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The theory guy never wins

vladmkrtumyan.blogspot.com

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Re: The theory guy never wins

#11

Post by _sabe_ »

weland wrote: post #10

While you are blindly jumping into the claws of the tiger because your man-of-action guts tell you it's a lotus, I'll stick around to grab your wallet while he devours you. Signed, The Theory Guy P.S. Spending three seconds to think about why the fuck is a lotus flower striped and why it is purring like a cat could have saved you. Also, what the heck is a wantrepreneur? Is that the pretentious term for "someone who i…

And what is a entrepreneur anyways? Feels like the definition has shifted from being someone who has the job of starting up new businesses, to just running a business at all.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#12

Post by _sabe_ »

D_Alex wrote: post #6

What an icky mess of strawman and false dichotomy! Who is this "theory guy" that never wins in business - someone who does only theory, eh? I wonder how well the "practice guy", who acts without any thinking whatsoever, comes out in comparison. As an aside and fuel for furhter thought, here is one of my favourite quotes (from Less Wrong): "As a general idea, high level intellectual exploration should consume substant…

And what is the definition of winning? If you're a theoretical problem solver, you are probably getting your kicks from doing just that. And that's "winning" for you. Now if you only care for money, "winning" would naturally be when you reached your goal of making some. But a lot of people probably would consider winning just getting by being in the moment doing what thrills you (like thinking about how to make the product even better).

Re: The theory guy never wins

#13

Post by James_Duval »

D_Alex wrote: post #6

What an icky mess of strawman and false dichotomy! Who is this "theory guy" that never wins in business - someone who does only theory, eh? I wonder how well the "practice guy", who acts without any thinking whatsoever, comes out in comparison. As an aside and fuel for furhter thought, here is one of my favourite quotes (from Less Wrong): "As a general idea, high level intellectual exploration should consume substant…

He has a point though.

Look at his awful blog post. It's appallingly-written, doesn't make much sense, invokes various logical fallacies - and hit the front page of HN!

"So here I am getting this post out in the field ASAP, let me know what you think lets talk about all the theory people we've, how does it still exist in this "lean startup" world? Perhaps we should go from lean to anorexic startup. I've never heard of a company launching too fast as Paul Graham says very few do and so far I know none."

A garbled mess of nonsense. And yet here we are, talking about it!

Proof that, at least sometimes, taking action without any kind of meaningful thought behind it is capable of generating success.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#14

Post by zlbrooks »

Your poor grammar and sentence structure makes your argument (whether it is good or not) much less effective than it could be. Spend 10 minutes proofreading, and your post will be much more effective.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#15

Post by CPAhem »

James_Duval wrote: post #13
D_Alex wrote: post #6

What an icky mess of strawman and false dichotomy! Who is this "theory guy" that never wins in business - someone who does only theory, eh? I wonder how well the "practice guy", who acts without any thinking whatsoever, comes out in comparison. As an aside and fuel for furhter thought, here is one of my favourite quotes (from Less Wrong): "As a general idea, high level intellectual exploration should consume substant…

He has a point though. Look at his awful blog post. It's appallingly-written, doesn't make much sense, invokes various logical fallacies - and hit the front page of HN! "So here I am getting this post out in the field ASAP, let me know what you think lets talk about all the theory people we've, how does it still exist in this "lean startup" world? Perhaps we should go from lean to anorexic startup. I've never heard o…

yes - survival of the noisiest: talk first, think later.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#16

Post by stiff »

Here is a favourite passage of mine from Johns Stuart Mill autobiography (he is speaking of the demanding education his father arranged for him):

I remember at some time in my thirteenth year, on my happening to use the word idea, he asked me what an idea was; and expressed some displeasure at my ineffectual efforts to define the word: I recollect also his indignation at my using the common expression that something was true in theory but required correction in practice; and how, after making me vainly strive to define the word theory, he explained its meaning, and showed the fallacy of the vulgar form of speech which I had used; leaving me fully persuaded that in being unable to give a correct definition of Theory, and in speaking of it as something which might be at variance with practice, I had shown unparalleled ignorance. In this he seems, and perhaps was, very unreasonable; but I think, only in being angry at my failure. A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he can.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#18

Post by vladmk »

zlbrooks wrote: post #14

Your poor grammar and sentence structure makes your argument (whether it is good or not) much less effective than it could be. Spend 10 minutes proofreading, and your post will be much more effective.

To be honest I wrote this late at night and didn't even think it would spark any conversation. Thanks, I definitely will, I've just started blogging and decided to fully commit myself to it full time.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#19

Post by vladmk »

CPAhem wrote: post #15
James_Duval wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has a point though. Look at his awful blog post. It's appallingly-written, doesn't make much sense, invokes various logical fallacies - and hit the front page of HN! "So here I am getting this post out in the field ASAP, let me know what you think lets talk about all the theory people we've, how does it still exist in this "lean startup" world? Perhaps we should go from lean to anorexic startup. I've never heard o…

yes - survival of the noisiest: talk first, think later.

They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, it may be ugly, but that is the way my view is that is the way the real world works. I still condone thinking, but at the end of the day taking action and reviewing still wins look at all the pivots in start ups. Ideally you want to do both of course, but most people do more thinking than anything.

Re: The theory guy never wins

#20

Post by vladmk »

James_Duval wrote: post #13
D_Alex wrote: post #6

What an icky mess of strawman and false dichotomy! Who is this "theory guy" that never wins in business - someone who does only theory, eh? I wonder how well the "practice guy", who acts without any thinking whatsoever, comes out in comparison. As an aside and fuel for furhter thought, here is one of my favourite quotes (from Less Wrong): "As a general idea, high level intellectual exploration should consume substant…

He has a point though. Look at his awful blog post. It's appallingly-written, doesn't make much sense, invokes various logical fallacies - and hit the front page of HN! "So here I am getting this post out in the field ASAP, let me know what you think lets talk about all the theory people we've, how does it still exist in this "lean startup" world? Perhaps we should go from lean to anorexic startup. I've never heard o…

lol thanks for being the one person that sees something. My point in the article was to facilitate a discussion and you're right I wrote it on the fly in 10 minutes glad you got the point.
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