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The Dead Planet Theory

arealsociety.substack.com

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Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#31

Post by ForOldHack »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #25
ForOldHack wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I comment a lot, mostly to acknowledge the lofty brilliance of some people. ( Like you ), but I do not know what my karma is or how to downvote, but no matter. I have no idea what percentile I am in... I am absolutely sure someone is tracking/ranking it, because if I were actually training and AI, I would absolutely start at this large collection of bainiacs - but first I would ask permission, which I would guess wou…

Your karma is in the top right. You need around 300 to downvote, 800 to flag. Your downvote by clicking the down arrow beside every comment and submission.

I just logged in, saw my Karma, and just got the double arrows... I did not have that before... I have downvote for posts, but not for comments. ( hence, I cannot downvote your comment. )

Down vote comment. Nope, only 1 arrow for up, and I am good with that.

Just refreshed, and now I can down vote some comments...

Refresh again... I cannot down vote posts, but can down vote even less comments... someone is watching, and laughing at this. :P

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#32

Post by doctorpangloss »

jonstewart wrote: post #21

Yes, doing the reading is good. In fact, I recommend the author do far more reading, so as not to buy into the false dichotomy of "main characters" vs "NPCs". People are far more complicated than that.

I cannot think of a way to talk about this article and not break the rules of Hacker News, so I flagged it. It's that bad.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#33

Post by vitehozonage »

I think I disagree with the article. I think it is true that if you choose to expend time and energy on something that few people spend effort on, then you can become better than most people at that one thing. However, it seems that the article is trying to say that is true for everything and for everyone, and i disagree with that.

The missing key factor is that you have to find something unpopular and easy which will actually have a payoff if you become an expert. Risky and easier said than done.

If you read a few books on mathematics you think you're easily going to become one of the top mathematicians? Many ambitious people try to study math and decades later are disappointed by how they are still mediocre in their field or simply fail to make it into an academic career. Many PhDs in general, actually.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#34

Post by _Microft »

ForOldHack wrote: post #31
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your karma is in the top right. You need around 300 to downvote, 800 to flag. Your downvote by clicking the down arrow beside every comment and submission.

I just logged in, saw my Karma, and just got the double arrows... I did not have that before... I have downvote for posts, but not for comments. ( hence, I cannot downvote your comment. ) Down vote comment. Nope, only 1 arrow for up, and I am good with that. Just refreshed, and now I can down vote some comments... Refresh again... I cannot down vote posts, but can down vote even less comments... someone is watching,…

If you can downvote any comment, then you've got downvote powers.

You cannot downvote direct replies to your own comments though if that helps understanding what might be happening here.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#35

Post by ljlolel »

vitehozonage wrote: post #33

I think I disagree with the article. I think it is true that if you choose to expend time and energy on something that few people spend effort on , then you can become better than most people at that one thing. However, it seems that the article is trying to say that is true for everything and for everyone, and i disagree with that. The missing key factor is that you have to find something unpopular and easy which wi…

Soccer

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#36

Post by Legend2440 »

vitehozonage wrote: post #33

I think I disagree with the article. I think it is true that if you choose to expend time and energy on something that few people spend effort on , then you can become better than most people at that one thing. However, it seems that the article is trying to say that is true for everything and for everyone, and i disagree with that. The missing key factor is that you have to find something unpopular and easy which wi…

>If you read a few books on mathematics you think you're easily going to become one of the top mathematicians?

No - but you will easily become more educated in math than most people. 99.9% of people couldn't tell you the difference between a derivative and a integral.

It's not about becoming an expert. You don't need to be the best in the world to be usefully good at something.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#37

Post by anigbrowl »

ForOldHack wrote: post #31
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your karma is in the top right. You need around 300 to downvote, 800 to flag. Your downvote by clicking the down arrow beside every comment and submission.

I just logged in, saw my Karma, and just got the double arrows... I did not have that before... I have downvote for posts, but not for comments. ( hence, I cannot downvote your comment. ) Down vote comment. Nope, only 1 arrow for up, and I am good with that. Just refreshed, and now I can down vote some comments... Refresh again... I cannot down vote posts, but can down vote even less comments... someone is watching,…

There's a time window for downvoting, once it has expired nobody can do it. I don't remember what the period is, maybe 12 hours.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#38

Post by serviceberry »

vitehozonage wrote: post #33

I think I disagree with the article. I think it is true that if you choose to expend time and energy on something that few people spend effort on , then you can become better than most people at that one thing. However, it seems that the article is trying to say that is true for everything and for everyone, and i disagree with that. The missing key factor is that you have to find something unpopular and easy which wi…

> If you read a few books on mathematics you think you're easily going to become one of the top mathematicians?

No, but so what? The guy behind 3Blue1Brown probably isn't one of the top mathematicians of his era. But he's having quite an impact. He turned explaining fairly basic math concepts in mathematics into a lucrative job.

And who wrote the textbooks you're referring to? Probably not any of the top 10 living mathematicians. That doesn't make the work less useful.

Is Linus Torvalds one of the top 10 computer scientists? He probably wouldn't describe himself that way, and respected academics mocked his work. The list goes on. I think this is compatible with the premise of the article: it's not about being best, it's about being better than the average bear - and then putting that knowledge to some productive use.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#39

Post by NotGMan »

causal wrote: post #30
ghssds wrote: post #28

Experience taught me doing anything will make you a target. You WILL suffer.

Very jaded take with no context. I'm sorry that was your outcome, but it is not good advice.

The 1st of his comment is the truth, but you just need to realize this is the nature of things and then realize that you have to give your haters the middle finger and never back down.

Re: The Dead Planet Theory

#40

Post by throw94040 »

》Wanting to push for promotion is already rare,

Promotion often comes with more work, more responsibilities, more meetings, more commute to office... with only marginal pay increase. In reality you lose salary (as dollars per hour).

I turned down promotion a few years back. I would "manage" three people, in reality doing their work. I would lose home office, and have to find babysitter. I would spend 80 minutes in traffic every day, paying for my own car and my own gas! No time left for cooking, so food delivery! All for generous pay increase of 20%!

This "promotion" would ruin my family life, and reduce my disposable income by half!

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