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Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

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Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#511

Post by ScottFree »

fxtentacle wrote: post #149
jb1991 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely agree, and this is even more of a problem in the United States than most other western nations. Work life balance should be a priority for all human beings, and Americans have much to learn to catch up in this area.

I agree. Americans get almost religious if you propose to only work a day per week. Much better to claim that the rest of your week was already fully booked, even though in reality you just don't need the additional money.

> Americans get almost religious if you propose to only work a day per week.

That depends on the American. There is no unified American culture anymore, which makes generalities like this almost universally false. Case in point: I've lived in America all my life and nobody I know would object to only working a day a week if they could actually live off that little money.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#512

Post by kazagistar »

davnicwil wrote: post #347
muzani wrote: post #114

Everything is a system. The economy, society, relationships, nature, traffic. You don't need math to reverse engineer a system. You just need to pay attention to it. You can say the right words to make a date happy. You can figure out which lane is the fastest route, better than Google Maps can. You don't need an app or data - your brain is a wonderful data processing machine. Don't be angry at the people who are ben…

> Don't be angry at the people who are benefiting from a system, or at the system itself. Most just end up that way, the same way a river meanders towards the sea This is absolutely brilliant, going to favourite it and steal your quote! The only thing I'd contribute is to also think about the system from your perspective, wherever you've ended up. Zoom out. Think about how you got here. How much of it is truly delibe…

I mean if a system is bad and anger helps to change it for the better, then it seems like that's fine. Anger, outrage, etc are all systems as well, that you shouldn't be "angry" at, right? The rejection of the utility of emotion is itself irrational.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#513

Post by ahuth »

slumdev wrote: post #396

Some number of years of experience is not and never will be equivalent to a CS bachelor's. I'm done explaining why an undocumented O(n^2) solution that violates most of the SOLID principles is a Bad Thing.

Is a CS bachelor’s necessary to understand that? Does a CS bachelor’s guarantee that this is understood?

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#515

Post by anotheryou »

aksx wrote: post #429
anotheryou wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you think about politics and capitalism than? can the system still be simplified enough to grasp it well enough to change it? where would an individual who has grasped it find the power to change anything? capitalism seems super stable for now one of the most sad thoughts I heard: if you try to change the system to the better you might keep it from hitting the wall and actually stabilize it

Capitalism is the way a system set of connections between subsystems and politics is a way to reorganize a system from within itself. > can the system still be simplified enough to grasp it well enough to change it? That would be a model of a system not the system itself, and as George box said "All models are wrong, but some are useful" > where would an individual who has grasped it find the power to change anything…

> That would be a model of a system not the system itself

also worth keeping in mind that a more cybernetic model is totally fine with complex black boxes within the model. This way sometimes you can find truth going from big to small.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#516

Post by celticmusic »

shantly wrote: post #433
celticmusic wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, in the anecdote, the bank knows that it's financials are fine and just needed to tick a box for a silly insurance paper. There are definitely games that get played, but for the most part people are playing it to get around silliness from other parties.

Right—that significant amounts of labor (=human life) go into this kind of waste that everyone involved knows is a joke, and that the non-joke variety is rarely treated much differently, both contribute to what's scary about it.

aka bullshit jobs.

I agree that the non-joke variety not getting the serious treatment it deserves is scary, I just don't agree that it happens as often as you were implying.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#517

Post by bg4 »

muzani wrote: post #114

Everything is a system. The economy, society, relationships, nature, traffic. You don't need math to reverse engineer a system. You just need to pay attention to it. You can say the right words to make a date happy. You can figure out which lane is the fastest route, better than Google Maps can. You don't need an app or data - your brain is a wonderful data processing machine. Don't be angry at the people who are ben…

I could not agree more strongly. Also recommend this book for anyone who hasn't read it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemantics

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#518

Post by MrFantastic »

teucris wrote: post #482
CapricornNoble wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Saying the right words" is one step in "fake it till you make it", when it comes to the practical application of charisma to relationships. And it works. It's why people develop their own personal repertoire of pick-up lines and flirtatious stories that they employ repeatedly. Re: systems optimization....I've found it often DOES help guys, mostly engineers, to think about their dating attempts as an equation. It put…

> Re: systems optimization....I've found it often DOES help guys, mostly engineers, to think about their dating attempts as an equation. That’s great! I think there’s just concern that people tend to easily forget that a model is an approximation for reality, and in the case of people, that’s an objectifying mistake.

Models are still the best way to attempt to understand other people's actions.

People rarely understand why they do things and even when they do they will often give a socially acceptable response vs the truth.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#519

Post by nitwit005 »

alpha_squared wrote: post #157

- A vast majority of "cloud security breaches" are just a small setting/toggle that's misconfigured, sometimes intentionally for testing or otherwise, and never corrected until it hits the front page of a news site. - Imposter syndrome can be incredibly crippling. It can affect just about anyone at any senior level. Also, some have no problem taking advantage of that in others. - Appreciation of efficient code/design…

The agile/kanban practiced in software is fairly different than the manufacturing variants, even though terms are borrowed.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#520

Post by egypturnash »

Large numbers of the people who made your corporate-created entertainment are underpaid, overworked, and probably got stiffed on the last few checks when the subcontractor they were working for closed up at the end of the project. They may end up having their work uncredited, as well.

Only a tiny percentage of anyone involved will get anything from that corporation's attempt to make money off of every time that content is replayed.

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