The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

Post by WalterBright » Sun, Dec 11, 2016, 5:36 AM UTC

labrador wrote: post #41

I'm not knocking anyone that talks about emotional pain as a reason to drink, but I want to offer an alternative theory alcoholism based on my experience. Many if not most people have settled on the theory of escape from a painful existence as an explanation, including many alcoholics. I've been battling alcohol since I was a teenager and now I'm almost 60. I've been in and out of rehab, lots of therapy and psychiatr…

Post by photogrammetry » Sun, Dec 11, 2016, 5:48 AM UTC

rockdoe wrote: post #60

msandford wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't they have just made him an offer too good to refuse to buy PKarc? I haven't read up on the background so perhaps they already tried this. But it seems like that's the "big company" playbook. At least if you're substantially bigger than your competitor.

Despite the name it was actually the smaller company. The relevant articles and info are linked from Wikipedia and make for interesting reading. When Katz died people asked the ARC people what they thought about him: http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html

Post by babbeloski » Sun, Dec 11, 2016, 6:08 AM UTC

blinkingled wrote: post #16

For some people conscious existence is too burdensome, uncomfortable, full of anxiety, outright maddening or some combination thereof. You see this in everyday life too, albeit in benign quantities - watch a kid after you tell him he can do nothing for the next hour. I had read Phil Katz's story before and I read it again today - it wasn't any less painful the second time around. I think if we were to debug it - ther…

Post by chipotle_coyote » Sun, Dec 11, 2016, 6:23 AM UTC

photogrammetry wrote: post #63

rockdoe wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite the name it was actually the smaller company. The relevant articles and info are linked from Wikipedia and make for interesting reading. When Katz died people asked the ARC people what they thought about him: http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html

From your link: >So now Phil Katz is dead. He drank himself to death, alone in a motel room, a bottle of booze in his hand and five empties in the room. One can only guess what drove him to such a tragic end, but it is a fitting demise for a man whose professional reputation is based entirely on a lie. What a heartless asshole.

Post by echlebek » Sun, Dec 11, 2016, 6:46 AM UTC

Trundle wrote: post #68

WalterBright wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good friend of mine drank heavily through his twenties. Then, he just stopped, and rarely had a drink since (decades). I asked him how he stopped, and he said he just lost interest in it. This also lends credence to the idea that it is genetic.

Sorry, how does it lend credence to the genetic theory? Ones genes don't change do they? But the need for escapism can.