Smartest person I know works on smarter-than-human artificial intelligence at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute [0]. Previously at Microsoft and Google, he decided to get involved in smarter-than-human AI and is now the Executive Director at MIRI. Definitely inspiring!
Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
61–70 of 78 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Getting people to click on advertisements. Came here to post the same, as I take a break from getting people to click on advertisements, at a job that pays way too much money to even consider anything else. It's pretty damn depressing that the brightest minds of our generation have been sucked up by these companies that really do nothing but further meaningless consumerism. When people ask what I do, I say I work at…
> at a job that pays way too much money to even consider anything else. I've seen this sentiment expressed elsewhere, and I don't understand it. While I can't speak for others, there are many jobs I probably wouldn't take regardless of how much they paid. These jobs often harm society or are bad for other reasons (lack of autonomy, burnout, etc.). Most jobs I'm qualified for pay me enough that I'm happy. Once I reach…
I regularly accept lower pay to ensure I only ever work on things I care about. No complaints.
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#63From school? Playing poker online.
People I've learned to know recently? Writing web applications.
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#64Ruining their lives with substances.
From anecdotal experience it seems to me that high intelligence has a strong correlation with emotional instability, which in turn often manifests in the form of substance abuse.
From my own experience, outlying intelligence and interests > social maladaptation > death wish. I’m fine now, but I won’t kid myself that it isn’t tenuous.
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#65Extremely complex video game tech.
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#66Terry Davis (who did http://www.templeos.org/) is the smartest programmer I know but he doesn't work.
He is currently homeless and needs your help: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=51kJATJUJxik3DjLLxQB6dw...
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#67Retiring young, to enjoy the rest of their life on their own terms.
Amen to this!
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#68Getting people to click on advertisements.
“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks.”
— Jeff Hammerbacher
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
> some left their corporate job and are mindlessly trying to be entrepreneurs "mindlessly"? What are they missing? I'm curious, because this is a path that has always appealed to me, but that I didn't take in my twenties or early thirties. I hope to be in a position to be able to do it in my late thirties, but am not committed to the idea.
This resonated with me because I was a corporate drone that left to "mindlessly" become an entrepreneur. More charitably, I believe it's being in love with the idea of being an entrepreneur but pursuing that path based on pop-culture information (think Entrepreneur magazine articles) and less on direct experience. Nonetheless, even though my business ultimately failed, I thank my lucky stars I'm not working in the cu…
>Nonetheless, even though my business ultimately failed, I thank my lucky stars I'm not working in the cube farm anymore. On to business #2!
Mind sharing the story of your first business and what you're working on now?
Re: Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?
#70I see responses here with a certain tone of derision. That's sad and may be unproductive. Maybe shouldn't the question be what should "we", not just the smartest people working on and how ?