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Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

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Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#11

Post by iconfinder »

ma2rten wrote: post #7
opining wrote: post #3

Thanks for posting. Notes from this keynote were also discussed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3685444 PG seems down on Google from the initial statement that it may have peaked, to making fun of its search results as similar to the scientologist principle of "what's true is what's true for you" or something that makes you feel like you are being A-B tested, to Gmail being painfully slow. PG said he would…

It might also be Paul Buchheit. He also reviewed a couple of PG's essays.

Including the last one where Paul corrected the comment about Gmail being slow.

Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#12

Post by Jach »

oemera wrote: post #8

I don't mean to be harsh but after reading the article I couldn't listen to the "Uhhh Ehmmmm"s anymore. Was he just reading the transcript to the guys? A keynote should be without any "uhh"s and "ehmmm"s otherwise you will not get audience IMO.

For me there seems to be a proportion of "uhhs" that I require. This talk had a lot of them, more than I'd prefer, but it wasn't horrible and the content makes up for it (as does the Q&A). The extent of the reliance on the transcript was probably the extent people rely on notecards, the "uhhs" were mostly to fill the silence of when he was glancing at it to remind him of his place. If there aren't any "uhhs" at all in a talk I think "this guy took a speaking course and is probably trying to manipulate me", if there are too many I think "this guy didn't prepare or is just a bad public speaker", but there's a right proportion that makes me think "he's sufficiently human so I'll listen to him." Of course that last thought requires a bit of double-think since a good manipulator would know this about me.

Edit: of course, this is more of a description of how my subconscious works. Consciously I try my best to ignore these things and focus on the information content alone and feel like I should downvote you for letting yourself miss interesting content because of the speaker's presentation style. (Though to be fair at least you have the text version for 99% of the content.)

Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#13

Post by opining »

pg wrote: post #10
opining wrote: post #3

Thanks for posting. Notes from this keynote were also discussed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3685444 PG seems down on Google from the initial statement that it may have peaked, to making fun of its search results as similar to the scientologist principle of "what's true is what's true for you" or something that makes you feel like you are being A-B tested, to Gmail being painfully slow. PG said he would…

It is almost like these comments were meant to be a public criticism of Google by his friend via PG rather than just to provide startup ideas. No. Why would I allow myself to be used in that way?

My apologies. I did not mean that you were being used. More that your friend did not have the option to come out publicly criticizing Google, but you were able to. Google is in the position of target of criticism lately just as Microsoft and many other large companies are, however by referring to your conversation with your friend in the same context, you lend credibility to the notion that perhaps some of the criticism was his.

Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#14

Post by dmix »

opining wrote: post #3

Thanks for posting. Notes from this keynote were also discussed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3685444 PG seems down on Google from the initial statement that it may have peaked, to making fun of its search results as similar to the scientologist principle of "what's true is what's true for you" or something that makes you feel like you are being A-B tested, to Gmail being painfully slow. PG said he would…

This sounds like a bad techcrunch article.

Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#15

Post by opining »

iconfinder wrote: post #11
ma2rten wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might also be Paul Buchheit. He also reviewed a couple of PG's essays.

Including the last one where Paul corrected the comment about Gmail being slow.

Good point. It does seem that Paul B. could be the friend. In addition, PG mentions Paul B. in several places, just a few including:

http://www.paulgraham.com/13sentences.html

http://www.paulgraham.com/5founders.html

If true, it's especially interesting that Paul B. was the creator and lead developer of Gmail and that he corrected PG by stating that "GMail has become painfully slow" instead of "GMail is painfully slow" thereby humorously dissociating himself from the act of having developed something slow.

Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#18

Post by opining »

aravindc wrote: post #16

This is my first time seeing and listening Paul Graham. Why is he going on ummm ummmm? It is so distracting. I don't want to be seen as critical, just a feedback.

You'd do that too if you had to present in front of a large group of Python developers. Calling them the center of the valley was a little over the top, though.

Re: Paul Graham PyCon 2012 keynote

#20

Post by zyfo »

Question for pg:

There is probably an essay there, too bad I don't write them anymore (43.30 in video, regarding "moral compass outsourcing")

Have you stopped writing essays? Does that mean you're shifting your focus to YC 100% or going back to work on arc again? Or are you talking about non-startup essays?

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