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Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

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Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#391

Post by carapace »

matt2ray wrote: post #368
carapace wrote: post #203

First of all, let me point out that this: > Most of my work seems to be boring CRUD work where the challenge is gluing libraries together or figuring out business requirements. Actual interesting technical problems seems to be mostly wrapped in ready-made libraries / SaaS services. ...isn't a problem. It's a sign of maturity of the field. In 2018 most problems that you can solve with a computer should have an off-the…

>Second, you've got to take into account that NN/ML/AI et. al. is going to "eat" a portion of all programming work within the next fifteen years or so. Are there any repos I should look at to learn this? How is this possible when even humans can't read sarcasm online? I'm genuinely blown that this is even possible?!?

Repos, no. But, no coincidence, I have open two relevant tabs right now:

"Software 2.0", Andrej Karpathy https://medium.com/@karpathy/software-2-0-a64152b37c35

> It turns out that a large portion of real-world problems have the property that it is significantly easier to collect the data (or more generally, identify a desirable behavior) than to explicitly write the program.

"Deep Learning is Eating Software", Pete Warden https://petewarden.com/2017/11/13/deep-learning-is-eating-so...

> The pattern is that there’s an existing software project doing data processing using explicit programming logic, and the team charged with maintaining it find they can replace it with a deep-learning-based solution.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#392

Post by pedalpete »

We're not a boring company, but there is boring work to get done, and that sucks up a lot of time in a start-up where we should be focused on the more interesting stuff. Not only because it is challenging, but because our customers want it.

But, there is no way of getting the product into the customers hands, billing, support, marketing, etc. and all the other "boring" CRUD stuff that needs to be done to support the product.

This may explain why so much work is considered boring. Unless you have a highly specialized skill, and even then sometimes, expect the majority of your time to be taken up with more menial tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#393

Post by byebyetech »

neltnerb wrote: post #310
tw1010 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should be a name to the phenomenon that humans seem to become crushingly depressed once they start to grasp the big picture dynamics of the system they're encapsulated within. I think it's an effect that we're not quite prepared for as we reach closer and closer to science dotting all its i's. It's as if childhood primes us to think that life is all about figuring out what the heck is going on around us, and as…

I had a dream where I was in a coma for 20 years, woke up, and found that AI was now able to trivially answer even the most difficult research questions I could imagine. In my dream I visited my old workplace, and found that while the CEO was still there the ease at which questions could be answered made the humans more supervisers than researchers. For some time in my dream I was lost, not sure what my value was as…

Was that a dream or a trip? ;)

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#394

Post by jacques_chester »

rileyphone wrote: post #237
jacques_chester wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't agree with Marx, your sense of ennui seems to reasonably represent what I understand to have been his concepts of reification and alienation. One might ask: what does the alternative look like? From what I can tell Marx is a bit wishy-washy on that point. Hayek more helpfully explained that the market provides a mechanism for determining value, not virtue . That it works, but doesn't uplift. And that tr…

For some Marxist readings on the alternative, I recommend Marx's own Critique of the Gotha Program and Cockshott and Cotrill's Towards a New Socialism, which seeks to develop a basis for a post-capitalism society with a cybernetically planned economy and direct democracy.

Red Plenty is an interesting history of the unfollowed possibilities for these ideas in the history of the USSR.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#395

Post by jacques_chester »

sincerely wrote: post #350
jacques_chester wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Kołakowski is to be believed, Marx's view of the post-revolutionary world has a somewhat mystical flavour stemming mostly from Hegel. It is the immediate roots in Hegelian philosophy that makes it, in practical terms, wishy-washy. What has always tied Marxism in knots has been the tension between waiting for the inexorable laws of history on the one hand (and sometimes trying to give them a hurry up) versus on the…

Do you think that the more left-accelerationist factions have any meaningful influence compared to more reformist organizations like the DSA? Is it different outside the states?

I am not qualified to say.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#396

Post by ankothari »

exikyut wrote: post #181
ankothari wrote: post #103

We all use stackoverflow a lot. And a bit of github too. I am trying to build a website similar to quora using the stackoverflow data dump. But here I am gonna recommend users questions to answer so that he can improve his reputation by answering them.

I completely misread this the first time round, so, to clarify just in case: the idea, as I read it, is to surface unanswered stackoverflow questions. (I thought it was something about listing answers underneath questions or something, woops.) This is indeed a VERY interesting idea, as the whole of Stack Exchange has pretty much hit saturation point now, where 99% of questions have already been asked. The main challe…

No, I didnt mean that. I meant to create a different application mainly for software developers in discovering very interesting questions for them to learn from and then show them relevant questions for them to answer hoping to get their reputation increased.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#397

Post by perfmode »

swsieber wrote: post #201
perfmode wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same thing goes for family. One should not look for family to fill every aspect of your life.

I haven't given it a ton of thought because I have a job I enjoy from time to time, and enough downtime to pursue a hobby or two - I guess I'm in a pretty balanced situation and am okay with it. In reading your post, I had to stop and think for a bit. I agree with you but want to give the thought that family can be one's top priority without looking for it fill every aspect of one's life.

no one thing should be dependended upon entirely. any and everything may disappear from your life at any moment.

no one is above great tragedy and loss.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#398

Post by IntenseChaos »

kilo_bravo_3 wrote: post #187

I'm working on a team that is miniaturizing a synthetic aperture radar system. The amplifiers, processing, and data storage used to take up most of the space of a small cargo plane. Then it got down to four half-racks. Now it is the size of a dishwasher. We hope to get it drone-sized. It is a never-ending series of interesting technical problems that span the entire STEM range, including RF, network, system, electric…

Capella Space?

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#399

Post by drmeister »

senatorobama wrote: post #83
drmeister wrote: post #43

We are developing a matter compiler. We are working on designing molecular Lego to assemble them into new catalysts, therapeutic compounds, atomically precise membranes and sensors for proteins and small molecules. The goal is to make molecules that can do everything that proteins can do and that can be designed by human beings with computer assistance. We've developed a programming environment with a custom compiler…

do you do remote?

It depends on the skills and our needs.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#400

Post by apohn »

stormbeard wrote: post #377
apohn wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I've loosely followed him since, and he seems to be absolutely crushing it wherever he goes. Question - is his management crushing it as well or are they crushing him? Is he good at standing up for himself and not letting management crush him? I think a lot of enthusiastic and brilliant people get destroyed by their managers exploiting them. So the individual goes from crushing it to getting crushed. Management real…

Interesting point. Can you elaborate a bit on what you'd expect from a manager to help that person succeed? Is it mostly case-specific?

It's always case specific, but it usually involves the manager supporting them by providing time and/or space. rubicon33's example and response is a great one. Put them in a situation where their strengths can be well utilized and the effect of their weaknesses minimized.

Also, not everybody has the personality or energy to constantly stand up for themselves. A lot of people will eventually crumble or leave. Don't make it so the only way the employee can do their best (e.g. what rubicon33 describes) is if they put their foot down and scream.

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