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Joining Apple Computer (2018)

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Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#21

> Inspired by a mind-expanding LSD journey in 1985, I designed the HyperCard authoring system that enabled non-programmers to make their own interactive media. Watching some YouTube about the Beatles and, of course, their LSD trips. More recently the history of Robert Crumb — on his big acid trip he more or less created a large part of his stable of comic characters. Somewhere along the way, someone said that LSD alt…

Survivorship bias? Plenty of brilliant people smoked tobacco. I didn't think more smoking will produce more brilliance.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#22
post #7

Legend. I still remember first putting my hands on a Mac, and the joy of computing that ensued in high school. I could get lost in the computer for days. Thank you, Bill.

I had that feeling too. How do we get it back? How do we share it with others? There has to be a way.

> How do we get it back?

Time machine.

> How do we share it with others?

Just like the church, capture them in their most formative years.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You had me up until your last clause… If you understand that LSD doesn’t permanently alter the brain, why do you think PY “permanently” alters the brain? It does alter the brain (like LSD; see the plethora of research on PY altering neurogenesis and functional connectivity [0]), I’m unsure of what you mean by “permanent”. [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07624-5

It permanently changed my buddy's brain when we were in college doing it. He thought he was talkng to God and blew his brains out. Not worth it for me now.

I’m sorry to hear that.

I know that there absolutely are people who shouldn’t take it based on their mindset and underplaying predispositions.

There is certainly a point to be made about psychoactive (and other) drugs inducing episodes of psychosis. This is something on the uptick with marijuana legalization in the US [0].

And I think am plainly wrong about my understanding of these effects not being “permanent”. I suppose I was thinking about this too much from a “neurotypical” angle, and not from the angle of how substances can alter the neurological trajectory of people with predisposed sensitivity.

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-induc...

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#24
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had that feeling too. How do we get it back? How do we share it with others? There has to be a way.

> How do we get it back? Time machine. > How do we share it with others? Just like the church, capture them in their most formative years.

No. There has to be a way.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#25

> Inspired by a mind-expanding LSD journey in 1985, I designed the HyperCard authoring system that enabled non-programmers to make their own interactive media. Watching some YouTube about the Beatles and, of course, their LSD trips. More recently the history of Robert Crumb — on his big acid trip he more or less created a large part of his stable of comic characters. Somewhere along the way, someone said that LSD alt…

Survivorship bias? Plenty of brilliant people smoked tobacco. I didn't think more smoking will produce more brilliance.

Neither does smoking alter your conscioudness in any remarkable way further than irritability or cravings due to whitdrawal symtpom

at least acid doesnt make sense to consume daily because it stops having the same effects the more you consume it

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#26
post #7

Legend. I still remember first putting my hands on a Mac, and the joy of computing that ensued in high school. I could get lost in the computer for days. Thank you, Bill.

I had that feeling too. How do we get it back? How do we share it with others? There has to be a way.

I am looking forward to trying to make use of a Raspberry Pi 5 as much as is feasible once I get a small tablet shell for mine.

If it works out well, I'm going to see about getting a Wacom One display tablet with touch.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#27
post #19

I'm always blown away by the vision behind stuff like HyperCard. It was all about giving non-techies the keys to the kingdom. But looking at today's tech landscape, with its walled gardens and app stores, I can't help but feel we've gone backwards.

It's really hard to extract computing from the capitalistic, consumerist cradle within which it was born. Every other human creative practice and media (poetry, theater, writing, music, painting, etc) have existed in a wide variety of cultures, societies, and economic contexts. But computing has never existed outside of the immensely expensive and complex factories & supply chains required to produce computing compon…

Part of the problem trying to isolate computing is that it's fundamentally material. Even cloud resources are a flimsy abstraction over a more complex business model. That materialism is part of the issue, too. You can't ever escape the churn, bit rot gets your drives and Hetzner doesn't sell a lifetime plan. If you're not computing for the short-term, you're arguably wasting your time.

I'm not against the idea of a disasterproof runtime, but you're not "pushing back" against the consumerist machine by outlasting it. When high-quality software becomes inaccessible to support some sort of longtermist runtime, low-quality software everywhere sees a rise in popularity.

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#28

I'm always blown away by the vision behind stuff like HyperCard. It was all about giving non-techies the keys to the kingdom. But looking at today's tech landscape, with its walled gardens and app stores, I can't help but feel we've gone backwards.

I totally agree

Re: Joining Apple Computer (2018)

#30
post #8

> It was exciting working at Apple, knowing that whatever we invented would be used by millions of people. I admit it is exciting to make something you truly believe is good and helpful. And that it's disappointing when that thing isn't used by anyone. It's even worse when it turns out it's just not that useful. But in the end, everything is replaced anyway. So I guess it's fine.

> I admit it is exciting to make something you truly believe is good and helpful.

I want to double down on this - I’m lucky enough to have worked places where I truly believed the world would be a better place if we “won,” and not on the margins, and it really, really makes a difference in quality of life. I’ve worked at other places, too, and the cognitive drag of knowing that your skills and efforts - your ability to change the world - is at best being wasted is something you don’t truly feel until it’s gone.

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