Top all-time · #358
Scott Locklin
Personal blog · scottlocklin.wordpress.comsciencedata
Scott Locklin writes Locklin on science, a personal blog at scottlocklin.wordpress.com about science and data. Since 2009, 150 different Hacker News readers have linked it 298 times, most often “Quantum computing as a field is obvious bullshit”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-15, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 12 of 40 sampled comments recommend it, 3 are critical?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for skeptical physical-technology writing: quantum computing, APL languages and Google. Some commenters find the tone abrasive or clickbait-like.
- Recommended for · 12 comments
- Called excellent, prescient and dead-on; the best explainer; APL articles loved and recommended.
- Criticised for · 3 comments
- Says it does not do justice to cybernetics; title is link bait, not researched; style built for clicks.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
In which I explain things interesting, remarkable or silly.
Most-linked posts?
- Quantum computing as a field is obvious bullshit11 people · 23 mentions · first linked 2019-01-15
- Ruins of forgotten empires: APL Languages (2013)7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2015-03-26
- Stochastic Computing6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2018-06-06
- On Cultures That Build5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2020-06-20
- “AI” and the human informational centipede5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-09-03
- Cybersyn and Allende’s Semi-Automated Luxury Socialism4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2019-11-18
- /2014/04/04/michael-lewis-shilling-for-the-buyside/4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2015-02-13
- Lush: My favorite small programming language4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2024-11-20
- Conformal Prediction: Machine Learning with Confidence Intervals3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-12-06
- A look at the J language: the fine line between genius and insanity (2012)3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-04-25
What Hacker News says?
A lot of the tech ones I follow have already been listed so I will try to list some that others may not be aware of. 1. Applied Divinity Studies. Rationalist adjacent. Obviously influenced by Scott Alexander, but less optimistic, a bit more cynical. - https://applieddivinitystudies.com/ 2. Scott Locklin's blog. He used to post on HN. Mostly covers tech related things (but physical tech, not web stuff). Many HN reade…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals?”Submitted Andreessen-Horowitz craps on “AI” startups from a great height as a story · 695 points
HN discussionYeah, nobody has principles. https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/i-dont-want-to...
Comment linking /2018/05/24/i-dont-want-to-work-on-your-shitty-blockchain-project-especially-you-facebook/
on “‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students”Submitted Open Problems in Robotics as a story · 436 points
HN discussionTo those downvoting, if your attention span is long enough for a long read, here's an explanation of why the United States will 100% guaranteed lose if it chooses to engage: https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/america-agains...
Comment linking /2021/11/03/america-against-america-the-chinese-de-tocqueville/
on “Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas”Submitted Neglected machine learning ideas as a story · 319 points
HN discussionFew reasons to leave California - https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2020/09/12/leaving-the-ba...
Comment linking /2020/09/12/leaving-the-bay-area/
on “Elon Musk moves to Texas”Submitted Battleships: a ridiculous but awesome idea as a story · 205 points
HN discussionI love this article: https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/ruins-of-forgo...
Comment linking /2013/07/28/ruins-of-forgotten-empires-apl-languages/
on “30 years later, QBasic is still the best”Submitted Michael Lewis: shilling for the buyside? as a story · 197 points
HN discussionI don't have numbers handy. The real power of kdb+/q comes from the column oriented architecture and the extremely powerful vector functional language q. The language q is inspired by APL. I highly recommend you to check out this article to get a sense of the APL family of languages https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/ruins-of-forgo... If you want a database for blazing fast data-storage and retrieval, the…
Comment linking /2013/07/28/ruins-of-forgotten-empires-apl-languages/
on “Apple Acquires FoundationDB”Submitted Humble tokamak physicist owns generations of cosmological wankers as a story · 180 points
HN discussion>Pretty much all space programmes prior to the commercialisation of space. We're only at the start of that, too: today imaging satellites and internet connections, tomorrow potentially heavy industry, solar power generation and mineral extraction. Who knows what else. Those had *direct* benefits at the time, immediately: satellites of all kinds, classified military stuff, and the dickwaving pleasure of putting a man…
Comment linking /2010/10/04/spotting-vaporware-three-follies-of-would-be-technologists/
on “Nothing like this will be built again (2002)”Submitted A look at the J language: the fine line between genius and insanity (2012) as a story · 166 points
HN discussionScott Locklin memorably declared Google to be in its "Fat Elvis" stage as early as 2011: https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/google-as-fat-...
Comment linking /2011/02/04/google-as-fat-elvis/
on “Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th”Submitted A look at the J language: the fine line between genius and insanity (2012) as a story · 159 points
HN discussionObligatory reference: https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/quantum-comput...
Comment linking /2019/01/15/quantum-computing-as-a-field-is-obvious-bullshit/
on “Why haven't quantum computers factored 21 yet?”Submitted RNA Memory Hypothesis as a story · 156 points
HN discussionaaaand, after a late night coding session, this turned into a 2000 word tirade which might be of interest: http://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/neglected-machi...
Comment linking /2014/07/22/neglected-machine-learning-ideas/
on “Level-Up Your Machine Learning”Submitted Lush: My favorite small programming language as a story · 151 points
HN discussionEDIT: Paste this hacky snippet into your browser's console to save all of the links into your clipboard: (() => { let result = [...document.querySelectorAll('td a')] .map((link) => link && !link.href.includes('ycombinator') && !link.href.includes('javascript:void') ? link.href : '' ) .filter(Boolean); result = [...new Set(result)]; result.sort(); copy(result.join('\n\n')); })(); Just to help, here's a compiled-list…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Great Blogs by Programmers”Submitted Obvious and possible software innovations as a story · 144 points
HN discussionhttps://scottlocklin.wordpress.com
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Great Blogs by Programmers”Submitted There is no nanotech, stop talking about it and start laughing at it as a story · 139 points
HN discussionObligatory PSA: Scott Locklin's "Quantum computing as a field is obvious bullshit": "When I say Quantum Computing is a bullshit field, I don’t mean everything in the field is bullshit, though to first order, this appears to be approximately true. I don’t have a mathematical proof that Quantum Computing isn’t at least theoretically possible. I also do not have a mathematical proof that we can or can’t make the artifi…
Comment linking /2019/01/15/quantum-computing-as-a-field-is-obvious-bullshit/
on “IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor”Submitted Ruins of forgotten empires: APL languages as a story · 135 points
HN discussionThe obligatory: https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/quantum-comput...
Comment linking /2019/01/15/quantum-computing-as-a-field-is-obvious-bullshit/
on “Quantum winter is coming”Submitted Only fast languages are interesting as a story · 130 points
HN discussiona very smart physicist turned quant's take on many topics - always excited to see a new entry http://scottlocklin.wordpress.com
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What unknown technical blogs or sites do you read?”Submitted The largest computer ever built as a story · 122 points
HN discussion
