Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them? • Hacker News Board

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

#881

Post by Y_Y » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 12:56 PM UTC

Jasper_ wrote: post #259

DylanSp wrote: post #115

Matrix multiplication. First encountered it in high school, where the textbooks presented matrices without any real motivation, and matrix multiplication just seemed like a weirdly-defined operation. Once I got to linear algebra in college and matrix multiplication was presented as the way to compose linear transformations, it made a lot more sense.

The easiest way to describe matrix multiplication is nested function composition. f(x) = 2x g(x) = x + 5 It should hopefully be obvious that "nesting" the two isn't commutative: g(f(x)) = (2x) + 5 = 2x + 5 f(g(x)) = 2(x + 5) = 2x + 10 One miraculous fact here is that no matter how many functions we stack, we only ever have two terms: x and a constant term. Thus, we can represent this 'linear system' in terms of its c…

Who can afford to live in three dimensions nowadays?

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

#882

Post by kuschku » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

satvikpendem wrote: post #879

kuschku wrote: post #878

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would it cement existing players? Many people already make purchasing decisions by looking at comprehensive tests from non-profit foundations ( https://www.test.de/ ) or one of the public broadcasters' ( https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/markt/index.html , https://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/markt/index.html ), and then do price comparisons with one of the many popular price comparison websites ( https://www.ideal…

When you say "many people," it sounds more like this your workflow for purchasing decisions, not many people's. The way you outlined is so rare that I doubt many people actually do what you describe, unless you want to redefine the word "many." There is a reason advertising exists and works, and you are not realizing that you are a rare, rare exception to that. It is akin to someone using only Gentoo and saying how m…

With "many", I'm actually talking about a majority here in Germany. Stiftung Warentest, Markt, Frontal 21 and similar media are extremely popular. Stiftung Warentest alone has a revenue of over 63 million a year. [1]

The consumer magazine NDR Markt had the highest TV ratings of any show in recent years (excluding evening news and special covid news updates), with a market reach of 13.4% in the broadcast area. [2] That's not even counting WDR Markt which has even better ratings.

> so far outside the range of normality in the population that it does not matter

That's where you're provably wrong.

That said, there are bad actors in this market too – especially around the Check24 group (annual revenue exceeding 500 million in 2021) and other actors, which are ranking products less by quality or trustworthy test reports, but instead based on who pays more for ads (see also: Google Shopping).

The EU New Deal For Consumers is actually going to influence this quite a bit. The EU plans to regulate comparison sites more strictly, as comparison sites will have a more important role in a future with more restricted, and overall less prevalent advertising. (See also [3], [4])

    ________________

[1] https://www.test.de/unternehmen/stiftung-5017075-5843365/

[2] https://www.ndr.de/der_ndr/zahlen_und_daten/NDR-Fernsehen-Di...

[3] https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Presse...

[4] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/vergleichsportale-kon...

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

#883

Post by nivethan » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:43 PM UTC

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #504

nivethan wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2. Hits home for me as I’ve begun to realize the same thing. Not seeing any person of color in an activity makes it’s so I don’t want to be the first.

Are you willing to give some examples? I’m curious in what contexts people feel this way.

A specific example is if you look at popular sailing channels on youtube. I got into sailing last year and I didn't notice it at first but every popular channel is white. They have events where they meet fans and it's crazy the lack of colour in the group shots. I really wish I hadn't noticed it because it's a bit off putting. It's also surprising that I've only begun to care now that I'm much older.

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

#884

Post by satvikpendem » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:44 PM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #882

satvikpendem wrote: post #879

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "many people," it sounds more like this your workflow for purchasing decisions, not many people's. The way you outlined is so rare that I doubt many people actually do what you describe, unless you want to redefine the word "many." There is a reason advertising exists and works, and you are not realizing that you are a rare, rare exception to that. It is akin to someone using only Gentoo and saying how m…

With "many", I'm actually talking about a majority here in Germany. Stiftung Warentest, Markt, Frontal 21 and similar media are extremely popular. Stiftung Warentest alone has a revenue of over 63 million a year. [1] The consumer magazine NDR Markt had the highest TV ratings of any show in recent years (excluding evening news and special covid news updates), with a market reach of 13.4% in the broadcast area. [2] Tha…

We have organizations like Consumer Reports here too in the US, they also make a large amount of money, but that doesn't mean that most people make their purchasing decisions from such organizations. I guarantee if you did some sort of study, most would say they made a primary purchasing decision via advertising.

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

#885

Post by kuschku » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:51 PM UTC

satvikpendem wrote: post #884

kuschku wrote: post #882

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With "many", I'm actually talking about a majority here in Germany. Stiftung Warentest, Markt, Frontal 21 and similar media are extremely popular. Stiftung Warentest alone has a revenue of over 63 million a year. [1] The consumer magazine NDR Markt had the highest TV ratings of any show in recent years (excluding evening news and special covid news updates), with a market reach of 13.4% in the broadcast area. [2] Tha…

We have organizations like Consumer Reports here too in the US, they also make a large amount of money, but that doesn't mean that most people make their purchasing decisions from such organizations. I guarantee if you did some sort of study, most would say they made a primary purchasing decision via advertising.

According to a GfK Study from April 2021, asking 1001 Germans between 18 and 74, the largest influences on purchasing decisions were:

- personal recommendations from friends (35,5%)

- independent comparison tests (30,5%)

- amazon reviews (23,2%)

- media reports (13,7%)

- corporate information, including advertising (10,0%)

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

#886

Post by nivethan » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:52 PM UTC

akira2501 wrote: post #422

nivethan wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2. Hits home for me as I’ve begun to realize the same thing. Not seeing any person of color in an activity makes it’s so I don’t want to be the first.

> makes it’s so I don’t want to be the first. This makes me curious. Would you mind answering, from your point of view, why do you think that is? Is it a specific scenario or type of scenario you wish to avoid or is there a generalized concern that comes with it? Is that due to uncertainty or past experience?

There's probably many reasons but one that comes to mind is, if I'm first am I an ambassador for my race now? Probably. The people here might be self selecting in other aspects of their life so they may not actually be around PoC anywhere else.

Another aspect is that I don't have that shared connection or ease of relating to people in the group. The activity has obviously selected for a specific group and there are probably other aspects of their lives that are also different from my own.

Past experience mostly. Trying to make friends where the majority is white was difficult though I was in university and far more awkward then. One on one or in smaller settings, its easier and at work it's relatively straightforward to become friendly with anyone.

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

#887

Post by btown » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

sdwr wrote: post #870

btown wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone is the main character in their own story For those with anxiety, one of the best pieces of advice I ever received (that also took me years to internalize!) was the corollary to this: nobody is thinking about you in a critical way, at the level that you are criticizing yourself, because they are their own main character. Which is incredibly freeing, because the anxious person’s assumption that one embarrass…

This is the classic platitude. I don't buy it - I do judge other people like that.

In aggregate, I have no doubt! But for a person suffering from social anxiety acute enough to affect their performance, the length of time that you are judging specifically them for a specific thing that they did is almost certainly orders of magnitude less than that person with anxiety fears - because, unless you've developed unheard-of levels of thought parallelism, you will almost certainly have moved on to judging someone else!

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

#888

Post by WastingMyTime89 » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:55 PM UTC

mikrl wrote: post #829

btown wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone is the main character in their own story For those with anxiety, one of the best pieces of advice I ever received (that also took me years to internalize!) was the corollary to this: nobody is thinking about you in a critical way, at the level that you are criticizing yourself, because they are their own main character. Which is incredibly freeing, because the anxious person’s assumption that one embarrass…

>nobody is thinking about you in a critical way, at the level that you are criticizing yourself I think there are shades of this, which is to say the level of judgement can vary. I feel that in a smaller city my social anxiety is not as strong as when I’m in a larger city. In larger cities, I feel much more evaluated and judged ie eyes on me looking at my clothes, checking me out, etc despite being a much more detach…

Have you ever come across someone who you thought was dressed or acted strange while riding public transports or walking in the streets? Found one of your fellow traveler extremely attractive? I would assume most of us would answer yes.

Do you remember the face of these persons? I can tell you that I don't.

Nobody really cares about strangers in big cities. They are part of the background. Sometimes you are struck by something then you move along. Even people who might actually be judging you will have forgotten you exist minutes later. That's the beauty of cities.

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

#889

Post by satvikpendem » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #885

satvikpendem wrote: post #884

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have organizations like Consumer Reports here too in the US, they also make a large amount of money, but that doesn't mean that most people make their purchasing decisions from such organizations. I guarantee if you did some sort of study, most would say they made a primary purchasing decision via advertising.

According to a GfK Study from April 2021, asking 1001 Germans between 18 and 74, the largest influences on purchasing decisions were: - personal recommendations from friends (35,5%) - independent comparison tests (30,5%) - amazon reviews (23,2%) - media reports (13,7%) - corporate information, including advertising (10,0%)

Many of those can include advertising, such as Amazon placement and reviews, media reports (many PR firms exist to push your product onto media outlets), personal recommendations, and even independent comparison tests (people see an ad, and research it more thoroughly including seeing how it fares on comparison tests, and perhaps tell their friends too).

I am not saying that the tests themselves are not independent, nor that people don't use them to make purchasing decisions, but the prevalence of advertising is such that you cannot disentangle its influence from every other. Clearly, even in Germany, ads exist, and if they did not work, then the ads would not exist.

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

#890

Post by itsmemattchung » Tue, Jan 03, 2023, 3:06 PM UTC

binarymax wrote: post #819

itsmemattchung wrote: post #812

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing this!!! I know that the video clip itself is supposed to be satirical, but I actually found it quite useful. I loved it and watch all 10 minutes of it. Out of curiosity, in the skit, do you know which book the actor is reading? In the skit, at the top of the page, the book is titled: "Making outlines and summaries"[0]. [0] Fast forwarded to specific time: https://youtu.be/yfcyVtD8-Dk?t=129

Yeah it’s great! A couple seconds before yours, he has an index card with the title “Directing Learning 371.3” A quick search yields the title: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7389387W/Directing_learning But I was unable to find a physical or digital copy available. Good luck!

I just purchased a physical copy of the book! In case anyone wants to purchase it too, there's one left I found over at abesbooks:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=2072352131...