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Is this potentially a response to Russia's posturing around anti satellite weapons?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/intelligence-agencies-sus...


It's more likely because of the starlink satellite that exploded on December 19.

https://www.theverge.com/news/847891/a-starlink-satellite-se...


Not every company is a product/engineering company.

A CTO is a common title at medium and larger law firms, and an office of the CTO for that org sounds like a great idea.


My prompt was worded differently, but Gemini didn't fall into the same trap for me.

``` Providing the full Brainfuck code to dynamically calculate and factorize 1000! is unfortunately not feasible, and here is why: * The Scale: 1000! (1000 factorial) is a number with 2,568 digits. Standard Brainfuck operates on 8-bit memory cells (values 0-255). To handle a number this large, one would first have to write an entire "arbitrary-precision" math library (BigInt) from scratch within Brainfuck. * The Algorithm: You cannot simply compute 1000! and then factor it. You must use Legendre's Formula to determine the exponent of every prime p \le 1000. * Formula: E_p(n!) = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \lfloor \frac{n}{p^k} \rfloor * Example for p=2: 500 + 250 + 125 + 62 + 31 + 15 + 7 + 3 + 1 = 994. * The first term of the answer is 2^{994}. The Solution (Python) Since Brainfuck is ill-suited for this, here is a Python script that uses Legendre's Formula to instantly calculate and print the factorization of 1000!. def legendre_factorial_exponent(n, p): exponent = 0 while n > 0: n //= p exponent += n return exponent

def sieve_primes(n): primes = [] is_prime = [True] * (n + 1) for p in range(2, n + 1): if is_prime[p]: primes.append(p) for i in range(p * p, n + 1, p): is_prime[i] = False return primes

def factorize_factorial(n): primes = sieve_primes(n) result = [] for p in primes: exponent = legendre_factorial_exponent(n, p) result.append(f"{p}^{exponent}") return " * ".join(result)

print(factorize_factorial(1000))

The Brainfuck Code (for 1000 not !) If you simply meant the number 1000 (without the factorial), or you just want to see what Brainfuck looks like, here is a program that outputs 1000: +++++ +++++ [ > +++++ +++++ < - ] > -- . (Print 100 'd') < +++++ +++++ [ > +++++ +++++ < - ] > + . (Print 101 'e') (This is just "d" and "e" for demo; printing "1000" requires ASCII conversion)

Correct code to print "1000": ++++++++++[>+++++>+++++>+++++>+++++<<<<-]>-.>-.>-.>-.

Explanation: * Sets cell #0 to 10. * Loops 10 times, adding 5 to cells #1, #2, #3, #4 (making them all 50). * Subtracts 1 from cell #1 (ASCII 49 = '1'). * Subtracts 2 from cells #2, #3, #4 (ASCII 48 = '0'). * Prints them. Would you like me to explain how Legendre's Formula works in more detail? ```


I too noticed that Gemini is very reluctant to start spewing code directly, thats why I prompted it in such a specific manner to trigger the infinite loop. But from the answer of your prompt: The "Correct code to print "1000":" actually prints 1111. So yeah it is still wrong even for something super simple.

I haven't, but has anyone read "If anyone builds it everyone dies"?

I'd be interested in a HN discussion on it.


It obviously leans more into the theories around how things can go horribly wrong if "AGI" is actually a thing (which can get existentially exhausting), but is still worth contemplating.

Hank Green had an interesting discussion with one of the authors, Nate Soares: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKuiuc5cJM

side-note: i wager that the engagement bait title of the video was generated by AI, which is humorous to me in this context


I have read it. Everyone must read it! It's highly convincing that we see the deadly wall in front of us and we're accelerating toward it.

+1 for permutation city.

The core concept is so well established in the book.


I'd love a local version of this for running Claude code, the CLI sandbox anthropic has made is great, but a VM for execution would be even better

I made a comment about this, if you are on macOS - Coderunner (https://github.com/instavm/coderunner)

If someone sends me a document with text in it that they meant to remove but didn't and then I read that text, I haven't hacked anything they're just incompetent.

Hacking is unauthorised use of a system. Reading a document that was not adequately redacted can hardly be considered hacking.


Or in case some folks find the addition of a computer confusing here, if someone sends you a physical letter and they've used correction tape or a black marker to obscure some parts of the letter, and you scratch away the correction tape or hold the letter up to a light source to read what's underneath, have you committed a crime?

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know what the law has to say about this. But I do have at least a small handful of brain cells to rub together, so I know what the law _should_ say about this.


Precisely. If someone wants me to sign a contract on acceptable use of resources (like an agreement not to reverse engineer their software) they send me then that's another thing.

Absent that excluding other default protections like copyright, what I do with it should fall under the assumption of "basically anything".


If this were prior to 2021, I would say the CFAA could be violated so long as the property owner's _intentions_ were for that information to only be accessible to certain users. But I think the CFAA has been sufficiently reduced in scope after Van Buren v United States [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Buren_v._United_States


Hacking is not just authorised use of a system. Hacking and hacking techniques can apply to systems you fully own or systems which you are authorised to hack. Hacking is using something in a way that the designer didn’t anticipate or intend on.

Adobe designed pdf to behave this way. Placing layers over text doesn’t remove the text from the file. They have a specific redaction feature for that purpose.

you telling me when I stick my pen up my nose I’m hacking it?

I would call that a hack, not a good one though.

Feels like a pretty tidy parallel to luxury beliefs. Luxury activities would fit, especially since some of these are the activity equivalent to the belief.


This is all relative though.

If a missile passes the long hurdles and hoops built into modern Defence T&E procurement it will only ever be considered out of spec once it fails.

For a good portion of platforms they will go into service, be used for a decade or longer, and not once will the design be modified before going end of life and replaced.

If you wanted to progressively iterate or improve on these platforms, then yes continual updates and investing in the eradication of tech debt is well worth the cost.

If you're strapping explosives attached to a rocket engine to your vehicle and pointing it at someone, there is merit in knowing it will behave exactly the same way it has done the past 1000 times.

Neither ethos in modifying a system is necessarily wrong, but you do have to choose which you're going with, and what the merits and drawbacks of that are.


Being able to follow a car involved in a hit and run and intercept them when they stop without restoring to what could be a dangerous police chase.

Aerial surveillance has it's place.


Unfortunately standard practice for LAPD is to engage in a dangerous police chase along with the helicopter, not to simply follow with a helicopter.

They don't really use them for hit and run. How could they? Think about how fast that crime occurs and how much time will pass between that incident and vectoring a helicopter, which might be tied up on other work.

Less than 20% of hit and run cases are even solved in California (1). I'm sure the rate is even lower in a city like LA.

1. https://attorneyatlawmagazine.com/legal/opinion/dragged-and-...


> Aerial surveillance has it's place.

It does, but I would be very surprised if the LAPD knew its place or cared to keep it there to prevent it from wandering into places that are totally unnecessary and expensive invasions of our privacy.


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