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The Best Essay

paulgraham.com

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Re: The Best Essay

#261

Post by bdjsiqoocwk »

basil-rash wrote: post #244
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dayjob is as psychologist. No joke. And my specialty is spotting morons on social media.

Well I certainly hope your patients can find the help they need. But let’s drop the hominems and get to the point: Do you have a real counter example? Someone that through reading the material of others alone, with no practical/“hands on” experience, was able to develop what you consider “deep” knowledge? Edit: A day ago you were arguing talent can’t come without training. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3965644…

> A day ago you were arguing talent can’t come without training

> In fact much of your comment history is dedicated to claiming knowledge requires product.

Your comment is a great example of someone putting their (mis-)interpretation into something.

No, I didn't say anything about products. I leave that for tinkerers and sales people.

> Do you have a real counter example?

Already gave you one, no idea why you're asking again.

Re: The Best Essay

#262

Post by basil-rash »

bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #261
basil-rash wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I certainly hope your patients can find the help they need. But let’s drop the hominems and get to the point: Do you have a real counter example? Someone that through reading the material of others alone, with no practical/“hands on” experience, was able to develop what you consider “deep” knowledge? Edit: A day ago you were arguing talent can’t come without training. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3965644…

> A day ago you were arguing talent can’t come without training > In fact much of your comment history is dedicated to claiming knowledge requires product. Your comment is a great example of someone putting their (mis-)interpretation into something. No, I didn't say anything about products. I leave that for tinkerers and sales people. > Do you have a real counter example? Already gave you one, no idea why you're aski…

Reread why I said your example was bogus, I don’t have time to repeat myself.

Re: The Best Essay

#263

Post by DSingularity »

robocat wrote: post #163
DSingularity wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bold conclusion. I remind you that you don’t know anything about me. But perhaps your characterization is to protect the comfort you draw from your world views. What kind of person thinks that the people whose “brilliance” led them to invent weapons of mass destruction are better than anyone that cannot solve technical problems as fast as they can? Do you apply the same reasoning for wealth also? I suppose mig…

> I remind you that you don’t know anything about me. Yet you are willing to cast ridiculous assertions about groups of people - stating as fact as though you are the canonical source of truth. > But perhaps your characterization is to protect the comfort you draw from your world views. Seems like you define projection. See if you can find a way to get a colleague or two to tell you what they honestly think of you. I…

Do you think the world will be better off if, let’s say, all these powerful super geniuses dedicated 5% of their time to deeply consider questions like “should I be building this” or “should I be working for this corporation”? With the same enthusiasm and rigor that they dedicate to their craft.

If you don’t see how many of these types are so immersed in their craft that they are oblivious to their impact on the world then you really haven’t interacted with many high-functioning types. If you have I encourage you to try and discuss these types of things with them.

Re: The Best Essay

#264

Post by bdjsiqoocwk »

basil-rash wrote: post #262
bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A day ago you were arguing talent can’t come without training > In fact much of your comment history is dedicated to claiming knowledge requires product. Your comment is a great example of someone putting their (mis-)interpretation into something. No, I didn't say anything about products. I leave that for tinkerers and sales people. > Do you have a real counter example? Already gave you one, no idea why you're aski…

Reread why I said your example was bogus, I don’t have time to repeat myself.

I didn't read it the first time and I'm not going to read it a second time. I don't have time for you.

Re: The Best Essay

#265

Post by qup »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #259
qup wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily, "those who do" now have youtube channels with videos for almost any car job you need to do, with the specific make and model. The boomer way wasn't that easy, but it actually finally IS easy to learn to work on cars. There's also this, I can recommend it: https://www.howacarworks.com/

Nope, most of the stuff I want to do on my 2017 RX do NOT have videos on YouTube. Good luck changing the spark plugs yourself including with YouTube. The back 3 will be impossible

Oh you're right then, I withdraw my point. It's impossible to learn to work on cars.

Re: The Best Essay

#266

Post by Der_Einzige »

qup wrote: post #265
Der_Einzige wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, most of the stuff I want to do on my 2017 RX do NOT have videos on YouTube. Good luck changing the spark plugs yourself including with YouTube. The back 3 will be impossible

Oh you're right then, I withdraw my point. It's impossible to learn to work on cars.

It's impossible to learn to work on modern cars without help, and the idea that things are similar enough from the old cars that it carries over to modern cars is simply not true for a whole lot of vehicles. You really do need videos for each and every vehicle.

Watch even experienced mechanics works on new cars. They tend to bumble around for awhile.

Re: The Best Essay

#267

Post by paulpauper »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #9
paulpauper wrote: post #5

The hardest part of writing is it's hard to predict how it will be received. You cannot 'focus group' writing, unlike other mediums of information. Disney can predict with a high degree of certainty that its superhero movies will do well, as there is a large, built-in market for those movies, and they tend to be conceived on the same creative blueprint or foundation. Even its 'duds' are still profitable. But this is…

> Disney can predict with a high degree of certainty that its superhero movies will do well, as there is a large, built-in market for those movies, and they tend to be conceived on the same creative blueprint or foundation. Even its 'duds' are still profitable. Google something like "Marvel superhero fatigue". It seems that either the movie quality is decreasing or the audience is becoming more and more bored by thes…

Disney never lost money on a superhero film though afik

Re: The Best Essay

#268

Post by joshuahutt »

ji_zai wrote: post #137
joshuahutt wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you organize those notes?

Right now using Obsidian (without being good about connecting notes). I'm just writing, dumping into a folder, and leaving further organization / analysis for later.

So you write when inspiration strikes, and you'll re-read and sift through later?

Re: The Best Essay

#269

Post by basil-rash »

bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #264
basil-rash wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reread why I said your example was bogus, I don’t have time to repeat myself.

I didn't read it the first time and I'm not going to read it a second time. I don't have time for you.

Ha, I had thought you were an LLM prompted to be a contrarian with a chip on their shoulder. This all but confirms it^. I bet you don’t even have the prior messages in your context window.

^Or at least something with approximately that level of intellectual capacity/honesty.

Re: The Best Essay

#270

Post by paulpauper »

criddell wrote: post #18
paulpauper wrote: post #5

The hardest part of writing is it's hard to predict how it will be received. You cannot 'focus group' writing, unlike other mediums of information. Disney can predict with a high degree of certainty that its superhero movies will do well, as there is a large, built-in market for those movies, and they tend to be conceived on the same creative blueprint or foundation. Even its 'duds' are still profitable. But this is…

Is it important to predict how it will be received? If you are trying to tailor your work for your audience, then you are on your way to being yet another content farm and when’s the last time any of those published something great? I know Paul does have some trusted readers that he shares early drafts with. Maybe he uses those readers as his focus group?

Is it important to predict how it will be received? If you are trying to tailor your work for your audience

Editors exist for a reason.

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