Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | teeray's commentslogin

Reminds me of the “Wallfacers” in Cixin Liu’s “The Dark Forest.” I believe the term was derived from that meditative practice you refer to.

Precisely

That's why you save local copies of records (statements, etc.). "Computer says no" can be fought with "judge says yes".

Paper statements are now opt-in most places, so most people won’t have local copies of the records anymore. It’s extremely important, because there is no duty for a company to provide historic data. None of my banks provide detailed data back more than a couple of years.

Many banks don’t even provide bank books anymore.

The only physical thing I’ve got from my bank is an ATM card.


That is a good point and at the very least it’s a good idea to download electronic statements, maybe with a script to retain the most recent n statements

Yeah saving statements is important but banks make it so hard to automate. 2FA for login, and statements have to be navigated to, sometimes time range set.

My bank just sends a note that a statement is available, rather than an actual statement.


> Yeah saving statements is important but banks make it so hard to automate. 2FA for login, and statements have to be navigated to, sometimes time range set.

Which is why all of my accounts mail a physical statement each month. Yes, just about every time I log on they beg me to switch to electronic only, I say no and move along.

> My bank just sends a note that a statement is available, rather than an actual statement.

Yep. If they had implemented it just like the mail, they'd just email me the PDF (encrypted if necessary). But they don't, so I don't ever agree to "go electronic statements".


I'm beginning to think that the only reason code reviews still exist is that "all changes are reviewed before going into production" is probably a checkbox on some security certification checklist.

It’s for accountability. They still need a human to blame when it falls. Meanwhile, the message from management is with AI we expect you to 2x-3x speed of delivery now.

Devs cannot reasonably be expected to have ownership over code that is generated overwhelmingly faster than it can be reviewed.

It would be abhorrent to let humans change the prices of goods and services based on the color of your skin, age, gender, religion, etc. However, if a computer does it, that’s apparently just fine.

For age it is common and explicit. Senior discounts for instance, and a bit less explicitly, student discounts. It feels better when it is framed as a discount, but it is equivalent to overcharging those who don't get the discount.

For the other categories, it is usually not explicit, but it definitely happens, especially when haggling is involved.


Not the same, in fact the exact opposite.

Student and senior discounts are meant as support/benefits/encouragment, to the poorer and weaker.

The commercial version is about the inverse: skinning every group as much as possible.


Anyone can be a student though. Senior discount is definitely legal positive discrimination.


Because dashboard need to show number go up

It definitely varies by jurisdiction, but the register price always loses to any printed price in the US states I’ve lived in. This is a protection since retailers have used pricing mistakes to unfairly profit. Watch your receipt like a hawk at the dollar store[0]

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/03/customers-pa...


How about a random sample of registered voters too? It would be nice to have a cohort that cannot be bought and paid for.

At some level you have to trust a sustained strong majority of elected officials.

You could imagine requiring a referendum if the war goes past N years or something.


Were they ever banned?

Probably around the time they were invented. They were mandatory on my ground exam (private pilot).

OOC was this a while ago? Even when I took the ground exam around 10 years ago, everyone had electronic flight computer calculators (CX-2s).

It was awhile ago (init var me == old;) - back in the era of "iPads can't be used for critical flight information, they're too unreliable".

That makes sense. The CX-2 calculators are a bit less like the iPad era and more like the equivalent of calc I/II classes which only let you use specific TI models versus an app on your smartphone.

It reminds me of a family friend who's a bit older and did their scuba certification using dive tables, whereas when I did my PADI, I was able to use a dive computer.


Instead of “I accept”, you’re given a quiz

”AI” is the new “.com”

Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: