[HN Gopher] Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2011)
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       Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2011)
        
       Author : teej
       Score  : 60 points
       Date   : 2026-01-31 19:11 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (gwern.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (gwern.net)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related. Others?
       | 
       |  _Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26826585 - April 2021 (10
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Death Note: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy (2017)_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20617325 - Aug 2019 (139
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Death Note Anonymity: L, Anonymity and Eluding Entropy_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9553494 - May 2015 (23
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Who wrote the 'Death Note' script?_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5010846 - Jan 2013 (79
       | comments)
        
       | poppingtonic wrote:
       | This essay nerd sniped me _hard_ into information theory.
       | Absolutely love it.
        
       | wodenokoto wrote:
       | I would highly recommend the 2006 deaths note films.
       | 
       | I found the manga and anime to have too many side stories. Fans
       | of them love these near miss stories, but I found them like a
       | bunch of dead ends.
       | 
       | The double feature is well made and much more focused on the core
       | story, imho
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Note_(2006_film)
        
         | throwatdem12311 wrote:
         | I also thought the the L spin-off was pretty good.
        
         | Andrex wrote:
         | They're not dead ends per se because their purpose is growing
         | the characters and revealing more of them to the audience. The
         | movie streamlines and speed runs all that, for better or worse.
        
       | hibikir wrote:
       | The analysis forgets the very first problem after someone is
       | killing criminals visibly: Light relies on TV to find them. You
       | could tell it's Japan without doing any math about time zones or
       | anythING, as TV itself brings in the bias. To pretend you are
       | elsewhere, you have to be consuming foreign news to even begin to
       | have a chance to hide yourself
        
         | throwaway314155 wrote:
         | Have you seen the show/read the manga? That's precisely the
         | first tactic L uses against Light - he broadcasts that he has
         | precise knowledge that he's somewhere in the Kanto region of
         | Japan based on this timing. This is also mentioned in the
         | article.
        
       | SilverElfin wrote:
       | > How much positive evidence for guilt is necessary before we
       | decide that some man should be put away?
       | 
       | Isn't this what "beyond a reasonable doubt" is doing? It's
       | obviously not precise but it's an intention of the current
       | system.
        
         | 20260126032624 wrote:
         | > How much positive evidence for guilt is necessary before we
         | decide that some man should be put away?
         | 
         | The answer to this question is ZERO. We are human, after all
         | (and the corollary is that no amount of evidence will tip the
         | scale for someone we don't want to put away). How much positive
         | evidence for guilt _ought to be_ necessary for a society to
         | remain moral /egalitarian/equitable is a different question
         | entirely.
        
           | philipallstar wrote:
           | Zero evidence is required to lock someone up?
        
             | pixl97 wrote:
             | Correct. The only thing required to lock someone up is
             | power.
        
           | GavinMcG wrote:
           | I think you're taking "necessary" literally, whereas the
           | author is posing a question about morality.
        
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       (page generated 2026-01-31 23:00 UTC)