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Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

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Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#431

Post by PartiallyTyped »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #293
fortituded0002 wrote: post #196

1. Everyone is the main character in their own story. This manifest in all sorts of ways - from people not being there when you need them the most, from friends dying off as soon as proximity changes, to how and why get people get promoted in jobs. This isn't necessarily bad, but if you don't know how to navigate this it can be quite painful and confusing. 2. Representation matters. I knew this for a long time, but i…

I've noticed #2 with my 4 year old. She won't do anything unless there's a girl doing it. My other kids don't seem to care though.

There are some interesting studies about girls and women playing chess. When blind, the two sexes perform on average about the same, but when they know the gender of their opponent, girls and women underperform.

It is hypothesised that the reason behind this is because chess is a boys’ club, so to speak, and thus there is not a lot of representation.

Absence of representation means that it may seem that you are the only one doing XYZ, which in and of its own can be terrifying because we often feel that the odds are stacked against us (which is a self-fulfilling prophecy), or that we are held to much higher standards than others.

Personally, I enjoy seeing diverse representation even if I am not represented. I want people to not be afraid to pursue their dreams and goals, I don’t want implicit prejudices due to lack of representation either.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#432

Post by PartiallyTyped »

yieldcrv wrote: post #309
rajin444 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Representation matters. Strange, I had the opposite encounter. I realized the only thing keeping me from doing things was myself. There are definitely real barriers (hiring quotas, affirmative action, etc.) but without artificial constraints the only thing stopping you is you. You might feel a little uncomfortable but that's something easily overcome - and almost like a superpower when you realize you can overco…

most of us here have our own drive, but I’ve come to appreciate that other people are inspired by seemingly superficial things It clicked for me when I let my publicist go wild and she got me on listicles of BIPOC founders, before, we just had lots of quotes and interviews. Only people already interested in the project on its own merits were following along. After, there were lots of people that are interested in the…

That reads like a very condescending and cynical response.

People enjoy representation, imho, because it helps them see that they are not alone, that the deck isn’t stacked against them, and so on. It also helps in removing prejudice against certain groups of people.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#433

Post by viburnum »

olalonde wrote: post #159

It took me a long time to grasp market economics. I knew it worked somehow but I didn't quite understand why. What really made it click was Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" TV series[0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dngqR9gcDDw&list=PLXD32Z5YYi...

I had the same experience (and then I had to unlearn it all because it only applies to trivially narrow examples. MF’s trick is to hide the assumptions well the same way a magician diverts your attention).

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#434

Post by samhuk »

wellthisisgreat wrote: post #214
samhuk wrote: post #205

Computer networks. For years I was dumbfounded how IP addresses, VPN, ports, etc, all worked and tied together. Then, when I was interning as a software developer a fair while ago, a colleague drew the analogy of "IP address" = house on street, "port" = something you ask for when you knock on the door of a house. Then it all just clicked. I still remember that day all these years later. Other notable mentions, in no…

> Then, when I was interning as a software developer a fair while ago, a colleague drew the analogy of "IP address" = house on street, "port" = something you ask for when you knock on the door of a house. Hey thanks for sharing! Can you maybe expand on this in any form? I'd love to get that kind of analogy. Maybe you have a blog post about it? That'd be amazing!

Network: Street

IP address: House

Port: What kind of thing from inside the house you want

Gateway: House #1, start of street.

DNS: Tells you which house number corresponds to a family name. "Oh why yes, 'samhuk' lives at house # xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

The analogy goes on and on. It's how I have always thought about networks since.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#435

Post by TimPC »

peterfirefly wrote: post #378
JanisErdmanis wrote: post #242

Superconductivity. I did four PhD projects regarding superconductivity properties at nanoscale without really getting hold on the concept. For instance, how zero resistance is related to cooper pair tunnelling and BdG Hamiltonian. Only when I was forced to write introduction a month before my thesis submission I gave my best last try for the farewell and it clicked. Note the title of my thesis “Quantum effects of sup…

Old papers are great. I have often deliberately sought out old papers to get a quick and good introduction to a subject. It doesn't always work -- sometimes a newer paper with better abstractions/examples/terminology wins, of course. I no longer know when I figured out this trick, but I have been using it for at least twenty years. I wish I had known about it earlier.

There are tradeoffs. Most of the time I find terminology has drifted so substantially over time that reading old papers isn't worth the effort. I instead usually look for literature review type of papers that often have good summaries of relevant results in modern terminology.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#436

Post by atonse »

fortituded0002 wrote: post #196

1. Everyone is the main character in their own story. This manifest in all sorts of ways - from people not being there when you need them the most, from friends dying off as soon as proximity changes, to how and why get people get promoted in jobs. This isn't necessarily bad, but if you don't know how to navigate this it can be quite painful and confusing. 2. Representation matters. I knew this for a long time, but i…

While I do see merit in the idea that representation matters, to me, it all depends on what representation in particular. Racial representation gets all the attention.

But for example, seeing that a philosophy major can have a successful computer science experience

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#437

Post by voidhorse »

rolenthedeep wrote: post #110

It took me an embarrassing amount of time to fully grok what object oriented programming really means. It's one thing to have someone tell you what an object is, but it's another thing entirely to build a fully object oriented system. I remember what made it click: I was designing an animation system, which had a bunch of different interdependent moving parts. Once I started treating each part like an object and lett…

I doubt you're the only one, and I actually feel that a lot of people that find themselves having to program in an OOP language don't really understand OOP fully or what its motivations are. I personally don't think it's possible to really grok OOP without first understanding the motivations for its origins and how it compares to doing everything in a purely imperative fashion. The best way to actually understand its purpose (and flaws) is to implement an OOP system in an imperative language (e.g. implement a basic OOP class system in C, etc.)

It's common for a lot of online resources (I don't know about university) to provide introductions to programming using OOP, which I think is a terrible mistake. It fills beginners' heads with all sorts of incorrect, fanciful ideas about how computers work and what happens when a program is executed. It's also difficult to know how to use OOP concepts and structures correctly without knowing why they're convenient. I strongly believe you need a good understanding of the technical motivations for such constructs before you can actually use them with good effect--otherwise you're simply relying on imitating patterns or taking certain things as foundational when in fact they are not. I think functional languages and strictly imperative languages are far more appropriate for a first programming language.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#438

Post by jahnu »

tootie wrote: post #413
jahnu wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding #3, the following David Graeber quote always stuck with me: “The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”

Sapiens by Harari covers this extensively. So much of human development is our ability to ascribe fictive boundaries and definitions to things. Rules, authorities, myths, money, culture, countries, companies. What are any of them? They're all made up. We could just stop believing in all of them tomorrow.

That is on my shelf ready to read. Just got to finish a couple more currently in the queue.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#439

Post by atonse »

fortituded0002 wrote: post #196

1. Everyone is the main character in their own story. This manifest in all sorts of ways - from people not being there when you need them the most, from friends dying off as soon as proximity changes, to how and why get people get promoted in jobs. This isn't necessarily bad, but if you don't know how to navigate this it can be quite painful and confusing. 2. Representation matters. I knew this for a long time, but i…

While I do see merit in the idea that representation matters, to me, it all depends on what representation in particular. Racial representation gets all the attention but I find that one less compelling.

But for example, seeing that a philosophy major can have a successful programming career, can encourage others in the humanities to see themselves do it too.

Or seeing someone with ADHD run a business successfully and overcome executive function challenges, can also help others with ADHD.

Re: Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?

#440

Post by ssss11 »

fortituded0002 wrote: post #196

1. Everyone is the main character in their own story. This manifest in all sorts of ways - from people not being there when you need them the most, from friends dying off as soon as proximity changes, to how and why get people get promoted in jobs. This isn't necessarily bad, but if you don't know how to navigate this it can be quite painful and confusing. 2. Representation matters. I knew this for a long time, but i…

To further your point 1, I think also “Everyone sees things through their perspective”.

So when you explain something, 10 people hear 10 slightly different things as their own experiences and biases, and even hopes, interpret your statement.

That’s why being able to communicate accurately, clearly, and concisely is a very difficult and important thing. If you can do it tailored to specific groups and with humour, bonus points.

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