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Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

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Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#121

Post by plastic-enjoyer »

Carbonhell wrote: post #120

Messing with EEG headsets, like the ones by OpenBCI. Being able to perform some operations by just thinking about them sounds so incredibly cool - I've been thinking about this for several years, but it looks like quite an expensive hobby.

As an ex-EEG researcher I can say that acquiring an EEG device is probably the least difficult thing. EEG signals are messy, not reliable and hard to interpret. Without a solid foundation in cognitive psychophysiology you won't have a lot of fun with an EEG device. So, before investing a lot of money into an EEG device you should watch a beginner course on cognitive psychophysiology or get some literature to get the basics down.

On the other hand, you could probably hack a cheap ECG device to measure EEG signals.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#123

Post by jononor »

Revisional_Sin wrote: post #107
yieldcrv wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generative AI is helping people express themselves, the ones that were never going to hire the fiverr worker or graphics team to begin with

But then you risk harassment from the anti-AI crowd.

Haters gonna hate. Don't let the fear of that stop you.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#124

Post by jononor »

joshdavham wrote: post #39

Python packages written in low-level languages like C/C++ and Rust. There are currently so many cool open source projects in the python ecosystem that involve writing python packages in low-level languages. But unfortunately, I've barely written any low-level code since university, so these projects are effectively out of reach for me at the moment. However, I do plan on learning Rust sometime later this year and the…

pybind11 is your friend. Focus on small self-contained functions first. For numerical functions you can then take it mostly our of a book. See if you can speed up some simple and common operation within your problem domain of interest.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#125

Post by monarchwadia »

yu3zhou4 wrote: post #109

Being able to spontaneously speak with people and slow thinking. I am ok at writing with people, because it gives me time to think and refine my message. But I really suck at live events and talking to people in real life. Did anyone overcome it? And how?

For me, it was a skill issue.Most people learn it when very young. Just repeated practice helped... and someone close to me coached me on things that seemed common sense to others, but were counterintuitive to me. But over time, my neurons rewired themselves. I'm fairly good at small talk now. People dont believe me when I say I couldn't even order pizza over the phone at one point.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#127

Post by newswasboring »

Currently, just making a game. I have finished like one game in my life. There is something about the huge scope of things I need to know from music to UI to art that just seems daunting. I tried to do a couple game jams but I am now of the opinion that is too much stress for me.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#128

Post by namaria »

avmich wrote: post #74

Presentations, including video ones. The ideas feel pretty clear in the head long before you can describe it in a manner which ideally could be a pleasure to watch. What tooling to use, how to work with all that, how to even plan the layout of words, scenes, images seems pretty puzzling, and solutions are like a slow walk in a dark room.

Storytelling is the skill you're looking for. Visual aids and recording/editing are incidental.

What makes presentations, video essays, etc, great is having a great story to tell.

It's all about the archetype of the hero, and plot arch (normal life -> problem -> departure -> toll -> return).

You have to present people with a reason to embark on the story - which is the reason the 'hero' leaves on their journey; a clear understanding of what's at stake, the price to be paid, the confrontation and the return to a new, better normal.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#130

Post by Yiin »

monarchwadia wrote: post #125
yu3zhou4 wrote: post #109

Being able to spontaneously speak with people and slow thinking. I am ok at writing with people, because it gives me time to think and refine my message. But I really suck at live events and talking to people in real life. Did anyone overcome it? And how?

For me, it was a skill issue.Most people learn it when very young. Just repeated practice helped... and someone close to me coached me on things that seemed common sense to others, but were counterintuitive to me. But over time, my neurons rewired themselves. I'm fairly good at small talk now. People dont believe me when I say I couldn't even order pizza over the phone at one point.

can you share some of the things that seemed common sense to others?
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