Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#51

Post by egberts1 » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

ziffusion wrote: post #48

egberts1 wrote: post #38

The electrical properties and strength of covalent molecular bonds during DNA splicing Also microinstruction vulnerabilities of CPUs.

Those are two very different areas. How did you come to learn about each one?

On my own. I’m also analyzing my copy of my very own DNA strands.

What’s harder is finding a sequencing company that will respect your privacy and actually do so. It helps to have a friend in biochemistry.

That’s the hobby. The real paying work is vulnerabilities.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#52

Post by bilsbie » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

I got good at understanding how rocket engines work and the design considerations simply by watching everyday astronaut and Scott manly videos. But now that I understand it, it really doesn’t seem complex.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#53

Post by ggeorgovassilis » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:15 PM UTC

blamestross wrote: post #43

Methods of self-organizing DHTs to optimize lookup performance. I had to learn hyperbolic geometry and figure out how to compute Delunay/Voronoi graphs on it, at scale, distributedly.

What did Stross do to you?

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#54

Post by ziffusion » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:15 PM UTC

deltaonenine wrote: post #11

Entropy. It was hard for me to understand this arbitrary rule of things becoming less ordered over time. Was this just a fundamental natural law? The answer is no. Entropy is a logical consequence of probability and time. Why do things become more chaotic over time? Because chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring. There are far more disordered configurations of things then there are ordered, thi…

> Because chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring.

That seems like a non-explanation though. Why do chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring?

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#55

Post by ziffusion » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

intrasight wrote: post #45

My girlfriend. Of course it's not a complete understanding, and there's always new things to learn. But that's part of the wonder and enjoyment.

Oh you are so wrong.

-- The girlfriend

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#56

Post by medymed » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:17 PM UTC

How avoid making my wife unhappy (…most of the time)

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#57

Post by more_corn » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:19 PM UTC

openfuture wrote: post #41

Nothing. Some people don't understand things, that is not the same as understanding nothing. I also understand ashtanga and programming.

The most complicated thing you understand is nothing? As in nothingness? Is that a zen thing? I can tell you one thing I don’t understand. I don’t understand what you’re trying to convey.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#58

Post by probotect0r » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:20 PM UTC

ziffusion wrote: post #54

deltaonenine wrote: post #11

Entropy. It was hard for me to understand this arbitrary rule of things becoming less ordered over time. Was this just a fundamental natural law? The answer is no. Entropy is a logical consequence of probability and time. Why do things become more chaotic over time? Because chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring. There are far more disordered configurations of things then there are ordered, thi…

> Because chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring. That seems like a non-explanation though. Why do chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring?

Because, as he said, there are more of them.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#59

Post by kanisae » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

How CDMA, eHRPD and LTE backend systems design and deployment. My other odd ball skill is knowing old PBX/Key based phone systems.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most complex topic you understand?

#60

Post by frob » Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:23 PM UTC

ziffusion wrote: post #54

deltaonenine wrote: post #11

Entropy. It was hard for me to understand this arbitrary rule of things becoming less ordered over time. Was this just a fundamental natural law? The answer is no. Entropy is a logical consequence of probability and time. Why do things become more chaotic over time? Because chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring. There are far more disordered configurations of things then there are ordered, thi…

> Because chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring. That seems like a non-explanation though. Why do chaotic configurations have a higher probability of occurring?

There are way way way more of them, so if you randomly select from the set of all possible configurations, you are much more likely to get something spread out and chaotic then something with a recognizable structure. As atoms and molecules bounce around, they are effectively randomizing. After a few dozen interactions each, they're basically in a new state. Repeat over and over and you're basically just drawing from that same set again. There's a chance that all of the air molecules could bounce to one side of the room at once, but the likely hood of that makes it something you won't see in the lifetime of the universe. So if you see a video where all the air rushes from half the room to fill the rest, you can be effectively certain you're watching the video forward and not in reverse.