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Yeah, but I'm only cynical in relation to what I see as the orthodoxies of the kind of people who post on HN. When I say it like that, it sounds pathetic. And in fact, it is. Yet, …

I love human creativity. I don't like pseudo-science, especially coming from people who believe they are above it (and fall prey to it anyway).

It is creative as long as you acknowledge it's unobtainable. But in threads like this, fantasy and reality tend to blur.

I generally see myself as an earnest person, but some kinds of earnestness read as cynical to me.

No, it doesn't seem very creative to me. I don't think I've ever sounded so cynical in my life, but something about the way sci-fi fandom bleeds into real science really makes me d…

I'm always so alienated (sorry) by the excitement around things like this. People start fantasizing about FTL and space arks and there is just no evidence that any of that is possi…

There is a fourth that the author would never mention: Hire consultants about the problem

You don't have to wait 100 years. You can build a bridge to alleviate traffic without any understanding that the bridge will in fact generate more traffic, and then you have to wid…

How do you know that? What do you know about prehistory? Nothing. You might as well be picturing the Flintstones in your head. You're using broadly shared but totally unsubstantiat…

My grandmother used to give me mix CDs as gifts. One time I asked her where she found all the music and she told me "Oh there's this amazing app called Limewire." She then taught m…

Am I crazy or does this just real like secular eschatology? What evidence do you have of any of this?

I don't remember Dr. Tobias Funke being into Hindutva, but it's a funny image.

That's an absurd false dichotomy. I'm assuming the historians are the cucks in your analogy? As the author points out, many of the "chuds" haven't even read translations of Greek o…

You should work on the ability to distinguish respect from charitability. One can be charitable to views that one does not respect. And if one ends up being disrespectful it does n…

I did a pandemic project of reading Dredd from the start for as long as I could. I made it through about 25 case files volumes, which took me from 1977 to the late 90s (I think). I…

Hey, that's Ian Malcolm's line in Jurassic Park! “Let's be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven't got the power to destroy the planet - or to save it.…

Don't let that stop you from reading the Manga.

I read Anna Karenina pretty fast. And the Power Broker. I'm a fast reader in general.

Don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you've become addicted to instant gratification and you've rationalized it. Up is down, down is up, and low value social media com…

I just speed ahead, and I always retained more than I thought I did. If I keep going, eventually I can reach a kind of flow. It doesn't matter if I missed bits here or there. Or, y…

I wonder if Pluto by Naoki Urasawa would be considered Cyberpunk? Even if it isn't, it's a must read.

How about an Elmore Leonard novel? Very digestible novels from a deceptively skilled craftsman.

I see that pedantry is more intellectually stimulating than either programming or reading!

I think the quote doesn't say what you think it says. Wittgenstein loved philosophy, and it's frustrating when people cherry pick his work to try and dunk on the entire field. And …

"Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." If you view the story of Wittgenstein and Rorty as primarily one of leaving academia, I b…