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PG's Rarely Asked Questions

paulgraham.com

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Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#91

Post by jackfoxy »

zedshaw wrote: post #73
jackfoxy wrote: post #36

What should I read to learn more about history? I used to consider my knowledge of history better than at least 95% of the population, but while reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire I realized how sketchy my view of history really was. So at the ripe old age of 35 I set off on a course of study centered on two series of books, The Story of Civilization , by Will and Ariel Durant, and Timeframe , a Time-Li…

The force is strong with this one. I'd love to debate random topics with you. Assuming you've actually read everything you claim, I think you'd be a refreshing change from the vast majority of people who simply regurgitate whatever their heroes say. If you're interested, email me sometime: zedshaw at zedshaw.com.

Zed, You are one of the interesting people I would like to meet someday. I will eventually get in touch. My job (among other distractons) is sapping me right now, but I hope to get back to real life by mid-November. Likewise I can be reached jacfoxy at gmail dot com.

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#92

Post by corin_ »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #89
corin_ wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once again I think my wording rather than my point is the problem - by "created for the sake of being art" I didn't mean in terms of whether there was monetary gain for the artist, I meant how it is to be used. You create a website, your aim isn't generally to have people stand around and admire the art, that's a side effect. (And sure, sometimes maybe it's the strongest influence when a designer is making a website,…

Not to make this into a long debate, but I don't think your wording is the problem. Plenty of websites have no commercial goal, they're just meant to be gawked at. All the major contemporary art museums have websites, photos and posters in their collections. Also, many sculptures found in museums weren't made to be used as art - they were meant as tools or status symbols, for communication, sexual arousal or worship.…

I certainly didn't mean to imply that some art is not "real art", if anything I have a lot more respect for video editors, web designers, marketing designers than I do for most modern painters (from a very subjective quality of work point of view).

All I was trying to do was find a decent way to seperate art that isn't related to anything technical, of the type that (loosely speaking) has been being produced for centuries(/more), and stuff like video, web etc.

As to not thinking my wording is the problem - your replies have showed that the impression I gave you wasn't at all what my thoughts were, so clearly that was the problem.

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#93

Post by iand »

sthlm wrote: post #13

The pointy-haired boss is a manager who doesn't program. So the surest way to avoid becoming him is to stay a programmer. What tempts programmers to become managers are companies with old-fashioned corporate structure, where the only way to advance in salary and prestige is to go into management. I have to disagree with that. I've met many people, especially in larger enterprises, who started in development but then…

My attitude is when you hire enough programmers that are better than you the best thing to do is get out of their way and focus on building the best environment for them. Call that role management if it helps.

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#94

Post by earbitscom »

corin_ wrote: post #52

Does anyone have any insight into why painters are less common among hackers than other artistic persuits, such as music? I've never met anyone who bridged visual art with anything tech-related, but composers, singers, pianists, orchestra members... hell yes. Is it just that painters are less common that musicians and that ratio stays true in the tech world?

Music has a lot more to do with math, logic, structure, and other technical skills and requirements than most other forms of art.

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#97

Post by delano »

ecocentrik wrote: post #96

PG lost me at the first question. A better answer would be; they are both highly technical skills with almost no overlap that take boatloads of time to master. We all know the bene gesserit mantra...

That question is a reference to this essay (and later, book of the same name):

http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#98

Post by mdiep »

jackfoxy wrote: post #36

What should I read to learn more about history? I used to consider my knowledge of history better than at least 95% of the population, but while reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire I realized how sketchy my view of history really was. So at the ripe old age of 35 I set off on a course of study centered on two series of books, The Story of Civilization , by Will and Ariel Durant, and Timeframe , a Time-Li…

I'd love to see a full list of all the books you read and the order in which you read them. I recently started reading The Story of Civilization and augmenting it with other works seems like a wonderful idea.

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#99

Post by siglesias »

simonb wrote: post #58
siglesias wrote: post #20

Re: philosophy, I think understanding the difference between representing the world in language and representing it in logic is critically important to programmers. It has implications for natural language processing as well as artificial intelligence. I personally recommend to anyone endeavoring to understand Wittgenstein's transition from Tractatus Logico Philosophicus to Philosophical Investigations . In fact, Goo…

Can you give any further reading/info on family resemblance as used by Google?

I don't have the specific page citation but I read it in Levy's In the Plex.

You can see that Kindle users have highlighted the passage here: https://kindle.amazon.com/work/in-the-plex-ebook/B003QJNVO4/...

Re: PG's Rarely Asked Questions

#100

Post by eavc »

anatoly wrote: post #83
jackfoxy wrote: post #36

What should I read to learn more about history? I used to consider my knowledge of history better than at least 95% of the population, but while reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire I realized how sketchy my view of history really was. So at the ripe old age of 35 I set off on a course of study centered on two series of books, The Story of Civilization , by Will and Ariel Durant, and Timeframe , a Time-Li…

This is a good program. It reminds me of the curriculum of St. John's College: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_College_(United_St... Perhaps I'm overly optimistic, but it seems plausible to me that there's a subreddit out there for people just like you.

Either DepthHub or TheAgora, maybe.
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