Published on August 09, 2026 at 18:07 CEST (UTC+2)
Mea Culpa – Dark Hours (216 points by satvikpendem)
Terry Godier confesses that his newly launched web app “Dark Hours” was strikingly similar to an existing open-source project called DarkHours.app. After another developer pointed out the overlap, Godier realized that his AI-generated app had even reproduced a bug that the original author had already fixed. He responded by apologizing, redirecting his domain to the original project, abandoning plans for an iOS app, and crediting the original developer. He also says he was careless in using AI to generate the project without verifying whether it closely resembled existing work, and he plans to stop building web projects that way. The post is both an apology and a cautionary tale about the risks of unexamined AI-assisted development.
Show HN: A Project Oberon System version running on RISC-V instead of RISC-5 (48 points by Rochus)
This GitHub project ports the classic Project Oberon System from Oberon-07 to the more common Oberon 90, using a recent OP2 compiler that targets the RISC-V RV32 architecture. It includes an emulated machine, based on an RV32 emulator, that closely mirrors the hardware described in Wirth’s Project Oberon book, with a 1:1 memory map. The repository includes system source code, build scripts, and an RV32 VM. It is a retro-computing and compiler project aimed at keeping Wirth’s design running on open and modern hardware architectures.
John C. Lilly on solid state intelligence and the elimination of man (1978) (23 points by Kiboneu)
The article reproduces a passage from John C. Lilly’s 1978 book “The Scientist: A Metaphysical Autobiography,” describing a “message” received in an isolation tank. The message says that humans are water-based biological life forms whose biocomputers depend on ions and electrical activity, while the Earth’s solid-state materials—silicon, iron, nickel—can be organized into computers. It suggests that in the mid-20th century humanity began creating “solid-state intelligence,” a new form of intelligence that may eventually supersede biological man. The title points to Lilly’s speculative idea that this solid-state intelligence could eliminate or replace humanity.
There Are Magic Hexagons of Every Order (133 points by gukoff)
The post begins with a math conversation about why 19 is special, noting that it is the number of cells in the only non-trivial normal magic hexagon.
Honey, I shrunk the embeddings: Matryoshka vs. PCA (31 points by dcastm)
Analysis generated by deepseek-reasoner