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Ask HN: What are some of the best technical talks you've heard?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best technical talks you've heard?

#61
Control engineering

Gunter Stein's inaugural Bode prize lecture from 1989 titled "Respect the Unstable" [0]. In this talk, he uses a minimum of mathematics to clearly demonstrate the fundamental (and inevitable!) trade-offs in control systems design. He effortlessly makes the link between his (in)ability to balance inverted rods of various lengths on his palm (with shorter rods being harder to balance) to why the X-29 aircraft was almost impossible to control and why Chernobyl blew up.

The fundamental message is extremely important and the derivation is so crystal clear that it is simply marvelous to watch him present it. I like it so much that I re-watch it about once a year.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lhu31X94V4

[1] Pdf transcription (use it to skim or go over the details. However, the lecture is easier to follow and has a lot more than the transcript): https://jagger.berkeley.edu/~pack/me234/GSBode.pdf

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best technical talks you've heard?

#65
post #35

The most humorous would have to be the "Wat" talk by Gary Bernhardt: https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat

His boundaries and functional core, imperative shell are less funny but life changing.

They're both in my to-watch list:

https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/boundaries

https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog/funct...

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best technical talks you've heard?

#66
The use and abuse of CT scanners

https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2018-65-the-use-and-abuse-of-ct-sc...

Truly fascinating talk about the capability of CT scanners, not in a medical environment. I don't want to say much more as I don't want to give any spoilers.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best technical talks you've heard?

#67
post #11

I hope this isn't too much of a stretch. Heard it recently and thought it was really interesting. https://youtu.be/4YYvBLAF4T8

I love this video and have watched it multiple times to refresh my sheer awe at how insecure the world is when you dig even slightly under the surface.
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