The concept of qualia, which refers to the subjective experiences and qualities of consciousness, is usually discussed in the context of human perception, so I was just idly wondering: what would an artifical intelligence look like to which the concept of qualia made sense?
Your best case scenario is actually a worst case scenario.
From Düsseldorf to Frankfurt, using regional trains, you have to change once in Koblenz (RE 5 to RE 2). This is a connection which takes 3 hours and 50 minutes and runs every 2 hours (with numerous other options in between).
Technically, every tax payer does pay, irrespective of whether they are using the ticket or not: the EUR 49/month ticket is heavily subsidised, to the tune of EUR 3 billion/year, and this is covered by the tax payer.
Example #5: In order to discourage drug diversion in a neonatal care unit, and in the days before computerized fingerprint recognition, our nurses were required to do the following when retrieving medications from the Pyxis medication cart: The nurse fetching the medication would enter their password on the computer, remove the medicine from the Pyxis drawer, draw the correct amount, and administer it to the patient. If any medicine remained in the vial—which happened frequently, because newborns often require smaller doses—the nurse was supposed to call a second nurse to the Pyxis, who would enter their password. The second entry was supposed to indicate that the second nurse observed the first nurse discarding the left-over medicine. However, because the nurses resented having to bother one another, especially when they were extremely busy with patient care measures, they simply shared their passwords with one another and entered them when they returned to the Pyxis. Not only was this an easy shortcut, but it compensated for the nurses’ taking offense that administration would think them to be drug diverters. Of course, it categorically defeated the purpose of the regulation.
Big fan of skip-level meetings: I schedule those in an ad-hoc fashion.
I let new joiners know to expect those occasional meetings, so they don't get worried if they're invited.
I use them for relationship building, showing appreciation, and also inviting colleagues to provide feedback on improvements to our organisation, tools, and processes, particularly if the skip-level was recently blocked by inefficiences outside of their immediate control.
I've dreaded writing these words for quite some time now, because to me, she's become the prototype of someone who hasn't been quite alive for some time now, but still embodied the spirit of a nation - a nation arguably in perceived decline, but still somehow held together by the almost poetic and optimistic belief that as long as the Queen is alive, the nation will prosper or, at the very least, persevere.
At the same time, I feel relief that even the Queen may die, and life still goes on. May she rest in peace.
HN is the only place where I feel truly comfortable and at home. Through divorce, addiction, and desperation of all kinds. Thank you and to another 15 years.
I briefly ran a PK-focused MUD (hosted on Wolfpaw) and remember being amazed at having 15 players online simultaneously. I was ultimately forced to shut down the MUD by my parents, because working on it started negatively impacting my preparations for final exams.
Whatever applies to engineering applies to the business end of tech as well - I've enjoyed considerable longevity in sales (management) by staying humble initially but displaying very forceful convictions once I've figured out the lay of the land upon joining new roles.
It really pays off to listen and stay open minded before you start enforcing best practices you've picked up from previous experience and assignments.
Give yourself the opportunity to actually feel like an impostor deliberately (if only for a brief period of time)! Really dig into the reasons why things are run a certain way before you propose changes: this will set you up for success and will attract a lot of goodwill.
I know this sounds trivial, but humility is an extremely underrated trait in tech, especially if paired with experience and the power to pull off change for the better.
I found this bit particularly revealing:
"Amazon’s most effective union-busting tactic was requiring employees to attend so-called captive audience meetings. The presentations were a study in psychological projection. Amazon, a publicly traded for-profit corporation that maximizes shareholder value and refers to its employees as “associates,” was presented as a “family.” Meanwhile, unions—nonprofit organizations whose members call each other “brother” and “sister” and who elect their own leaders—were framed as businesses run by “bosses.” The workers were told that the union, being a business, had come to Bessemer only to squeeze a profit out of them, whereas Amazon, being a family, had arrived to aid a struggling community."
The next iteration will take in July 2025 (https://2023.laulupidu.ee/en/registraton-to-song-celebration...)
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTdOiCa0-4o for a beautiful excerpt of the 2019 event.