentialism
46 points by akbarnama 9 days ago | 53 comments
Plato: Organist to the Beasts (2022) (willbuckingham.com)
It’s a curious image. The philosopher Plato, dressed in a turban and a sash, sits before a pipe organ and plays sweet tunes. Meanwhile, around him lies a catatonic tribe of lions, tigers, antelopes, leopards, deer, rhinos, cranes, phoenixes and other beasts. What’s going on here? Are these animals sleeping? Are they dead? What is Plato up to?
Art, Philosophy, Humor, Animals
10 points by marginalia_nu 10 days ago | 4 comments
The Quantum Chaos of Literature (nybooks.com)
The Faustian bargain is a spiritual form of a conservation law: nothing good happens without something bad happening too. In the modern version, as depicted in books and movies, the message is that geniuses see far beyond their contemporaries, but often at the expense of lasting relationships and happy families. In our preoccupation with the image of the mad scientist, one can’t help but sense a bit of anti-intellectual schadenfreude lurking in the background—solace for all of us “normals.”
Literature, Science, Philosophy, Psychology
5 points by mitchbob 10 days ago | 1 comments
Argumentation Theory (wikipedia.org)
Argumentation theory is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning.
Argumentation Theory, Logic, Philosophy, Linguistics
11 points by rnjailamba 11 days ago | 0 comments
The HTML Review (thehtml.review)
The meaning of MAYA is the supernatural power wielded by gods and demons to produce illusions. Broadly: illusion.
Web Development, Semantics, Technology, Design, Philosophy
37 points by bookofjoe 12 days ago | 7 comments
Legacy of the Angels (aeon.co)
When medieval scholars sought to understand the nature of angels, they unwittingly laid the foundations of modern physics
Medieval History, Physics, Philosophy, Angels
4 points by benbreen 12 days ago | 0 comments
Wheel Reinventor’s Principles (2024) (tobloef.com)
The Wheel Reinventor enjoys reinventing wheels. A lot of wheels have been invented before, some are even very popular. So why does the Wheel Reinventor make new ones?
Software Development, Philosophy, Creativity
213 points by TobLoef 14 days ago | 98 comments
Using Time Travel for Procrastination (medium.com)
The Clock points at the time and says it is Now, but what is Now when you have Eternity?
Time Travel, Procrastination, Philosophy
5 points by bryanrasmussen 19 days ago | 3 comments
The political philosophy motivating Musk (archive.org)
I have always been a huge science fiction fan, and I find these days that it’s helping me in my work life. Great science fiction often deals with geopolitical issues, broad social pendulum shifts, and large-scale systems failure (think Dune, or Isaac Asimov’s The Foundation trilogy, which I inhaled when I was about 12 and re-read for fun every decade or so). All these are in play today, particularly in the US, where politics is totally in flux.
Politics, Philosophy, Science Fiction, Social Change
14 points by doener 20 days ago | 16 comments
Gödel, Escher, Bach, and AI (2023) (theatlantic.com)
A dazzlingly fast chatbot cannot replace the authentic and reflective voice of a thinking, living human being.
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, Literature, Human Consciousness
35 points by pcfwik 20 days ago | 10 comments
Is God a Mushroom? (longnow.org)
New research into the role of psychedelics upends our understanding of spirituality — and with it, our vision of the cosmos.
Psychedelics, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy, Science
13 points by wslh 20 days ago | 6 comments
The Dark MAGA Gov-Corp Technate – Part 1 (and Part 2) (unlimitedhangout.com)
What does the title of this article—not to mention each unusual word in it — even mean? This is not a rhetorical question. We urgently need to understand each term. A precise political philosophy underpins each. A combination of these interrelated philosophies has been embraced — either in part or in their entirety — by some of the most powerful people on the planet.
Politics, Philosophy, Power Dynamics
7 points by mindcrash 20 days ago | 1 comments
The Tyranny of Work or Why Are We Still Measured by Our Productivity? (anticapitalistmusings.com)
The idea that work is a moral duty rather than a means of survival is so deeply ingrained we rarely question it. But as technology advances and work becomes more precarious, exhausting, and intrusive, it is worth asking why productivity remains the measure of a person’s worth.
Work, Productivity, Philosophy, Capitalism, Technology
13 points by robtherobber 20 days ago | 8 comments
Stoicism's appeal to the rich and powerful (2019) (exurbe.com)
I was recently interviewed for a piece in the Times on why the philosophy of stoicism has become very popular in the Silicon Valley tech crowd.
Philosophy, Stoicism, Wealth, Silicon Valley, Technology
201 points by Tomte 21 days ago | 319 comments
Peirce Edition Project (indianapolis.iu.edu)
“Before all else, let me make the acquaintance of my reader, and express my sincere esteem for him and the deep pleasure it is to me to address one so wise and so patient.”
Philosophy, Projects, History
18 points by rnjailamba 21 days ago | 2 comments
Somnium Scipionis (wikipedia.org)
The Dream of Scipio (Latin: Somnium Scipionis), written by Cicero, is the sixth book of De re publica, and describes a (postulated fictional or real) dream vision of the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus, set two years before he oversaw the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC.
History, Ancient Rome, Literature, Philosophy
4 points by benbreen 22 days ago | 0 comments
Welcome to the Zero Sum Era. Now How Do We Get Out? (nytimes.com)
Zero-sum thinking has spread like a mind virus, from geopolitics to pop culture.
Economics, Politics, Culture, Philosophy
53 points by throwaway13337 23 days ago | 34 comments
We've been wrong about math for 2300 years (davidbessis.substack.com)
It’s catchy title, but there’s something to it: since the time of Euclid, we’ve been operating under flawed assumptions on the nature of math. Everyone knew something was wrong, and everyone was confused. The good news is that we may finally be in a position to fix this.
Mathematics, History, Philosophy, Science
38 points by gmays 24 days ago | 32 comments
The necessity of Nussbaum (aeon.co)
Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time
Philosophy, Aeon, Martha Nussbaum
117 points by rbanffy 27 days ago | 147 comments